Cities face ‘whiplash’ of floods, droughts as temperatures rise, study warns
Singapore Reuters The weather in some of the world’s most densely populated cities is swinging from droughts to floods and back again as rising temperatures play havoc with the global water cycle, a study commissioned by the charity WaterAid showed on Wednesday. South and South-East Asia face the strongest wetting trends, while Europe, the Middle […]
Updated: Philippines’ ex-President Duterte arrested at ICC’s request over ‘drugs war’ killings
Updated: 6:15pm (AEDT) Hong Kong, China/Manila, The Philippines Reuters The Philippines’ firebrand former leader Rodrigo Duterte was arrested on Tuesday at the request of the International Criminal Court, a major step in its investigation into thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings in a bloody “war on drugs” that defined his presidency. Duterte was served an Interpol […]
Hong Kong’s top court quashes convictions of pro-democracy Tiananmen group
Hong Kong, China Reuters Hong Kong’s top court unanimously overturned on Thursday the convictions of three former members of a pro-democracy group that organised an annual candlelight vigil to mark China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, citing a miscarriage of justice. The ruling is a rare victory for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement in which scores of […]
Former Hong Kong lawmaker, six others jailed for rioting after 2019 mob attack
Hong Kong, China Reuters A Hong Kong court on Thursday sentenced former lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting and six other men to jail terms of up to around three years for rioting after being attacked by a mob in the summer of 2019 as pro-democracy protests raged. On the night of 21st July, 2019, more than 100 […]
Hong Kong’s last major pro-democracy party moves to disband
Hong Kong, China Reuters Hong Kong’s Democratic Party said late on Thursday it would start preparations to disband and wind up its affairs after a meeting of its leadership, amid a years-long national security crackdown in the China-ruled city. Founded in 1994 in the run-up to the city’s return from British to Chinese rule in […]
Housing crush: Hong Kong struggles to improve conditions in tiny, crowded homes
TYRONE SIU AND CLARE JIM, of Reuters, report on efforts to address Hong Kong’s cramped living conditions…
The world welcomes 2025 with light shows, embraces and ice plunges
Last updated: 1pm, 2nd January (AEST) Wellington, New Zealand AP From Sydney to Mumbai to Paris to Rio de Janeiro, communities around the world welcomed 2025 with spectacular light shows, embraces and ice plunges. The New Year’s Eve ball dropped in soggy Times Square, where thousands of revelers stuck it out in heavy rain to celebrate […]
US condemns Hong Kong bounties, passport revocations for democrats
Washington DC, US Reuters The US State Department said that Hong Kong’s offered bounties for six more pro-democracy campaigners who were deemed to have violated national security laws and the revoking of the passports of seven more amounted to intimidation efforts. The State Department also separately condemned China for taking steps against two Canadian institutions […]
Hong Kong ex-democratic lawmaker among seven convicted for rioting after 2019 mob attack
Hong Kong, China Reuters A Hong Kong court convicted on Thursday prominent former pro-democracy lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting for rioting after he was attacked by a white-shirted mob in July, 2019, at the height of that year’s pro-democracy protests. On the night of 21st July, 2019, more than 100 white-shirted men stormed the Yuen Long MTR […]
‘Hong Kong 47’: Reaction to jailings of democrats in landmark national security trial
Updated: 10:45pm (AEDT) Hong Kong, China Reuters Hong Kong’s High Court on Tuesday sentenced 45 leading democrats to jail terms of up to 10 years in what critics say is a major blow to the financial hub’s rule of law. The following are comments on this landmark ruling: Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the UN Human […]