Hong Kong

May 8, 2025 3:52 AM

Sotheby’s halts relics auction after India’s diplomatic push

The Ministry of Culture has successfully intervened to stop the auction of the Piprahwa Buddhist relics in Hong Kong, marking a significant diplomatic and cultural win for India. The sacred artifacts, which include bone fragments believed to be of the historical Buddha, were scheduled to go under the hammer at Sotheby’s on May 7. The relics had been listed for sale by Chris Peppé, great-grandson of British engineer William Claxton Peppé, who excavated them in 1898 from a stupa in Piprahwa,...

May 6, 2025 8:29 PM

India acts swiftly to block Sotheby’s sale of sacred Buddha relics

The Centre has launched a strong diplomatic and legal offensive to block the proposed auction of sacred Piprahwa Relics—believed to be remains of Lord Buddha—by Sotheby’s in Hong Kong. The relics, which include bone fragments, crystal caskets, gold ornaments, and other ancient offerings, were excavated in 1898 from the Piprahwa Stupa in present-day Uttar Pradesh—widely identified as the ancient city of Kapilavastu, the birthplace of Lord Buddha. An inscription in Brahmi script on one o...

March 6, 2025 11:14 AM

Hong Kong’s top court quashes convictions of pro-democracy Tiananmen group

Hong Kong's top court unanimously overturned on Thursday the convictions of three former members of a pro-democracy group that organised an annual candlelight vigil to mark China's 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, citing a miscarriage of justice. The ruling is a rare victory for Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement in which scores of activists have been jailed or forced into exile, with many liberal and popular civil society groups shuttered. In their judgment, the five judges of the Court of Fi...

March 5, 2025 2:14 PM

Trump hails ‘reclaiming’ of Panama canal after BlackRock-led group’s deal to buy stake

U.S. President Donald Trump has hailed a deal led by U.S. firm BlackRock to buy most of the $22.8 billion ports business of Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison which includes assets along the Panama Canal. The deal will give the U.S. consortium control of key Panama Canal ports amid White House calls to remove them from what it claims is Chinese ownership. On the first trading day after the deal's announcement, CK Hutchison stock soared nearly 25%. "My administration will be reclaiming the Pan...

February 19, 2025 4:40 PM

Hong Kong and Uyghur communities in Ireland urge government to confront China on transnational repression during Wang Yi’s visit

Members of the Hong Kong and Uyghur communities in Ireland have called on the Irish government to address China’s transnational repression and human rights violations during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Dublin. Wang, who is also a member of the Chinese Communist Party's Politburo, arrived in Ireland after attending the Munich Security Conference, where he met with top European leaders. He is scheduled to hold discussions with Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harr...

September 14, 2024 10:47 AM

Hong Kong press group says dozens of journalists harassed

Dozens of Hong Kong journalists and their families have been harassed and intimidated online and in person over the last three months starting from June, the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) said on Friday. HKJA chairperson Selina Cheng said the threats and sharing of false and defamatory content damage press freedom in Hong Kong and should not be tolerated. "I think this is the largest scale harassment against reporters in Hong Kong that we have thus far known of," Cheng said. "We are...

September 6, 2024 10:19 AM

Super Typhoon Yagi heads for southern China, shutting schools and cancelling flights

Powerful gales and heavy rain from Super Typhoon Yagi drenched southern China on Friday, with schools shut for a second day and flights cancelled as one of the strongest storms to hit Asia this year headed for landfall along Hainan's tropical coast. Packing maximum sustained winds of 245 km per hour (152 mph) near its eye, Yagi registers as the world's second-most powerful tropical cyclone in 2024 so far, after the Category 5 Atlantic hurricane Beryl. More than doubling in strength since devas...

June 25, 2024 5:18 PM

Landmark trial for 47 Hong Kong democrats enters final stretch before sentencing

Mitigation pleas for Hong Kong's biggest ever national security trial against the city's democratic opposition kicked off on Tuesday, in what is expected to be the final stage before sentencing that could see some defendants jailed for life. The 47 democrats were among those arrested in early 2021 for taking part in an unofficial, non-binding poll to select candidates for a legislative election. They were charged with "conspiracy to commit subversion" under a China-imposed national security law...

June 4, 2024 11:35 AM

Security tight in China and Hong Kong on Tiananmen crackdown anniversary

Security was tight and access restricted to Beijing's Tiananmen Square on Tuesday, the 35th anniversary of the June 4 crackdown, while Hong Kong also increased policing as activists in Taiwan and elsewhere prepared to mark the date with vigils. Chinese tanks rolled into the square before dawn on June 4, 1989, to end weeks of pro-democracy demonstrations by students and workers. Television news images of a lone Chinese man in a white shirt standing in front of a column of tanks spread around the...

September 16, 2024 5:52 PM

Fourteen Hong Kong democrats found guilty in landmark subversion trial

Fourteen Hong Kong pro-democracy activists were found guilty and two were acquitted on Thursday in a landmark subversion trial that critics say could deal another blow to the city's rule of law and its reputation as a global financial hub. The verdicts in Hong Kong's biggest trial against the democratic opposition come more than three years after police arrested 47 democrats in dawn raids at homes across the city. They were charged with conspiracy to commit subversion under a national security ...