Hong Kong

HONG KONG — Two of the most prominent initial public offerings in Asia this year were dealt setbacks yesterday as renewed worries about the debt crisis in Greece and the waning growth momentum in China sent stocks sharply lower. Prada, the Italian luxury fashion house, lowered the price guidance for its listing in Hong Kong amid feeble demand from retail investors, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said. And shares in Samsonite, the luggage maker founded in the United States 101 years ago, fell sharply on their first trading day in Hong Kong, becoming the latest in a string...

A report that Greece is considering preparations to leave the euro common currency sent Asian stock markets lower Wednesday. Investors have long acknowledged the possibility of a Greek withdrawal from the 17-nation euro currency union as the country struggles to meet harsh austerity targets that are a condition of getting international bailout money. But a financial news service's report, which quoted former Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos suggesting such a euro exit could be approaching, flustered markets.

BEIJING — On a balmy weekend last fall, more than 600 elderly Chinese people, some leaning on canes or walkers, gathered in a Beijing hotel for one of the world's most extraordinary college reunions. Their school, St. John's University in Shanghai, hasn't existed for 60 years. Its last students graduated in 1952, the year the missionary-founded school was shuttered by China's Communist leadership. The members of that class — the youngest at the reunion — are now in their early 80s. They have been held together over the years by a powerful bond, one that comes from the...

Nissan's upscale Infiniti brand unveiled its new global headquarters in Hong Kong on Tuesday, as the Japanese automaker uses the southern Chinese financial center to grab a bigger piece of the world's top car market. Nissan Motor Co. President and CEO Carlos Ghosn dotted the eyes on traditional Chinese lion dancers at a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new office. Infiniti is the first car maker to base itself in Hong Kong, a semiautonomous region of China better known for its banking prowess and stock market.

A Hong Kong national, extradited from his country to face export charges in the United States, was sentenced yesterday to 3 ½ years in federal prison for illegally exporting US military technology to Iran. Hok Shek Chan, 57, grew tearful and pleaded for leniency just before US District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock sentenced him for exporting munitions without the required license. Chan had pleaded guilty to the charges. Chan's sister came from Hong Kong, and a brother and friend arrived from Canada, to support Chan at yesterday's hearing.

BEIJING - The list of products caught in China's tainted milk scandal grew yesterday to include baby cereal in Hong Kong and snack foods in Japan, while Taiwan reported three children and a mother with kidney stones in the island's first cases possibly linked to the crisis. The Japanese government also said it had suspended imports of milk and milk products from China, where some 54,000 children have developed kidney stones or other illnesses after drinking baby formula contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine.

WILMINGTON, Del. - Evergreen Solar Inc., a bankrupt solar panel maker, has won court approval to sell most of its assets, including a sale of its core wafer assets to a Hong Kong company. A bankruptcy judge, Mary F. Walrath, approved three sales yesterday to three different buyers, after the Massachusetts company held an auction earlier this week. Evergreen will sell its core wafer assets to Hong Kong-based Max Era Properties Ltd. for about $9.2 million, according to court documents.

HONG KONG -- The Hong Kong government has ordered television stations to run nightly broadcasts of a patriotic video, sparking worries that communist China is trying to indoctrinate the free-spirited territory. The 45-second airing of China's national anthem played over a montage of patriotic images has sparked more complaints than flag-waving in Hong Kong, where many of the 6.8 million residents remain leery of Beijing's communist government after the territory was returned from Britain to China in 1997.

HONG KONG - Apple Inc. is preparing to open its first store in Hong Kong this month as the maker of iPhones and iPads aims to capture the surge in demand from China and its neighboring regions. The store, located inside the International Finance Center Mall in Hong Kong's Central shopping and business district, will debut this quarter, said Carolyn Wu, a Beijing-based Apple spokeswoman, declining to specify a date. The Ming Pao Daily reported two days ago, without citing anyone, that it will open the two-story store Sept.

HONG KONG - Thousands of Hong Kong residents marched to the Chinese government’s liaison office yesterday demanding that Beijing grant full democracy to the semiautonomous financial hub. Chanting “One man, one vote to choose our leader’’ and clutching signs reading “Democracy now,’’ the demonstrators set off from a crowded street in the heart of the Central financial district. Dozens of the protesters tried but failed to breach a police cordon at the Chinese government compound.

