Good morning.

I put a ton of memes in Paid Tide to compensate for my inability to verbalise my thoughts. There’s a Spongebob one in this morning’s issue. Subscribe to HT for the full version of our daily rundowns and more importantly, for the memes that accompany them.

~ Kyna

harbourtimes

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Finally criminalising discrimination?

Lawmakers’ remarks on the Gay Games emphasise the need to legislate against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, says Ricky Chu, chairman of the Equal Opportunities Commission. This comes in response to comments made by pro-establishment legislator Junius Ho, who advised against supporting sexual minority groups.

Chu notes that Ho cannot be accused of violating laws against discrimination since they do not currently exist in HK. The Equal Opportunities Commission is drafting a report on this legislation for public consultation.

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COVID news

Hong Kong SAR Government News @newsgovhk

The Centre for Health Protection says it is investigating one additional #COVID19 case involving a man who arrived from Sri Lanka

news.gov.hk1 imported COVID-19 case reportedThe Centre for Health Protection says it is investigating one additional COVID-19 case involving a man who arrived from Sri Lanka.

10:24 AM ∙ Jun 16, 2021

Coronavirus in Hong Kong

• New cases: 1 (imported)

• Total cases: 11,882 cases so far (72 active cases, 210 total deaths, 11,600 total recovered)

The government has released summary statistics for its COVID-19 Vaccination Programme. Take a look at the results here.

In other news…

• Joe Tsai, the co-founder of Alibaba, asserts Hong Kong needed the National Security Law to give the city stability. The Taiwan-raised businessman also admitted to being afraid to walk around the city during the 2019 pro-democracy protests, as he felt targeted for speaking Mandarin. Also, Jack Ma has taken up painting as a hobby while laying low.

• Pro-establishment lawmakers argue that limiting legal aid would prevent anti-government protestors from abusing the system. The proposed reform would cap the number of legal aid cases (paywalled) individual lawyers are allowed to take on.

• Following Beijing’s response to NATO’s condemnation of repression in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, Taiwan says 28 Chinese jets flew into its defence zone. This incursion breaks the previous record of 25 Chinese military aircraft flying into Taiwan after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned China against changing Taiwan’s current sovereign status.

Events

Harbour Times @harbourtimes

Somewhere in the East: early morning Happy Bloomsday to all Joycians and to-be-converted philistines. Delighted to have celebrated with our friends @IrelandinHK and @StPatricks_HK at this month's business breakfast. Find out more about Bloomsday on tomorrow's #HighTide

2:31 AM ∙ Jun 16, 2021

Bloomsday Breakfast, hosted by the St Patrick's Society in conjunction with the Consulate General of Ireland. Bloomsday is an annual celebration commemorating Irish author James Joyce – 16 June marks the narrative opening of his novel Ulysses, set in 1904.

Paid Tide readers learned the three steps for how to get into Ulysses. You can too by subscribing to our monthly or annual plan:

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