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EL0NMUSK, BAD G1RL: In Hong Kong, personalized license car plates are a coveted luxury
The namesake of the headline-grabbing tech titan is one among numerous chosen car license plates — together with “BAD G1RL,” “LATTE” and “SHADYB1Z” — that went below the hammer on the finish of January. The public sale’s highest bid went to “1 HH” for 115,000 Hong Kong {dollars} ($14,684).
It is a sizzling market. Hong Kong residents have been recognized to pay tens of millions of {dollars} for a coveted plate. In 2008, “18” — thought of a fortunate quantity in Cantonese — went for 16.5 million Hong Kong {dollars} ($2.1 million). Eight years later, “28” went for 18.1 million Hong Kong {dollars} ($2.3 million).
However the file was set in March 2021, when one bidder spent 26 million Hong Kong {dollars} ($3.3 million) for a plate with a single letter: “W.”
Watch: Hong Kong self-importance automobile plates can promote for tens of millions
A Transportation Division spokesperson advised CNN that each one income from the auctions of personalised car plates, which happen usually, go straight to the Hong Kong authorities’s Treasury.
For automobile house owners, the self-importance plates can carry private which means. Actual property tycoon Cecil Chao bought his, “CEC1L,” at a relative steal for simply over $20,000 Hong Kong {dollars} ($2,550 in 2007). It now graces his silver and burgundy Rolls Royce.
He additionally has a Bentley bearing his surname “CHAO” and a convertible Rolls Royce with “4” — an unfortunate quantity in Cantonese and Mandarin, because it seems like “demise,” however not for the Shanghai-born property developer.
“I used to be born in China, in Shanghai,” says Chao. “In Shanghainese, quantity 4 (seems like) ‘happiness’ — that is my philosophy of life.”
Since 2006, over 40,000 “personalised car registration marks” have been offered at public sale by the Hong Kong Transport Division, with costs beginning at round 5,000 Hong Kong {dollars} ($640).
events should first inquire whether or not their proposed mark meets the Transport Division’s necessities. Automotive house owners can create plates of as much as eight characters (together with areas) however can’t embody the letters “I,” “O” and “Q.” As soon as the mark is cleared, it needs to be purchased by way of public sale.
“Are U 0K” noticed on a Hong Kong freeway. Credit score: Alex Dicker/CNN
“These self-importance plates are utilized by their house owners to focus on their standing, wealth, humor, wishes, superstitions and even their favourite meals,” Salati says.
“To me, every plate is sort of a line of poetry, racing via the streets of town. I might see that it is a type of poetry in movement.”
Salati’s on-line platform collects images of personalised plates and invitations customers to string them collectively into poetry.
TGIF
TIME OUT
LIV2LUV
CITYLIFE
The brand new proprietor of the “EL0NMUSK” registration mark, and the make of their automobile, is at the moment unknown.
Prime picture caption: A yellow Lamborghini in Hong Kong sporting the license plate “SIN.” Illustration by Ian Berry, images by CNN/Adobe Inventory.
new video loaded: Federal Agents Detain Man During New York City Raid
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transcript
Federal Agents Detain Man During New York City Raid
Masked federal agents detained a man in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday, handcuffing him while he faced the wall of a building.
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“Just back up, please.” “I’m not doing nothing.” “Just back up.” “You’re asking me questions. What’s up? I’m from Brooklyn.” “You can film, you can film.” “Brooklyn, Brooklyn. I’m from Brooklyn. I’m not doing nothing.” “What’s your name? What’s your name?” “He asked me for my ID.” “What is your name?” “Edwin — Edwin Jean.” “Edwin Jean.?” “Yes, J-E-A-N.” “You guys can record all you want. Just back up. Let us do our job, OK, back up.” “Why is this guy being arrested?” “Why is he being arrested.” “I didn’t do anything. He asked me for my ID.” I can’t go on this shit. Brooklyn what up. Yeah he asked me for my ID. I said, I’m not giving him no ID. That’s it. That’s it.
By Olivia Bensimon
October 21, 2025
A federal judge has ordered books about gender and race be returned to the shelves at school libraries on military bases in Kentucky, Virginia, Italy and Japan.
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A federal judge ordered the Department of Defense Monday to return books about gender and race back to five school libraries on military bases.
