Campaigners object to Beijing’s proposed laws against ‘treason and subversion’, which follow months of protests
Beijing’s parliament has announced that it will discuss controversial national security laws for Hong Kong in a dramatic escalation of China’s efforts to place the semi-autonomous territory under its control and curtail pro-democracy protests.
Continue reading...Restrictions were due to end but Hong Kong extends social distancing measures for 14 days
Hong Kong has in effect banned an annual vigil for the Tiananmen Square massacre by extending its physical distancing measures for another 14 days.
After two consecutive days without local transmissions of Covid-19, the city state’s authorities announced some restrictions would ease, but those limiting gatherings to a maximum of eight would be extended for another 14 days.
Continue reading...Report defends crackdown despite international outrage and allegations of brutality
Activists and legal experts have condemned a report by Hong Kong’s police watchdog that found the force’s response to the city’s protests to be justified and within regulations.
The Independent Police Complaints Council’s report, released on Friday, described the protests as the “most challenging public order situation in a generation”, and said allegations of brutality should not be used as a political weapon.
Continue reading...I knew my journey home would be complicated, but I wasn’t prepared for the sense of isolation as I moved from one dystopian scene to another
When I booked my flight home after spending more than two-and-a-half months in Europe, I knew what my journey would entail. With no more direct flights between Paris and Hong Kong, I would have a brief layover in London. I knew that when I landed at the Hong Kong airport, I would be tested and held at a facility for roughly eight hours until my results came back.
In the best case scenario – if I were negative – I would be spending two weeks in home quarantine, my whereabouts tracked by an app and a chunky device worn on my wrist. If I were positive, I would be sent to the hospital.
Continue reading...Pro-Beijing leader pledges to overhaul school system, after weekend of heavy-handed police action
Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing leader, Carrie Lam, has vowed to overhaul the city’s education system, saying its liberal studies curriculum helped to fuel last year’s violent pro-democracy protests.
Her intervention follows a weekend of heavy-handed police responses to scattered protests across the city, with journalists pepper-sprayed and searched, at least 18 people injured, a 12-year-old student journalist detained, and an estimated 200 people arrested.
Continue reading...The legislative council descended into chaos for more than an hour on Friday as opposing lawmakers threw placards and scrambling over each other to take control of a house committee. Politicians rushed to take the seat left empty after the house was unable to elect a new chairperson. The incumbent, Starry Lee, reached the seat first as pro-Beijing and pro-democracy members crowded in
Continue reading...Pro-Beijing and pro-democracy lawmakers clash over who will control house committee
Hong Kong’s legislative council descended into extraordinary scenes on Friday, with opposing lawmakers throwing placards and scrambling over each other to take control of a house committee that has been unable to elect a new chairperson.
The scuffles began after an earlier meeting ended and legislators rushed to take the empty seat, more than an hour before the house committee session was due to start. The incumbent committee chair, Starry Lee, reached the seat first and was surrounded by security guards.
Continue reading...Beijing escalates rhetoric as it is accused of using coronavirus as cover to ‘turn screws’
Beijing’s top political office in Hong Kong has called protesters a “political virus” and said the semi-autonomous city will never be calm until “poisonous” and “violent” black-clad demonstrators are eliminated.
The warning on Wednesday by China’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office (HKMAO) said the central government in Beijing would not sit idly by with “this recklessly demented force” in place, referring to the protest movement which has shaken Hong Kong since last June and sometimes drawn millions to the street.
Continue reading...Hong Kong’s government calls allegations from the US, UK and European parliament ‘totally unfounded’
The Hong Kong government has accused foreign politicians of being ignorant and irresponsible after they criticised its recent crackdown on pro-democracy figures and accused Beijing of “flagrant breaches” of Hong Kong’s autonomy.
While it did not name anyone, the Hong Kong government’s statement on Friday said allegations voiced by “certain officials and politicians” from the US, UK and European Parliament were “totally unfounded and amounted to a serious intervention in Hong Kong’s affairs”.
Continue reading...Belizean national Lee Henley Hu Xiang accused of ‘colluding with foreign anti-China forces’
China is prosecuting its first foreign national for involvement in the Hong Kong protests, which racked the city for much of last year.
State media said on Friday that Guangzhou city’s national security bureau had finished investigations into Lee Henley Hu Xiang, a Belizean national and Taiwan resident, and his case had been transferred to the Guangzhou people’s procuratorate for prosecution.
Continue reading...Recent arrests and posturing signal a turbulent future amid calls from Beijing for national security legislation to be expedited
“Thus we left Hong Kong to her fate and the hope that Martin Lee, the leader of the Democrats, would not be arrested,” wrote Prince Charles in his journal after Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997.
