No casualties have been reported since flames engulfed construction site in heart of busy Tsim Sha Tsui late on Thursday
Hong Kong firefighters have been battling a blaze that engulfed a construction site in the city’s shopping district.
Officials said the fire broke out at 11.11pm (1511 GMT) on Thursday in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui, a busy shopping and tourist area on the waterfront.
Continue reading...Remains taken for forensic testing to determine if they belong to influencer Abby Choi
The ex-husband and two former in-laws of a woman in Hong Kong have been charged with her murder, after police revealed they had found more body parts during a weekend search.
Abby Choi’s ex-husband, Alex Kwong Kong-chi, his father and his brother were formally charged with murder on Sunday. Kwong’s mother was charged with perverting the course of justice.
Continue reading...Tech dealmaker reported to be unreachable 10 days ago in latest case of a top executive going missing during Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive
The Chinese billionaire tech banker Bao Fan, who was reported missing 10 days ago, is cooperating with Chinese authorities conducting an investigation, a China-based boutique bank has said.
It is the first time China Renaissance Holdings has given a reason for the disappearance of its founder and chairman, though no details about the investigation were shared.
Continue reading...Parents and brother of Abby Choi’s ex-husband arrested after police make grisly discovery at rented village home
Hong Kong police have made three arrests over the murder and dismemberment of a 28-year-old model after what authorities allege was a financial dispute with her ex-husband’s family.
The partial remains of the influencer Abby Choi, who last week appeared on the digital cover of L’Officiel Monaco fashion magazine, were found in a village house, police said.
Continue reading...Local media report inquiry launched over application by Chinese scientist He Jiankui, whose work sparked ethics storm
Hong Kong has reportedly revoked a visa for the controversial gene therapy scientist He Jiankui less than a day after it was revealed he’d been granted one, despite having a criminal record in China for illegal medical practices.
Hong Kong immigration officials said his visa was rescinded and a criminal investigation launched into allegations He had lied on his application form, the South China Morning Post reported.
Continue reading...Disappearance of China Renaissance chair raises fears of fresh crackdown on China’s finance industry
A billionaire Chinese dealmaker has gone missing, plunging one of the country’s top investment banks into turmoil.
Bao Fan, the founder and executive director of China Renaissance, is a major figure in the Chinese tech industry and has played an important role in the emergence of a string of large domestic internet startups.
Continue reading...Protests as former politicians, activists, campaigners and community workers appear in court accused of ‘conspiracy to commit subversion’
Hong Kong’s largest national security trial began on Monday, involving 47 of the city’s most high-profile democracy advocates, in a hearing that has been labelled a trial of the territory’s pro-democracy movement itself.
The group of former politicians, activists, campaigners, and community workers are accused of “conspiracy to commit subversion” over the holding of unofficial pre-election primaries in July 2020.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Letter to home secretary says bill echoes ‘dangerously broad laws’ that result in jailing of protesters
Hongkongers in Britain have called on Suella Braverman to reconsider controversial measures in her public order bill, which they likened to the repressive measures used to crack down on democratic opposition in their home city.
In a letter to the UK home secretary, aspects of the bill were described as “repressive measures that threaten to paralyse entire social movement” and posed a threat to their right to protest in Britain, including against Chinese communist repression in Hong Kong.
Continue reading...Six people accused of publishing book relating to 2019 protests in move critics say has spread terror
Police in Hong Kong have raided a lunar new year shopping fair and arrested six people for selling a “seditious” book related to the 2019 anti-government protests in a move critics say has spread “terror” just days before the celebrations.
National security officers accused three men and three women, aged between 18 and 62, of producing and publishing “a seditious book about a series of riots that occurred in Hong Kong from June 2019 to February 2020”, and selling it in a lunar new year stall in a shopping centre in Mong Kok, a bustling shopping district.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Some legal figures have raised concerns about message his appointment sends in light of Beijing’s crackdown on freedom in Hong Kong
The former Australian high court judge Patrick Keane has dismissed criticism of his appointment to a top Hong Kong court, saying he weighed up the role carefully but believed foreign judges should not “vacate the field”.
Legal figures have noted Keane’s eminent record, but some raised concerns about the message his appointment sends in light of Beijing’s increasing crackdown on rights and freedoms in Hong Kong.
