
Staff at second-hand luxury stores in Hong Kong fear for safety after robbery
Employees at second-hand luxury goods stores in Hong Kong have voiced fears over their safety after a Tsim Sha Tsui shop was robbed of HK$3 million (US$382,170) worth of Hermes and Van Cleef & Arpels products, with a saleswoman rendered unconscious during the crime.
Security and insurance experts highlighted the importance of insuring luxury goods, installing comprehensive antitheft measures and carrying out staff training to minimise the risk of becoming a target for criminals.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Star
3 hours ago
- The Star
China's top HK official says security will ensure city's success
Director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office Xia Baolong's comments build on China's emphasis on national security in recent years. -- PHOTO: AFP HONG KONG (Bloomberg): China's top official for Hong Kong affairs said the city needs to prioritize national security to ensure prosperity. The China-imposed national security law helped Hong Kong maintain its status as an international financial hub, Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office in Beijing, said Saturday on his third trip to the semi-autonomous city in three years. "Profound changes are occurring inside and outside Hong Kong. It is necessary to fully implement the One Country, Two Systems principle, guided by national security, to provide favorable safety protection for achieving better development of Hong Kong,' Xia told a government forum marking the fifth anniversary of Beijing's implementation of the 2020 national security law, which silenced dissent in the once-freewheeling territory. His comments build on China's emphasis on national security in recent years, after massive pro-democracy protests roiled the former British colony in 2019. A continuing crackdown on perceived threats and the introduction of supporting legislation has stifled political dissent and led to the imprisonment of dozens of former activists. Earlier this month, Beijing's national security office in the city carried out its first known joint operation with local police to investigate a case of alleged foreign collusion. In the same week, authorities invoked a security law to ban a Taiwanese-made video game they accused of advocating for overthrowing the government. Xia's speech at the forum represents the most public appearance he has made during his five-day trip that began Wednesday, which has included meetings with political and business leaders. He also held discussions with university presidents earlier in the week, in a move seen as reinforcing Beijing's vision for Hong Kong as an innovation and talent hub. Appointed as Beijing's top man in Hong Kong in 2020, Xia's tenure has seen growing integration between the Asian financial hub with the rest of China. He has urged the city to accelerate the development of its so-called Northern Metropolis, a sprawling area bordering the mainland city of Shenzhen. Xia's visit comes as Hong Kong grapples with economic headwinds, buffeted by a slowing Chinese economy and a prolonged property slump. The city is also caught in the crossfire of the US-China trade war, with tariffs imposed by the Trump administration now applying to Hong Kong-made goods, further blurring the lines between the city and mainland China. Still, some observers argue Hong Kong could paradoxically gain from the deteriorating US-China relationship. Having declared the city "over' last February, former Morgan Stanley Asia Chairman Stephen Roach said recently that the territory may benefit because of its unique position as China's most important window to international finance. -- ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.


The Star
6 hours ago
- The Star
Staff at second-hand luxury stores in Hong Kong fear for safety after robbery
Employees at second-hand luxury goods stores in Hong Kong have voiced fears over their safety after a Tsim Sha Tsui shop was robbed of HK$3 million (US$382,170) worth of Hermes and Van Cleef & Arpels products, with a saleswoman rendered unconscious during the crime. Security and insurance experts highlighted the importance of insuring luxury goods, installing comprehensive antitheft measures and carrying out staff training to minimise the risk of becoming a target for criminals.


New Straits Times
11 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Pro-Palestinian protest leader Mahmoud Khalil released from US custody
NEW YORK: Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University student who was one of the most visible leaders of nationwide pro-Palestinian campus protests, was released Friday from a federal detention centre. Khalil, a legal permanent resident in the United States who is married to a US citizen and has a US-born son, has been in custody since March facing potential deportation. "This shouldn't have taken three months," Khalil, wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, told US media outside an immigration detention centre in Jena, Louisiana hours after a federal judge ordered his release. "(President Donald) Trump and his administration, they chose the wrong person for this," he said. "There's no right person who should be detained for actually protesting a genocide." The Department of Homeland Security criticised District Judge Michael Farbiarz's ruling Friday as an example of how "out of control members of the judicial branch are undermining our national security." Under the terms of his release, Khalil will not be allowed to leave the United States except for "self-deportation," and faces restrictions on where he can travel within the country. Khalil's wife, Michigan-born dentist Noor Abdalla, said her family could now "finally breathe a sigh of relief and know that Maumoud is on his way home." "We know this ruling does not begin to address the injustices the Trump administration has brought upon our family and so many others the government is trying to silence for speaking out against Israel's ongoing genocide against Palestinians," added Abdalla, who gave birth to the couple's first child while her husband was in detention. Since his March 8 arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Khalil has become a symbol of Trump's campaign to stifle pro-Palestinian student activism against the Gaza war, in the name of curbing anti-Semitism. At the time a graduate student at Columbia University in New York, Khalil was a prominent leader of nationwide campus protests against Israel's war in Gaza. Following his arrest, US authorities transferred Khalil, who was born in Syria to Palestinian parents, nearly 2,000 kilometres from his home in New York to the detention centre in Louisiana, pending deportation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has invoked a law approved during the 1950s Red Scare that allows the United States to remove foreigners seen as adverse to US foreign policy. Rubio argues that US constitutional protections of free speech do not apply to foreigners and that he alone can make decisions without judicial review. Hundreds of students have seen their visas revoked, with some saying they were targeted for everything from writing opinion articles to minor arrest records. Farbiarz ruled last week that the government could not detain or deport Khalil based on Rubio's assertions that his presence on US soil poses a national security threat. The government has also alleged as grounds to detain and deport Khalil that there were inaccuracies in his application for permanent residency. Amol Sinha, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, which is among the groups representing Khalil, welcomed the release order.