HK Announces Oath Requirement for Elected Officials, Paving Way for More Opposition Disqualifications
Posted by John Chan | Feb 23, 2021
The Hong Kong government has introduced a bill that will grant it the power to disqualify elected officials for failing to pledge loyalty, as the authorities define it, to the HKSAR or for betraying their oath of office. The proposal paves the way for the removal of pro-democracy District Councillors, local representatives who were elected to office in landslide victories in the fall of 2019. The changes came one day after Xia Baolong, Beijing’s director of Hong Kong and Macau Affairs, declared in a strongly worded speech that Hong Kong must be ruled by “patriots,” echoing words from Xi Jinping earlier this month. Xia’s speech signalled that even more electoral reforms were to be expected, with media reports suggesting possible changes to the composition of the 1,200 person Chief Executive Election Committee.
Coronavirus: UK should donate vaccines to poorer nations now, says new WTO chief; French cities facing tougher lockdowns
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The modern Liberal Party is very attached to its tough asylum seeker policies, because it's always been a vote winner for them. But are there exceptions to that rule? The case of Australia's most prominent asylum seeker family returned to court this week, and the Government lost its high profile appeal against them. And their case has support from some unexpected parts of Australia's ideological spectrum. The Tamil family rose to prominence after the Central Queensland town of Biloela campaigned strongly on their behalf, after their temporary settlement there was brought to an abrupt end. Despite this week's ruling, there's no end in sight for their detention on Christmas Island. So what’s next for the family? And what's in it for the Government to keep up this fight? Featured: Helen Davidson, reporter, Guardian Australia Josh Taylor, reporter, Guardian Australia
Australian CGTN Journalist Charged With Leaking State Secrets
Posted by John Chan | Feb 8, 2021
The Chinese government has formally arrested Cheng Lei, an Australian journalist who worked for state-broadcaster CGTN, alleging that she illegally shared state secrets. The news was announced by the Australian government on Monday, more than six months after Cheng was detained in August 2020. Since then, Cheng has been held in “residential surveillance at a designated location” (RSDL), a kind of detention that has been classified by U.N. human rights experts as a type of “enforced disappearance” under conditions that could constitute torture.
Financial Times’ Yuan Yang and Jamie Smyth
Engineers body dysfunctional - spokesperson for CTV families Conan Young © RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Families of the 115 people killed in the collapse of the CTV building are bewildered at the length of time it is taking to investigate the man whose company designed it.
Engineering New Zealand, formerly known as IPENZ, was first asked to investigate Alan Reay eight years ago, and some believed the organisation s credibility was on the line.
In 2012 a Royal Commission found that engineer David Harding made fundamental errors in designing the ill-fated building and criticised his boss, Alan Reay, for handing sole responsibility for the design over to somebody so inexperienced.
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