World

Hong Kong’s Cabbies, Long Scorned and Frustrated, Face the End of an Era

Published

11 months ago

January 5, 2025

Hong Kong’s Cabbies, Long Scorned and Frustrated, Face the End of an Era

The air is laced with cigarette smoke and Cantonese profanities as half a dozen taxi drivers hang out by their fire-engine-red cabs on a quiet corner of the gritty Prince Edward neighborhood of Hong Kong.

It is the afternoon handover, when day shift drivers pass their taxis to those working the night shift. They are surrendering wads of cash to a taxi agent, a matriarchal figure who collects rent for the vehicles, manages their schedules and dispenses unsolicited advice about exercising more and quitting smoking. The drivers wave her off.

There may be no harder task in this city of more than seven million than trying to change a taxi driver’s habits. Often grumpy and rushing to the next fare, cabbies in Hong Kong have been doing things their way for decades, reflecting the fast-paced, frenetic culture that has long energized the city.

But taxi drivers are under pressure to get with the times. Their passengers are fed up with being driven recklessly, treated curtly and, in many cases, having to settle fares with cash — one of the strangest idiosyncrasies about life in Hong Kong. The practice is so ingrained that airport staff often have to alert tourists at taxi ranks that they need to carry bills.

The government, both because of the complaints and to revitalize tourism, has tried to rein in taxi drivers. Officials ran a campaign over the summer urging drivers to be more polite. They imposed a point system in which bad behavior by drivers — such as overcharging or refusing passengers — would be tracked and could result in the loss of licenses.

In early December, the government proposed requiring all taxis to install systems to allow them to accept credit cards and digital payments by the end of 2025, and to add surveillance cameras by the end of 2026.

Predictably, many taxi drivers have opposed the idea of closer supervision.

“Would you want to be monitored all the time?” said Lau Bing-kwan, a 75-year-old cabby with thinning strands of white hair who accepts only cash. “The government is barking too many orders.”

Hold On to Your Seats

The new controls, if put in place, would signal the end of an era for an industry that has long been an anomaly in Hong Kong’s world-class transportation system. Every day, millions of people commute safely on sleek subways and air-conditioned double-decker buses that run reliably.

Riding in a taxi, by comparison, can be an adventure. Step into one of Hong Kong’s signature four-door Toyota Crown Comfort cabs and you will most likely be (what is the opposite of greeted?) by a man in his 60s or older with a phalanx of cellphones mounted along his dashboard — used sometimes for GPS navigation and other times to track horse racing results. Pleasantries will not be exchanged. Expect the gas pedal to be floored.

You will then reflexively grab a handle and try not to slide off the midnight-blue vinyl seats as you zip and turn through the city’s notoriously narrow streets. Lastly, before you arrive at your destination, you will ready your small bills and coins to avoid aggravating the driver with a time-consuming exit.

“When they drop you off, you have to kind of rush,” said Sylvia He, a professor of urban studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who, like many residents of this city, feels conditioned to walk on eggshells around a cabby. “I don’t want to delay their next order.”

To many cabbies, the impatience and brusqueness is a reflection of their harsh reality: when scraping by in a business with shrinking financial rewards, no time can be wasted on social niceties. Lau Man-hung, a 63-year-old driver, for instance, skips meals and bathroom breaks just to stay behind the wheel long enough to take home about $2,500 a month, barely enough to get by in one of the most expensive cities in the world.

“Some customers are too mafan,” said Mr. Lau using a Cantonese word that means causing trouble and annoyance. “They like to complain about which route to take. They tell you to go faster.”

An Industry’s Fragile Economics

Driving a cab used to be a decent way to make a living. But business has gotten tougher, made worse by the fallout of mainland China’s economic slowdown. The city has had trouble reviving its allure with tourists, while its bars and nightclubs, once teeming with crowds squeezed into narrow alleyways, now draw fewer revelers.

Even before the downturn, some owners of taxi licenses were struggling. Taxi licenses are limited by the government and traded on a loosely regulated market. Some owners suffered huge losses after a speculative bubble drove prices up to nearly $1 million for one license a decade ago, then burst.

