What does the departure of UK judges really mean for Hong Kong’s rule of law?

https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/01/what-does-the-departure-of-uk-judges-really-mean-for-hong-kongs-rule-of-law/

US & UK annual reports on Hong Kong claim ‘unprecedented’ control by China on elections, media, judiciary

https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/01/us-uk-annual-reports-on-hong-kong-claim-unprecedented-control-by-china-on-elections-media-judiciary/

Satisfaction with Hong Kong’s press freedom drops to record low, poll finds

https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/01/satisfaction-with-hong-kongs-press-freedom-drops-to-record-low-poll-finds/

3 sentenced to training centre over 2019 National Day protest in Hong Kong

https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/02/3-sentenced-to-training-centre-over-2019-national-day-protest-in-hong-kong/

Are you a god of Hong Kong geography? Viral quiz tests citizens’ knowledge of their city

https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/02/are-you-a-god-of-hong-kong-geography-viral-quiz-tests-citizens-knowledge-of-their-city/

Covid-19: Work on temporary China-Hong Kong bridge began before emergency law was invoked, satellite images show

https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/03/covid-19-work-on-temporary-china-hong-kong-bridge-began-before-emergency-law-was-invoked-satellite-images-show/

#Poll: One out of four #Hongkonger wants to emigrate; #CarrieLam: Not interested

On March 25, 2022, the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (#HKPORI) announced some alarming survey findings that a quarter of the city population plans to emigrate, citing political uncertainty as the key reason.

Reporters took this issue to the #ChiefExecutive, Carrie Lam and asked whether measures are in place to retain talents.

Lam brushed the question aside as she responded in contempt, "I am not interested in these surveys in general. So I am not going to comment."

Lam asked Hong Kong people to stay confident as she foresees the #COVID19 pandemic receding in 4 weeks.

Lam's colleague, a member of the Executive Council, Bernard Charnwut Chan, apparently has a different view.

Chan expressed concerns over Hong Kong's role as the financial center in Asia when multinational corporations are moving their Asia Pacific headquarters away from Hong Kong.

Chan told reporters on a radio talk show that chances for these headquarters to be relocated back to Hong Kong are slim.

Although Hong Kong has lifted flight bans against 9 countries, inbound restrictions remained in force while many countries have removed COVID-19 restrictions altogether.

Source: Inmediahk; #Mar26
https://bit.ly/3tEWzDW

#BernardChan #FailedState #BrainDrain #EmigrationWave
#Exodus

Covid-19: Lam urges 3-day home rapid tests for all; leadership candidates exempt from private gathering rules

https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/04/covid-19-lam-urges-3-day-home-rapid-tests-for-all-leadership-candidates-exempt-from-private-gathering-rules/

#Award
A 19-year-old Hongkonger wins National Poetry Competition

#EricYip, who is from Hong Kong, won for his poem #Fricatives in the #NationalPoetryCompetition. The 19-year-old economics student from the University of Cambridge has become the youngest person to ever win the competition.

The poem plays with ideas about language to also comment on colonialism, race, migration, belonging and the guilt of leaving one’s home behind.

Yip’s work was chosen by judges Fiona Benson, David Constantine and Rachel Long, who read all the entries anonymously.

Benson said: “Fricatives is an immensely ambitious and beautifully achieved poem. It puts its reader into the position of a student of English as a second language, the fricative consonants tangling our mouths as we speak the poem, and intriguing us with the alternate meanings that rest precariously on the pronunciation. ‘Proper’ achievements – the correct pronunciation, the good education abroad, and the proud parents – are countered by an underworld of political prisoners and risky, grim sex.”

In an interview, Eric Yip told reporters that he was shocked to have won. “Poetry is definitely one of the arts where you get better with age because you have more lived experiences and you read more and you write more.”

Yip, who cites Ocean Vuong as a writer who made him realise he “had a right” to be heard, speaks Cantonese and Mandarin, but writes poetry in English.

Yip won £5,000 for the first prize. The National Poetry Competition also named nine other winners, including 92-year-old MR Peacocke for her poem Out of School.

#EricYip #NationalPoetryCompetition #Fricatives #Freedom #Emigration

Source: Initial Media #Mar31
https://publielectoral.lat/theinitiumnews/79

BREAKING: Carrie Lam will not run in Hong Kong’s small-circle chief executive election

https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/04/breaking-carrie-lam-will-not-run-in-hong-kongs-chief-executive-election/

Hong Kong court sentences 5 for up to 4.5 years on riot charges over 2019 National Day protest

https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/05/hong-kong-court-sentences-5-for-up-to-4-5-years-on-riot-charges-over-2019-national-day-protest/

In Pictures: At a Hong Kong paper offering store, gaming consoles beat Covid kits for Ching Ming Festival

https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/05/hkfp-lens-at-a-hong-kong-paper-offering-store-gaming-consoles-beat-covid-kits-for-ching-ming-festival/

China’s nuclear weapons build-up threatens mutually assured destruction

https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/05/chinas-nuclear-weapons-build-up-threatens-mutually-assured-destruction/

Hong Kong national security police arrest 6 under sedition law over ‘causing nuisance’ during court hearings

https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/06/hong-kong-national-security-police-arrest-6-under-sedition-law-over-causing-nuisance-during-court-hearings/

Co-founder of defunct Hong Kong media outlet DB Channel denied bail over calls for int’l sanctions, judgement reveals

https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/06/co-founder-of-defunct-hong-kong-media-outlet-db-channel-denied-bail-over-calls-for-intl-sanctions-judgement-reveals/

Hong Kong Chief Sec. John Lee resigns ahead of small-circle leadership election

https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/06/breaking-hong-kong-chief-sec-john-lee-resigns-ahead-of-small-circle-leadership-election/

Hong Kong’s HK$10k consumption voucher scheme rolls out to residents

https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/07/hong-kongs-hk10k-consumption-voucher-scheme-rolls-out-to-residents/

Meta restricts access to over 400 Facebook and Instagram posts, pages in Hong Kong due to health dep’t requests

https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/07/meta-restricts-access-to-over-400-facebook-and-instagram-posts-pages-in-hong-kong-due-to-health-dept-requests/

Hong Kong gov’t refuses to say which library books are banned under national security law

https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/07/hong-kong-govt-refuses-to-say-which-library-books-are-banned-under-national-security-law/

Overseas judges in Hong Kong are not a picky bunch, apparently

https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/07/overseas-judges-in-hong-kong-are-not-a-picky-bunch-apparently/