Hong Kong | DD News

February 26, 2026 9:36 AM

Hong Kong’s Court of Appeal overturns tycoon Jimmy Lai’s fraud conviction and sentencing

Pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai's fraud conviction and prison sentence were overturned by a Hong Kong court on Thursday, in a surprise legal decision that comes soon after Lai was jailed for 20 years on a separate national security charge. Judges Jeremy Poon, Anthea Pang, and Derek Pang said in the judgement at the Court of First Instance that they allowed the appeal from Lai, and another defendant in the case, to proceed, as a lower court judge had "erred". "The Court of Appeal gave t...

February 9, 2026 9:44 AM

Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai sentenced to 20 years jail in national security trial

Hong Kong’s most prominent media tycoon, Jimmy Lai, was sentenced on Monday to a total of 20 years in jail on national security charges comprising two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one count of publishing seditious materials. The sentence ends a legal saga spanning almost five years and marks Hong Kong’s most high-profile national security hearing. Lai, the founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper, was first arrested in August 2020 and convicted last year...

January 2, 2026 3:22 PM

Hong Kong arrests 21 for corruption in building renovation crackdown

Hong Kong's anti-graft agency arrested 21 people on suspicion of corruption in relation to renovation work at two residential estates, it said on Friday. Hong Kong has stepped up a crackdown on corruption linked to building renovation following a fire in late November that ripped through seven high-rise towers and killed more than 160 people. John Lee, the city's leader, last month set up an independent committee to investigatethe fire and the construction industry, and determine whether there...

December 5, 2025 12:27 PM

Hong Kong faces low election turnout as residents mourn deadly fire

Turnout is expected to be low for Hong Kong's "patriots only" legislative election on Sunday, with subdued political campaigning as the population reels from the city's deadliest blaze in decades that has killed 159 people so far. Volunteers tentatively handed out flyers and hung banners outside subway stations and crowded intersections on Friday, but they were largely ignored by residents. Campaigning activities were suspended for a few days following last week's fire. "This accident, of cour...

November 27, 2025 1:08 PM

Hong Kong fire kills 55, hundreds missing as police blame ‘grossly negligent’ construction firm

A huge fire still burning in a Hong Kong apartment complex that has killed at least 55 people and left nearly 300 missing may have been caused by a "grossly negligent" construction firm using unsafe materials, police said on Thursday. Almost a full day after the fire began, firefighters were struggling to reach residents potentially trapped on the upper floors of the Wang Fuk Court housing complex due to intense heat and thick smoke from the blaze that erupted on Wednesday afternoon. The tight...

September 24, 2025 9:42 AM

Super Typhoon Ragasa kills 14 in eastern Taiwan, with 129 missing

Fourteen people have died in Taiwan's popular tourist hub in the eastern county of Hualien, with 129 missing after a barrier lake in the mountains overflowed to deluge a town during a typhoon, the fire department said on Wednesday. Taiwan has been lashed since Monday by the outer rim of Super Typhoon Ragasa, now hitting China's southern coast and the Asian financial hub of Hong Kong. The barrier lake, formed by landslides triggered by earlier heavy rain in the island's sparsely populated eas...

August 14, 2025 12:51 PM

Tropical storm Podul disrupts travel and schools in southern China

Tropical storm Podul on Thursday dumped torrential rain on southern China, still reeling from record downpours last week, and disrupted hospitals, schools and law courts in Hong Kong after tearing through Taiwan and leaving 143 people injured. The hearing of Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai was cancelled after authorities put in place their highest-level "black" rainstorm warning, as supporters queued under umbrellas outside the court. Out-patient clinics also shut un...

August 5, 2025 10:26 AM

Hong Kong issues highest weather warning, as rains shut schools, courts and hospital wards

Blackened skies unleashed torrential rains on Hong Kong and the high-tech cities surrounding south China's Pearl River Delta on Tuesday, shutting hospitals, schools and law courts, and turning the Asian financial centre's many staircases into waterfalls. Around 10,000 lightning flashes lit up Hong Kong's skies between 6 a.m. (2200 GMT) and 6:59 a.m., according to the city's weather authorities, as up to 90mm (3.5 inches) of rain per hour continued to drench the city and neighbouring Guangdong p...

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...