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Business

Veteran politician Jeffrey Lam to lead Hung Shui Kiu industrial park operator

Lam, an Executive Council member, will chair board of first entity established to accelerate development of Northern Metropolis megaproject Hong Kong authorities have appointed veteran politician Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung to chair the board of directors of the Hung Shui Kiu Industry Park Company – the first government-owned entity established to accelerate the development of the Northern Metropolis megaproject. The Development Bureau said on Friday that the board of directors comprised five bureau chiefs and five non-official members, who were tasked with formulating a “forward-looking development positioning and strategy” for the 23-hectare (57-acre) logistics park, which serves as the first pilot land parcel of the project near the Shenzhen border. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu approved the appointments, and their three-year terms begin on June 1. The company, wholly owned by the government through the Financial Secretary Incorporated, was established in January to oversee the development and operation of the Hung Shui Kiu site.

May 8, 2026

Business

Malaysia’s EV import curbs to protect local car sector criticised for inconsistency

The move contradicts the country’s aim to grow the EV sector and use more renewable energy sources, analysts say The ministry of investment, trade and industry (Miti) on Wednesday announced that from July 1, it will only allow the sale of imported EVs that have a cost, insurance and freight (CIF) value of at least 200,000 ringgit (US$51,000) and a minimum power output of 180kW. The move effectively bars the sale of the vast majority of imported EVs – predominantly Chinese marques – from Malaysia’s market once the policy kicks in, although an exception is granted for existing stocks and units in transit. The ministry said the move was aimed at supporting the development of the country’s automotive industry and protecting Malaysia’s economic interests and consumer rights. The immediate effects of the new policy, however, are likely to land far off the mark, according to business experts. “The shock to the system will mean that consumers who have been on the fence about EVs will either buy before the July ban kicks in, or put off buying EVs altogether,” said Timothy Wong, a senior analyst with government affairs consultancy BowerGroupAsia.

May 8, 2026

Business

Why are China’s coastal fish farms disappearing while India’s are expanding?

China’s coastal aquaculture ponds span the largest area in the world but they are shrinking – and that is a good thing China’s coastal aquaculture ponds are shrinking due to environmental policies while India’s are expanding at the fastest rate of any country, according to a new bird’s-eye view of fish farms worldwide. The conclusions are based on a fresh dataset compiled from millions of satellite snapshots of coastal aquaculture around the world in 2022. From 1990 to 2016, the global pond area for aquaculture expanded rapidly. After 2017, the overall area declined, but changes varied between countries. The work was carried out by researchers from the Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and teams from various countries, including Britain and the United States. The results were published in the academic journal Science Bulletin on April 15. This dataset provides a first-of-its-kind map of the world’s coastal aquaculture ponds, documenting their annual spread and transformation. India was the biggest source of growth in the sector, expanding by 676 sq km or 19 per cent, between 2017 and 2022 as demand for seafood rose, according to the study.

May 8, 2026

Business

Trump’s Beijing trip, Iran war diplomacy, tech earnings

US President Donald Trump will bring a scaled-back group of chief executive officers with him on a trip to Beijing next week, reflecting limited expectations for a summit that may be overshadowed by the war on Iran. The White House considered inviting about a dozen business leaders on the May 14-15 trip, compared with the 29 high-profile executives on Trump’s last visit in 2017, Reuters said, citing unidentified people briefed on preparations. Nvidia, Apple and Boeing are among the companies...

May 8, 2026

Business

Australian remanded on fresh eat-and-run charges in Hong Kong a day after being fined

Samuel Monkivitch allegedly fled four other restaurants without paying bills totalling more than HK$2,000 and destroyed electronic property An Australian man has been remanded in custody and hit with fresh charges in Hong Kong for fleeing restaurants without paying more than HK$2,000 (US$255) in bills, just a day after being fined for similar offences. He was fined HK$3,000 and ordered to use his bail money to pay the amounts owed to the two businesses. After paying his fine and leaving the courthouse, he was immediately intercepted by two men believed to be plain-clothes police officers and taken away in a vehicle. On Friday, Monkivitch – who earlier described himself as a “lawyer” but now called himself a “legal consultant and merchant” – reappeared in court. He was accused of leaving four dining outlets between April 24 and May 5 with the intent of avoiding bills totalling HK$2,039. In the first of the new cases, Monkivitch dined at a Chinese restaurant in Central, where he allegedly left without settling a HK$284 bill.

May 8, 2026

Business

New database tracks shifting outcomes of Malaysia’s political corruption cases

The Prosecutorial Accountability Watch database is an attempt to make sense of a justice system clouded by ‘double standards’ Since the 2018 election that ended six decades of Malay nationalist party Umno and its Barisan Nasional coalition rule, Malaysia has seen a wave of corruption charges against powerful politicians, followed by acquittals, discharges, appeal withdrawals and cases that appear to move in different directions whenever governments change. According to Projek SAMA convenor Ngeow Chow Ying, the database attempts to make sense of a justice system clouded by the phrase dua darjat, a Malay expression often used to describe double standards.

