China

HONG KONG (AP) — The Canadian Consulate in Hong Kong says it has suspended local staff from travelling outside the city including to mainland China.

The move comes after the Chinese government said a British Consulate employee has been detained after he went to the neighboring mainland city of Shenzhen.

In a statement Friday, the Canadian Consulate says, “At present, locally engaged staff will not undertake official business travel outside of Hong Kong.”

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets were mixed on Friday after Wall Street declined ahead of a closely watched speech by the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman.

Market benchmarks in Shanghai, Tokyo and Australia rose while Hong Kong declined.

Investors are looking to Jerome Powell’s speech Friday for signs of direction on interest rates after two regional Fed presidents said they see no need for a change.

Investors expect a cut in September, the Fed’s second in three months, to shore up U.S. economic growth amid a tariff war with Beijing and weakening global growth.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - China Telecom said on Thursday it is ready to build a 5G mobile network with its rivals in order to reduce costs, a proposal that is likely to cut multi-billion dollar equipment orders for vendors such as Huawei Technologies.

China’s big three state telcos are racing to roll out 5G services in more than 50 cities this year, following countries like South Korea and the United States which have already started the service that promises to support new technologies such as autonomous driving.

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong riot police faced off briefly with protesters occupying a suburban train station Wednesday evening following a commemoration of a violent attack there by masked assailants against supporters of the anti-government movement.

Near the end of the event, the police began what they called a “dispersal operation, using minimum force” after some protesters blocked roads and flashed laser pointers at officers.

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets are mixed Thursday following Wall Street’s rebound as investors looked ahead to a speech by the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman for clues about possible interest rate cuts.

Investor reaction was muted following Wednesday’s release of notes from the latest Fed meeting showing conflicting opinions about rates.

Benchmarks in Shanghai and Hong Kong fell, while Tokyo and Sydney climbed.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A major bank warned on Wednesday that weeks of protests in Hong Kong could hit the economies of the Chinese-ruled city and mainland China itself as demonstrators headed for a sit-in at the subway site of a mid-summer mob attack.

Hong Kong-based Bank of East Asia Ltd (BEA) posted a 75% slump in first-half net profit after it wrote down loans in China because of a downturn in commercial property markets outside China’s top cities.

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese national working at Britain’s Hong Kong consulate has been detained in China’s border city of Shenzhen for violating the law, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Wednesday, likely worsening already strained ties between Beijing and London.

Britain has said it is “extremely concerned” by reports that the staff member at the consulate in its former colony had been detained.

BEIJING (AP) — Asia stock markets followed Wall Street lower Wednesday as investors looked ahead to a speech by the Federal Reserve chairman for signs of possible plans for more U.S. interest rate cuts.

Benchmarks in Tokyo, Shanghai and Australia declined while South Korea advanced.

U.S. stocks fell Tuesday after another slide in bond yields and a mixed batch of corporate earnings. Financial sector stocks led the declines.

20 August 2019; AFP: Huawei on Tuesday dismissed Washington's three-month delay to a ban on US firms selling to the Chinese tech giant and said the decision would not change the fact it had been "treated unjustly".

The US Commerce Department effectively suspended for a second time tough rules stopping the sale of components and services to the telecoms titan and a prohibition on buying equipment from it.

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s leader said Tuesday she’s immediately setting up a “communication platform” to narrow differences in the city after months of anti-government protests.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam also said the city’s police watchdog will carry out a fact-finding study of the protests and related incidents as it looks into 174 complaints about police behavior.

The movement held a massive but peaceful rally on Sunday after earlier protests had been marked by violence. The government has conditioned dialogue on the leaderless protest movement remaining peaceful.