UAE prince and Hong Kong, Xi’s policy shift, Singapore ‘Asia’s happiest country’ again: SCMP’s 7 highlights of the week

A Dubai prince who made waves after announcing plans to set up a new family office in Hong Kong with a US$500 million investment pledge abruptly postponed its opening scheduled for Thursday.

With the world’s second-largest economy at a critical juncture of fuelling growth in its bid to become a global financial superpower, a new book details some of Xi Jinping’s thoughts on finance, dating back to late 2012. “The People’s Bank of China must gradually increase the trading of treasury bonds in its open market operations,” the snippet reads in Excerpts of Xi Jinping’s Speeches on Finance Work.

According to 2023 UN data, Chinese inventors led in international patent applications for the second year running, posting some 14,000 more than the second-place US, as the two giants increasingly face off over technology, innovation and global bragging rights.

While the latest edition of an annual UN-sponsored report found Singapore to be Asia’s happiest country for the second year in a row, its survey data showed that the city state’s younger citizens rated their quality of life significantly worse than older generations.

Organisers of Sunday’s Triathlon World Cup in Hong Kong have apologised after the wrong national anthem was played during the women’s medal ceremony.

The son of the owner of a well-known snack brand in China said he did not know his family was wealthy until he graduated from university, a story that has stunned mainland social media.