~hong-kong-free-pres | Bookmarks (749)

Hong Kong has tumbled five places in the annual Reporters Without Borders Press (RSF) Freedom Index, entering the “red zone” – meaning a “very serious” situation – for the first time, alongside China. The city fell five places to 140th place, sandwiched between Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan. China fell six places to 178th place – […]

Former Hong Kong opposition lawmaker Claudia Mo has made her first public comment about her “prison experience,” days after she was released from jail. “My prison experience… Prison life was surreal, almost Kafka-esque to start with,” Mo wrote in a Facebook post on Friday. “But I didn’t suffer the two major incarceration traumas, loneliness and […]

Hong Kong’s League of Social Democrats (LSD) held a four-person rally outside the government headquarters on Labour Day, calling for the city’s working class to be afforded “dignity” amid economic uncertainties. “Our banners did not contain any large letters stating ‘Against Importing Labour’ or any other specific demands. That is because living with dignity sums […]

Hong Kong has raised its statutory minimum wage to HK$42.10, coinciding with the official end of a controversial arrangement that allowed firms to dip into pension funds for severance payments. The 5.3 per cent increase from HK$40 in hourly base pay took effect on Thursday, when Hong Kong marked the annual International Labour Day. Labour […]

By Matthew Walsh China said Friday it is evaluating a US offer for negotiations on tariffs but insisted Washington must be ready to scrap levies that have roiled global markets and supply chains before talks can begin. Punishing US tariffs that have reached 145 percent on many Chinese products came into force in April while […]

Twenty-one passengers were injured when a Citybus airport bus smashed into a road divider on Thursday in Cheung Sha Wan. Twelve women and nine men aged between 10 and 72 suffered minor injuries, police told HKFP on Friday. They were taken to Kwong Wah Hospital, Princess Margaret Hospital and Caritas Medical Centre – all were […]

China has lifted sanctions against five European Union parliament members that were imposed in a showdown over the treatment of Uyghur Muslims, the assembly said Wednesday. An EU parliament statement hailed the move as “a step in restoring parliamentary dialogue with China” but warned that it would remain vigilant on human rights questions. China and […]

In the 58th month since the Beijing-imposed national security law took effect in Hong Kong, the first batch of prominent democrats were released from prison after serving their jail terms following the city’s largest national security trial. Deviating from usual practice, the four democrats did not walk out of prison but left in private vehicles […]

A year ago Zhang Chundong helped the firm he manages expand into Vietnam, part of a wave of Chinese businesses to choose the booming manufacturing hub since the trade war of US President Donald Trump’s first term. Now the company — a distributor of forklifts made by China’s BYD — is struggling to achieve the […]

A Chinese national was arrested while operating a surveillance device near the offices of the Philippine election commission, authorities said Wednesday, less than two weeks before the country’s mid-term polls. The man was allegedly using an “IMSI catcher”, a device capable of mimicking a cell tower and snatching messages from the air in a one-to-three-kilometre […]

Hong Kong lawmakers have approved the 2025 Budget bill, which includes total government expenditure of HK$822.3 billion. The 2025 Appropriation Bill was passed on Wednesday after its third reading in the Legislative Council (LegCo). Financial Secretary Paul Chan told lawmakers that Hong Kong recorded a HK$80.3 billion deficit in the previous fiscal year, which was […]

Hong Kong police have arrested 99 people, aged between 13 and 74, following a citywide crackdown on drug trafficking over the past month. “The arrested persons included 74 men and 25 women,” Senior Inspector Ho Ho-ting of the police force’s narcotics bureau said in Cantonese during a press conference on Tuesday. “Among the 99 arrested, […]

The US Senate on Tuesday confirmed President Donald Trump’s political ally David Perdue to be ambassador to China, a key trade partner that the Republican president has hit with punishing tariffs. Perdue, a 75-year-old multi-millionaire business executive, served as a Republican senator for Georgia from 2015 to 2021 — but failed in a bid for […]

Hong Kong national security police have arrested and charged a 22-year-old man under Article 23, the city’s homegrown national security law, after he allegedly published online posts with “seditious intentions.” The man was arrested on Monday in the Kowloon district, the force said in a statement released Wednesday. He was charged with one count of […]

Hong Kong’s corrections department has defended the use of private vehicles for the release of four former lawmakers who completed their jail terms for their involvement in an unofficial 2020 primary election. The Correctional Services Department (CSD) told HKFP on Tuesday that it would “make appropriate arrangements” for the release of prisoners based on factors […]

Staff at some Marks and Spencer (M&S) stores in Hong Kong have been using pen and paper to process details of orders for several days amid a cyberattack disclosed by M&S UK last week. The retailer’s Hong Kong app has also been suspended. “We are currently experiencing some technical issues, some systems are offline in […]

A Hong Kong activist behind a landmark lawsuit allowing trans people to be issued ID cards matching their gender identity has launched another legal challenge over the new requirements. In a writ seen by HKFP, Henry Tse’s lawyers submitted that the Immigration Department’s new policy still requiring “partial” gender-affirming surgery and ongoing hormone treatments was […]

A restaurant fire in northeastern China killed 22 people and injured three on Tuesday, Beijing’s state media said, with footage posted online showing fierce flames engulfing the building. The blaze erupted at lunchtime in Liaoyang City, about 580 kilometres (360 miles) northeast of the capital Beijing, according to state broadcaster CCTV. “The incident has resulted […]

Four Hong Kong activists who pleaded not guilty to offences linked to holding street booths in 2023 declined to make their arguments during their trial, with one saying that “the truth is already very clear.” Three members of the pro-democracy League of Social Democrats (LSD) – Chan Po-ying, Dickson Chau and Yu Wai-pan – as […]

A Hong Kong man has been arrested for voyeurism after being accused of secretly filming a female nursing student inside a hospital ward and sharing the content on social media. According to police, a 51-year-old male patient surnamed Tong was apprehended at Caritas Medical Centre in Sham Shui Po on Monday after hospital staff reported […]

By Nina Larson China is deploying a growing army of organisations masquerading as NGOs to monitor and intimidate rights activists at the UN, a new investigation by the ICIJ media consortium said on Monday. Dubbed “China Targets”, the fresh investigation involving 42 media organisations delves into the various tactics Beijing uses to silence critics beyond […]

An artwork by famed Taiwanese sculptor Ju Ming, which includes figures in yellow raincoats, will not be reinstalled at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre despite the completion of the restoration work, the government has said. Ju’s sculpture “Lining Up” featured 10 figures standing in a line. Some wore black suits, two were in yellow raincoats, […]

Four former pro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong have been released from prison after serving time for their involvement in an unofficial 2020 primary election. Claudia Mo, Gary Fan, Jeremy Tam, and Kwok Ka-ki were the first group of 45 democrats to be discharged from prison in the early morning of Tuesday after being sentenced in […]

A former employee at a Hong Kong care home for people with intellectual disabilities has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman five times last year after facing an additional charge of rape. Prosecutors on Monday slapped the fifth count of rape against Chung Pui-kei, 38, formerly an assistant warden at the Hong Chi Pinehill […]