Hong Kong media guide
An overview of the media in Hong Kong, as well as links to broadcasters and newspapers.
2023-09-04 23:16
Putin and Erdogan meet to discuss grain deal amid 'shifting power balance'
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian leader Vladimir Putin met on Monday in Russia's southern coastal city of Sochi amid efforts to bring Moscow back into the critical Black Sea grain deal that was abandoned by Putin in July.
2023-09-04 23:16
Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin’s forces pushed back in the south as Moscow launches kamikaze drone attack
Russian forces have been pushed back in the south of Ukraine as Moscow has launched a kamikaze drone attack. On Monday, Ukraine reported that its troops had regained more territory on the eastern front in Bakhmut, making further advances in the south of the country. Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar also reported “success” in the direction of the villages Novodanylivka and Novoprokopivka in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, but did not add any details. Ukraine has now recaptured approximately 47 square km of territory since it launched its long-awaited counteroffensive in June, Ms Maliar added. Meanwhile, on Monday, Ukraine’s defence ministry said Russian kamikaze drones had exploded on Romanian territory during Moscow’s strike on Odesa. But Romania’s Ministry of National Defence said in a statement: “The Ministry of National Defence firmly denies the information circulating in the public space with regard to a so-called situation occurred during the night of 3-4 September, when Russian drones would have fallen on Romania’s national territory. “The Ministry of National Defence reiterates the fact that these attacks targeting the Ukrainian sites and civilian infrastructure are unjustified and break all international humanitarian rules.” Read More President Zelensky nominates Rustem Umerov as Ukraine’s new defence minister Russian cyber-attacks ‘relentless’ as threat of WW3 grows, expert warns Ukraine ‘targets critical bridge’ built by Putin as counteroffensive ‘breaks through on southern front’
2023-09-04 22:50
Summer's over for UK politicians as Sunak faces a crisis over crumbling schools
British lawmakers headed back to Parliament on Monday after their summer break
2023-09-04 22:17
Ukraine's defense minister resigns following Zelenskyy's announcement of his replacement
Ukraine’s defense minister has submitted a letter of resignation after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he would be replaced this week and named his successor
2023-09-04 21:56
Swedish rookie Ludvig Aberg among European team's captain's picks for Ryder Cup
Ludvig Aberg’s rapid rise in just three months as a pro has been capped by getting selected as one of the European team's captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup against the United States outside Rome this month
2023-09-04 21:53
Alex Murdaugh claims mystery evidence will prove need for new murder trial
Convicted killer Alex Murdaugh has claimed that mysterious “newly discovered evidence” will pave the way for him to be granted a new trial for the murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul. Murdaugh’s attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin said in a statement that new evidence had come to light since his March conviction over the brutal 7 June 2021 slayings. This evidence will form the basis of a new motion requesting a retrial in the high-profile case. The attorneys – who are longtime friends of the killer and represented him at his high-profile murder trial – will reveal this new evidence and release the motion at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon. The briefing is scheduled to take place on the grounds of the South Carolina State House near the Court of Appeals in Columbia at 2.30pm local time. For now, the details remain a mystery. Murdaugh is currently behind bars at the McCormick Correctional Institution in South Carolina where he is serving two life sentences for his wife and son’s murders. Last week, it emerged that Murdaugh had lost some of his prison privileges after he fed information to a Fox Nation documentary without permission. South Carolina Corrections Department officials said on Wednesday that, during a jailhouse phone call on 10 June, Mr Griffin had recorded him reading aloud entries from the journal he had kept during his double murder trial. Mr Griffin had then handed over the recordings to producers working on the new Fox Nation documentary about his high-profile case titled “The Fall of the House of Murdaugh”, released today. Prison policy prohibits inmates from talking to the media without permission because the agency “believes that victims of crime should not have to see or hear the person who victimized them or their family member on the news,” state prisons spokesperson Chrysti Shain said in a statement. The media interview violation, along with another violation for using a different inmate’s password to make a telephone call, are prison discipline issues and not a crime, Ms Shain said. As a result, the disgraced legal scion has had his phone privileges revoked and his prison tablet computer confiscated. Murdaugh also lost his ability to buy items in the prison canteen for a month. He will now have to get permission from prison officials to get another tablet, which can be used to make monitored phone calls, watch approved entertainment, read books or take video classes, the prison spokesperson said. Mr Griffin was also issued a warning from prison officials that if he knowingly or unknowingly helps Murdaugh violate rules again, he could lose his ability to talk to his client. Phone calls between lawyers and prisoners are not recorded or reviewed because their conversations are considered confidential. But prison officials said they began investigating Murdaugh after a warden reviewing other phone calls heard Murdaugh’s voice on a call made in a different