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Tanna Chong

Companies have rented backup offices to prepare for potential disruption by the Occupy Central civil disobedience movement, business insiders say.

Dozens of opponents of the government's development plan for the northeastern New Territories breached security cordons and stormed the legislative building in Admiralty yesterday.

Local newspaper and internet cartoonists are using their talents to highlight the importance of freedom of speech and the press.

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More death threats appear to have been issued to residents at a Sha Tin estate who are campaigning against contractors who rig tenders in order to win lucrative maintenance projects.

Occupy Central organiser Benny Tai Yiu-ting said last month that he and his fellow activists would not change or add questions to the ballot to be held this month to determine the public's preference for electoral reform.

Basic Law Committee member Professor Rao Geping will be among the speakers at a political reform seminar organised by moderate pan-democratic lawmaker Ronny Tong Ka-wah to promote discussion of issues other than public nomination.

The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong is known for its enthusiastic support for the government - but it has inadvertently revealed even deeper ties; the administration is apparently giving its lawmakers questions to put to officials.

The Occupy Central pro-democracy movement would not damage the city's rule of law as long as it remained peaceful, the chief of the police watchdog said on his last day in office.

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying wrote to Jasper Tsang Yok-sing reminding him to "take lawmakers' unruly behaviour seriously", the Legislative Council president disclosed.

Organisers of the vigil commemorating the June 4 Tiananmen Square crackdown have hit back at critics who say it is now purely ceremonial.

A leading Beijing-loyalist politician has suggested a cross-party coalition could help reach a deal on the highly charged issue of electoral reform.

Pan-democrats yesterday accused Beijing of extending its repression to Hong Kong after a Taiwanese scholar coming for a conference on the Tiananmen Square crackdown was denied entry because his travel permit had been cancelled.

The international business community in Hong Kong is deeply concerned about the city's electoral reform and governance issues, the British consul general in Hong Kong says.

Organisers of Occupy Central say they will promote the political reform proposal that wins the most votes in a civil referendum next month - even if a greater number of voters register abstentions.

Independent lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen has denied having any hidden agenda when he went into talks with the central government's top representative in Hong Kong on Wednesday without notifying fellow pan-democrats or the media beforehand.

Undersecretary for commerce and economic development Godfrey Leung King-kwok enjoyed his 15 minutes of "fame" after Legislative Council president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing failed to recognise him at a meeting last week.

Two-thirds of residents disagree with the grounds radical pan-democratic lawmakers have cited in launching filibusters in the legislature, a Chinese University poll shows.

Lawmakers will have a chance to block any changes to a controversial property-cooling measure before they take effect after a concession from the government.

An outspoken property agency boss and moderate pan-democrats are joining forces to test the public's views on a "middle way" for the first democratic election for chief executive in 2017.

Well-known Macau entrepreneur and a former vice-chairman of the country's top political advisory body, Ma Man-kei, died on Monday in Beijing aged 94.

After more than five decades of power-broking between the government and the people, the Heung Yee Kuk chairman - known affectionately as "Uncle Fat" - plans to record all his experiences in a biography.

Hongkongers could have been forgiven for dismissing Benny Tai Yiu-ting as just an intellectual with his head in the clouds when he raised the idea of a democracy push through civil disobedience in January last year.

Lawmakers probing the handling of the government's HK$250 million Mega Events Fund yesterday accused officials of serious negligence or a cover-up when they failed to divulge key information in a funding application.

He has spent about 50 hours listening to debate over the budget bill, but Legislative Council President Jasper Tsang Yok-sing says he needs "a better reason" to end the filibustering.

A pro-democracy group headed by Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor's predecessor says it was "exceedingly discourteous" for Lam to brief media on results of the first reform consultation at an informal gathering.

Financial professionals fear influx of suspect money from mainland will have dire consequences for economic health of Hong Kong, says hedge fund manager.

The Alliance for True Democracy should dissolve after Occupy Central's citywide referendum on political reform next month, the Democratic Party says.

Senior officials prepared yesterday for crisis talks over the budget-bill filibuster amid warnings of a "fiscal cliff" looming next month if the bill is not passed this month.

Legislative Council president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing yesterday warned of a "fiscal cliff" if the budget debate filibuster drags on.