By: REN Ziyi DavidEdited by: Shameel Ibrahim

Hong Kong added nine countries with Omicron cases, including Australia and Canada, to the city’s high-risk group starting Wednesday over fears of the heavily mutated Covid-19 variant.  Under the tightened requirements, only Hong Kong residents who are fully-vaccinated and hold a recognised vaccination record can enter the city from countries in the high-risk group, which already includes the United States. Arrivals have to undergo a 21-day quarantine in a designated hotel instead of 14 days. Alice Chan Lai-sim, 66, a retiree who has lived in Sydney for 26 years, said she and her husband canceled their plans to return to Hong Kong to visit her relatives during the Christmas holidays due to the new arrangement.  “Though I have had two shots of AstraZeneca in Sydney before, I still have to quarantine in a designated hotel for 21 days and conduct six tests during quarantine in Hong Kong,” she said.  Her husband, Duncan Ip Wai-kwong, 69, who works in the IT industry, said they are also uncertain about the spread of Omicron in the city.  Hong Kong confirmed three imported Omicron cases discovered in arrivals during hotel quarantine.  “There are fewer Omicron cases in Hong Kong compared to New South Wales. However, Hong Kong still shows potential danger to travellers like us as most of the Omicron cases found in Hong Kong quarantine hotels that we have to stay in,” Ip said.  New South Wales, where Chan and Ip live, has recorded five Omicron cases.  On Sunday, the World Health Organization designated Omicron a “variant of concern” days after it was first reported from South Africa on Nov. 24.  There is little information on the heavily mutated variant, as the world waits to see if current vaccines will hold up. "Hong Kong's very stringent system of boarding, quarantine and also testing …

Hong Kong political activist Tony Chung hon lam, was jailed for 43 months for violating National Security Law and money laundering after pleading guilty to secession. Judge Chan Kwong Chi described Chung’s act as deceiving and a waste of effort. Chung, former Studentlocalism and Initiative Independence Party convenor, was arrested on Oct. 27 last year near the US consulate in Hong Kong, pleaded guilty on Nov. 3 stating “I have no shame in my heart” and on the court for sentence at District Court today.  He pleaded guilty to the charge of secession and money laundering for around 135 thousand in Paypal, and the charges of conspiracy to publish seditious materials and money laundering for 500 thousand in HSBC were left on file under a plea bargain. Chung, former Studentlocalism and Initiative Independence Party convenor, was arrested on Oct. 27 last year near the US consulate in Hong Kong, pleaded guilty on Nov. 3 stating “I have no shame in my heart” and on the court for sentence at District Court today.  He pleaded guilty to the charge of secession and money laundering for around 135 thousand in Paypal, and the charges of conspiracy to publish seditious materials and money laundering for 500 thousand in HSBC were left on file under a plea bargain. Chung was placed in the second sentencing bracket of three to seven years under active participation in the crime of the national security law, and a year and six months for the charge of money laundering (three months served non-concurrently), in total 43 months. The defendant intercede was taken into consideration, including Chung’s mother letter of pleading, the argument of Chung’s advocacy of Hong Kong independence on social media does not directly encourage violent acts in real life and have less impact than traditional political parties, …

Netflix original series, Arcane, released its last three episodes on Saturday to overwhelmingly positive reviews. Scoring full marks on IGN and Rotten Tomatoes and a high 9.4/10 on IMDB, Arcane confirmed on the same day that season two is in production. The animated series, based on the popular multiplayer online game League of Legends, surpassed the drama series Squid Game as the most popular show on video streaming platforms in more than 50 countries. The fantasy series, based in twin cities Piltover and Zaun, tells the origin stories of several characters from the game in a first for the video game company, Riot Games. Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent announced that the production of Arcane season two had already begun just two hours after the release of the final episode, saying the new season will not be released in 2022. Riot Games promoted the series all over the world, including The Arcane Experience Exhibition in a cafe in Seoul as well as a promotional video displayed on Dubai’s iconic skyscraper Burj Khalifa. French production company Fortiche used digitally hand-painted backgrounds and texture on the characters and mixed 2D animation and 3D animation. Fortiche’s involvement in Riot Games’s video production goes back to the 2014 music video “Get Jinxed” and 2018 League of Legends’s virtual girl group K/DA’s music video “POP/STARS”, which has gained more than 450 million views on YouTube.   Riot Games is a subsidiary of Chinese company Tencent. Its viral online game, League of Legends, has gained US$1.75 billion revenue in the year 2020, with over 100 million active users logging on every month. Leung Ming Hon, a Hong Kong fan of League of Legends, said he enjoyed the show because of the storytelling, animation and music. Through the TV series, he said he understood the background stories of …

  Couriers for the online food and grocery delivery app Foodpanda, owned by European company Delivery Hero, gathered at the company's offices in Sheung Wan on Tuesday, deadlocked in negotiations with the company over setting a standard base wage. The two sides sat down to negotiate after 300 disgruntled courier workers went on strike Saturday and Sunday to protest wage cuts, expanded delivery areas and inadequate insurance for self-employed operators, an action that involved several regions and affected the food delivery service, according to Headline Daily. Strike organizers drew up a list of 15 demands to give company’s representatives during the negotiation on Tuesday, ranging from a minimum service fee to time limits for completing orders. During negotiations that lasted from 5 p.m. until late at night, labor and management failed to reach an agreement. From August to November, Foodpanda's minimum service fees decreased in more than 40 regions in Hong Kong, ranging from 7% to 11%, according to the order service fee range sheet of Foodpanda. In negotiations, couriers asked for a minimum service fee of $50 for motorcyclists and $30 for walkers and cyclists, and asked the company to calculate service charge based on actual delivery distance instead of straight-line distance. “In August, I can earn about $900 a day, but after the fall in service fees, I can only earn $600 a day,” said Lam Chi-yung, a part-time delivery person for Foodpanda.  “If Foodpanda doesn’t answer our appeals, other couriers and I will probably continue to strike,” Lam added. Foodpanda and its couriers will restart negotiations on Thursday, as Tuesday's seven-hour discussion was inconclusive. Ho Hung-hing, the administrator of the Catering and Hotel Industries Employees General Union, told RTHK on Wednesday that it is difficult to reach a consensus on the requests over service fees as it …

  The M+ museum did not shy away from displaying artworks by the controversial Chinese artist Ai Weiwei on its opening day today, despite previous accusations that one of Ai's works violated national security law. The exhibition currently features two of Ai’s works, including Whitewash, a series of ceramic urns, some painted white, and Chang’an Boulevard, a video that captures the environment of Beijing from a rural village to the business district and the political core.  “By displaying, adapting and destroying historical artifacts, Ai reinstates, transforms, and also questions the value placed on objects, in a criticism of both politics and tradition,” M+ Museum wrote on its website. These two pieces will not be taken down, and curators will stand up for core artistic values and principles “within limits,” Tang Ying-yen, chairperson of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, said at a press conference on Thursday.  “We will uphold and encourage the freedom of artistic expression and creativity,” Tang said. “On the other hand, our dedicated curatorial team will ensure the exhibitions comply with the law, including the Basic Law, the national security law, and all other laws in Hong Kong.” He confirmed that one work in particular, Ai's photograph Study of Perspectives, which drew criticism from the pro-Beijing camp, will not be shown to the public in the museum opening.  “Any display of the photo would require further review,” he added. The photograph depicts Ai raising his middle finger at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the site of a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters on June 4, 1989.  The picture of this artwork has also been removed from the M+ website. When searching for the work, it returns a description of the piece without the image. John Batten, president of the International Art Critics Hong Kong, said the decision is necessary …