#Newspaper

Woman in 70s lined up 2 hours for 5 masks; Deleted photo with Carrie Lam on the spot: Very disappointed

(10 Feb) As the novel coronaviruses epidemic continues, it becomes hard to buy masks in Hong Kong. Galaxy Engineering Group today distributed 10,000 masks for free in Tai Kok Tsui. Each person was allowed to get 5 pieces, totalling to 2,000 persons.

Ms. Chan, a 70-year-old suffering from chronic illnesses, was wearing a raincoat, sunglasses, and a mask in line. After queuing for 2 hours, she finally got 5 masks. “It's exciting! The first time!” She said, about 2 weeks ago, she went to Watson’s to wait in line to buy masks. However, even though she arrived at 7 am, there were more than 50 people waiting at the scene, and she couldn't get any after three hours.

Ms. Chan said that she was very disappointed with Chief Executive Carrie Lam, and she showed reporter a photo she took with Carrie Lam in 2017. She confessed that, when Carrie Lam was planning to run for the Chief Executive, she had high hopes for her. But now citizens have to wait in long lines and even pay high prices for masks. “Never thought that she is the worst among all the chief executives we have had!” After saying that, she deleted the photo on the spot. “People threw away Alan Tam’s CDs, and I deleted her photo... setting aside politics, she is even unable to provide basic needs for people.”

She said that, even during the SARS epidemic in 2003, she was still able to go out to dine, and never needed to queue up for masks. Even after SARS, she still had two boxes remaining, and eventually she was able to donate them to others. But now she has to reuse her mask for 2 days, “Very disappointed!”

One of the citizens who got the masks said not many masks were left at home. Since his wife had to go to work, he could only reuse the masks and put paper towels on them. “Once at home, use a hairdryer to dry them.” He said that he has also lined up for masks many times before, and sometimes even needed to queue for 4 hours. “It’s better than getting money! I can’t buy masks even I want to buy them!”

Source: HK01
https://bit.ly/2T0hZrR

#FailedState #MaskShortage CarrieLam

#Newspaper

China, Global Oil Markets and Coronavirus Outbreak

The coronavirus had a severe impact on the travel industry, air travel and the oil, gas and copper markets, as the outbreak continues spreading, its effect is bound to increase.

According to Reuters, a source from the oil industry revealed that the sales of jet fuel in China has dropped by a quarter in the last week of January.

Meanwhile, the slowdown in China’s industrial activity and the shutdown of factories is also causing the worst shock to oil demand since the financial crisis of 2008-2009, according to Goldman Sachs.

Chinese refiners—from Asia's biggest refiner, Sinopec, to the independent refiners in Shandong—are cutting refinery runs, while commodity trading houses and oil majors are scrambling to find spot buyers for crude oil outside China.

Natural Gas Intel reported thst U.S. LNG plants might be forced to shut down if the price trend continues as it would make their product harder to sell in its top markets: Europe and Asia, mainly China; however, China, for its part, is still enforcing 25-percent tariffs on U.S. LNG imports.

On Feb 6, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), the country’s largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), has declared force majeure, meaning it won’t take delivery of some LNG cargoes.

According to Fortune, China is even attempting to sell millions of barrels of West African crude it had already purchased. By Monday, copper had seen a 12% drop in price.

Economists in Beijing think Q1 growth rates could drop a percentage point or more. International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva said in a statement after the G20 meeting on Feb 24: "The COVID-19 virus -- a global health emergency -- has disrupted economic activity in China and could put the recovery at risk."

Source: Reuters; Bloomberg; AFP; Fortune; oilprice.com
https://is.gd/Pq6yfa
https://is.gd/vDVb6t
https://is.gd/6eWFUV
https://is.gd/GTXTOU
https://is.gd/2rLwcp

#Economy #WuhanPneumonia

#Newspaper

Wheelchair-bound journalist harassed by Riot Police

(27 Feb) A wheelchair-bound journalist was harassed by riot police when he was covering a protest in Tuen Mun district. The officer teased him and challenged if one could be a reporter in a wheelchair.

The social media group that the journalist belongs to, the White Night, condemned the behavior of the officer to the reporter in a post on its official Facebook Page .
Another reporter has also witnessed that riot police officer and his colleagues suspected of teasing and harassing the disabled reporter. The officer however was not identified as he did not have his force identification number or warrant card shown. This left the White Night with no way to file a complaint on the misconduct and disability discrimination against the experienced front-line reporter.

It is demanded that the police work with utmost professionalism and respect the rights of journalists to work and cover news without intervention.

