• Internet users noticed the website HKChronicles was unreachable from some Hong Kong-based devices last week.

• He also pointed to ongoing China-US tensions after the White House said it would end self-imposed restrictions on official contacts with Taiwan, a move likely to irk Beijing.

Pompeo said the 53 people arrested Wednesday "should be released immediately and unconditionally".

• In an operation involving 1,000 officers, Hong Kong police arrested the activists for "subversion”.

• Washington has already sanctioned multiple Chinese and Hong Kong officials, including city leader Carrie Lam.

• Police in Hong Kong arrested 53 people on charges of "subversion" in early morning raids. Those detained were opposition politicians and activists.

• The charges were sparked by an attempt by opposition groups last year to win a majority in the city's partially-elected legislature.

• A senior police source who requested anonymity told AFP "around 50" had been arrested in the operation.

• Net gold imports via Hong Kong to China, the world's top consumer of the metal, stood at 3.283 tonnes in November, compared with 1.807 tonnes in October, the report showed.

• The new strain, which experts fear is more contagious, has prompted more than 50 countries to impose travel restrictions on the UK.

• The South Korean won and the Singapore dollar fell about 0.3% each, while the Taiwanese dollar was the only exception, moving up 1.3%.

• Japan Post Insurance rose 11.79% after media reports that it would buy back $2.9 billion of its own shares from its parent Japan Post Holdings, whose shares rose 4.12%.

• The group was snared some 70 kilometres (43 miles) southeast of the city on August 23, authorities said previously, before being handed to police in the neighbouring mainland metropolis of Shenzhen.

• The financial hub was rocked by pro-democracy protests last year that were largely halted by a sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing, drawing criticism over eroding rights from countries including the US.
• On Monday, the US said it was freezing any US assets and barring travel to the United States for 14 vice-chairs of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, which spearheaded the tough new law.

• The Hang Seng Index fell 0.61 percent, or 161.89 points, to 26,344.96.

• The law punishes what Beijing broadly defines as secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in jail.

• Lam, speaking at her weekly press briefing, said the government would also study additional relief measures for those affected by the latest restrictions.

• If the United States insists on going down the wrong path, China will continue to take firm counter measures to safeguard its sovereignty and security, Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman with the foreign ministry told a briefing.

• The Hang Seng Index fell 1.69 percent, or 453.86 points, to 26,382.06.

Wong’s sentence comes as critics say the Beijing-backed government is intensifying a crackdown on Hong Kong’s opposition and wide-ranging freedoms guaranteed after the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997, a charge authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong reject.

• Cities in the Americas, Africa and Eastern Europe have become less expensive since last year, while Western European cities have become costlier.

• Carrie Lam on Wednesday was granted the power to turf out any legislator who she deems insufficiently patriotic, without recourse to the city's courts.

• "These latest steps constitute a further severe blow to political pluralism and freedom of opinion in Hong Kong," the EU statement said.

• "China has once again broken its promises and undermined Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy," Foreign Secretary said.

The British flag was lowered over Hong Kong when the colony was handed back to China in 1997 after more than 150 years of British rule - imposed after Britain defeated China in the First Opium War.

The Chinese parliament adopted a resolution earlier in the day allowing the city’s executive to expel legislators deemed to be advocating Hong Kong independence, colluding with foreign forces or threatening national security, without having to go through the courts.

Germany has led dozens of countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan, urging China to respect the rights of its minority Muslim Uighurs, and expressing their concern about the political situation in Hong Kong, in a move that drew a quick and angry response from Beijing.

• China argued the sweeping new law was needed to plug a lack of national security legislation in the restless city.

• At least 22 people have been arrested under the new law since it came into effect, sending a chill through the city.