About 75 per cent of paper waste and 40 per cent of plastic items sent to landfills are unclassified, according to official statistics, with environmentalists warning that such unclear records will undermine Hong Kong’s green efforts. However, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) said it was “unnecessary” to change its waste-tracking system, arguing that the government already “has an ide...
About 75 per cent of paper waste and 40 per cent of plastic items sent to landfills are unclassified, according to official statistics, with environmentalists warning that such unclear records will undermine Hong Kong’s green efforts. However, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) said it was “unnecessary” to change its waste-tracking system, arguing that the government already “has an idea” of what fell under the “others” category and had taken steps to address it. The lack of detail was among several blind spots identified by advocacy group The Green Earth. Advertisement “Comprehensive and accurate waste data is essential for designing effective waste reduction policies. We hope the government can increase information disclosure to allow the public to take part in the policy discussion,” said Steven Chan Wing-kit, assistant environmental affairs manager of the NGO. “Informing the public about which kinds of waste are being disposed of in large quantities without being recycled could also help the circular economy because it means opportunities for the recycling business.” Advertisement In its 2023 report, the NGO found that nearly 75 per cent of all paper waste and 40 per cent of all plastic waste were classified as “others”. The share declined only slightly in 2024.
From Vibrancy To Vacancy: America's Going, Going Gone! Authored by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog, I hate shopping. I hate crowds. I hate malls. I don’t believe I had entered a mall in over a decade, until Monday. My visit to the once vibrant Montgomery Mall in Montgomeryville, PA was a shocking confirmation of what I had been predicting about retail stores since 2008. Next to the term De...
From Vibrancy To Vacancy: America's Going, Going Gone! Authored by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog, I hate shopping. I hate crowds. I hate malls. I don’t believe I had entered a mall in over a decade, until Monday. My visit to the once vibrant Montgomery Mall in Montgomeryville, PA was a shocking confirmation of what I had been predicting about retail stores since 2008. Next to the term Dead Mall in the dictionary should be a picture of the current version of the Montgomery Mall. If you need visual proof, here is brief video showing how it is deader than ever. We didn’t go to the mall to shop. My wife bought me a watch from Macy’s (online purchase) for Christmas. I haven’t worn a watch in over a decade and now that I’m retired, have no need for a watch. So we were going to get a refund and then walk around the mall for some exercise, because the weather outside is bitterly cold. The Mall had three anchor stores: Macy’s, JC Penney, and Sears. The Sears closed in 2020. JC Penney declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2021, but still operates as a zombie like entity on the opposite end of the mall from Macy’s. Macy’s hasn’t declared bankruptcy yet, but their business plan appears to be closing 50 to 100 stores per year, until there are none left. We arrived at the Macy’s at about 11:00 am on MLK day. Ghost town USA. The few employees we saw outnumbered the customers. A store filled with jewelry, clothes, shoes, and other useless crap had no customers. It took us ten minutes to find someone who could process a return. Both Macy’s and JC Penney are clearly in an extend and pretend phase. The entire pitiful mall is pretending to be viable, when it is clearly deceased. What a far cry from its heyday – 1977 until approximately 2007. With three rambunctious boys, my wife spent many days at this mall trying to wear them out. When they were teenagers, I would drop them off on Friday nights so they could cruise around the mall with their friends. Those days are long gone. Th...
The South Korean won outperformed Asian peers while emerging-market currencies touched a record high as the dollar fell on concerns of possible joint intervention by the US and Japan. An index for emerging-market currencies rose to a record high. The won gained as much as 1.4% in early trading on Monday, the most in over a month, tracking a rally in the Japanese yen. The Malaysian ringgit strength...
The South Korean won outperformed Asian peers while emerging-market currencies touched a record high as the dollar fell on concerns of possible joint intervention by the US and Japan. An index for emerging-market currencies rose to a record high. The won gained as much as 1.4% in early trading on Monday, the most in over a month, tracking a rally in the Japanese yen. The Malaysian ringgit strengthened to its highest level since 2018, buoyed by optimism around AI and domestic growth. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi warned on Sunday that her administration “will take all necessary measures to address speculative and highly abnormal movements” without specifying. Traders also reported signs on Friday that the US may join Japan to defend the yen. The Bloomberg Dollar Index slid 0.3% on Monday, declining for a third day, after falling 0.7% on Friday. “Asian FX including the won may see sustained gains if yen’s strength continues in the coming sessions,” said Christopher Wong , a currency strategist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Group. The won strengthened to 1,443.25 per dollar on Monday, the highest level in more than two weeks. It may advance to as much as 1,400 in the first quarter, said Min Gyeong-won , an economist at Woori Bank in Seoul. The greenback had its worst week in about eight months last week amid uncertainty surrounding US domestic and international policy. It slumped the most since August on Friday after reports that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York had contacted financial institutions to ask about the yen’s exchange rate, which markets saw as a sign of possible preparation for currency intervention. The MSCI Emerging Market Index for equities gained as much as 0.7%, with stocks like South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. and Taiwan’s MediaTek Inc. advancing.
Mark Carney, Canada's prime minister, after speaking in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images Canada has "no intention" of pursuing a free trade deal with China, Prime Minister Mark Carney said, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to slap punitive tariffs on Ottawa. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Carney said that the country respec...