In April, 12 students at schools on military bases in Virginia, Kentucky, Italy and Japan claimed their First Amendment rights had been violated when nearly 600 books were removed from the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools they attend. The students are the children of active duty service members ranging from pre-K to 11th grade.
The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kentucky, and the ACLU of Virginia filed a motion on behalf of the families requesting the return of “all books and curriculum already quarantined or removed based on potential violation of the Executive Orders.”
Earlier this year, President Trump issued executive orders demanding federal agencies remove and prohibit any materials that promote “gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology.”
In January, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued the memoranda “Restoring America’s Fighting Force,” which prohibited “instruction on Critical Race Theory (CRT), DEI, or gender ideology,” and “Identity Months Dead at DoD,” which barred using official resources for celebrations such as Black History Month, Women’s History Month and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
According to the plaintiffs, DoDEA officials sent emails directing teachers to remove books and cancel lesson plans and events that would be in violation of Trump’s executive orders and Hegseth’s guidance.
Books removed from school libraries at military bases covered such topics as sexual identity, racism and LGBTQ pride. You can see a list of the books here.
Two elementary schools cancelled Black History Month events, teachers at a middle school were told to remove posters of education activist Malala Yousafzai and painter Frida Kahlo and another school cancelled Holocaust Remembrance Day.
According to the motion filed by the ACLU, the students claimed that when they protested the school’s actions, they were punished and became “increasingly afraid to discuss race and gender in their classrooms, because they fear being silenced by teachers fearful of violating the EOs and DoDEA guidance.”
In her decision, U.S. District Court Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles sided with the students and their families, writing that “the removals were not rooted in pedagogical concerns” but rather there was “improper partisan motivation underlying [defendants’] actions.” Giles wrote that DOD officials must “immediately restore the books and curricular materials that have been removed.”
The Department of Defense and the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) have not yet responded to NPR’s request for comment.
President Donald Trump claimed a key victory in a US appeals court Monday as a divided three-judge panel decided he is allowed to deploy federal troops to the city of Portland, Oregon.
Trump had claimed the right to send the national guard to the liberal stronghold for the purported purpose of protecting federal property and agents. The ruling marks an important legal victory for Trump as he continues to send military forces to Democratic-led cities.
Oregon attorney general Dan Rayfield spoke out against the ruling, saying that if it’s allowed to stand, Trump would have “unilateral power to put Oregon soldiers on our streets with almost no justification”.
“We are on a dangerous path in America,” he added.
Oregon governor Tina Kotek, has called on a federal appeals court to review and overturn a decision made by a three-judge panel on Monday that would permit Trump to deploy federalized national guard troops to the streets of Portland against the wishes of state and local officials. Kotek said she hoped the full ninth circuit court of appeals vacates the panel’s 2-1 decision, as the dissenting judge, Portland-based Susan Graber, urged her colleagues to do. “I’m very troubled by the decision of the court,” Kotek told reporters.
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Former FBI director James Comey formally asked a federal judge to dismiss criminal charges against him, arguing he was the victim of a selective prosecution and that the US attorney who filed the charges was unlawfully appointed.
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Construction of the president’s $250m White House ballroom appears to be underway. Photos obtained and published by media outlets show part of the East Wing being demolished. Read the full story
The US government shutdown extended into its 20th day on Monday with no resolution in sight, as a prominent Republican lawmaker publicly broke ranks with party leadership over the decision of Mike Johnson, the House speaker, to keep Congress shuttered for weeks.
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Donald Trump reposted an AI-generated video of him flying a fighter plane emblazoned with the words “King Trump” and dumping brown sludge onto protestors, in what appears to be a retort to the widespread No Kings protests that took place Saturday against his second presidency.
Read the full story Donald Trump welcomed PM Anthony Albanese to the White House, signing a rare earth minerals deal. It came amid rising trade tensions with China, which tightened its rare earth exports and is facing a 100% tariff threat from the US.
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Oregon governor urges appeal court review of national guard decision
Comey asks judge to dismiss criminal charges
The White House is a work zone now
Shutdown becomes one of the longest in US history
Trump reposts AI clip of plane dumping sludge on protesters
Trump meets with Australian prime minister
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