Hong Kong’s new legislation allowing certain criminal cases to be handled under national security procedures is expected to be used only rarely, with the city leader typically issuing such certification before trial, security and justice officials have said. A Legislative Council subcommittee completed its scrutiny of the Safeguarding National Security (Procedural Matters) Regulation during a meeting on Thursday that lasted around two hours. The regulation empowers the chief executive to define...

China has sanctioned Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jnr, according to the Chinese foreign ministry. Beijing said on Thursday that Teodoro had repeatedly made erroneous remarks against China, undermined China’s legitimate interests and damaged bilateral relations. “To safeguard China’s national sovereignty, security, and development interests, the Chinese side has decided to ban Teodoro, his spouse, and his children from entering the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macau,” the...

Hong Kong’s new legislation allowing certain criminal cases to be handled under national security procedures is expected to be used only rarely, with the city leader typically issuing such certification before trial, security and justice officials have said. A Legislative Council subcommittee completed its scrutiny of the Safeguarding National Security (Procedural Matters) Regulation during a meeting on Thursday that lasted around two hours. The regulation empowers the chief executive to define...

MTR services along Hong Kong’s Tseung Kwan O line have gradually resumed, about an hour after a signalling equipment failure caused travel delays of 10 to 15 minutes during the Thursday evening rush hour. “The signalling equipment fault near Po Lam station on the Tseung Kwan O line has been fixed. Normal train service is gradually resuming,” the MTR Corporation said on its mobile app. “The service was affected between 5.57pm and 7.11pm.” A commuter, who gave her surname as Kwok, said she had...

Hong Kong Customs has arrested six men and seized suspected counterfeit football products worth HK$156 million ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026, including “highly authentic-looking” player-edition jerseys. Hong Kong customs display suspected counterfeit football jerseys seized ahead of the 2026 World Cup during a press conference on June 11, 2026. Photo: GovHK. Around 230,000 suspected fake items were seized in an operation codenamed “Clean Sheet,” which ran from May 26 to Wednesday, authorities said on Thursday – hours before the World Cup opening match between Mexico and South Africa in Mexico City. A 36-year-old male driver was arrested after customs officers discovered two batches of suspected counterfeit goods from two incoming lorries at border crossings with mainland China, said Wayne Chung, a senior inspector of the Intellectual Property Transnational Investigation Unit at the Customs and Excise Department. The two vehicles were intercepted at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Hong Kong Port and the Shenzhen Bay Control Point. Five men, aged 17 to 30, were arrested on suspicion of selling fake football jerseys on the internet, Chung said. The six suspects have been released on bail pending further investigation, he added. Customs and Excise Department. Photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP. According to customs, among the seized goods were around 30,000 player-edition jerseys, replicas of the shirts worn by professional footballers. These counterfeit jerseys – priced between HK$1,100 and HK$1,300 each, higher than fan-edition shirts – were “highly authentic-looking” and “delicately made,” Chung said. He added that around 80 per cent of the confiscated items were for export to the Americas. “Considering this World Cup is the largest ever in scale… we expect that the smuggling of World Cup-related products will become active during the course of the tournament due to increased demand from fans around the world,” Chung told reporters in Cantonese. This year’s World Cup is being jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, marking the first time the event features an expanded 48-team format, up from 32 teams in previous tournaments. Under the city’s Trade Descriptions Ordinance, importing, exporting, selling, or possessing counterfeit items for sale is an offence with a maximum penalty of a HK$500,000 fine and five years in jail.

By Montira Rungjirajittranon Two Chinese Uyghur men were sentenced to death Thursday for carrying out a 2015 attack on a Bangkok shrine that killed 20 people, a long-awaited verdict in Thailand’s deadliest bombing case. Bilal Mohammed (centre) and Yusufu Mieraili (back right), defendants in the 2015 Erawan shrine bombing case, arrive at a military court in Bangkok on February 16, 2016. File photo: Nicolas Asfouri/AFP. A Bangkok court convicted Yusufu Mieraili and Bilal Mohammed of premeditated and attempted murder for their role in planting a bomb at the popular Erawan Shrine in the capital’s commercial heart. The blast tore apart the site where worshippers and tourists had gathered, wounding more than 100 people and leaving the shrine to the Thai representation of Brahma littered with motorbike fragments and singed debris. Seven Chinese tourists were among the fatalities when explosives — apparently left in a backpack — detonated. “The defendants committed a single act that violated multiple laws. The court therefore imposed the harshest penalty available under the law, the death sentence,” one member of the four-judge panel said Thursday as the lengthy verdict was read out. The defendants — both Chinese nationals who arrived in court in prison garb — were acquitted of charges stemming from a separate bombing at a Bangkok pier. Following the verdict, Mieraili said: “RIP Thailand’s justice system. I don’t accept any of this. I didn’t do anything wrong.” Choochat Kanpai, the defendants’ lawyer, told reporters they “will appeal the ruling because there are many aspects of the case that the court has not fully considered, including the treatment of the defendants during the proceedings”. The decade-long trial was beset by delays due to coronavirus disruptions and problems securing translators. The blast came weeks after Thailand’s then-ruling junta forcibly repatriated 109 Uyghurs to China, prompting speculation that it was part of a revenge plot. Beijing welcomed the death sentences. “The attackers were totally inhumane and extremely heinous,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian during a press conference on March 20, 2026. Photo: China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “China supports Thailand in conducting the trial in accordance with the law and severely punishing the murderers.” Delays and drugs Shortly after the bombing, police named 17 suspects, but only Mieraili and Mohammed were initially apprehended. Thailand’s junta authorities were criticised for a murky investigation that appeared to wind down shortly after the arrest of the two men. They went on trial in 2016, accused of planting the explosives. But the proceedings — which have involved hundreds of witness testimonies — have been delayed multiple times, once because the translator for the accused was hit with drugs charges. In 2017 a Thai woman called Wanna Suansan was detained on arrival in Bangkok on a warrant linked to the shrine blast — making her the third named suspect arrested by police. She was charged with attempted murder, associated murder and possession of bombs and weapons, but was acquitted in 2024. The Uyghurs, a Turkic minority, primarily hail from China’s westernmost region, Xinjiang. Beijing has been accused of detaining more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslims since 2017, part of a campaign that the United Nations previously said could constitute crimes against humanity. China vehemently denies these allegations, saying its policies have rooted out extremism in Xinjiang and boosted economic development. Thailand deported dozens of Uyghurs to China in February 2025 despite warnings from human rights groups that they would face persecution on their return, drawing swift condemnation from the United Nations. Erawan Shrine in Bangkok on January 16, 2015, seven months before the deadly bombing. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. The Erawan Shrine remains a popular draw for Chinese and other tourists to the Thai capital, and dozens of visitors made traditional offerings of marigold garlands and incense as usual on Thursday. Devotee and online vendor Satiwan Phobangwai, 45, approved of the sentences. “As a Buddhist, I was taught to only do good deeds and good things, right? It’s like karma, as the saying goes, ‘you reap what you sow,'” she said. “So they must face the consequences of the wrongdoing they committed.”

China to legislate on preschool education

China to legislate on preschool education

The US military had attacked the Palau-flagged tanker on Wednesday after accusing it of not complying with directions.

Twenty people died and 120 others were injured in the explosion at the Erawan shrine 11 years ago.