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Two former executives of Hong Kong’s Next Digital media group have filed a legal challenge against global accounting firm BDO, accusing it of helping city authorities to liquidate the company founded by jailed pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai. A court in late 2021 ordered the winding-up of Next Digital Limited, which Lai founded in 1990 as […]

Tens of millions of people in Shanghai and across China’s densely populated east coast hunkered indoors Monday as the strongest storm to hit since 1949 swept in, downing trees and disrupting transport across the region. Typhoon Bebinca landed early Monday morning in the city’s eastern coastal area, with wind speeds of up to 151 kilometres […]

A Hong Kong man has been shot dead by police after wielding a knife and a pair of scissors at an officer despite multiple warnings, the force has said. Police arrived at a residential unit on Kam Ping Street, North Point, on Sunday night after receiving a report from a woman that her husband was […]

An American pastor detained by China since 2006 on what the United States has called spurious charges has been freed, the State Department said Sunday. David Lin “has returned to the United States and now gets to see his family for the first time in nearly 20 years,” a State Department spokesperson told AFP. “We […]

A Hongkonger has pleaded guilty to sedition over a T-shirt with a protest slogan on it, becoming the first person convicted under the city’s new security legislation. Chu Kai-pong, 27, appeared in front of Chief Magistrate Victor So at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Monday. He pleaded guilty to one count of “doing with a […]

Six police officers have been found guilty of perverting the course of justice over planting drugs and covering up surveillance cameras to frame a street sleeper during a drug sweep in Sham Shui Po four years ago. Two police officers were acquitted after District Judge Kathie Cheung found that there was not enough evidence to […]

All flights at Shanghai’s two main airports were cancelled on Sunday as authorities in the Chinese megacity prepared for a strong typhoon bringing high winds and heavy rain. Typhoon Bebinca is expected to make landfall along a swath of China’s densely populated eastern seaboard between Sunday night and Monday morning, according to Beijing’s emergency management […]

China on Saturday accused Berlin of heightening security risks in the Taiwan Strait, a day after two German military vessels sailed through the sensitive waters. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius confirmed on Friday that the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the supply vessel Frankfurt am Main sailed through the strait. “The German side’s behaviour increases security risks […]

Well, now that it’s over and we can comment on the Stand News case, we may note first of all the existence of a concept common in the academic circles where the fine points of free speech are explored: the chilling effect. This refers to the tendency for expansively drafted laws restricting free speech for impeccable reasons to have […]

On a Saturday night in late August, visitors moved around a tiny room, eyes lowered to take in 16 framed posters arranged along its walls. At the back of the room, booklets about the “Visit Palestine Project” exhibition were being sold for HK$50. All funds raised from the event would be donated towards humanitarian efforts in […]

The United States locked in tariff hikes on billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods Friday, with a 100 percent duty on electric vehicles and 25 percent on EV batteries taking effect in two weeks. The White House announced the steep tariff increases in May, targeting key sectors including EVs, semiconductors, batteries and solar cells […]

The pope praised China on Friday, ahead of a possible renewal of a deal between Beijing and the Holy See on the appointment of bishops. “I would like to visit China, which is a great country,” Pope Francis told reporters during a press conference on his papal plane, as he returned to Rome from his […]

Hong Kong is getting hotter. The city has just sweated through a summer that was, in the words of its government forecaster, “much hotter than usual,” after experiencing its hottest summer on record last year. The Hong Kong Observatory has been conducting meteorological observations since 1884, except for a period during World War Two from 1940 to […]

Unlike the visible devastation of hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes, extreme heat leaves no trace, making it deadlier than all of these extreme weather events combined. From 2000 to 2019, about 489,000 people died from extreme heat around the world annually, according to a modelling study reported in The Lancet. Some 45 per cent of these casualties happened […]

China said Friday it would gradually raise its statutory retirement age, as the country grapples with a looming demographic crisis and an older population. Hundreds of millions of people in China are set to enter old age in the coming decades while the birth rate dwindles dramatically. The national population fell in 2023 for the […]

A regular UK government report on Hong Kong, which said the city’s focus on national security was “undermining” its international reputation, has sparked condemnation from authorities over its “absurd and false contents.” The latest six-monthly report, published on Thursday, details political, judicial and constitutional developments in Hong Kong from January through June. The UK government […]

Reporters from at least 13 media outlets in Hong Kong have been harassed online and offline in what appears to be a “systematic and organised attack,” the city’s largest journalist group has said. Selina Cheng, chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), said during a press conference on Friday that since June, dozens of […]

Hong Kong Free Press condemns the recent surge in online and offline harassment of independent media in Hong Kong, including against HKFP’s director. Last week, the director’s landlord and local property agencies were sent anonymous letters containing defamatory claims, falsities and threats of “unimaginable consequences” and “collateral damage” unless he was evicted from the property […]

Misbehaving Hong Kong taxi drivers could face operating bans under a new penalty points system covering offences such as overcharging or refusing a hire, after years of complaints against “black sheep” in the industry. The Taxi-Driver-Offence Points (TDOP) Ordinance, passed last December, will come into force on September 22, the government announced on Thursday. It […]

Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun said Friday that “negotiation” was the only solution to conflicts such as the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, as he addressed a global gathering of military officials in Beijing. Scores of delegates are in Beijing for the Xiangshan Forum, dubbed China’s answer to the annual Shangri-La meeting in Singapore. It […]

Hong Kong Commissioner for Sports Sam Wong has stepped down after just one year in the job, citing personal reasons. Wong will leave on September 20, a spokesperson for the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau said in a statement on Thursday evening, a year after he took up the position. The former Asian Games windsurfing […]

A banner for wellness brand Healthy has been erected outside what was until a week ago the Wan Chai branch of gym chain Physical Fitness, as complaints surged following the arrests of the Physical’s two directors after its abrupt closure. The banner said Healthy would only provide services for those who had purchased packages from […]

The nomination period for Macau’s upcoming leadership race has ended, with former top judge Sam Hou-fai emerging as the only candidate. The application window for the small-circle election closed on Thursday. Even before that, Sam was poised to be the only contender as he had received 383 nominations from the 400-strong election committee, which is […]

The head of Taiwan’s top China policy body said Thursday that the democratic island will never surrender in the face of intensifying pressure from a “more aggressive” Beijing. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has said it would never renounce the use of force to bring the self-ruled island under its control. […]