Category Archives: Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s multimillion dollar cliffside mansions on brink of collapse after record rains

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Police cordon off some properties in Redhill Peninsula and evacuate at least one after typhoon Haikui brought extreme weather

Luxury cliffside homes in Hong Kong are on the brink of collapse after record breaking rains which killed at least two people, injured more than 100, and caused landslides across the city.

Hong Kong police have cordoned at least three properties in Redhill Peninsula, a coastal housing estate on the southern side of Hong Kong island, and evacuated one which was in “imminent danger”. Photographs of the multimillion dollar residences show large sections of the cliff have fallen away beneath swimming pools and gardens.

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Two dead after Hong Kong’s heaviest rain in at least 140 years

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More than 200mm of rain recorded on Hong Kong’s main island and there is also disruption in Shenzhen

Hong Kong’s heaviest rain since records began 140 years ago has left two people dead and more than 100 injured, as unusually wet weather caused by typhoons brought more disruption to southern China.

Videos showed water cascading down steep hillsides in the former British colony, causing waist-deep flooding in narrow streets and inundating malls, railway stations and tunnels.

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Hong Kong’s top court rules in favour of legal recognition for same-sex couples

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Judges call for alternative framework to marriage in partial victory for city’s LGBTQ+ community

Hong Kong must provide an alternative to marriage in order to legally recognise the rights of same-sex couples, the city’s highest court has declared, opening the way for civil unions.

However, it rejected appeals against current laws that restrict marriage to heterosexual couples and refuse to recognise overseas same-sex marriages, despite majority support among the population.

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Weather tracker: looking back as summer ends in northern hemisphere

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The season was a mixed bag in Britain, but Japan has had its hottest summer on record

Entering September brings the arrival of meteorological autumn in the northern hemisphere, officially drawing the summer of 2023 to a close.

In the UK, the summer was a mixed bag. We started with a fairly pleasant June before entering into a wet and windy July caused by multiple consecutive weekend low pressure synoptic situations. A relatively unusual August followed in which we had two named storms, Antoni and Betty, before a pleasant warm spell.

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Typhoon Saola makes landfall in southern China as nearly 900,000 evacuated

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Storm hit overnight as business, transport and schools suspended in Hong Kong and Guangdong

Typhoon Saola has made landfall in southern China after nearly 900,000 people were moved to safety and most of Hong Kong and other parts of coastal southern China suspended business, transport and schools.

Guangdong province’s meteorological bureau said the powerful storm churned into an outlying district of the city of Zhuhai, just south of Hong Kong at 3.30am local time. It was forecast to move in a south-westerly direction along the Guangdong coast at a speed of about 10mph (17km/h), gradually weakening before heading out to sea.

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Weather tracker: Hurricane Idalia leaves trail of damage in Florida

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Category 3 storm causes extensive flooding in south-east US, while heavy rain and winds also hit France and Italy

Hurricane Idalia struck northern Florida on Wednesday, bringing damaging winds and torrential rain. It made landfall near Keaton Beach on Florida’s Big Bend during the morning as a high-end category 3 hurricane, bringing sustained winds speeds near 125mph (200km/h) and a storm surge of 16ft along Florida’s north-west coastline.

Due to very warm sea surface temperatures, the storm strengthened rapidly over the Gulf of Mexico to category 4 status, before weakening to category 3 as it made landfall. It brought extensive flooding as it passed through and damaged power lines, leaving thousands without electricity.

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Hong Kong: Cantonese language group shuts down after targeting by national security police

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Fears that China’s crackdown on dissidents is expanding into cultural sphere after linguistic group closes over a fictional essay about erosion of liberties

A Cantonese language group has shut down after Hong Kong national security police raided the founder’s home over a fictional essay submitted to the group’s literary competition three years ago.

Andrew Lok Han Chan, who created and convenes the Societas Linguistica Hongkongensis (SLHK) group, said in a Facebook post that the officers from a police division set up to enforce the 2020 national security law, visited a home where some of his family members live last week when he was out of town. The officers, who did not have a search warrant, asked that he remove the essay from his group’s website immediately, he said.

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Pro-democracy advocate says Australia should prepare to lay future sanctions against Hong Kong officials

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Australian lawyer and China bounty target Kevin Yam still believes it is important to pursue diplomacy with Beijing

An Australian citizen who the Hong Kong authorities have vowed to “pursue for life” has risked further ire from Beijing by calling on the Australian government to consider future sanctions against Chinese officials.

Kevin Yam, one of eight overseas-based pro-democracy advocates accused of “encouraging sanctions … to destroy Hong Kong”, said the city’s descent into increasingly repressive rule had been “gut-wrenching”.

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French climber dies in suspected fall during ‘stunt’ at Hong Kong high-rise

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Remi Lucidi, 30, who had a large social media following, found dead on a patio at apartment block

A man identified as the French climber Remi Lucidi has been found dead in Hong Kong and is believed to have fallen from a high-rise building while attempting a stunt.

Police said the body of a 30-year-old man believed to have engaged in extreme sports was found on a patio of an apartment block in the city’s Mid-Levels area. He was named in local media as Lucidi, who had gained a large social media following under the name “Remi Enigma” as he posted photographs from tall structures around the world.

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‘I won’t be deterred’: Hong Kong activist Finn Lau vows to fight on despite arrest bounty

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Pro-democracy leader who now lives in UK argues UK government is doing too little about Chinese threat

When Finn Lau woke one morning this month to dozens of messages urging him to take care, he was confused as to what had happened. But he was not distressed to learn that Hong Kong authorities had offered a HK$1m (£100,000) bounty for his arrest, along with that of seven other overseas activists, because it was not the first threat he had faced.

