HONG KONG, Feb 25 (Reuters) – Clothing retailer Esprit
Holdings posted a halving of first-half profit that
also missed analyst estimates, hit by unfavourable currency
rates and as sales slid on the closure of underperforming stores
and unseasonably warm weather in Europe.

Under Chief Executive Jose Manuel Martinez Gutierrez, the
Europe-focused company has launched a dramatic restructuring,
seeking to learn from the business model of his former employer
Inditex SA.

HONG KONG (Reuters) – The number of mainland Chinese visitors to Hong Kong during the Lunar New Year holidays fell for the first time in about 20 years as they have felt increasingly unwelcome amid political unrest in the city.

The drop comes as Hong Kong’s leader Leung Chun-ying said he would raise the issue of large numbers of mainland Chinese visitors with Beijing at a parliamentary meeting next month.

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Nearly three months after police cleared away the last of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy street protests, lingering anger is stoking a new front of radical activism that has turned shopping malls and university campuses into a fresh battleground.

While still relatively few in number, a cluster of outspoken groups have staged small but disruptive protests in recent weeks targeting mainland Chinese visitors – tapping a seam of grassroots resentment to call for greater Hong Kong nationalism and even independence from China.

HONG KONG, Feb 23 (Reuters) – Nearly three months after
police cleared away the last of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy street
protests, lingering anger is stoking a new front of radical
activism that has turned shopping malls and university campuses
into a fresh battleground.

While still relatively few in number, a cluster of outspoken
groups have staged small but disruptive protests in recent weeks
targeting mainland Chinese visitors – tapping a seam of
grassroots resentment to call for greater Hong Kong nationalism
and even independence from China.

HONG KONG (Reuters) – A campus election at a top Hong Kong university degenerated into an acrimonious campaign against mainland Chinese candidates, highlighting simmering tensions two months after pro-democracy protests led by local students paralysed parts of the city.

Mainland students say they have always felt a distance from their local peers, but recent events in the Chinese-controlled city have fueled a burgeoning Hong Kong identity among many younger residents, alongside frustration and anger at Beijing.

HONG KONG, Feb 6 (Reuters) – A Chinese state-backed
newspaper on Friday defended a mainland student running for
university office in Hong Kong against what it described as a
dangerous “McCarthyite trend” in the former British colony.

The Global Times invoked the language of U.S. Senator Joseph
McCarthy’s anti-Communist crusades of the 1950s to seek to
protect Eugenia Yip, who is running for social secretary of the
student union of the prestigious University of Hong Kong.

Feb 5 (Reuters) – Even after two deadly crashes in seven
months, TransAsia Airways Corp will likely rebound
quickly as insurance covers any financial losses and its coveted
routes through Taipei’s downtown airport keep it popular with
business travellers.

Airline analysts said the carrier may have to offer
discounts to lure back passengers after Flight GE235 ended in at
least 31 fatalities on Wednesday. Amateur video from a car
dashboard camera showed the plane clipped a taxi and a bridge
before smashing upside down in a shallow river.

HONG KONG (Reuters) – China’s top official in Hong Kong has warned democracy campaigners in the former British colony against pushing for independence and confronting Beijing, the official news agency, Xinhua, reported.

Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong shut down major business districts for 2-1/2 months last year, demanding open nominations in the next election of the city’s chief executive in 2017.

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has agreed to prevent the sale of up to 15 illegal or dangerous toys in the United States, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) chairman said on Tuesday.

    It is the first such agreement between the CPSC and a foreign company, CPSC Chairman Elliot Kaye said on the sidelines of the Hong Kong Toys and Games Fair.

HONG KONG (Reuters) – The Hong Kong government on Wednesday cemented its support for China’s plan to pre-screen candidates for the city’s 2017 leadership election, just weeks after authorities cleared the streets of protesters pushing for greater democracy.

Chief Secretary Carrie Lam, in an address to lawmakers, framed the debate about Hong Kong’s future as one about how an existing, Beijing-approved election nominating committee will operate rather than whether the committee should continue to exist.