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India approved just one Chinese FDI proposal worth Rs 1 crore, while clearing 13 applications from Hong Kong worth Rs 610.42 crore in the last financial year, according to official data. These approvals are important as investments from countries sharing a land border with India have been subject to prior government approval since April 2020 under Press Note 3 of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). The measure was introduced to curb opportunistic takeovers and acquisitions of Indian companies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, the government has approved 63 FDI (foreign direct investment) proposals worth Rs 10,292.67 crore, or USD 1.18 billion, during April 2025-March 2026, according to the DPIIT data. Singapore emerged as the largest source of approved FDI proposals in value terms, with five proposals worth Rs 3,259.88 crore (USD 382.52 million) receiving clearance. This was followed by the UK, where five proposals worth Rs 2,477.67 crore (USD
China on Saturday activated its flood-control emergency response in several regions as Typhoon Noul is expected to bring heavy rainfall while more than 400 flights were cancelled in Hong Kong. The regions are Fujian, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi, covering large parts of eastern, central and southern China. Met officials in Hong Kong initiated emergency measures as Typhoon Noul approached. More than 410 flights and 150 high-speed train services were cancelled while the Home Affairs Department had opened 28 shelters in anticipation of the approaching storm, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported. In Beijing, China's Ministry of Water Resources activated a Level-IV response as rivers at higher flood risk in these regions include some of the country's major waterways, such as the Pearl, Yangtze and Huaihe, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. To brace for potential flooding, the ministry has urged local water conservancy authorities to closely .
Pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai once hoped US President Donald Trump could help stop the imposition of a controversial national security law. The law not only took effect but was also used to sentence him to 20 years in prison. Ahead of an anticipated trip by Trump to Beijing to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping next week, Lai's son said his family is now hoping that Trump can help secure his father's release. Lai, a prominent critic of Beijing, founded a pro-democracy newspaper that was shut down during a crackdown following the city's massive anti-government protests in 2019. Observers say the former media mogul's plight symbolises a decline in freedoms Beijing promised when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. In an interview with The Associated Press, Sebastien Lai said he fears the clock is ticking for his 78-year-old father. Trump is expected to discuss trade, the Iran war and Taiwan with Xi. But he said he is also planning to bring up Lai, telling ..
An independent committee investigating the cause of Hong Kong's deadliest fire in decades on Thursday heard that a series of failures contributed to the blaze's burning seven buildings and killing 168 people as it opened its first hearing on the evidence. Former residents and relatives of the dead have been waiting for answers since November 2025, when the fire shattered the close-knit community of Wang Fuk Court, which housed thousands of people in the suburban district of Tai Po. In his opening remarks, the committee's lead lawyer Victor Dawes said the fire is suspected to have started at a platform in a light well outside two low-level units, noting that cigarette butts were found there and on scaffolding. Dawes said the evidence showed that multiple factors came together to produce the disaster, ranging from fire alarms and hose systems being shut off to the use of non-fire-retardant scaffolding netting and covering windows with foam boards. "On the day of the fire, nearly all
Hong Kong pro-democracy ex-publisher Jimmy Lai will not appeal the national security conviction for which he was sentenced to 20 years in prison last month, his legal team said Friday. Lai, an outspoken critic of China's ruling Communist Party who founded the now-defunct Apple Daily, was found guilty in December of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and conspiring with others to publish seditious articles. His legal team told The Associated Press via a text message about the decision, which ends a yearslong legal battle. The lawyers would not comment on the reason for not appealing. Observers say his conviction reflected the decline of press and other freedoms that has changed Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to China's control in 1997. The government insists the case has nothing to do with a free press, saying the defendants used news reporting as a pretext for years to commit acts that harmed China and Hong Kong. Lai was one of the first prominent figures t
A Hong Kong appellate court on Thursday quashed fraud convictions against onetime media magnate Jimmy Lai, a rare victory in the prominent activist's legal battles. Lai, 78, an outspoken critic of China's ruling Communist Party who founded the now-defunct Apple Daily, will stay in prison because he was sentenced to 20 years weeks ago after being convicted in another case brought under a China-imposed national security law. That came more than five years after he was arrested under the law, which was used in a yearslong crackdown on many of Hong Kong's leading activists. His plight has evoked grief over the city's loss of press freedom and sparked an international outcry, though the city's authorities insist his case had nothing to do with media independence. The conviction that was overturned Thursday was from a earlier fraud case in which prosecutors alleged that a consultancy firm controlled by Lai had used office space that his media business rented for publication and printing
Hong Kong Aero Engine Services Ltd (HAESL) has chosen Indian IT firm HCLTech to modernise its maintenance, repair and overhaul operations. The partnership aims to streamline HAESL's Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) processes to boost efficiency and scalability, provide real-time data visibility for quicker decision-making, improve resource utilisation and ensure compliance with global standards. HCLTech will deploy its asset management solution, iMRO/4, as HAESL's Maintenance Execution System (MES) in Hong Kong, HCLTech said in a statement. "By integrating iMRO/4 with SAP S/4HANA, we will enhance end -to- end traceability and provide a single view of the workflow from induction to release. This reduces barriers and improves execution efficiency. "Partnering with HCLTech marks a significant step in our transformation, creating a scalable digital foundation that supports operational excellence and long -term growth ," said Ravinder Bedi, General Manager of Finance & ...
A trial against two pro-democracy activists behind a group that for decades organized a vigil that commemorated people killed in Beijing's Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989 opened Thursday, in another landmark case brought under a China-imposed national security law that has practically crushed protests in the semiautonomous Chinese city. Critics say their case shows that Beijing's promise to keep the city's Western-style civil liberties intact for 50 years when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997 has weakened over time. But the city's government said its law enforcement actions were evidence-based and strictly in accordance with the law. Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan, former leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, were charged with incitement to subversion in September 2021 under the law. They are accused of inciting others to organize, plan or act through unlawful means with a view to subvert state power, .