Customs arrests wedding company director over alleged fraudulent practices
Motorists to save $14 in fuel with new Central Kowloon Route as govt proposes tunnel toll hikes
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South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- South China Morning Post
‘We're not billiard balls': how China's EU charm offensive fell flat
For half a year, a heated debate has raged over whether US President Donald Trump 's return to office would push Europe and China closer together. Pragmatists, realpolitikers and Beijing's allies argued that the EU could not afford a trade war with both of the world's largest economies while footing the bill for a hot war in Ukraine For months, EU leaders fuelled the speculation by voicing openness to deeper trade ties with Beijing, in a dramatic rhetorical shift from the previous three years of hostilities. But the debate appears to have been settled this week with a resounding 'no'. Behind-the-scenes impatience with China's failure to put any meat on the bones of a much-vaunted charm offensive has spilled into the public realm. Brussels, staggered by Beijing's failure to move even an inch on its trade gripes, has had enough. 'The current global trading system is not working as it should. Guard rails are clearly missing. On this point, Donald is right,' said Ursula von der Leyen at this week's G7 summit in Canada , referring to China's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001 as 'the biggest challenge' facing the global order.
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong wedding firm boss arrested as closure leaves couples in lurch
Customs officers have arrested the owner of a Hong Kong wedding decoration company that closed suddenly leaving more than 100 engaged couples in dismay, with the firm revealed to have racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debts. Acting assistant superintendent Ho Wai-sum of customs' unfair trade practice investigation division said officers arrested the 40-year-old male owner of a wedding decoration company based in San Po Kong on Friday after receiving 166 complaints about the firm allegedly wrongly accepting payments. 'We suspect that when the owner received prepaid sums, there were no reasonable reasons to believe the company could provide the services promised,' he said. Last month, the suspected closure of Ps Wedding and Event Decoration, which had an office in San Po Kong, sparked 31 complaints to the Consumer Council involving more than HK$337,000 (US$43,200) in losses. Ho revealed that the 166 complaints made to customs involved HK$1.9 million in total, with each contract for between HK$3,000 and HK$40,000. The acting superintendent said preliminary investigations showed that the company, which had been operating for 13 years, owed money for rent and salaries before its abrupt closure.
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
China-EU friction in spotlight, excessive dining austerity measures: SCMP daily highlights
Catch up on some of SCMP's biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing China's central bank is launching a new connect programme with Hong Kong to facilitate cross-border payments – Beijing's latest move to open up its financial sector and also leverage the southern financial centre to better connect with the rest of the world. Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen Decades of overinvestment and state subsidies in China, weak domestic consumption, an addiction to manufacturing, crashing corporate profits, zombie companies that the state does not let die and a superpower trade war have, the EU believes, created a perfect storm. Chinese and Philippine vessels have clashed again in the South China Sea, with Beijing saying its coastguard used a water cannon to expel a Philippine government vessel near Scarborough Shoal on Friday. China Coast Guard spokesman Liu Dejun said on Friday afternoon that Philippine vessel 3006 had 'ignored repeated warnings and insistently intruded' into Chinese waters near the strategic shoal.
