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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 […]

The Hong Kong government’s proposed laws to curb smoking, including banning the possession of e-cigarettes in public, will have no impact on tourism, a legislator has said. David Lam, chairperson of the Panel on Health Services in the Legislative Council (LegCo), said on an RTHK programme on Monday that cases from other places around the […]

Hong Kong police have arrested 10 people for allegedly providing services related to surrogacy and sex selection of embryos overseas. A total of four men and six women – aged between 30 and 70 – were arrested during raids on an office in Central and their homes on Friday and Saturday on suspicion of violating […]

China and the Philippines on Monday defended their claims to a disputed reef in the South China Sea, after Manila accused Beijing of seeking to “intimidate and harass” with a state media report that suggested the area had been seized. The Sandy Cay reef lies near Thitu Island, or Pag-asa, where the Philippines stations troops […]

Keith Yip, director of crime and security, has been appointed deputy commissioner of police (operations), replacing Joe Chow, who was promoted to police chief earlier this month. Yip assumed his new role on Monday, weeks after Chow took up the post of police commissioner on April 2. Yip joined the police force as an inspector […]

A Hong Kong women workers’ group has called on the government to suspend the city’s “enhanced” labour import scheme, saying it has negatively affected employees’ working conditions. Around 15 members of the Hong Kong Women Workers’ Association (HKWWA) unfurled a banner and held signs outside the Central Government Offices (CGO) on Sunday, ahead of the […]

China’s coast guard said Sunday it had “dealt with” a situation involving six Filipinos who it accused of illegally landing on a disputed reef, after Beijing’s state media said the tiny sandbank had recently come under Chinese control. Beijing claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea and has waved away competing assertions […]

Independent media outlet Channel C has halted operations a week after police arrested a director at the outlet’s parent company for alleged government loan fraud. Meanwhile, authorities say the outlet is behind on pension contributions totalling HK$230,000. In a response to local media enquiries on Saturday, the Mandatory Provident Fund Scheme Authority said that the […]

China’s foreign minister has hit out at the “extreme selfishness” of tariffs, hinting at the steep levies imposed on Beijing by US President Donald Trump. “Certain countries” resort to “pressure and coercion, and trigger unjustified trade wars… This extreme selfishness only harms their credibility,” top diplomat Wang Yi told his Uzbek counterpart Bakhtiyor Saidov, according […]

This feature is the first in HKFP’s Partners in Pride series, which looks at how same-sex couples navigate life, death and everything in between ahead of the government’s October deadline to enact a framework to recognise same-sex partnerships. Jennifer has always wanted kids. As a primary school teacher in Hong Kong, she is surrounded by children […]

When the Dalai Lama turns 90 in July, the Buddhist monk, who for many exiled Tibetans personifies dreams of a free homeland, will ask if they want a successor. For the charismatic Nobel Peace Prize-winning leader, his landmark birthday will be a time to encourage people to plan for an eventual future without him and address […]

US President Donald Trump has insisted Chinese leader Xi Jinping called him despite Beijing denials of any contact between the two countries over their bitter trade dispute. In an interview conducted on April 22 with TIME Magazine and published Friday, the US president did not say when the call took place or specify what was discussed. […]

By Mary Yang and Michael Zhang, with Isabel Kua in Beijing In a small church tucked into a side street in northern China’s Hebei province, a group of around 10 people gathered for their weekly meeting, the day after Pope Francis died aged 88. The Vatican on Monday announced the death of the Argentine pontiff, […]

By Irene Chan & Hans Tse Hong Kong resident Chris Wong, his wife, and their kid travelled with two other families to Zhuhai on Easter Sunday. They crossed the border and checked into a resort hotel to spend the remaining two days of the Easter break in the Chinese city, just across the Pearl River […]

Increasing Hong Kong’s Airport Express fares could drive passengers to choose other modes of transport instead, lawmakers have said. Speaking at a Legislative Council Panel on Transport meeting on Friday, lawmaker Dominic Lee cited figures showing that ridership of the Airport Express had only recovered to 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. “Actually, airport statistics […]

The Hong Kong government is seeking to ban the possession of e-cigarettes and other alternative smoking products in public by the end of April next year, along with other proposed measures to curb smoking in the city. Anyone who possesses small amounts of alternative smoking products in public may face a fixed fine of HK$3,000 […]

A US push to approve deep-sea mining in domestic and international waters “violates international law”, China warned on Friday, after a White House order to ramp up permits. “The US authorisation… violates international law and harms the overall interests of the international community,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said. President Donald Trump on Thursday […]

Hong Kong’s pro-establishment lawmakers have criticised the government’s proposal to increase parking fines to HK$400, warning the move will cause “resentment” amid a shortage of car parks. The Transport and Logistics Bureau, the Transport Department, and the Hong Kong Police Force attended a meeting at the legislature on Friday for a debate on the proposal […]

Hong Kong’s oldest and largest psychiatric hospital has fired three staff members after one of them was placed on a ward by two colleagues despite being drunk, according to local newspaper Ming Pao. The Hospital Authority on Friday admitted that staff members at Castle Peak Hospital had disrupted ward operations and “seriously breached disciplinary requirements.” […]

China’s top leaders called on Friday to step up support for the economy and oppose “unilateral bullying” in global trade, according to a meeting readout published by state media. The comments were a veiled rebuke of hefty tariffs recently imposed on China by US President Donald Trump, which have triggered a high-stakes tit-for-tat trade battle […]

A catering labour union has called on Hong Kong authorities to establish a mechanism to halt the controversial labour import scheme after finding that over 200 local employees reported being replaced by imported workers. The Eating Establishment Employees General Union said on Thursday that some employees reported being fired and replaced by non-local workers employed […]

Hong Kong’s equality watchdog has initiated legal action in the District Court on behalf of a secondary schoolgirl against her male classmate, accusing him of sexual harassment. “The Claimant alleged that a male classmate (the Respondent) sexually harassed her on many occasions from Form 2 to Form 4,” the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) said in […]

A Hong Kong police officer, whose finger was partly bitten off by a protester during the 2019 protests, has agreed to a HK$280,000 settlement. To Kai-wa confirmed in the High Court on Thursday that he would compensate Sergeant Keith Leung after biting off part of the police officer’s finger during a protest at Sha Tin’s […]