Today, licenses are worth about two-thirds of their decade-ago high. Many businesses and drivers who own licenses are focused more on recouping losses than on improving service.

Tin Shing Motors, a family-owned company, manages drivers and sells taxi license mortgages and taxicab insurance. Chris Chan, a 47-year-old third-generation member of the company, says Tin Shing is saddled with mortgages bought when licenses were worth much more.

To chip away at that debt, Mr. Chan needs to rent out his taxis as much as possible. But he struggles to find drivers. Many cabbies have aged out, and young people have largely stayed away from the grueling work. Profit margins have dwindled, he added, especially with the cost of insurance almost doubling in recent years. Uber, despite operating in a gray area in Hong Kong, has also taken a chunk of customers away.

“It’s harder and harder to make money,” Mr. Chan said.

At the bottom are the drivers, about half of whom are 60 and older. Many cannot afford to retire. They have to make about $14 an hour to break even after paying for gas and the rent of their vehicles. To them, cash in hand is better than waiting days for electronic payments to clear.

A Blue-Collar Job Professionalizes

Tension between the public and taxi drivers plays out with mutual finger pointing. When the government introduced the courtesy campaign last year, a driver told a television reporter that it was the passengers who were rude.

In many ways, Hong Kong’s taxi drivers embody the high-stress, no-frills culture of the city’s working class. Their gruffness is no different from the service one gets at a cha chaan teng, the ubiquitous local cafes that fuel the masses with egg sandwiches, instant noodles and saccharine-sweet milk tea. Servers are curt, but fast.

“People tend to have one bad experience and remember it for the rest of their life,” said Hung Wing-tat, a retired professor who has studied the taxi industry. “Consequently, there is an impression among the public that all taxi drivers are bad when most of them just want to earn a living. They don’t want any trouble.”

Indeed, there are cabbies like Joe Fong, 45, who sees no value in antagonizing his customers and has tried to adapt to his passengers’ needs.

“Why fight?” Mr. Fong said. “We need each other. You need a ride and I need your money.”

Mr. Fong maximizes his income by splitting his time between driving a private car for Uber and a cab for a taxi fleet called Alliance. Mr. Fong has five cellphones affixed to his dashboard. He welcomes electronic payments, and he did not raise an eyebrow when Alliance installed cameras in all their taxis last year.

“I’m not like those old guys,” said Mr. Fong, who drives one of Hong Kong’s newer hybrid taxis made by Toyota, which look like a cross between a London cab and a PT Cruiser. “The world has changed. You have to accept it.”

Olivia Wang contributed reporting.

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World

Video: Deadly Storm Causes Massive Flooding Across Gaza

Published

6 hours ago

December 12, 2025

Press Room

Video: Deadly Storm Causes Massive Flooding Across Gaza

new video loaded: Deadly Storm Causes Massive Flooding Across Gaza

Nearly 795,000 displaced people in Gaza were at risk of dangerous floodwaters, according to the United Nations. The heavy rain and strong winds flooded makeshift shelters and collapsed several buildings, according to the Gaza Civil Defense.

By Jorge Mitssunaga, Nader Ibrahim and Saher Alghorra

December 12, 2025

World

Archaeologists uncover rare fresco of Jesus in town Pope Leo XIV recently visited

Published

7 hours ago

December 12, 2025

Press Room

Archaeologists uncover rare fresco of Jesus in town Pope Leo XIV recently visited

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Archaeologists in Turkey have discovered a fresco of a Roman-looking Jesus as the “Good Shepherd,” which is being hailed as one of the most important finds from Anatolia’s early Christian era.

The work of art was found in August in an underground tomb near the town of Iznik, where the Nicene Creed, a foundational statement of Christian belief, was adopted in A.D. 325. The tomb itself is believed to date back to the third century, when the area was still under the Roman Empire and Christians faced persecution.

