- Kenya airport whistleblower fears for his life
- Sheinbaum to take office as Mexico's first woman president
- Scientists fear underfunded Argentina research on verge of collapse
- US port officials gird for strike despite last-minute bargaining
- With 118 dead from Hurricane Helene, Biden defends US government response
- Breeder who tried to create enormous trophy sheep jailed in US
- Qatar Airways seeking 25% stake in Virgin Australia
- US port officials gird for strike as labor talks stay stuck
- As toll crosses 100, Trump puts Hurricane Helene at election center stage
- US Fed Chair sees 'further disinflation' in economy
- Epic Games sues Google and Samsung over app store
- Officials see no shortages from likely US port strike
- UK families of Gaza hostages warn Lebanon attack 'takes focus away'
- Shares in Stellantis, Aston Martin skid on profit warnings
- Dali prints found in London garage sold at auction
- ECB chief backs bank mergers amid UniCredit, Commerzbank talk
- China stocks soar on stimulus, but US and Europe retreat
- 100 dead in storm Helene damage, flooding across US southeast
- China stocks soar on stimulus, Europe slides on automaker woes
- German antitrust watchdog steps up monitoring of Microsoft
- Nepal's urban poor count cost of 'nightmare' floods
- E.Guinea, Gabon clash at ICJ over oil-rich islands
- New blow for UK's Starmer as growth data disappoints
- China's top banks to tweak mortgage rates to boost housing market
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- Nepal dam-building spree powers electric vehicle boom
- More than 60 dead from storm Helene as rescue, cleanup efforts grow
- Dozens missing, 9 dead in migrant boat wreck off Spanish Canaries
- Death toll from Hurricane John hits eight in Mexico
- Storm Helene's toll rises as rescue and cleanup efforts gain pace
- SpaceX launches mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding as cleanup begins
- SpaceX set to launch mission to return stranded astronauts
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Boeing strike grinds on as latest talks fail to reach agreement
- Iran 'news' sites, hackers target Trump ahead of US election
- US ports brace for potential dockworkers strike
- Japan's speedy, spotless Shinkansen bullet trains turn 60
- US hurricane deaths rise to 44, fears of more 'catastrophic' flooding
- Global stocks mostly rise, cheering Beijing stimulus
- Europe en route for Moon with new simulator, says astronaut Pesquet
- Fireworks forecast if comet survives risky Sun flypast
- Argentina judge orders dictionary to delete pejorative definition of 'Jewish'
- Global stocks rise on rate hopes, Beijing stimulus
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- UK clears $4 bn AI partnership between Amazon, Anthropic
- Barca fans barred from Champions League away game over racist banner
- Chinese stocks extend surge, Europe higher on Beijing stimulus
- Pope says Church must 'seek forgiveness' for child sexual abuse
- China caps week of 'bazooka' stimulus for ailing economy with rate cut
Hong Kong press club scraps rights awards over 'red line' fears
Hong Kong's foreign press club scrapped its annual human rights awards on Monday citing fears it could be prosecuted for crossing "new red lines" as Beijing stamps out dissent in the international business hub.
The decision has triggered a row within the Foreign Correspondents' Club Hong Kong (FCCHK) and sparked resignations from within its press freedom committee, four people with knowledge of the decision told AFP.
The FCCHK has hosted an annual Human Rights Press Awards for the last 26 years to recognise rights-related reporting from around Asia.
But this year's awards were canned at the last minute, just weeks before the winners were set to be announced.
"Over the last two years, journalists in Hong Kong have been operating under new 'red lines' on what is and is not permissible, but there remain significant areas of uncertainty and we do not wish unintentionally to violate the law," club president Keith Richburg said in a statement.
"This is the context in which we decided to suspend the Awards."
The decision came after five award categories were to be won by Stand News, a local outlet that shuttered late last year as its top editors were charged with sedition, according to the insiders.
The club's board were rattled by legal advice that they might face a probe under sedition or Hong Kong's new national security law if they went ahead with giving awards to Stand News.
- Resignations -
The following day eight members of the club's press freedom committee resigned in protest.
"The fact eight of us resigned speaks volumes about the fact we now think our function is useless," Shibani Mahtani, one of the committee members who quit -- and who also helped judge the awards -- told AFP.
"I just think we should be real and intellectually honest about what we're seeing in Hong Kong instead of pretending things are normal and that we're still able to be a genuine press club," she added.
Hong Kong was once a bastion of media freedom in Asia but that reputation has taken a battering as China remoulds the city in its own authoritarian image following huge democracy protests three years ago.
Hong Kong authorities often point to the continued existence of the FCCHK as proof that media freedoms remain respected, something that some of those who resigned feel increasingly alarmed by.
Tensions within the press freedom committee were already high this month after the FCCHK's board vetoed a statement expressing concern about the arrest of veteran journalist Allan Au -- a contributor to Stand News -- for sedition.
"By censoring statements and ending the awards the club is not only failing to uphold this mission but risks being used as a prop to keep up the myth that things in Hong Kong are carrying on as normal," Timothy McLaughlin, an independent journalist who also resigned from the committee, told AFP.
The FCCHK said it intends "to continue promoting press freedom in Hong Kong while recognising that recent developments might also require changes to our approach".
H.Müller--CPN