17 years in a Philippine jail, carcinogens in your cooking oil and other Hong Kong stories you need to know from this week
A selection of some of the most-read stories on scmp.com in the last seven days
Seventeen years of hell: Hong Kong prisoner recounts his time in a Philippine jail
What’s the story: Tang Lung-wai is surviving a life sentence in Manila’s notorious New Bilibid Prison for a drug offence he insists he never committed. Inside his 60 sq ft cell he completed a mission impossible – writing a book detailing his ordeal over 17 years in which he says he was beaten by police, deprived of food and had his hopes of returning home dashed again and again.
Why it matters: Conditions in Philippine jails are notoriously rough. Tang, 46, insists in his book that he is innocent. “I wanted to let Hong Kong people know of the injustice I experienced,” he said. “Over the years, the Hong Kong government never really helped me.”
Read the full story here:
46 samples of cooking oil on sale in Hong Kong contained cancer-causing substance in tests
What’s the story: Hong Kong’s consumer watchdog found more than 40 samples of cooking oil on sale around the city contained contaminants and a cancer-causing substance. The Consumer Council tested 60 types of edible oil from various brands and found 46 samples contained the toxic carcinogen glycidol, for which there are no safe levels set anywhere in the world.