POPE LEO XIV OPENS FIRST FOREIGN TRIP IN TURKEY WITH A VISIT TO CHRISTIANITY’S EARLY HEARTLANDS

Archaeologists clean and restore frescoes inside a 3rd-century tomb where a rare early Christian depiction of Jesus as the “Good Shepherd” was discovered, in Iznik, Turkey, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (Khalil Hamra/AP Photo)

The fresco shows a youthful, clean-shaven Jesus dressed in a toga and carrying a goat on his shoulders, according to The Associated Press, which was the first international media organization given access to the tomb. The outlet noted that researchers say the fresco represents one of the rare instances in Anatolia in which Jesus is portrayed with Roman attributes.

The lead archaeologist on the project believes the artwork could be the “only example of its kind in Anatolia,” the AP reported.

A fresco depicting Jesus as the “Good Shepherd” adorns the wall of a 3rd-century tomb in Hisardere, where archaeologists uncovered one of Anatolia’s best-preserved early Christian artworks, in Iznik, Turkey, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (Khalil Hamra/AP Phto)

POPE LEO XIV CALLS FOR ‘DIVINE GIFT OF PEACE’ IN MAIDEN VISIT TO MIDDLE EAST

Pope Leo XIV recently visited the town as part of his first overseas trip since taking the helm of the Vatican. While in Iznik, Pope Leo XIV marked the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which set forth the Nicene Creed that millions of Christians still read today.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) welcomes Pope Leo XIV (R) with an official welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, Turkiye, on Nov. 27, 2025. (Utku Ucrak/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presented a tile painting of the “Good Shepherd” discovery to the pope, according to the AP.

While in Turkey, Pope Leo XIV was joined by Eastern and Western patriarchs and priests as they prayed that Christians would one day be united once again. They prayed together over the site where the council produced the Nicene Creed. The men recited the creed, which the pope said was “of fundamental importance in the journey that Christians are making toward full communion,” according to the AP.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Rachel Wolf is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and FOX Business.

World

Three years on, former MEP Kaili remains in limbo still awaiting trial

Published

9 hours ago

December 12, 2025

Press Room

Three years on, former MEP Kaili remains in limbo still awaiting trial

The detention of former EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini earlier this month in a fraud investigation in Belgium has raised fresh questions about why suspects in the European Parliament’s corruption scandal still have not faced trial, three years after arrests that shocked Brussels.

Mogherini, who led the EU’s diplomatic service from 2014 to 2019 and then served as rector of the prestigious College of Europe, was questioned alongside two others on suspicion of alleged procurement fraud, corruption and conflict of interest related to an EU-funded diplomatic training programme.

The Italian top diplomat, who was eventually released pending charges, has since resigned from her post at the College of Europe.

Meanwhile, the protracted European Parliament corruption scandal investigation, which began with raids across Brussels on 9 December 2022, has moved at a glacial pace.

Greek MEP Eva Kaili became the face of the scandal when Belgian police revealed it had discovered €150,000 in cash — purportedly in large bags — at her Brussels residence during the raids.

Since then, Kaili has spent the intervening years in a legal purgatory, or what some have since dubbed “Belgiangate”.

Brussels rocked by Parliament sting

Authorities said they discovered a total of €1.5 million in cash during the 2022 sting, including €600,000 at the home of former Italian MEP Antonio Panzeri and the money found at the Brussels residence of Kaili, who was also serving as one of 14 vice presidents of the European Parliament at the time.

Kaili’s father Alexandros was apprehended at the Sofitel hotel at Place Jourdan with a suitcase containing “several hundred thousand euros,” according to authorities.

A special police team accompanied by investigating judge Michel Claise then raided Kaili’s home that evening, arresting her in front of her two-year-old daughter.

Stripped of her parliamentary immunity, Kaili spent four months in pre-trial detention followed by house arrest with an electronic bracelet until May 2023, all while maintaining her innocence in what prosecutors allege was a scheme by three non-EU countries to buy influence in the European Parliament.

She remains charged with participation in a criminal organisation, corruption and money laundering.

The 47-year-old former MEP has consistently denied all charges. Her partner Francesco Giorgi, a parliamentary assistant and former aide to Panzeri, admitted accepting bribes but alleged Kaili was not directly involved in the corruption scheme. He is the father of Kaili’s daughter.

