The Hang Seng index is down by 13.22 per cent, its sharpest drop since 1997, in the wake of the trade war triggered by tariffs. Recession fears are also sinking Singaporean real estate companies. Massive interventions by a Chinese sovereign wealth fund contains losses on the Shanghai stock exchange.
The Hong Kong government has announced the date of the vote for the renewal of the Legislative Council, the local ‘parliament’ now inaccessible to pro-democracy members, most of whom are still in prison. Four years ago, barely 30% of voters turned out. And a survey conducted in recent weeks revealed the discontent towards an institution ‘where they only make speeches to flatter Beijing’.
Called "space oil” because it makes people feel as if they were in space, the substance is taken through electronic cigarettes. Its basic ingredient is an anaesthetic, etomidate. It is increasingly popular among youth in Hong Kong, but also mainland China and Taiwan. A “zero tolerance” policy has failed so far to deal with the real causes of the problem.
The gesture took place a few days ago during a visit to Shanghai by a delegation from the diocese of Hong Kong. Card. Chow said: ‘The shrine of Our Lady of Sheshan is of immense importance for the Church in China and it was significant to pray alongside Bishop Shen for the Holy Father’. The hope for closer pastoral collaboration between the ecclesial communities of the two cosmopolitan metropolises.
After 24 years of activity in support of foreign communities, the NGO Hong Kong Unison has announced its dissolution. Its chairperson said that the organisation had run out of steam, stressing that she had not come under any political pressure, but its former executive director and other members criticised the decision, saying it lacked transparency.
The Pime missionary has been on a 24-hour sit-in in front of the government's central offices since yesterday to remember the at least one thousand young people who are still in prison due to the repression of pro-democracy movements. ‘With an amnesty they could restore credibility to this city’. The memory of Siu Ka Chun, one of the leaders of the 2014 ‘umbrella movement’ and later an activist for prisoners' rights, who died in recent days of cancer.
