A maverick Hong Kong politician was convicted yesterday of unlawful assembly, just six days after being re-elected to the city’s legislature.
Leung Kwok-hung (梁國雄), 52, also known as Long Hair, appeared in court for barging into the home of former Hong Kong housing chief Michael Suen with five other activists in a protest against rising rents last year.
Magistrate Gary Lam of the city’s Kwun Tong court told Leung the right to protest did not overrule residents’ rights to privacy. Leung will be sentenced in two week’s time.
Leung’s conviction is the latest in a string of court appearances for his political activities, one of which landed him a jail term during which he was forced to cut off his trademark long hair.
Leung was best known for shouting down former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa from the public gallery of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council during his annual policy addresses before he became a lawmaker himself in 2004.
Last Sunday’s election, Leung — a colorful figure in an otherwise largely dull and obedient legislature — was voted back in for a second four-year term in the former British colony.
He has refused to scale back his political activities despite his entry to the legislature and is a constant critic of Beijing’s controlling influence over the city of 6.9 million.
Long Hair insists he will not voluntarily cut his hair until Beijing apologizes for the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in which hundreds and possibly thousands of protesting students were killed.
BEYOND WASHINGTON: Although historically the US has been the partner of choice for military exercises, Jakarta has been trying to diversify its partners, an analyst said Indonesia’s first joint military drills with Russia this week signal that new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto would seek a bigger role for Jakarta on the world stage as part of a significant foreign policy shift, analysts said. Indonesia has long maintained a neutral foreign policy and refuses to take sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict or US-China rivalry, but Prabowo has called for stronger ties with Moscow despite Western pressure on Jakarta. “It is part of a broader agenda to elevate ties with whomever it may be, regardless of their geopolitical bloc, as long as there is a benefit for Indonesia,” said Pieter
‘SHARP COMPETITION’: Australia is to partner with US-based Lockheed Martin to make guided multiple launch rocket systems, an Australian defense official said Australia is to ramp up missile manufacturing under a plan unveiled yesterday by a top defense official, who said bolstering weapons stockpiles would help keep would-be foes at bay. Australian Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy said the nation would establish a homegrown industry to produce long-range guided missiles and other much-needed munitions. “Why do we need more missiles? Strategic competition between the United States and China is a primary feature of Australia’s security environment,” Conroy said in a speech. “That competition is at its sharpest in our region, the Indo-Pacific.” Australia is to partner with US-based weapons giant Lockheed Martin to make
US ELECTION: Polls show that the result is likely to be historically tight. However, a recent Iowa poll showed Harris winning the state that Trump won in 2016 and 2020 US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris courted voters angered by the Gaza war while former US President and Republican candidate Donald Trump doubled down on violent rhetoric with a comment about journalists being shot as the tense US election campaign entered its final hours. The Democratic vice president and the Republican former president frantically blitzed several swing states as they tried to win over the last holdouts with less than 36 hours left until polls open on election day today. Trump predicted a “landslide,” while Harris told a raucous rally in must-win Michigan that “we have momentum — it’s
TIGHT CAMPAIGN: Although Harris got a boost from an Iowa poll, neither candidate had a margin greater than three points in any of the US’ seven battleground states US Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live (SNL) in the final days before the election, as she and former US president and Republican presidential nominees make a frantic last push to win over voters in a historically close campaign. The first lines Harris spoke as she sat across from Maya Rudolph, their outfits identical, was drowned out by cheers from the audience. “It is nice to see you Kamala,” Harris told Rudolph with a broad grin she kept throughout the sketch. “And I’m just here to remind you, you got this.” In sync, the two said supporters