Hong Kong democracy activist Agnes Chow was released Saturday from prison on the second anniversary of the city's huge democracy rallies, with police out in force and protests now all but banned.

Hong Kong's legislature passed on Wednesday a controversial immigration bill, which lawyers, diplomats and right groups fear will give authorities unlimited powers to prevent residents and others from entering or leaving the Chinese-ruled city.

Shares in Chinese video app company Kuaishou almost tripled on their Hong Kong debut Friday, following a $5.4 billion initial public offering for the TikTok rival that was the biggest for an internet firm in nearly two years.

Five Hong Kong democracy protesters who reportedly fled to Taiwan have arrived in the United States intending to seek asylum, an activist group said on Saturday.

A Chinese court on Wednesday jailed 10 Hong Kong democracy activists for up to three years over a bid to flee the city by speedboat to Taiwan, as a crackdown on dissent in the territory intensifies.

Australia said on Monday it had detected cases of the new virulent coronavirus strain identified in the United Kingdom, while Hong Kong said it would suspend Britain flights.

The Hong Kong government's decision to use a colonial-era emergency law to ban face masks at protests last year was both proportionate and legal, the city's top court ruled Monday.

Three prominent Hong Kong activists are facing jail on Wednesday after pleading guilty to inciting an ‘illegal assembly’ outside the city's main police station during last year's huge pro-democracy protests.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said she has "piles of cash" at home as she has no bank account after the United States slapped sanctions on her in response to a draconian security law China imposed on the city.

Britain is considering whether to review a deal allowing its judges to sit on Hong Kong's highest court over concerns China is trampling on the semi-autonomous city's freedoms, its foreign minister said.

Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong was remanded in custody on Monday after pleading guilty to charges of organising and inciting an unauthorised assembly near the police headquarters during last year's anti-government protests.

Hong Kong disqualified four opposition members of its legislature on Wednesday for endangering security, raising the prospect of a walk-out by pro-democracy legislators who oppose what they see as Beijing's ever tighter grip on the city.