Twenty-three years later, his premonitions unfortunately came true. Lee, the 81-year-old founder of the Democratic party and a senior barrister, was among 15 veteran pro-democracy activists arrested by Hong Kong police on Saturday on charges of illegal assembly, accused of being involved in unapproved protests last year.
Continue reading...China office says that city’s right to self-rule is ‘authorised by the central government’
Hong Kong police have arrested 15 high-profile democracy activists on charges of illegal assembly.
The arrests took place just hours after China’s top representative office in the semi-autonomous city declared it is not bound by Hong Kong’s constitutional restrictions that bar Chinese government from interfering in local affairs.
Continue reading...Semi-autonomous city followed WHO advice and moved swiftly to stem contagion without rigid curbs on movement
Governments in Europe and the US can learn from Hong Kong, which has kept infections and deaths from Covid-19 low without resorting to the socially and economically damaging lockdown that the UK and other countries have imposed, scientists say.
Hong Kong, with a population of nearly 7.5 million, has had just 715 confirmed cases of Covid-19 infection, including 94 asymptomatic infections, and four deaths.
Continue reading...Law against use at legal and illegal assemblies was introduced during protests
As health experts in Hong Kong call for masks to be made mandatory to tackle coronavirus, a ban on their use that was introduced in response to protests has been largely upheld by the appeal court.
The court also used its ruling to push back at accusations that its role in assessing the constitutionality of laws was an affront to Beijing.
Continue reading...Captive animals mate for first time in 10 years as coronavirus keeps hordes of visitors away
A middle-aged couple of giant pandas in a Hong Kong theme park have mated for the first time in more than 10 years, after finally enjoying a period of privacy thanks to the coronavirus lockdown.
Ying Ying and Le Le have been at Ocean Park since 2007 but, despite the encouragement of zookeepers, they had shown little inclination to have sex while daily hordes of visitors were watching their every move.
Continue reading...Trump invokes Defence Production Act; Syria introduces travel restrictions; The UK, Spain, Italy see biggest daily rise in deaths. Follow the latest updates
Afghanistan has reported 15 new Coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, pushing the total number of infections to 110 - including four NATO forces and two foreign diplomats, Akhtar Mohammad Makoii reports from Herat.
Eleven of the new positive cases have been confirmed in western province of Herat, raising the total number of infections in Afghanistan’s worst affected province to 76. Herat neighbours Iran, where authorities have been struggling to control one of the world’s worst outbreaks.
This tweet from the air traffic tracking service Flightradar24, showing the number of planes in the air on Friday evening compared to four weeks earlier, shows the remarkable impact of travel restrictions across Europe.
Friday evening in Europe - February 28 vs March 27https://t.co/EqV2Vo80Kd pic.twitter.com/4puKM9G1f2
Continue reading...The number of people worldwide infected with the new coronavirus has exceeded 100,000 and the disease is continuing to spread, but what role do pets - if any - have in the outbreak?
After a dog in Hong Kong reportedly tested ‘weak positive’ for coronavirus, causing some alarm among pet owners, the Guardian’s Helen Davidson answers some of the most pressing questions surrounding domestic animals and coronavirus
In a bid to stem spread of the virus, schools in Hong Kong, China and Japan have been shut for weeks
“It’s been a long holiday,” laughs Hong Kong insurance worker and mother, Sarah Wong.
Wong and her two daughters, Chloe and Greeta, are at a co-working space in Jordan, Kowloon. Chloe has set her desk up like home, with an iPad, her own lamp, and an aromatherapy diffuser. The girls, aged 12 and eight, are listening to online lessons from their school which has been closed because of the coronavirus.
Continue reading...Lai, who was arrested with two other activists and later released on bail, has been a major financial patron of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement
Hong Kong police arrested three veteran pro-democracy figures for taking part in an unauthorised anti-government march last year amid the city’s most serious political crisis for decades.
Jimmy Lai, the 71-year-old founder of Next Media, which publishes the popular, anti-government Apple Daily newspaper, was picked up by police on Friday morning for taking part in a march banned by police on 31 August.
Continue reading...Swedish citizen who disappeared in 2015 is sentenced in Ningbo for ‘providing intelligence’ overseas
A Chinese court has sentenced Swedish bookseller Gui Minhai to 10 years in prison for “providing intelligence” overseas, in a case that has highlighted China’s far-reaching crackdown on critics.
A court in Ningbo, an eastern port city, said on Tuesday that Gui had been found guilty and would be stripped of political rights for five years in addition to his prison term. The brief statement said Gui had pled guilty and would not be appealing against his case.
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