Asian stock markets rose Wednesday after a burst of manufacturing growth in the U.S. pushed the Dow Jones industrial average to its highest close in more than four years. Japan's Nikkei 225 inched up less than 0.1 percent at 9,354.45 after a sharp tumble the day before. Other Asian markets opened higher following public holidays. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.8 percent to 21,258.14. Benchmarks in Taiwan, Singapore and mainland China also rose. U.S. manufacturing expanded last month at its strongest pace since June, according to the Institute for Supply Management.

Turtles represent longevity and good luck, and that's certainly true for 18 rare smuggled turtles that were returned from Hong Kong to their native Philippines. Philippine Wildlife Bureau head Mundita Lim says the pond turtles were confiscated at the Hong Kong airport in February from a Chinese student, along with 13 more common box turtles. Pond turtles live only in forests on Palawan Island southwest of Manila. Only about 120 remain in the wild. Lim says they are prized as novelty pets or food.

The Panchen Lama chosen by China but disputed by Tibetan Buddhists discussed religious philosophy Thursday during his first appearance outside the mainland, marking greater efforts by Beijing to win acceptance of its rule over Tibet. The Panchen Lama is Tibetan Buddhism's second-highest spiritual leader, but followers of the exiled Dalai Lama — the top leader — do not recognize China's choice. Beijing's 22-year-old Panchen Lama spoke at the third World Buddhist Forum, a showcase for China's cultural diplomacy that is attended by more than 1,000 monks, nuns...

Asian stock markets were mostly lower Wednesday as data suggesting a slowdown in China raised concerns that its economy might not have the momentum needed to help sustain a global recovery. In Japan, export-reliant companies like Toyota Motor Corp. felt pressure as the dollar gave up some of its recent gains against the yen. The Nikkei 225 index fell 0.2 percent to 10,120.63. South Korea's Kospi index dropped 0.3 percent to 2,035.34. In Australia, where economic growth is tightly bound to sales of its raw materials to China, the S&P/ASX 200 was 0.1...

MILTON - Model ships and paintings of Hong Kong, Macao, and Canton harbors set the tone for this unusual house museum where Boston history and a family's saga intertwine. Margaret Perkins Forbes (1773-1856) had been a widow for about nine years when her two surviving sons - both of whom were engaged in the China trade - built her this magnificent Greek Revival "summer home" high on a ridge in Milton in 1833. Designed by Isaiah Rogers, known as the "inventor of the modern hotel" for his Tremont Hotel in Boston, it featured one of Rogers's signature...

Nixon Peabody LLP, a law firm with offices in Boston, said it has formed a strategic alliance with China-based Hylands Law Firm to expand its capabilities in China, an important commercial business center for Nixon Peabody's clients.  Founded in 2007, Hylands currently operates in six Asian cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong. This is Nixon Peabody's second alliance with a Chinese law firm.  In 2010, Nixon Peabody opened an office in Hong Kong and announced its strategic association with CWL Partners.

HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s securities watchdog said yesterday that it has fined a unit of Bank of America Corp. $386,000 over the sales of financial products in 2007. The Securities and Futures Commission said it also issued a reprimand to Merrill Lynch (Asia Pacific) Ltd. over the sales of the index-linked notes to 72 clients. An investigation found that Merrill Lynch failed to “properly assess the financial situation and investment objectives’’ of 40 clients. The watchdog was also concerned that key product information was not given to clients until after they had agreed to invest.

A high-speed catamaran ferry has slammed into a mooring pillar outside Hong Kong, injuring more than 70 people, including a 70-year-old woman who is in critical condition. The ferry was carrying 140 passengers Friday when it struck the pillar on the island of Cheung Chau as it departed for the heart of the Chinese territory's business district. Passengers shown on local television described scenes of confusion, with people thrown to the floor and ferry seats buckling from the impact with the pillar.

In a perfect meeting of the current boom in documentaries, interest in China's influence on art and culture, and Women's History Month, six women filmmakers from China will screen and discuss their documentaries during a two-day event March 17 and 18 at the Cable Car Cinema in Providence, sponsored by Brown University. The Chinese Women's Documentaries in the Market Era Film Festival and Symposium, organized by professor Lingzhen Wang, is part of Brown's "Year of China" this academic year.

Ropes & Gray, a law firm with offices in Boston, is expanding in Asia by opening an office in Seoul. According to the firm, it has done work for such Korean clients as LG, Samsung, Daewoo, and Hyundai Motors. Ropes & Gray said it already has offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Tokyo.