Radical groups broke into two university laboratories to steal chemicals for a bomb plot to murder police officers during the 2019 protests and unrest, the prosecution told a terrorism jury trial on Wednesday. The High Court. File Photo: GovHK. Seven people are standing trial under the city’s anti-terrorism act at the High Court, with prosecutors – for the first time – invoking the offence to charge a group accused of planning to carry out a bomb attack during a rally on December 8, 2019. The plot allegedly took place during the months-long pro-democracy demonstrations and unrest which rocked ..read more

Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai’s arrest dealt a “heavy blow” to pro-democracy advocacy group Stand With Hong Kong, causing it to lose its connections to US politicians, the media mogul’s national security trial has heard. Activist Andy Li was also arrested in the same police swoop on August 10, 2020, but the activist group had a “Plan B” to sustain lobbying efforts overseas, said paralegal Chan Tsz-wah, who stands accused of conspiring with Lai and others to collude with foreign forces. Hong Kong pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai. File photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP. Lai faces two counts of consp ..read more

By Robin Millard Asia was the world’s most disaster-hit region from climate and weather hazards in 2023, the United Nations said Tuesday, with floods and storms the chief cause of casualties and economic losses. A car on a flooded street on September 8, 2023. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Global temperatures hit record highs last year, and the UN’s weather and climate agency said Asia was warming at a particularly rapid pace. The World Meteorological Organization said the impact of heatwaves in Asia was becoming more severe, with melting glaciers threatening the region’s future water security. The WM ..read more

Hong Kong police have received over 28,000 tip-offs via the anti-terrorism hotline since its launch in June 2022, including reports of suspected possession of weapons and suspected harbouring of explosives. Inter-departmental counter-terrorism exercise “Tigerpace.” File photo: Leo Ma/HKFP. Police told HKFP on Wednesday that public vigilance against terrorism increased as the authorities heightened promotion and educational efforts, and encouraged residents to report suspicious activity. Hotline ‘upgrade’ Upon its launch, police said the hotline was an “upgrade” to an existing anti-violence ho ..read more

By Shaun Tandon US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due in China on Wednesday as the United States ramps up pressure on its main rival over its support for Russia, while seeking to manage tensions between the two powers. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken waves as he boards his plane at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, on April 23, 2024, on his way to Beijing. Photo: Mark Schiefelbein/Pool/AFP. The US diplomat will meet China’s top brass on Friday in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for continued restraint as Taiwan inaugurates a new leader and to raise US concerns on Chinese ..read more

An NGO serving Hong Kong’s low-income residents has urged the government to delay the enforcement of a controversial waste charging scheme among disadvantaged tenants of “cage homes,” subdivided units and those in “three-nil” buildings. “Three-nil” buildings are generally those which lack an owners’ company, residents’ organisation or property management firm to manage the building. The Society for Community Organisation (SoCO) went to the legislative to meet lawmakers and lodge a complaint with residents’ concern of the upcoming waste charging scheme. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Alongside eight re ..read more

The verdict in the sedition trial of Hong Kong news outlet Stand News and two of its former chief editors has been further postponed to the end of August, according to the judiciary. (From left to right) Patrick Lam and Chung Pui-kuen on June 28, 2023. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Non-profit digital news outlet Stand News ceased operations and deleted its website in December 2021 after its newsroom was raided by over 200 national security police officers. Seven people connected to the independent outlet were arrested on suspicion of conspiring to “publish seditious publications ..read more

Taiwan has vowed to remove 760 remaining statues of its late martial law-era leader Chiang Kai-shek, despite criticism that such moves “erase” the past. Statues of Taiwan’s late Chiang Kai-shek at the Cihu Memorial Sculpture Park in Taoyuan City, Taiwan, on January 16, 2024. See also: HKFP Lens: Symbols of savagery or tributes to founder figure? Taiwan ponders fate of Chiang Kai-shek statues The island has long been divided over how – if at all – to commemorate Chaing. Whilst he helped defeat the invading Japanese in World War II, fought Mao Zedong’s communists, and built modern Taiwan, he al ..read more

Beijing and Hong Kong have said that the US has “smeared” Hong Kong’s law enforcement actions after Washington published a report stating that the city had “significant human rights issues.” A US flag. File photo: Adam Schultz/White House, via Flickr. The 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released by the US Department of State on Monday was “unfounded and biased,” the Hong Kong government said in a statement on Tuesday night. ‘Arbitrary detention’ The annual report claimed that there were credible reports of arbitrary arrest and detention or detainees in Hong Kong under the Beiji ..read more

A government advisory body has conditionally approved a report on the environmental impact of building a technology hub near the city’s border with mainland China, despite criticism from green groups. Great egrets and little egrets in a fishpond in San Tin, an area which will be redeveloped into a large-scale tech hub. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. The Advisory Council on the Environment (ACE), a government-appointed body, on Monday unanimously endorsed the government’s environmental impact assessment for the San Tin Technopole. See also: What is Hong Kong’s San Tin Technopole and why is the planned ..read more