Newswrap

Doctors have warned that UK officials could be held accountable for what they say was the "torture" of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. In a open letter published in the medical journal The Lancet, more than 200 physicians and psychologists from 33 co...

Expectations are growing that the new national security law will be endorsed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress within a matter of days. While pro-establishment figures continued to defend the bill, fears about freedoms here be...

The Council on Smoking and Health says it is worried that more people will take up smoking now that a Legco bill banning e-cigarettes has been dropped. The city's smoking rate now stands at 10.5 per cent, up slightly from 2017. A member of the Council ...

North Korea says it has suspended unspecified plans for military action against the south, after taking what it called the "prevailing situation" into consideration. Annemarie Evans asked our correspondent in Seoul, Frank Smith, what prompted the lates...

The Chief Executive has said she would not unilaterally pick judges to handle future national security trials, even though a draft law being considered by Beijing gives her such powers. Carrie Lam said she would instead take advice from the Chief Justi...

The Philippine health ministry has reported 1,150 additional cases of the novel coronavirus, the country's biggest single-day increase in infections. In a bulletin, the ministry said total cases have reached 31,825 while deaths have increased by nine t...

Hong Kong has recorded its biggest daily increase in the number of Covid-19 cases for over two months, with 30 more people testing positive. All of the new patients had been abroad recently, with almost all of them coming back from Pakistan. Public hea...