Firefighters battled for a second day on Thursday to contain a massive inferno that ripped through seven high-rise residential towers in Hong Kong, as the death toll climbed to 65 and over 280 people remained missing in what officials described as the city's worst disaster in 70 years.
India's Anirban Lahiri had a modest round, falling outside the Top-10 at Liv Golf Hong Kong, while Jon Rahm climbed into a three-way tie for the lead.
P V Sindhu bowed out, while H S Prannoy and Lakshya Sen scored hard-fought wins to advance in the Hong Kong Open Super 500 tournament.
Some mainland fans travelled 12 hours from Xinjiang to Hong Kong to see Messi, the Global Times wrote, with the disappointment of the government and fans "entirely understandable. The impact of this incident has far exceeded the realm of sports."
Lakshya Sen entered his first major final in two years after edging out Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen in straight games, while the men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also stormed into the summit clash.
'Although Hong Kong weathered many a storm and displayed a remarkable resilience to bounce back, the developments in the territory have raised question marks with regard to its future stability and prosperity.' A revealing excerpt from Rup Narayan Das's Hong Kong Conundrum: Pangs of Transition.
Tens of thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Hong Kong on Monday on the 22nd anniversary of the territory's return to China from Britain.
India needs to take note of China's assertiveness in implementing its national security law as also its recently exhibited sensitivity to criticism of Xi Jinping by the Indian media, says former senior R&AW officer and China expert Jayadeva Ranade.
The unpopular extradition bill would have allowed the transfer of suspects to places with which Hong Kong did not have an extradition agreement including mainland China for trial.
Hong Kong has regained its spot as the world's fourth-largest market following a broad market rout in Indian equities. Currently, the Chinese territory's market capitalisation stands at $4.9 trillion versus India's $4.75 trillion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In January, the domestic equity markets' market capitalisation had surpassed that of Hong Kong following a spectacular rally in the small- and midcap stocks.
Amid raging pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, China today threw its weight behind the region's Chief Executive CY Leung and warned demonstrators of "unimaginable" consequences if the standoff continues.
The crushing of Hong Kong's long-held spirit of democracy by a tyrannnical regime is a warning of the dangers and threat from autocrats to all who believe in the spirit of true democracy.
'India need to look beyond the economic prism.' 'China had no qualms in taking the Kashmir issue to the UN Security Council last year -- not once, but thrice -- thus violating Indian sensitivities,' observes China expert Srikanth Kondapalli.
The new law permits for the first time Chinese security agencies to open their establishments and operate in Hong Kong.
The Chinese Embassy in London and the Chinese ambassador to the UK issued strong statements condemning the UK's move as a disregard for its representations and 'blatant' interference in its internal affairs.
No. 6 seed Yuan Yue came back from down 3-0 in the second set to win the last six games of the match and defeat former world No. 1 Simona Halep on Monday in the opening round of the Hong Kong Open.
In the last five years, imports from HK have more than tripled -- from $5.6 billion in FY15 to $17.1 billion in FY20. In the same period, exports declined by 20 per cent -- from $13.6 billion in FY15 to $10.8 billion (annualised) in FY20.
'Leaders of the Indian community in Hong Kong had broached the idea of developing the Andaman and Nicobar islands for investment and setting up manufacturing units,' points out Rup Narayan Das.
The gap between market capitalisation of Hong Kong and India has dwindled significantly. At present, India's market cap stands at approximately $4.3 trillion, while Hong Kong's is around $4.7 trillion. In the depths of the Covid-19 crisis in March 2020, Hong Kong's market cap, at $4.6 trillion, was 3.44 times larger than India's.
Hong Kong held China to a nil-nil draw in a World Cup qualifying soccer match on Tuesday played amid lingering political tensions between the two sides after last year's massive pro-democracy protests in the financial hub.
China has emerged as India's largest trading partner in 2025-26, with bilateral trade reaching USD 151.1 billion, while India's trade deficit with Beijing widened to an all-time high of USD 112.6 billion.
China on Sunday ruled out allowing open nominations in elections for the Hong Kong's next leader, in a move that could ignite tension in the Asian financial hub where the democracy advocates have threatened to shut down the main business district in protest.
Critics have dismissed the move as a political gesture by Beijing to appease the people of Hong Kong.
Hong Kong on Friday invited Indian companies to tap the market in sectors like transportation, construction, IT, financial services and banking.
The attack on the computer server of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi was carried out by Chinese hackers, a senior government source said on Wednesday adding that data in the five servers have been successfully retrieved now.
Naresh Goyal-owned Jet Airways launched its first flight for Hong Kong from Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) in Mumbai on Monday. Jet Airways is the first private carrier to have started a service to Hong Kong from India.
Benchmark indices--Sensex and Nifty--were 0.7-0.8 per cent higher from the Saturday closing. Among the widely-tracked Nifty 50 stocks, 39 advanced and the rest 11 declined at the opening bell. Among the individual stocks, Cipla, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, Power Grid Corp, and Bharti Airtel were the top five gainers, while Asian Paints, Hindustan Unilever, Britania, HDFC Bank, and BPCL the losers, NSE data showed. On Monday, Indian stock exchanges were closed for trading on the occasion of Pran Pratistha of Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Hong Kong's exchanges and cooperation, and particularly its business ties, with the mainland have grown increasingly closer.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the move, saying he was carrying out President Donald Trump's orders. "Today, I am announcing visa restrictions on current and former CCP officials who are believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy, as guaranteed in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration or undermining human rights and fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong," Pompeo said.
Violent clashes between police and pro-democracy demonstrators continued on Sunday, the third day of mass protests against the alleged recent police brutality. Police fired multiple rounds of tear gas and rubber bullets to push back the protestors who were trying to reach the Chinese government's Liaison Office. Hong Kong has seen eight consecutive weeks of anti-government protests that began against a now-suspended extradition bill, but have since broadened to include calls for democracy and police accountability.
Even if the extradition bill has been suspended, Beijing will eventually impose its system on Hong Kong, observes Nitin Pai.
Hong Kong became a colony of the British Empire after the First Opium War (1839-42).
'The notion of a single unarmed town challenging the might of the People's Republic is a little absurd,' says Mihir Sharma.
For months, Hong Kong's streets have seethed with discontent. Scenes show protesters, sometimes numbering in the hundreds of thousands, many wearing surgical masks and carrying umbrellas that have come to signify resistance. The images are astonishing, and the issues that set the protests in motion are complex. Amid these 11 weeks of protests, here's how daily life unfolds.
The United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO have expressed concern on the new law and warned of retaliatory measures.
'The rate of transmission of COVID-19 in Hong Kong was 0.7 -- anything below 1 suggests the epidemic is receding.' 'The city-State achieved this without the de facto police-State curfew that India has resorted to,' says Rahul Jacob.
Since the Centre tightened the Press Note 3 norms in April last, as many as 150 private equity/venture capital investment applications from China and Hong Kong are pending with the government, starving the country's start-up ecosystem of funds, says a report. The Press Note 3 (PN3) changes were effected in April, restricting foreign direct investment from countries that share land borders with India. Analysts are of the view that the move was primarily aimed at China as lot of private funds were investing billions into domestic companies.
After China imposed a national security law on Hong Kong earlier this month, the United States on July 14 withdrew the special status granted to Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada followed suit.
Increasingly restive protests for over two months have plunged Hong Kong into its most serious political crisis in decades.
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