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E' con questa mia fotografia, che voglio ringraziare sempre tutti i Marshall della prova speciale che senza la loro presenza non sarebbe possibile disputare le gare, ecco quello addetto alla partenza della prova speciale vicino al n° 36 GAMBA Alfredo MOTO MORINI 123 4T 00750 - CARETER IMERIO TESTORI.

In April, the 70th month since Beijing imposed the national security law, the Hong Kong government applied to the court to seize assets belonging to Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

On National Education Day, a top Chinese official delivered a warning about those who “politicised” the deadly Tai Po fire and tried to “stir up chaos” in the city.

Gov’t seeks to seize Jimmy Lai’s assets

The Hong Kong government filed an application with the High Court on April 2 to seize “offence-related” properties owned by jailed pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai on national security grounds.

In a statement issued the same day, the government mentioned Lai’s earlier convictions under the Beijing-imposed national security law. It said the High Court had found that he was the “mastermind and driving force behind the case, consciously using Apple Daily and his personal influence” to undermine local and Beijing authorities.

In a writ dated April 2, the secretary for justice listed HK$127 million in assets to be “forfeited” to the authorities.

The assets include credit balances in bank accounts belonging to or linked to the Apple Daily founder.

Fifteen bank accounts under Lai’s name – 10 with HSBC, two with Hang Seng Bank and three with Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank – have over HK$32 million.

The government is also seeking to seize bank accounts belonging to 17 companies linked to Lai. It is also demanding that Lai give up shares in 17 companies, some of which overlap with the 17 firms whose assets the government is seeking to seize.

Among the companies whose assets and shares the government wants to seize are Dico Consultants Ltd, which has over HK$404,302 in its HSBC account, and Lai’s Hotel Properties Ltd, which has over HK$3.1 million in its four HSBC accounts.

Lai has been summoned to the High Court on July 8 to hear the government’s application. The case will be presided over by Esther Toh, one of the three judges who heard his national security trial.

The move to seize Lai’s assets came after the government designated three companies linked to Lai’s now-defunct Apple Daily tabloid “prohibited organisations” in late March and removed them from the corporate registry. Police cordoned off the Apple Daily building in Tseung Kwan O a day later.

The three firms were tried and convicted alongside the Apple Daily founder in his high-profile national security case. Lai was sentenced to 20 years behind bars in early February, while the companies were each fined over HK$3 million.

Political commentator appears in court

A Hong Kong political commentator charged with disclosing details of a national security investigation appeared at the District Court on April 28.

Wong Kwok-ngon, known by his pen name Wong On-yin, has been detained since his arrest in December for allegedly divulging in a YouTube video details of enquiries made by police during a national security investigation.

Judge Stanley Chan said the pre-trial review would take place behind closed doors on August 11, and the trial would begin on October 9.

Wong’s offence falls under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, a homegrown security law known as Article 23. It was added to the ordinance in May as part of subsidiary legislation, and Wong is the first to be charged under the new law.

He is also charged with sedition over videos posted on YouTube between January 3 and December 6 last year. He plans to plead not guilty to both charges.

The defendant, who continues to represent himself, told the court he had dropped his legal aid application.

Asked by the judge whether he had legal knowledge for self-defence, Wong said he had “three law degrees” and was confident of handling the case.

Nat. security clauses for restaurant licences

Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan said in early April that all Hong Kong restaurant licences would include national security clauses from September.

Tse made the remarks on April 7, nearly a year after the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) introduced the provisions for restaurant licence renewals in May.

“With restaurants renewing their licences gradually, we expect that by September this year, all restaurant licences will contain the clauses,” Tse told reporters, according to RTHK.

Retiree jailed over seditious Facebook posts

A Hong Kong man was jailed for a year under the city’s homegrown national security law after pleading guilty to making seditious remarks on Facebook, including comments supporting Hong Kong’s and Taiwan’s independence.

Raymond Chong pleaded guilty before national security judge Victor So at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on April 14 to one count of knowingly publishing publications with a seditious intention – an offence under the city’s local security law, also known as Article 23.

The magistrate handed Chong, a retiree in his early 60s, an 18-month sentence but discounted it by six months after considering his guilty plea.

Chong was accused of making 53 seditious social media posts between March 2024 and November 2025, local media reported.

The posts had wording such as “dissolving the Chinese Communist Party is the most important thing” and “Hong Kong independence is within sight.”

The defendant posted on a public Facebook page called “Holy Raymond,” which features the Chinese phrase “Heaven will destroy the Chinese Communist Party, God bless Hong Kong” as its profile picture.

During mitigation ahead of sentencing, his lawyer argued that Chong was a Falun Gong believer who had come to hate the Chinese Communist Party because of false information that the CCP engaged in live organ harvesting.

