They were two young, respectable and hard-working Hong Kong sisters. Now one is facing the death penalty in a Singapore jail, as the other tries to face up to the severity of her sister's sentence. How did they get involved with drugs in the first place? Angel Mou Pui-peng, is about to die. Mei-mei, her sister, knows this well. She is sitting in a booth in a hotel restaurant just a minute's walk from Wan Chai Police Headquarters, a place she has also come to know well. For the past 2? years she has been a frequent visitor to the narcotics bureau there - ever since she made a successful run through Bangkok, Seoul and Europe as a triad courier. With a woman police detective at her side for support, Mei-mei recounts the chain of events that has led her here to speak with me today.
On August 18, 1991, Mei-mei flew home from Holland to Hong Kong. As she stepped off the plane, Mei-mei had hoped to be greeted by her elder sister, Angel. Instead, as she pushed her luggage-laden trolley down the welcome ramp at Kai Tak, she was met by a band of narcotics bureau detectives from the Royal Hong Kong Police.
Angel, who had been simultaneously traipsing the world compliments of the same drug-trafficking syndicate, was expected to travel through Bangkok, Singapore, on to Zurich, by train to Amsterdam, and then back to Hong Kong.
Huawei’s 2025 revenues surge to US$127 billion as firm continues to defy US sanctions
Last year’s revenue was the second highest on record for the Shenzhen-based company, with its highest ever being 891 billion yuan in 2020
Huawei Technologies recorded revenue of more than 880 billion yuan (US$127 billion) in 2025, a company executive disclosed on Tuesday, signaling the tech giant’s resilience despite US sanctions.
Huawei chairman Howard Liang Hua said that the company maintained steady operations to provide globally competitive products and services. He spoke at the 2026 Guangdong High-quality Development Conference, a provincial government event.
Last year’s revenue figure was the second highest on record for Shenzhen-based Huawei. Its highest ever was 891 billion yuan in 2020, which followed the first imposition of US sanctions on its lucrative mobile phone and international operations.
‘China shock’ hangs over German leader Friedrich Merz’s first visit to Beijing
Chancellor must strike a balance between those wanting a toned-down Brussels trade policy and those backing tougher action against Beijing
At a time when German industry is frequently slammed for being too slow and reluctant to change, there is one area in which industrialists have noticed rapid evolution.
“The speed at which our position towards China has changed and at which our members are changing their minds on China – it’s China speed,” said Oliver Richtberg, head of the foreign trade department at Germany’s Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (VDMA).
Richtberg’s group represents more than 3,000 of Germany’s “hidden champions”, manufacturers who make the parts and machines that power household brands and which for decades have been a bedrock of Europe’s biggest economy.
“We never have seen a challenge like China in the machinery industry before,” the senior VDMA official said. “They put their finger in our wound. They showed us where our weaknesses are.”
Richtberg added that cutthroat Chinese competition was set to send the total number of German machinery jobs below the symbolic 1 million mark this year.