inmate’s account. Murdaugh claimed that his phone password had not been working. He also told the prison investigators about the recorded journal entries, according to prison records. Murdaugh’s use of a jailhouse tablet previously hit headlines when selfie images he took on the device were obtained in a Freedom of Information request by FITS News. In many of the images, the convicted family killer appeared topless. South Carolina prison officials later clarified that the photos are automatically taken as an inmate uses their tablet that is individually assigned to them – as part of inmate monitoring. Now, Murdaugh has lost the use of his tablet indefinitely due to his unauthorised communication with the documentarymakers – which marks his first media interview of sorts since his conviction. His eldest – and now only surviving – son Buster Murdaugh also broke his silence speaking out in his first TV interview as part of the three-part series. In the interview, Buster insisted that he still believes his father is innocent of the murders of his mother and brother – but admitted that he may be a psychopath. Maggie and Paul were found shot dead on the family’s 1,700-acre Moselle estate back on 7 June 2021. Alex Murdaugh had called 911 claiming to have found their bodies. During his high-profile murder trial, jurors heard how Paul was shot twice with a 12-gauge shotgun while he stood in the feed room of the dog kennels on the affluent family’s 1,700-acre Moselle estate. The second shot to his head blew his brain almost entirely out of his skull. After killing Paul, prosecutors said Murdaugh then grabbed a .300 Blackout semiautomatic rifle and opened fire on Maggie as she tried to flee from her husband. During the dramatic six-week trial, Murdaugh confessed to lying about his alibi on the night of the murders but continued to claim his innocence of the killings. The jury didn’t agree and the disgraced legal scion was convicted in March of the brutal murders. Beyond the murder charges, Murdaugh, 55, is also facing a slew of financial fraud charges for stealing millions of dollars from his law firm clients and his dead housekeeper’s family. He is expected to plead guilty on 21 September to federal charges – marking the first time he has pleaded guilty to a crime in court. Murdaugh is also facing around 100 financial charges in state court as well as charges over a botched hitman plot where he claims he paid an accomplice to shoot him dead. Murdaugh’s high-profile conviction also shone a spotlight on some other mystery deaths tied to the South Carolina legal dynasty. Following Maggie and Paul’s murders, investigations were reopened into the 2018 death of the Murdaugh’s longtime housekeeper Gloria Satterfield and the 2015 homicide of gay teenager Stephen Smith. Meanwhile, at the time of his murder, Paul was also awaiting trial for the 2019 boat crash death of Mallory Beach. Read More Convicted killer Alex Murdaugh loses prison privileges over recorded phone call for documentary Buster Murdaugh breaks silence on Stephen Smith killing – and calls father Alex a ‘psychopath’ Alex Murdaugh to plead guilty in theft case. It would be the first time he admits to a crime
2023-09-04 21:17
Marjorie Taylor Greene lashes out at 'brainwashed' Burning Man attendees
As Burning Man attendees are left stranded in the Nevada desert due to heavy rain and mud, everyone has been weighing in on the situation. Including Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. Appearing on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Info Wars show on Sunday night, she said “well, you know, God has a way of making sure everyone knows who God is.” The comment was made after Jones referenced the “mock sacrifice”, where festivalgoers set fire to a large wooden structure dubbed “The Man.” It seems Greene is suggesting the weather conditions are an act of God, as punishment for their “sacrifice”. Green continued: “There’s 73-75,000 in the Nevada desert right now at this Burning Man. They’re locked in. They’re not allowed to leave and they’re basically probably being brainwashed that climate change is the cause of it and it’s going to destroy the Earth. "And there, they’re feeling the panic. So, what’s going to happen, Alex?” The congresswoman continued with her rant, predicting that when attendees returned home they would spread stories about climate change. “It’s the Left’s new lie they’re going to put on the American people and try to get everyone behind [it],” she claimed. “This is what they’re brainwashing people to believe.” “I totally agree,” Jones interjected. Greene wasn’t the only one to suggest the weather was an act of God. Andrew Torba, founder of Gab, a fringe social media platform, wrote on Twitter/X: “Wow God unleashed a plague and a flood of rain over the satanic ritual “burning man” in the desert that all of the elites attend? You don’t say.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-09-04 20:27
The US government is eager to restore powers to keep dangerous chemicals out of extremists' hands
When Congress returns this week, Homeland Security officials and those in the chemical industries will be watching to see if a program regulating the chemical sector will be on its agenda
2023-09-04 20:19
14 Memorable Facts About ‘The Mist’
Director-screenwriter Frank Darabont wanted to bring Stephen King’s ‘The Mist’ to the big screen for years.
2023-09-04 20:15
Seoul's spy agency says Russia has likely proposed North Korea to join three-way drills with China
Russia has likely proposed that North Korea participate in three-way naval exercises with China, according to a lawmaker who attended a closed-door briefing with the director of South Korea’s top spy agency
2023-09-04 19:56
Putin says Russia 'open' to grain deal talks as Ukraine port hit
President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Russia was "open" to talks on restoring the landmark Black Sea grain export deal, hours after Moscow pounded one...
2023-09-04 19:48