Byzantine court drama

The case centres on allegations that Qatar, Morocco and Mauritania sought to influence European Parliament decisions through bribes paid to MEPs and staff. Authorities say the scheme aimed to kill off parliamentary resolutions condemning Qatar’s human rights record and secure visa liberalisation for Qatari citizens. Both Qatar and Morocco deny the allegations.

Panzeri struck a deal with prosecutors in January 2023 to become a cooperating witness in exchange for a reduced sentence. Under the agreement, he committed to revealing “the identity of the persons he admits to having bribed.”

Defence lawyers have challenged Panzeri’s credibility and the methods used to secure his confession.

The case took another hit after Claise, the investigating judge who ordered Kaili’s arrest, was forced to recuse himself in June 2023 after it emerged his son was a business partner of Belgian MEP Marie Arena’s son — Arena herself later charged in the scandal.

Defence lawyers claim Claise knew about these connections and should have recused himself earlier, and that he protected Arena by delaying her indictment.

Marie Arena was charged only in January with participation in a criminal organisation but not with corruption or money laundering. Police found €280,000 in cash at her son’s home, according to Belgian media reports.

Another significant development came in September 2024 when a Brussels judge ordered Committee R, an independent body overseeing Belgian intelligence, to review the legality of “specific and exceptional methods” used by Belgian secret service VSSE in the investigation.

“It’s a very important and extraordinary decision that the appeal court made,” Kaili’s lawyer Sven Mary told Euronews at the time, adding that the finding could open a “new Pandora’s box” about the role Belgian intelligence played.

The Committee had issued an opinion in January confirming that the VSSE acted within the law. However, defence lawyers pointed out that Belgium’s penal code was not amended to criminalise foreign interference until April 2024 — a year and a half after the raids. At the time of the original investigation, only military espionage qualified as a prosecutable offence of interference.

Kaili has also challenged other parts of the investigation, arguing that Belgian authorities subjected her to “medieval” conditions during detention.

Her lawyers claimed she was held in solitary confinement for three days in January 2023 without adequate blankets, with lights on continuously, which they described as “torture”. Belgian prosecutors disputed these claims.

Case known as Belgiangate?

The procedural challenges facing the investigation are substantial. Defence lawyers have questioned the case on multiple fronts, including how Kaili’s immunity was lifted, the role of Belgian intelligence services, and the credibility of key witness Antonio Panzeri.

A crucial dispute centres on whether investigators artificially created a flagrant delicto situation. When Kaili’s father was arrested carrying a suitcase of cash on 9 December 2022, Judge Claise used this to justify an immediate search of Kaili’s home.

Defence lawyers argue immunity can only be lifted when someone is caught in the act, and that investigators manufactured these conditions specifically to bypass her parliamentary protections.

Questions about Panzeri’s reliability intensified after Giorgi secretly recorded an investigator saying, “Panzeri is lying.”

The recording, revealed by Belgian outlet La Libre, is said to have captured the investigator repeatedly questioning the credibility of the man Belgian authorities consider the scheme’s mastermind.

Prosecutors want the recording excluded, citing “unclear” circumstances. Defence lawyers insist it proves Panzeri’s cooperation agreement was granted too hastily and should have required court approval.

In September 2024, Kaili and Giorgi filed a defamation complaint against Panzeri with prosecutors in Milan.

In July of this year, Kaili won a legal victory when the EU’s General Court ruled that the European Parliament had wrongly denied her access to documents about her alleged mismanagement of parliamentary assistant allowances, part of an EPPO claim.

All still in limbo

The case has expanded significantly since the initial arrests. In March, prosecutors requested that parliamentary immunity be waived for Italian S&D MEPs Elisabetta Gualmini and Alessandra Moretti.

In total, at least 10 people now face charges, including former MEPs Panzeri, Cozzolino and Marc Tarabella, as well as lobbyist Niccolò Figà-Talamanca and Luca Visentini, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation.

The Brussels Chamber of Indictment only began reviewing the legality of the investigation this week, with hearings involving more than 20 parties to the case.

Kaili, who did not seek re-election in 2024, now lives in Italy and Greece, where authorities froze her assets shortly after her arrest, while it remains unlikely a trial will begin before late 2026 at the earliest.