Park Geun-hye was due to serve 24 years for corruption and abuse of power following her impeachment in 2017. The current president said her pardon was in the interest of "national harmony."

Pro-democracy news site Citizen News said its decision to shut down came in response to the recent closure of Stand News. It is the third pro-democracy publication to cease operations in recent months.

Hong Kong activist found guilty over Tiananmen vigil: DW's Phoebe Kong reports

Health authorities in the territory have said the animals are to be "humanely" put down after coronavirus infections were traced back to hamsters at a pet shop.

Journalism teachers in Hong Kong can no longer teach freely amid an ongoing crackdown on free press by the government. Some are adapting to the new situation and changing their strategy.

Authorities enraged pet lovers with an order to cull more than 2,200 hamsters after tracing an outbreak to a worker in a shop where 11 hamsters tested positive. Imported hamsters from Holland into the Chinese territory had been cited as the source. All hamster imports remain banned.

In the past year authorities have used the law to close independent media and arrest or jail leaders of the pro-democracy protests. Many have left Hong Kong. Of those who remain, few are willing to speak out. DW's Phoebe Kong met one of them.

Former French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel was awaiting trial on sex abuse charges. Authorities in Paris found him hanging in his cell.

Authorities in Hong Kong have called in building teams to construct isolation units as hospitals there grapple with a new spike in cases. Meanwhile, Australia is opening to tourists once again. DW has the latest.

Hong Kong is facing its toughest test yet in its "Dynamic Zero Covid" strategy. The number of cases this year is now higher than the number of infections seen in both 2020 and 2021. The city's health system is under pressure, suffering from a lack of hospital beds, inadequate testing capacities and over-strained quarantine centers. But the health crisis is turning political. For more on this, we turn to Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a political scientist at Hong Kong Baptist University.

Russian prosecutors have asked a court to sentence opposition leader Alexei Navalny to 13 years in prison on fraud and contempt of court charges. The request also called for him to be held under stricter conditions.

Britain said keeping its judges in Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal would "legitimize oppression" under a controversial security law in the former British colony.