May 8, 2026

Business

Trump invites Boeing, Mastercard CEOs to join China trip next week: sources

Donald Trump Jnr and Eric Trump will also join the high-stakes summit in Beijing, sources say A full list of participants from the business community has not yet been released. Other companies, including Nvidia, are also awaiting final confirmation on whether their CEO, Jensen Huang, will join the entourage. Bloomberg reported on Friday that Huang – who has lobbied Trump to permit sales of advanced AI chips in the world’s second-largest economy – said he would gladly join the trip if invited. A source also said that Trump’s two sons – Donald Trump Jnr and Eric Trump – would take part in the trip and “visit on ground [for] one day.”

May 8, 2026

Business

Hong Kong’s pinball wizards and claw fans defend arcade thrills as curbs loom

Citywide craze in pinball and claw machines has prompted authorities to consider tightening regulations to prevent addiction to these games A Hong Kong homemaker sits alone at a pinball machine, engrossed in the game for an hour to kill time before picking up her sons from school for lunch on a weekday morning at a shopping centre in Sham Shui Po. The 47-year-old mother-of-two, who only identified herself as Mrs Cheung, said she played pinball machines at least twice a week at Dragon Centre, including once on the weekend with her family of four as entertainment. “We just have fun as a family and use the points we earn from the games to redeem the prizes we want,” she said. “We all enjoy it.” The family’s favourite pastime reflects a citywide craze in pinball and claw machines, a trend growing so fast that it has prompted authorities to consider tightening regulations to prevent addiction to these games, amid a debate over whether they should be viewed as gambling. The Home and Youth Affairs Bureau earlier this week proposed amending the city’s gambling laws to require an “amusement with prize licence” for every individual machine, citing addiction risks associated with prize-based games.

May 8, 2026 · 2 dk okuma

Business

Can Vietnam’s bureaucracy reform boost investment amid growth threats?

Vietnam’s drive to energise its economy may take time to materialise in the face of rising fuel costs and trade barriers, analysts say Last month, the government issued eight resolutions to cut 680 administrative procedures and simplify hundreds more to speed up approvals for new businesses in sectors ranging from casinos to importing cars. A blizzard of draft decrees aimed at slashing red tape is queuing up for approval by a government that has already reduced the number of ministries by a quarter and slimmed down the civil service. “Vietnam’s government has recently issued a slew of resolutions and directives to cut administrative procedures and simplify business conditions,” said Heng Jian Xin, senior country risk analyst at BMI, a unit of Fitch Solutions.

May 8, 2026

Business

Islamic State-linked Australian women charged with keeping slave in Syria

The mother and daughter, accused of ‘crimes against humanity’, were arrested in Melbourne after travelling from a Syrian detention camp Two Australian women “kept a female slave” after travelling to Syria in 2014 to support Islamic State, police said on Friday after the pair were charged in Melbourne. The women returned to Australia on Thursday evening for the first time in almost a decade, travelling from a Syrian detention camp where they were stranded after the group’s collapse. They were immediately arrested after their Qatar Airways flight landed at Melbourne International Airport. Police accused the women – a mother and daughter aged 53 and 31 – of “crimes against humanity” while living under Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate. The 53-year-old woman was “complicit in the purchase of a female slave for US$10,000”, the Australian Federal Police said. The 31-year-old woman had “knowingly kept a female slave in the home”.

May 7, 2026

Business

Lula won’t sideline China or anyone in rare earths, tells Trump refining stays in Brazil

In a three-hour White House meeting on Thursday, Brazil’s president pitched his country’s minerals to all comers “We have no preference. What we want is to share with whoever wants to invest in Brazil,” Lula said at a press conference at the Brazilian embassy in Washington after a three-hour meeting with Trump that ran more than an hour past schedule. “Americans, Chinese, Germans, Japanese, French, whoever wants to participate with us to help us mine, separate and produce the wealth that these rare earths offer us, they are invited.” He said his government would not repeat what happened with silver, gold and iron ore, resources that Brazil exported raw for decades without capturing the industrial value. Why the US is worried about China’s growing influence in South America

May 7, 2026

Business

China’s move to cut EV payment cycles may push weaker carmakers out: S&P

China’s weaker EV makers may soon be running on fumes as tighter payment cycles squeeze cash flow and curb price wars The warning is likely to deepen bearish sentiment surrounding mainland China’s more than 100 car assemblers, many of which have been at the forefront of global electric vehicle (EV) technology and production. “Financially fragile players that struggle to keep pace with government guidance will exit the market or be absorbed,” S&P said in a research report written by analysts Stephen Chan and Claire Yuan released on Wednesday. “Larger players with continuously upgraded products and stronger balance sheets will likely gain share. A leaner, more disciplined sector should shake out, albeit with likely failures and lost capital along the way.” Since mid-2025, Beijing has urged carmakers to pay suppliers promptly in an effort to rein in the prolonged discount wars that have engulfed nearly every player in the world’s largest car and EV market.

May 7, 2026