The White Night is an online media group which gathers people from different backgrounds to cover news on a voluntary basis.

Source: Stand News
https://bit.ly/2wQvLFT

#Discrimination #FreedomOfPress #Disability #PoliceState

#Newspaper

Suspected Leaked Guidelines from TikTok, Videos Filmed with Ugly Faces or Poor Backgrounds not Recommended

(22 Mar) In order to ensure the content shared by users would not contain anything inappropriate, lots of companies would hire administrators to check, and, if necessary, to remove content which might be offensive. Recently, The Intercept has obtained leaked data of TikTok, which included the guidelines for TikTok’s administrators. In the guidelines, the administrators should exclude the users who are considered “ugly”, “too old”, disabled from the “For You” section of the app. The shooting environment which appeared to be too poor should not be allowed as well. Besides, the document emphasis TikTok shall side with China’s foreign policies. Administrators shall remove everything that includes the Tiananmen massacre, support for the independence of Taiwan and Hong Kong and content “harmful to China’s national pride”. In response, TikTok stated the guidelines are to prevent cyberbullying and those guidelines have already been cancel last year. TikTok also emphasised that it is a platform for the users to freely express themselves.

Source: Unwire HK
https://bit.ly/2WEXvbv

Further reading
Youtube Censorship
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/18926
#ChinesePropaganda #Censorship #FakeImage #TikTok #Discrimination

#Newspaper

Petition to Support Taiwan’s inclusion in WHO
127 European politicians have signed a petition to support Taiwan's inclusion in WHO after Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the organization's Director-General, accused Taiwan of criticizing his way to manage the epidemic was racially influenced. Participating politicians praised Taiwan's handling of the epidemic, and said its exclusion from WHO is unfair and incomprehensible.

Full article: Taiwan News, (11-Apr)
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3914545

#Taiwan #WHO #Tedros #Petition

#Newspaper

Rumors of actor Alex Mak was ordered by TVB to stop working due to participation of Hong Kong pro-democracy movement

(14 May)Hong Kong police have been accused of abusing its power and conducting indiscriminate arrests during the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong in 2019, also known as the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement.

So far, nearly 8,000 people have been arrested. Of the arrested, one of them is 26-year-old up-and-coming TV actor Hoi Ching (Alex) Mak, according to Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily. He was reportedly arrested at the end of 2019 after participating in one of the protests.

Mak is employed by local pro-establishment TV station TVB. It is said that TVB has stopped all of Mak’s work following the arrest. Mak was not seen in the promotion of a recently aired TVB show, in which he is one of the actors. Mak decided to return to his hometown in France after being suppressed by the company due to his political views.

Mak was one of the favorite actors of TVB’s top management team, headed by Yee Ling (Virginia) Lok and Wing Shan (Sandy) Yue. Following his arrest, Mak’s dense working schedule was quickly cancelled by TVB.

Mak’s colleagues at TVB were surprised by his sudden departure.

There are reports that TVB has issued a gag order to forbid the few people who are familiar with the matter to say much.

Mak was actively posting promo videos and photos relating to the latest TVB show he participated in before his employer took him out of all promotional work. He disappeared from Instagram for around three months.

Recently, Alex posted a selfie on his social media platform. In the photo, he wore sunglasses without expression. The caption was: "Take a break. Take a look."

Online comments from his fans included: "You left TVB?", " Why you been gone so long?"

Source: Apple Daily News
https://bit.ly/2T6KKUy

#AlexMak #TVB #WhiteTerror #Censorship #SharpPower #HumanRights #Freedom #AntiELAB

#Newspaper

YouTube is deleting comments with two phrases that insult China’s Communist Party

//YouTube is automatically deleting comments that contain certain Chinese-language phrases related to criticism of the country’s ruling Communist Party (CCP). The company confirmed to The Verge this was happening in error and that it’s working to fix the issue.

//Comments left under videos or in live streams that contain the words “共匪” (“communist bandit”) or “五毛” (“50-cent party”) are automatically deleted in around 15 seconds, though their English language translations and Romanized Pinyin equivalents are not.

//The accidental censorship is even more puzzling considering that YouTube is currently blocked in China, giving its parent company, Google, even less reason to censor comments critical of the CCP or apply moderation systems in accordance with Chinese censorship laws.

//Google has frequently been criticized for accommodating the wishes of the CCP by censoring content. Most notably, it created a prototype search engine known as Project Dragonfly that complied with Chinese state censorship. The project, which was never deployed, is part of the company’s long-running struggles to enter the Chinese market.

