A fisherman died after being swept off rocks near Sydney on Sunday, stretching the Easter weekend death toll of drownings to six as huge waves battered Australia's east coast. Emergency services winched two people from the surf at Wattamolla Beach, but one of them couldn't be revived, New South Wales Police said in a statement. The pair had been fi…

Hang Seng Bank senior advisor George Leung on Sunday said the trade war with the US might prevent Hong Kong's GDP from reaching its predicted two percent growth this year. Speaking on a radio programme, Leung said trade between China and the United States had almost completely halted, and Hong Kong's export volumes had significantly declined. "It d…

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday his forces would observe a surprise Easter truce announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin set to last until midnight on Sunday. The 30-hour truce would be the most significant pause in the fighting throughout the three-year conflict. But just hours after the order was meant to have come into effect…

The Hong Kong International Track Cup, staged at the Hong Kong Velodrome in Tseung Kwan O, attracted hundreds of people on Saturday. The event – one of the National Games test events – features professional cyclists from around the world, including 28 cyclists from the Hong Kong, China team. A secondary school student surnamed Siu said he was at th…

Chief Executive John Lee said on Saturday the government will continue to develop resources to attract more tourists to Hong Kong. He made the comment after visiting Tai O on Friday along with tourism minister Rosanna Law and Home Affairs minister Alice Mak. Writing on Facebook, Lee said he bought dried seafood and met with some Tai O residents and…

Members of the Fire Services Department's earthquake rescue team said on Saturday that experience gained from last month's Myanmar quake will help them better prepare for future emergencies. It was the second time the SAR had joined international disaster relief work after the 2023 Turkey earthquake. Speaking on an RTHK programme, Senior Fireman Le…

Commercial sector lawmaker Jeffrey Lam on Saturday said some shippers could consider using South American ports as an alternative to US ports. Lam made the remarks after Washington on Thursday said it would impose port fees on vessels owned, operated, or built by Chinese companies. "There are a lot of deep sea ports, they are all natural ports - 15…

Chief Executive John Lee on Friday said an SAR rescue team showcased Hong Kong's professionalism during their recent mission to Myanmar following the devastating earthquake there. In a social media post, Lee said he hosted a lunch for the team at Government House on Thursday. He thanked them for their efforts, noting they travelled to 57 places in …

Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong residents travelled out of the SAR on the first day of the Easter break on Friday. As of 4pm, more than 650,000 people had left the city, according to the Immigration Department. Around one in five departed via the Lo Wu control point, with the crossing at Lok Ma Chau the next busiest. At one point, there were 90 …

President Xi Jinping returned to Beijing on Friday after wrapping up a five-day tour of South East Asia which saw state visits to Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia. During his trip, China signed dozens of agreements with the three nations in a wide range of areas. Lau Siu-kai, a consultant to the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, sai…

Many Hongkongers decided to spend their Easter break outside the SAR as the holiday got underway on Friday. There were long queues at some check-in counters at Hong Kong airport in the morning. A woman surnamed Hung and her son were among those heading to Japan for a week. "We just headed to Japan in March. Japan is a popular tourist destination, s…

Catering and retail sector representatives on Friday expressed concern about the outlook for this year's Easter holiday, saying people were travelling and spending elsewhere. Simon Wong, the president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, said he expected business to fall by a quarter during the Easter break. "During some l…

The Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims on Friday welcomed the Ombudsman's recommendations for construction sector safety. On Wednesday, the watchdog submitted 40 recommendations, including setting up an inspection checklist and an electronic platform for contractors to upload inspection records. In an interview with RTHK, the…

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States was in talks with China on tariffs, adding that he was confident the world's largest economies could make a deal to end a bitter trade war. "Yeah, we're talking to China," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. Trump said that the talks had happened since he upped tariffs on China …