‘Worst Fears’: Arrest of Hong Kong Media Mogul Jimmy Lai Draws International Condemnation
Hong Kong police’s arrest of media tycoon Jimmy Lai under the city’s new national security law has drawn condemnation from officials and activists around the world, who say the move was an attack on press freedom and snuffed out the territory’s dwindling autonomy. Lai, a strident critic of the Chinese communist regime, was arrested on Aug. 10, along with his two sons, on allegations of collusion with foreign forces. Later that day, more than 200 police officers raided the newsroom of Lai’s newspaper Apple Daily, the largest pro-democracy outlet in the city. Several other media and pro-democracy figures were also arrested Monday, including prominent activist Agnes Chow. Police later said 10 people—nine men and one woman—were arrested, without naming them. Lai’s arrest “bears out the worst fears that Hong Kong’s…
Consumer confidence has sunk for a seventh straight week as Melbourne’s harsh COVID-19 lockdowns sour the mood of the nation.
The ANZ-Roy Morgan weekly consumer confidence index—a pointer to future retail spending—dropped 2.4 percent to its lowest level since late April.
“Not surprisingly, confidence is weakest in Melbourne,” ANZ economist David Plank said on Aug. 11.
The downturn in confidence is longer than the six weeks of continuous decline during the first wave in February and March.
However, the descent is less severe than earlier in the year.
Views on current economic conditions plunged 8.2 percent, but sentiment towards people’s own financial conditions held up reasonably well.
“It is still low in absolute terms and speaks to a likely reluctance on the part of households to spend,” Plank said
National Australia Bank will release its monthly business survey on Tuesday.
Recent data has shown while industries like manufacturing and services remain in decline, the pace of contraction has eased.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics will also release its weekly payrolls data – a special series introduced to give a more frequent reading on the economic impact of coronavirus.
The monthly labour force report is due on Thursday, which economists expect will show the jobless rate rising to a 22-year high of 7.8 percent in July, compared with 7.4 percent in June.
Colin Brinsden in Canberra
Focus News: Victoria Shutdown Sinks Consumer Confidence Further
ByteDance Takes Step Toward Entering Online Stock Brokering in Hong Kong
BEIJING/SHANGHAI—Beijing-based ByteDance, the owner of popular short video app TikTok, is taking steps to move into the online stock brokerage and wealth management business in Hong Kong, trademark registration documents show. ByteDance applied last December to register a trademark called Songshu Zhengquan, which translates to Squirrel Securities, in Hong Kong, the city’s online intellectual property database shows. The trademark application is being “examined,” according to the database, and areas of business it applied for include “computerized financial information services, stock trading, brokerage services, and stock exchange quotations.” The business is still in its infancy, and ByteDance currently has just one full-time employee assigned to it, according to a person familiar with the situation. The company has obtained a license, but any official launch of the online stockbroker business is not…