//When news of Dragonfly leaked in 2018 in a report from The Intercept, Google was criticized by politicians and its own employees for selling out its principles. During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in June 2019, the company said it had “terminated” the project and that it had “no plans to launch Search in China.”

Full article: The Verge, (26-May)

Further reading:
Youtube’s CEO was involved in the founding of Google
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/20291
Did the CCP manipulate Google search results to spread their propaganda more effectively?
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/20289

#ChineseCensorship #Youtube #Google

#Newspaper

The bank account of Apple Daily’s Charity fund cancelled by Bank Of China, rumour says the reason is “paying tuitions for students”

(15 Jun) In March 2020, Pro-Beijing organization protested at the Revenue Tower in Wan Chai and suspected that Apple Daily Charitable Foundation was supporting rioters behind the scene in the name of charity work. Apple daily reported that the Foundation’s bank account in Bank of China(BOC) had been cancelled by the bank due to “commercial reasons”.

In Apple Daily’s report, The Charitable Foundation’s BOC account was closed down by the bank due to commercial reasons, and the other three accounts are operating as normal. The fund in the BOC account has been transferred to the other accounts.

According to Apple Daily, BOC staff contacted Mr. Chow Tat Hey, the Chief Executive of the foundation, regarding the protest at the Revenue tower. Mr. Chow explained to the BOC officer, saying the Foundation’s initiative is to support students, to help all the students who are facing financial difficulties because of the Anti Elab movement, and they will not screen applicants based on their political stances. However, the bank did not accept such an explanation and cancelled the account officially by sending a letter to the foundation on 4 May. In the letter, there was no mention of the reason for such a decision.

In March, there was Pro-Beijing group protesting at the Revenue tower, raising banners with slogans like “Toxic apple Fake charity, Funds to the Rioters”, etc, and the group suspected that the initiative of supporting students violates the definition of a charitable organization, and requested the Inland Revenue Department to cancel the charity status of Apple Daily Charitable Foundation.

Apple Daily Charitable Foundation started the initiative of supporting students in the past and claims to provide assistance to University students and students of tertiary education, who are unable to pay tuition and school fees due to family conflicts arising from the Anti elab protest. Apple Daily claims that the Foundation has received 7.85M donations as of 7 June, and is providing assistance to more than 10 students.
Standnews has sent an inquiry to BOC, who refused to comment on this particular case when replying and claimed that the bank has followed respective laws when managing the accounts in their daily operations.

Source: The Stand News
https://bit.ly/2BbdDsP

#AppleDaily #CharitibleFoundation #ChinaInfluence #BankOfChina #AntiELAB

#Newspaper

Arrested Japanese photographer returned to Hong Kong as required by the police to report, but refused entry and deported

(14 Sep) Mr. A (pseudonym), a Japanese photographer in his 40s, was arrested on a street in Wan Chai on 31 August last year. At the end of the year, he complied with the regulations and came to Hong Kong to report for the third time. He was refused entry for no reason and was immediately repatriated, with no way of knowing the progress of the case, and even more afraid of being "dispossessed" as a wanted criminal.

The case did not get prosecuted due to insufficient evidence, the police confirmed as they received an inquiry from Apple Daily. The Immigration Department stated that it would not comment on individual cases.

Born in the most influential era of Hong Kong culture in the last century, Mr. A's impression of Hong Kong has always been illusory in Jackie Chan's movies. Until the Umbrella Movement in 2014, when students stayed on the streets around the clock, which made him pay attention to the process of Hongkonger's striving for democracy.

"Everyone is peaceful, not as fierce as shown in the news." When really stepping on the scene of the demonstration, Mr. A believed that the real situation was very different from the news footage. Most of the time the demonstrators just expressed their demands rationally. During police suppression, they didn't know each other but could move forward and retreat together in a tacit understanding. "It is hard to imagine something like this happens in Japan."

Having personally experienced police violence, Mr. A witnessed that the force used by the Hong Kong police was disproportionate to the peaceful behavior of the demonstrators. During his arrest, he also saw many arrested persons beaten up in blood. He felt that the road to democracy in Hong Kong was not simple. He then compiled his own arrest process, together with graffiti photos taken during his visit to Hong Kong, into a book, which was written in English, Japanese, and Cantonese as "Hong Kong political graffiti & buff ~ 2019年夏 香港民主化デモ 逮捕された記録~". It has been published and put on shelves in local bookstores in Tokyo and Shizuoka, hoping to let more Japanese understand how Hongkongers fight for democracy, so as to support every other person on the road to freedom.