Mark Carney, Canada's prime minister, after speaking in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images Canada has "no intention" of pursuing a free trade deal with China, Prime Minister Mark Carney said, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to slap punitive tariffs on Ottawa. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Carney said that the country respects its obligations under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement, known as CUSMA in Canada and the USMCA in the U.S., and will not pursue a free trade agreement without notifying the other two parties. Carney's remarks come after Trump threatened to put a 100% tariff on Canadian exports if Ottawa "makes a deal" with Beijing. "If Governor Carney thinks he is going to make Canada a 'Drop Off Port' for China to send goods and products into the United States, he is sorely mistaken," Trump posted on Truth Social Saturday. The remarks come against the backdrop of rising tensions between the U.S. and Canada, with Trump last week withdrawing the invitation to Ottawa to join his "Board of Peace," after Carney in his address at the World Economic Forum in Davos warned against economic coercion by the world's superpowers. While Carney did not name any country, Trump said on the sidelines of the WEF that "Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements." Trump's fiery rhetoric on Truth Social contrasts with what he said after the agreement between Ottawa and Beijing earlier this month, "that's what he [Carney] should be doing. It's a good thing for him to sign a trade deal. If you can get a deal with China, you should do that." Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also echoed Trump's sentiments on Canada and China, telling ABC News on Sunday that the U.S could not "let Canada become an opening that the Chinese pour their cheap goods into the U.S." On Jan. 16, Ottawa and Beijing concluded a "preliminary agreement," with both sides loweri...
The global stock market rally may be running on borrowed time after a blistering momentum in 2025, with veterans warning that the odds of a correction are rising as stretched valuations collide with mounting geopolitical and policy risks. Equities entered 2026 on a steady footing after a robust year. The MSCI All Country World Index , which measures the performance of over 2,500 large and mid-cap ...
The global stock market rally may be running on borrowed time after a blistering momentum in 2025, with veterans warning that the odds of a correction are rising as stretched valuations collide with mounting geopolitical and policy risks. Equities entered 2026 on a steady footing after a robust year. The MSCI All Country World Index , which measures the performance of over 2,500 large and mid-cap equities from developed and emerging markets, is up over 2% so far this year. It hit a fresh record on Jan. 15 after gaining 20.6% in 2025, data from LSEG showed. However, some investors say the lack of meaningful pullbacks over the past nine months has left markets increasingly vulnerable to a sudden shift in sentiment. "Markets, having had a very good 2025, particularly Asian markets… and having gone over nine months without a meaningful pullback, the historical clock is ticking in terms of markets being overdue for some sort of a correction," said Timothy Moe, chief Asia-Pacific equity strategist at Goldman Sachs. Over the past 15 to 35 years, markets have typically experienced a correction of 10% correction or more every eight to nine months, Moe said. "And we've not had that," he added. "If there's a catalyst in the form of geopolitical risk concerns, then I think investors need to be aware that there could be some sort of a pullback." Investors have largely shrugged off bouts of geopolitical brinkmanship, treating recent episodes, including the standoff over Greenland, as noise rather than a lasting risk. Markets also rallied after U.S. President Donald Trump's latest walk-back on tariff threats in pursuit of a deal. That response has revived talk of the so-called "TACO" trade, shorthand for "Trump Always Chickens Out," reflecting the belief that aggressive rhetoric will ultimately give way to compromise. Moe likened the current investor sentiment to a chemistry experiment in which nothing appears to happen until suddenly it does: "You keep dropping, dropping, droppin...
Artificial intelligence (AI) spending is growing fast, and these blue-chip tech stocks can help you profit from it. Artificial intelligence (AI) is ushering in a wave of opportunity across the economy. Gartner estimates AI spending will reach $2.5 trillion in 2026, up 44% year over year, and early projections point to $3.3 trillion in 2027. Microsoft (MSFT +3.45%) and Oracle (ORCL 0.57%) are two t...
Artificial intelligence (AI) spending is growing fast, and these blue-chip tech stocks can help you profit from it. Artificial intelligence (AI) is ushering in a wave of opportunity across the economy. Gartner estimates AI spending will reach $2.5 trillion in 2026, up 44% year over year, and early projections point to $3.3 trillion in 2027. Microsoft (MSFT +3.45%) and Oracle (ORCL 0.57%) are two tech giants that have robust AI capabilities. Microsoft is monetizing AI through everyday workflow tools, while Oracle is benefiting from the surge in AI computing demand through its cloud infrastructure. Here's what can sustain these companies' growth in the next five years. 1. Microsoft Microsoft has been a rewarding growth stock, doubling in value since 2021, and its run is far from over. Its revenue rose 18% year over year in the recent quarter, primarily driven by demand for AI features in Microsoft 365 and the Azure enterprise AI platform. Microsoft has integrated its family of Copilot AI assistants across its productivity offerings, helping drive demand for its flagship productivity software. The Azure AI enterprise business is also growing rapidly and taking share in a $390 billion cloud market. This growth reflects the robust cloud infrastructure that Microsoft has built to deliver cutting-edge services that help companies do more with their data, such as building their own AI applications. Expand NASDAQ : MSFT Microsoft Today's Change ( 3.45 %) $ 15.55 Current Price $ 466.69 Key Data Points Market Cap $3.5T Day's Range $ 450.76 - $ 471.10 52wk Range $ 344.79 - $ 555.45 Volume 2.1M Avg Vol 25M Gross Margin 68.76 % Dividend Yield 0.73 % Demand for its offerings is pushing Microsoft to spend aggressively on data center expansion that could weigh on margins. But this spending also underscores Microsoft's financial fortitude, as it generated a whopping $147 billion in cash from operations over the trailing 12 months. This cash flow is fueling necessary investments to ad...