Taipei mayor Wayne Chiang Wan-an has emerged as the biggest political winner from an opposition protest against the government’s handling of a food safety scandal that drew what organisers said were more than 200,000 people onto the streets of the city. The unexpectedly large turnout on Saturday appears to have given the island’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang, fresh momentum ahead of the local elections in November, and could reshape the race to become the party’s candidate in the next...

US criticism of Malaysia’s entry ban on Israeli nationals is unlikely to force a major shift in the country’s foreign policy, analysts have said, after Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim rejected accusations that the move was antisemitic. The remarks escalated a dispute that has drawn in members of the US Congress, Malaysia’s long-standing refusal to recognise Israel and the widening international debate over where criticism of Israel ends and hostility towards Jewish people begins. “We are not...

Hong Kong should prepare for stronger storms and a warmer, wetter winter this year as the current El Nino phenomenon is likely to intensify into a super event, a local green group and a leading meteorologist have said. Typhoons heading for Hong Kong this year were set to grow more powerful, as El Nino raised sea temperatures and provided storms with more moisture and energy, Friends of the Earth (HK) said on Monday. The forecast, which is based on international and local data, came after the...

Chief Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung has told a Hong Kong High Court judge to retire early after reprimanding him for plagiarising submissions in a judgment, describing a series of such incidents as undermining public confidence. The city’s top judge said on Monday that Wilson Chan Ka-shun’s repeated judicial plagiarism had adversely affected the interests of the parties concerned, imposed an unnecessary burden on appellate judicial resources and undermined public confidence in his ability to...

A High Court judge will retire early this week after he was found to have committed plagiarism in his judgements at least five times over the past three years. High Court Judge Wilson Chan. Photo: Judiciary. High Court Judge Wilson Chan tendered his retirement at the request of Chief Justice Andrew Cheung. It will come into effect on Friday, the judiciary said on Monday. Chan, 64, received a “serious reprimand” last week for committing plagiarism in his judgement in a 2024 trial over a company shares dispute. It was at least the third known instance of “judicial copying” following two earlier instances in 2023. In a statement on Monday, Chief Justice Cheung said “judicial copying strikes at the very core” of the fundamental requirement for judges to adjudicate cases independently. “A judge must exercise an independent judicial mind in carefully considering and resolving the issues raised and in determining the disputes before the court,” Cheung said. “The exercise of independent judicial judgment, which lies at the heart of the adjudicative process, is principally reflected in the reasons and judgments delivered by the judge,” he added. Cheung said Chan’s instances of plagiarism had led to a number of appeals and orders for retrial, straining the court’s resources and undermining public confidence in the judiciary. He warned judges at all levels of Hong Kong’s courts to avoid any form of judicial copying, adding that training in judgement writing will be strengthened where appropriate. Chief Justice Andrew Cheung speaks at the Ceremonial Opening of Legal Year 2023. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Monday’s announcement means that Chan will retire almost six years before he is set to hit the retirement age for a High Court judge. Hong Kong amended rules in 2019 to extend a High Court judge’s retirement age from 65 to 70. String of instances In the latest instance of plagiarism, Chan was found to have copied large parts of the defence’s opening and closing arguments in a HK$40 million shares dispute between Koo Ming-kown, the founder of digital products company Nam Tai Electronics, and Koo’s former brother-in-law. Koo lost the case initially but won an appeal this month, with the Court of Appeal finding that 95 per cent of Chan’s judgement was plagiarised. The case was ordered to be retried before another judge. Chan, who presided over the early proceedings of the 47 democrats’ national security case, has been caught in the act at least four times before. The Court of Appeal found Chan had plagiarised during two separate cases in 2025, according to local media outlet The Witness. In 2023, he was also found to have copied the majority of the plaintiff’s written submission in his judgement after the defendant lodged an appeal in a trademark dispute case involving two pharmaceutical brands. That same year, Chan was also found to have plagiarised in a case concerning real estate giant Great Eagle Holdings. The defendant, who lost the case, filed an appeal accusing Chan of lifting large parts of the plaintiff’s submissions. In both 2023 incidents, the Court of Appeal ordered the cases to undergo retrials by different judges.

A Hong Kong court will rule in September on the alleged illegal firing of a former Wall Street Journal reporter, who was dismissed shortly after she took up a leadership role at a press union. Selina Cheng at the Eastern Magistrates’ Court. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Selina Cheng initiated a private prosecution against Dow Jones Publishing, the parent company of her former employer WSJ, for her alleged unlawful dismissal in July 2024, after she was elected chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA). The court heard closing submissions on Monday as the trial entered its 12th day at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts. Both parties argued over whether either Cheng’s then-supervisor at WSJ, or a human resources director at Dow Jones, represented the company. The court previously heard that Deborah Ball, WSJ’s Asia editor and Cheng’s supervisor at the time, told Cheng that her intention to stand for office at the HKJA was “not compatible” with her employment with the newspaper. Kerene Ko, a human resources director at Dow Jones at the time, later informed Cheng by email that she “did not seek, and will not receive the company’s approval to pursue this role [HKJA’s chair],” the court had heard. Senior Counsel Nigel Kat, representing Cheng, said on Monday that an employee enjoys “far-reaching protection” from the city’s Employment Ordinance, which prohibits employers from preventing, deterring, or firing a worker for union activities. Both Ball and Ko were “duly authorised” by Dow Jones and acted on behalf of the company, Kat told the court. Wall Street Journal Corporate Headquarters in New York. File photo: John Wisniewski, via Flickr CC2.0. Senior Counsel Benson Tsoi, representing Dow Jones, argued that the prosecution had not proven that Ball and Ko were indeed instructed by the “directing mind and will” of the company in their communications with Cheng. “If anything has been proven in this case, it would be against the individuals,” Tsoi told the court. The prosecution failed to prove the company did commit the offence, he added. Principal Magistrate David Cheung adjourned the case until September 10 for a verdict. The court previously heard that Cheng, who covered the Chinese electric vehicle industry, was fired in July 2024 on the grounds of redundancy, as the WSJ relocated its centre of reporting in Asia from Hong Kong to Singapore. Gordon Fairclough, the WSJ’s world coverage chief, flew to Hong Kong to inform Cheng of her termination in person. Cheng accused Dow Jones of one count of “doing an act calculated to prevent or deter” her becoming a HKJA officer, and a second charge of terminating her employment over her union participation, under the city’s Employment Ordinance. Under the ordinance, an employer could be fined up to HK$100,000 for each of the offences if found guilty.

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