Continue reading...If recommendation is approved, he will be first foreign judge appointed since two British judges resigned citing concerns about freedom crackdowns
Former Australian high court justice Patrick Keane has been lined up to serve on Hong Kong’s top court after two British judges resigned citing concerns about freedom crackdowns.
Hong Kong’s chief executive, John Lee Ka-chiu, accepted the recommendation to appoint Keane to the court of final appeal bench on Friday.
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Continue reading...Zheng was among the officials sanctioned by the US for undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms
China has appointed the head of the national security office in Hong Kong as its top representative officer in Hong Kong – a sign that Beijing will tighten its control over the city.
Zheng Yanxiong, 59, replaces another hardliner, Luo Huining, 68, as head of Beijing’s top representative office in Hong Kong, the State Council said in a notice.
Continue reading...Travel packages also advertised in Macau as interest grows in mRNA vaccines unavailable on mainland
Private services offering Chinese travellers access to mRNA vaccines are attracting droves of mainlanders to Hong Kong and Macau seeking a booster shot that their government has refused to approve.
As part of its dismantling of the country’s zero-Covid policy last month, China’s government also lifted quarantine and other border restrictions. It prompted a wave of interest in overseas travel, particularly for the upcoming lunar new year holiday later this month. However, there also appears to be a large contingent chasing the mRNA bivalent vaccines.
Continue reading...The British citizen is awaiting trial on national security charges in Hong Kong that could see him jailed for life if convicted
Lawyers for the Hong Kong activist and media mogul Jimmy Lai have reportedly requested a meeting with the British prime minister to discuss his case.
Lai, a dual Hong Kong and British citizen, is awaiting trial on national security charges in one of the most high-profile cases brought by Hong Kong authorities against the pro-democracy movement. If convicted he could face life in prison.
Continue reading...Virus outbreaks tipped to worsen as mainland China opens to Hong Kong, ends quarantine for visitors and millions begin holiday-period travel
China has lifted quarantine requirements for inbound travellers, ending almost three years of self-imposed isolation even as the country battles a surge in Covid cases.
On Sunday, mainland China also opened its border to Hong Kong, dismantling the last pillars of a zero-Covid policy that had shielded people from the virus but also cut them off from the rest of the world.
Continue reading...Democracy activist and founder of Apple Daily tabloid newspaper potentially faces life in prison over charges of conspiring to collude with foreign forces
A Hong Kong court has delayed the national security trial of media mogul Jimmy Lai until September 2023, after a hearing revealed Lai’s British lawyer had been denied a visa extension and forced to leave.
Lai’s trial was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, but has faced delays, including the Hong Kong government’s attempts to prevent his British lawyer Tim Owen from representing him.
Continue reading...Authorities want Glory to Hong Kong axed from top results and replaced with China’s national anthem
Google has refused to change its search results to display China’s national anthem, rather than a protest song, when users search for Hong Kong’s national anthem, the city’s security chief has said, expressing “great regret” at the decision.
Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Continue reading...Apple Daily founder, who recently completed sentence over territory’s pro-democracy protests, convicted in contract dispute involving newspaper offices
Hong Kong pro-democracy media owner Jimmy Lai received a fresh jail sentence of five years and nine months on Saturday after being found guilty of fraud in a contractual dispute.
Lai, the 75-year-old founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper, had recently completed a 20-month jail term resulting from multiple convictions for his part in protests and unauthorised assemblies.
Continue reading...Hong Kong’s immigration department withheld Timothy Owen KC’s application for an extension of his work visa on Thursday
Hong Kong has temporarily blocked a top British human rights lawyer from representing jailed pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai, in a trial stymied by delays and calls for an intervention from Beijing.
British King’s Counsel Timothy Owen was set to represent Lai, the founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily, who has been in jail on protest-related offences since his high-profile arrest in 2020.
Continue reading...Chinese leader will see widespread demonstrations against zero-Covid policy as threat to CCP’s authority
Just five weeks after being elected to a historic third term, President Xi Jinping suddenly faces cracks in the facade of unchallenged authority that he so successfully presented to the world at the 20th national congress of the Chinese Communist party.
For groups of protesters, apparently without central coordination, to take to the streets across China and to social media, and for some then explicitly to call for Xi and the Communist party to stand aside, is a seismic shock.
Continue reading...