Top chef Scott Pickett faces court grilling over collapse of super fund

Two people have been charged after a ute allegedly led police on a chase through Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, including on a golf course.

The Hong Kong government’s reforms to crack down on bid-rigging are intended to bring about a “revolutionary overhaul” of the city’s building maintenance ecosystem, the justice minister has said. Three days after the government unveiled a range of measures in response to an independent committee report on the Tai Po fire, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok said on Sunday the proposed legislative amendments aimed to raise standards and strengthen oversight. “The market currently offers too...

Taipei Mayor Wayne Chiang Wan-an faces an unexpectedly tough re-election fight in a race closely watched for its potential to damage the main opposition party Kuomintang and further strain the island’s relations with Beijing. Just five months ago, Chiang appeared comfortably positioned for a second term in a city where the KMT has traditionally enjoyed an advantage over the ruling Democratic Progressive Party. A poll by local cable news network TVBS in late May put him 28 percentage points ahead...

Driving along the wide boulevards of Astana during a recent trip to the Kazakh capital, signs of China’s growing commercial footprint were everywhere. Chinese cars were becoming a common sight on the streets here, as brands from BYD to Changan made aggressive inroads in a market once dominated by South Korea’s Hyundai and Kia, said the driver who picked me up from the airport in a gleaming Changan electric vehicle. But it was not the rise of Chinese tech that had brought me to this energy-rich...

Qatar Airways, which has committed to Western Sydney International, has reduced the number of passengers it flies daily around the world by about 25,000 since the US-Israel-Iran War erupted.

One council has backflipped on its decision to axe a free street party permit program, but the process is under review in another local government area.

Former Japanese adult film actress Mao Hamasaki was admitted to intensive care at a Hong Kong hospital after being allegedly drugged while working in a club in Tsim Sha Tsui on Sunday morning. Hamasaki’s manager published a post on her Facebook page at 5.40am on Sunday morning, with two photos showing her in a wheelchair being taken to an ambulance. The post read “drugged while working”. Hamasaki had performed as a disc jockey at several clubs on Halloween night until the early hours of Sunday,...

Celebrating one’s 18th birthday is not typically a poignant occasion, but for outgoing Hongkonger Chen Tsz-kin, adulthood began last week with a mixture of excitement and anxiety. At 18 months old, Chen was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a genetic condition that causes muscles to weaken over time. Doctors told his mother, Michelle Li Yuan-feng, that people with the incurable illness had an average life expectancy of 18. “I felt like a brand new self waking up this morning. It’s been...

Californians, like most of America, will get an extra hour of sleep tonight

Three Chinese-language newspapers in Hong Kong have raised their retail prices by HK$3 (40 US cents) this month, marking the first sector-wide adjustment in two years. Ming Pao’s price rise took effect on Sunday, increasing its single-copy price from HK$12 to HK$15, up 25 per cent. Two financial broadsheets will follow suit on Monday. The Hong Kong Economic Times (HKET) will raise its price from HK$12 to HK$15, while the Hong Kong Economic Journal (HKEJ) will increase its price by 20 per cent...

Tai Po Fire: HKSAR government responds with accountability and reform