Day: May 18, 2025

Hong Kong could be in for another bout of “what will happen to us in …”, only with 2047 replacing 1997. I say this after attending a farewell presentation by activist investor David Webb last week. Advertisement For many years, Webb has worked on a pro bono basis to improve public knowledge of business issues. Towards the end of his fireside chat at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Webb asked which legal system would apply in Hong Kong after 2047 and whether our law students should continue to study the existing…

Advertisement The winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize for physics has moved from Rome to be a discipline leader at an international research centre for complexity sciences at Beihang University’s Hangzhou campus in Zhejiang province. According to a university social media post, Beihang Communist Party secretary Zhao Changlu said he hoped Parisi would recommend more top researchers to join the university and help make it more international. Parisi said he would endeavour to “promote more scientific cooperation between Beihang University and Italy, as well as with the rest of Europe”,…

Contemporary Amperex Technology Company (CATL), the world’s largest maker of electric vehicle (EV) batteries, aims to be a leading technology provider in China’s green energy sectors as it prepares to complete the world’s biggest stock offering so far this year. Advertisement The group last year established CharGo to develop mobile storage and charging and testing robots for EVs to diversify its business. The robots can be used wherever EV charging piles or stations are lacking, fully occupied or out of reach. Drivers can book the robot-charging service by phone. “CATL…

China has turned to public-private partnerships (PPP) to finance big African infrastructure projects under a grand China investment initiative, a shift experts said could reduce Beijing’s financial risks while easing debt pressures on African countries. Advertisement By granting Chinese companies long-term operating rights in exchange for construction financing, the model represents a pivot from direct government loans through China’s policy banks under its Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing’s plan to build global trade and infrastructure links. From Nairobi’s mega-highway and stalled railway to Zambia’s Lusaka-Ndola dual carriageway, Beijing is encouraging…

Chinese researchers say they have developed a “groundbreaking” fibre-optic gyroscope that is stable across a large temperature range and can be used for navigation. Advertisement According to the team from the Tianjin Navigation Instruments Research Institute and Jinan University, the gyroscope could offer a more stable way to measure navigation for aircraft, ships and oil rigs. Gyroscopes are devices that can sense orientation and the rate at which a moving object is turning, so they play an important role in inertial navigation systems. Those navigation systems allow for the measurement…

When tickets for comedian Jimmy O. Yang’s June shows in Hong Kong sold out within seconds, fans flooded social media to lament how tough it was to get a seat. Many commenters sardonically repurposed the title of Yang’s 2023 stand-up special: “Guess How Much?” Advertisement While some scrambled for resale tickets – complete with heavy mark-up – others outside the city found it easier to buy travel packages that included airport transfers and guaranteed bookings. Similarly, when British rock band Coldplay performed at Kai Tak Stadium in April, many travelling…