Hong Kong leader hails ‘return to peace’

Fung Wai-kong is the seventh executive at the shuttered pro-democracy newspaper to be arrested under the auspices of a national security law in recent weeks. He was reportedly trying to board a plane to the UK.

The past year was the "worst" for Hong Kong's press freedoms, the city's main journalists' union says. "There are already many knives hanging over journalists' heads," says Ronson Chan, chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, as the union releases its annual report.

The US sanctions target officials from China's Hong Kong liaison office, which seeks to promote Chinese influence in the partly autonomous city.

The arrests of top executives, editors and journalists, as well as the freezing of assets, led the pro-democracy tabloid to cease its operations last month.

A judge sentenced seven men to jail over their "indiscriminate" attack on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong two years ago. This was the first conviction over the beatings that refueled protests in the city.

Hong Kong's fencing gold medallist Edgar Cheung Ka-long has stirred up a surge of local interest in the sport after winning the Chinese territory's first Olympic gold in 25 years and only its second ever. The fencing school where Cheung hailed from said they received over 60 enquiries from prospective students just the morning after Cheung's win in the men's foil in the Tokyo Olympics on Monday. Morale is high among the students. "I feel very happy, but I also feel that he is a good role model for me," says a 10-year-old fencer at the school.

US President Joe Biden said the "significant erosion" of rights and "politically motivated arrests" were behind the move. Hong Kong residents in the US can now extend their stay.

A new anti-sanctions law threatens to punish foreign entities and individuals who comply with sanctions against China. The laws create new headaches for firms caught between the US and China as tensions rise.

Carrie Lam has warned the territory's top legal bodies that ties will be cut if they pursue political paths. Civic and legal organizations are facing increased political pressure.

In the middle of a Hong Kong shopping mall, scores of people scream and chant - but it's nothing to do with protests. The crowd is gathered to see Mirror, the latest boy band frenzy sweeping the troubled city, where many are desperate for escapism and local pride.

The shuttered museum was run by the group that organized the Tiananmen vigils in Hong Kong. Separately, the group's vice-chairman and 11 others pleaded guilty of defying a ban on the vigils.

Hong Kong police on Thursday raid a museum that houses exhibits commemorating Beijing's deadly crackdown on Tiananmen Square in 1989, a day after they arrested four members of the group that ran the venue.