When he was asked if the photo collection would be sold in Hong Kong, he said that he was not sure whether the work violated the "Hong Kong version of the National Security Law" or not, so he needed to seek further legal advice. He also said with a bitter smile: "Whether I can enter Hong Kong again or not is still a question."

Source: Apple Daily
Translated by: Hong Kong Echo

#Japan #Japanese #Photographer #PoliceBrutality #PoliceState #NationalSecurityLaw

#Newspaper
#AppleDaily Arrests Make Headlines Across the World: "Blatant Attack on Journalism", "Silencing All Dissent"

The Hong Kong police arrest of #AppleDaily senior staff on June 17, 2021 has been widely reported by news outlets across the world. 

On June 19, the newspaper's editor-in-chief #RayLaw and #NextDigital CEO #CheungKimHung were mentioned in court for national security charges.

June 20, 2021 marks the 26th anniversary of the establishment of Apple Daily in Hong Kong. It is the only pro-democracy Chinese-language newspaper in print in the city.

===

#Reuters

//Five hundred Hong Kong police officers sifted through reporters’ computers and notebooks at pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily on Thursday, the first case in which authorities have cited media articles as potentially violating the national security law.

“This is a blatant attack on the editorial side of Apple Daily,” Mark Simon, an adviser to Lai who is outside Hong Kong, told Reuters. “They’re arresting the top editorial folks.”

Asked how long he thinks the newspaper can survive, Simon said: “They decide, not us,” referring to authorities.//

Full article:
https://www.reuters.com/article/hongkong-security-apple-daily/update-2-hks-apple-daily-says-police-arrest-five-directors-in-latest-blow-to-tycoon-jimmy-lai-idUSL2N2NZ006

=====

#TheGuardian

//The raids were condemned by journalism and human rights groups.

Steven Butler, Asia program coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the arrests destroyed “any remaining fiction that Hong Kong supports freedom of the press”.

“China, which controls Hong Kong, may be able to eliminate the paper, which it sees as an annoying critic, but only at a steep price to be paid by the people of Hong Kong, who had enjoyed decades of free access to information.”//

Full article:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/17/hong-kong-police-arrest-editor-in-chief-of-apple-daily-newspaper-in-morning-raids

====

#CNN

//Press freedoms are a fundamental right guaranteed by Hong Kong's Basic Law, the city's mini-constitution. But experts have worried about the usage of the national security law, and there have been indications of pressures on other media in the city. 

A recent ranking of worldwide press freedoms, meanwhile, indicates that the environment in Hong Kong has deteriorated. The international watchdog Reporters Without Borders — which qualifies such freedoms based on data on abuse and acts of violence against journalists along with a questionnaire to experts — ranked Hong Kong 80 out of 180 countries for press freedom, down from 18 out of 138 in 2002.//

Full article:

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/16/media/apple-daily-arrests-intl-hnk/index.html

=====

#Bloomberg

//“Hong Kong has been left with little free speech under the national security law, which is really aimed at silencing all dissent,” said Victoria Hui, an associate professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. “Beijing has reined in Hong Kong and will continue to take whatever it takes to silence any dissenting voices.”

In a letter to readers on Thursday afternoon, Apple Daily said police officers confiscated a “large number of items,” including the computers of 38 journalists, over the course of a five-hour search of the company’s offices.

The newspaper said it now “faces an unprecedented crackdown by the regime,” but vowed its staff would be “standing firm” despite the growing pressure.

“Hong Kong’s press freedom is now hanging by a thread,” the letter said. “Though we are facing a sweeping clampdown on our publication, the staff of Apple Daily will hold fast to our duties faithfully and press on till the end to see the arrival of dawn.”//

Full article:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-16/hong-kong-arrests-apple-daily-editor-on-security-law-scmp-says

#PressFreedom #PoliceState #Censorship #PoliticalProsecution

Image: Stand News

#Propaganda #MainMelody
"Perfect Harmony": A July 1 without #AppleDaily and Annual Pro-democracy March

July 1, 2021 marks the 24th year since Hong Kong was handed over to China, and is also the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (#CCP). It is also the first July 1 after the outspoken #AppleDaily was shut down and the annual pro-democracy march has been banned by the police.

The headlines of the remaining printed newspapers in the city sing praises in "perfect harmony" for the CCP and the HKSAR.

A full-page ad adorned the front page of Ming Pao, Economic Journal, Oriental Daily, Sing Tao Daily, Hong Kong Economic Times, South China Morning Post, all wishing the SAR and the Party a happy birthday.

#July1Protest #Newspaper #MediaLandscape

Source: Stand News #July1
https://www.facebook.com/standnewshk/posts/4303698696382384