Since helping to lead pro-democracy protests challenging Hong Kong’s authorities and a national security law that brought sweeping extraterritorial powers into force three years ago, Lau, 29, who now lives in the UK, has become a prominent critic of the Chinese Communist party.

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US bars Hong Kong leader John Lee from San Francisco Apec summit

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Chief executive, who is under US sanctions over role implementing city’s national security law, will not be invited to November event

The United States will not invite Hong Kong’s chief executive, who faces US sanctions, to visit San Francisco during November’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

John Lee, Hong Kong’s top official, was placed under US sanctions in 2020 because of his role in implementing what Washington deems a “draconian” national security law when he was the city’s security secretary.

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Hong Kong judge defies government’s bid to ban pro-democracy protest song

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Judge refuses Hong Kong government’s request for injunction against Glory to Hong Kong, saying it could have chilling effect

Hong Kong’s high court has rejected a government attempt to ban a protest song, Glory to Hong Kong, saying an injunction could create a chilling effect and undermine freedom of expression.

The government had sought the injunction banning online publication or distribution of the song, arguing it insulted China’s national anthem and could give people the impression that Hong Kong was an independent country.

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Daughter of Hong Kong exiled activist detained by national security police

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Mimi Mi Wahng Yuen, daughter of wanted pro-democracy activist Elmer Yuen, taken for questioning, according to local media

Hong Kong national security police have reportedly detained the daughter, son, and daughter-in-law of a wanted activist, in the latest move targeting the families of pro-democracy figures in exile.

Mimi Mi Wahng Yuen, the daughter of Elmer Yuen, her brother Derek, and his wife, the legislator Eunice Yung, were taken for questioning on Monday morning, according to local media. Sing Tao Daily reported Mimi had only arrived from Los Angeles on Monday morning.

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Hong Kong police raid homes of relatives of two exiled activists

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Families of Dennis Kwok and Christopher Mung questioned this week as pressure on dissidents grows

Hong Kong’s national security police raided the homes of relatives of two exiled activists this week, stepping up pressure on the dissidents who have HK$1m (£99,500) bounties on them.

The elder brother of Dennis Kwok, a former legislator, was taken away for questioning by police in Hong Kong on Thursday, according to the South China Morning Post. The brother was summoned along with another man and two women, whose identities could not be determined.

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Unseen ‘log fight’ footage from Bruce Lee film Game of Death to be released

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Scene which has long been the holy grail for fans will feature in a new box set marking the 50th anniversary of the star’s death

Long-lost unseen footage of the celebrated “log fight” scene from the Bruce Lee film Game of Death is to be released in a new box set marking the 50th anniversary of the famed actor and martial artist’s death.

Lee, who shot to fame around the world with the 1973 film Enter the Dragon, died on 20 July 1973 before he could complete shooting on Game of Death, which eventually emerged in 1978, incorporating some of the original footage in a largely reshot and rewritten version.

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Police in Hong Kong raid family home of UK-based exile Nathan Law

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Relatives of pro-democracy activist taken in for questioning days after bounties issued for political exiles

Police in Hong Kong have raided the home of Nathan Law’s family, taking relatives of the UK-exiled pro-democracy activist away for questioning.

Officers from the national security department visited the housing estate where Law’s family live and took his parents and brother in for questioning in the early hours of Tuesday morning. So far no arrests have been made.

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Hong Kong: fifth person arrested for allegedly supporting overseas pro-democracy activists

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Arrests comes days after Hong Kong issued warrants for eight overseas-based dissidents

Hong Kong police have arrested a fifth person accused of supporting overseas activists who allegedly endangered national security, in a further expansion of a government crackdown on pro-democracy dissidents.

Police detained a 24-year-old man at the city’s airport on Thursday, a day after four other people were arrested for allegedly using companies, social media and mobile applications to receive funds for the overseas activists.

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Hong Kong-born singer Coco Lee dies by suicide aged 48, siblings confirm

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The singer was known for voicing Mulan in the Mandarin version and becoming the first Chinese American to perform at the Oscars

Coco Lee, a Hong Kong-born singer and songwriter who had a highly successful career in Asia, has died by suicide, her siblings said on Wednesday. She was 48.

The star had depression for several years, Lee’s elder sisters Carol and Nancy Lee said in a statement posted on Facebook and Instagram, with her condition deteriorating drastically over recent months.

In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 800-273-8255 and online chat is also available. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org

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Albanese urged to cancel China trip as Hong Kong vows to pursue exiled democracy activists ‘for life’

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Labor warns it will not tolerate foreign interference on Australian soil as it vows to protect free speech

The Coalition has urged the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to reconsider plans to travel to China after Hong Kong authorities vowed to pursue exiled democracy advocates “for life”.

The Labor government has also warned that it would not tolerate any foreign interference on Australian soil as it promised to protect the principle of free speech, but China’s foreign ministry said western countries should “stop providing a safe haven for fugitives”.

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China accuses UK of protecting ‘fugitives’ after bounty put on Hong Kong democracy activists

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Chinese embassy in London tells UK to ‘stop interfering’ in China’s affairs, as Hong Kong leader says overseas activists will be ‘pursued for life’

China has accused the UK of protecting fugitives after the British foreign secretary criticised Hong Kong’s decision to offer HK$1m bounties for the arrest of eight democracy activists based overseas, as the territory’s leader said the group would be “pursued for life”.

In a statement late on Monday, China’s embassy in London said: “British politicians have openly offered protection for fugitives. This is crude interference in Hong Kong’s rule of law and China’s internal affairs.”

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