HONG KONG: Two Hong Kong media workers were attacked yesterday by four masked men armed with metal bars, shortly before police charged two alleged hitmen with a brutal February attack on a veteran journalist. The victims of yesterday’s attack were senior figures of Hong Kong Morning News, a Chinese-language daily which plans to launch later in the year, media reported.
The fresh assault sparked renewed concern for press freedom in the city following the savage attack on ex-editor Kevin Lau last month. “I suspect the attack has something to do with the work they have put into this newspaper. Does someone not want this paper to come out?” pro-democracy lawmaker James To told reporters.
Hunt for China’s missing crew
TOKYO: Nearly a dozen Japanese ships and planes scoured a waterway yesterday for eight Chinese crew members who went missing after two cargo ships collided at the mouth of Tokyo Bay, the coastguard said.
The Panamanian-flagged Beagle III, a 12,630-tonne vessel carrying steel coil, sank early Tuesday after colliding with the South Korean-registered Pegasus Prime. Twelve of the 20 Chinese crew aboard Beagle III were rescued but one of them later died.
Sri Lanka frees rights activists
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka has released two leading rights activists after their detention under strict anti-terrorism laws triggered international condemnation, police and supporters said yesterday.
Father Praveen Mahesan, a Catholic priest who heads the Peace and Reconciliation Centre in the war-torn Jaffna region, and Ruki Fernando of the Colombo-based INFORM advocacy group were detained on Sunday as they met relatives who lost loved ones during the Tamil separatist conflict.
Agencies