Beijing official warned of ‘politicising’ Tai Po fire

China’s top official in charge of Hong Kong affairs warned of some people who “politicised” the deadly Tai Po fire and tried to use the disaster to “stir up chaos” in Hong Kong.

Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, delivered his remarks on April 15 via a recorded video shown at a National Security Education Day ceremony.

In his speech, Xia mentioned the massive fire that broke out at Wang Fuk Court, a government-subsidised housing estate in Tai Po, on November 26, killing 168 people.

“After the Tai Po fire, some malicious people politicised the tragedy, attempting to use the disaster as a means to disrupt Hong Kong,” Xia said in Mandarin, without giving further details.

“Once again, it reminds us that along Hong Kong’s path toward prosperity under good governance, there will be various risks and challenges.”

Speaking at the same event, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee also warned that some people were “using the disaster to stir up chaos” and “to incite hatred” in Hong Kong.

“Only through the government’s swift action and decisive law enforcement has the situation been able to return to normal,” Lee said in Mandarin.

French journalist denied entry to city

A French journalist was denied entry to Hong Kong in November, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in late April, accusing the city’s authorities of “weaponising visas” against foreign media workers.

Antoine Vedeilhe, who was shooting a documentary for French public broadcaster France Télévisions, was questioned upon arrival at Hong Kong International Airport on November 2 last year, RSF said in a statement on April 24.

He was detained for three hours before being deported without being given a reason, it added.

The press freedom NGO said Vedeilhe was the 13th foreign media worker who had been denied entry or a visa by the city’s authorities following Beijing’s imposition of the national security law in 2020.

“In the journalist’s view, his detention was a reprisal for his work on a documentary examining Beijing’s grip on Hong Kong,” RSF said.

Another cameraman for the documentary was able to enter the city, RSF said, but he was followed by “unidentified individuals that he suspects were Hong Kong’s national security police.”

“In the following days, there was a hacking attempt on Vedeilhe’s private email account and his sources in the documentary were harassed by the national security police,” the NGO said.

In an emailed reply to HKFP’s enquiries, the Hong Kong government said it “strongly condemns the smearing remarks and distorted narratives by” RSF.

Prosecution and arrests figures

As of April 1, a total of 394 people have been arrested for “cases involving suspected acts or activities that endanger national security” since Beijing’s national security law came into effect, according to the Security Bureau. That figure includes those arrested under Article 23 and for other offences.

Of the 208 people and five companies that have so far been charged, 180 people and four companies have been convicted or are awaiting sentencing.

In total, 100 people and four companies have been charged under Beijing’s national security law, with 79 persons and three companies convicted. Thirteen people have been charged under Article 23, 10 of whom have been convicted.

BERLIN, June 6 — Teenage Germany forward Lennart Karl has been ruled out of the World Cup after sustaining an injury in training, the German Football Federation (DFB) said on Friday.

“Lenny tore a muscle bundle today in the final training session and is ruled out because of this injury. Have a good recovery, we’re thinking of you,” the DFB said on Instagram.

Germany have called up RB Leipzig midfielder Assan Ouedraogo to replace the 18-year-old Bayern Munich player.

Head coach Julian Nagelsmann had said earlier in Chicago ahead of Saturday’s friendly against the United States that Karl’s injury “didn’t look good” and that he had been taken to hospital for a scan.

The loss of Karl is a blow to Germany. He was one of the revelations of the Bundesliga season after making his top-flight debut this season, quickly establishing himself as part of Vincent Kompany’s league-winning side.

He started his first match for Germany in Sunday’s 4-0 win over Finland, setting up a goal.

Nagelsmann also confirmed that veteran goalkeeper Manuel Neuer would not be fit in time to face the US, but hoped he would return for Germany’s first World Cup match against Curacao on June 14.

Neuer, 40, a World Cup winner in 2014, was surprisingly recalled for the tournament in May almost two years after announcing his international retirement.

“At his age, he doesn’t need a warm-up phase,” Nagelsmann said. “He knows how to handle high-pressure situations.

“He’s on his way to peak fitness. However, we don’t want to take any risks tomorrow.”  — AFP

Two Hong Kong officials have condemned “groundless accusations” against a recent update to the city’s homegrown national security law, which empowers the chief executive to certify any criminal case as a national security offence.

Secretary for Security Chris Tang told the Legislative Council (LegCo) on Thursday afternoon that he noticed some people had misunderstood or “deliberately misinterpreted” the subsidiary legislation.

They tried to intimidate the public by claiming that the subsidiary law would widen the scope of national security offences, turning minor offences into national security crimes, he said.

The security chief called the accusations “false, misleading, deceptive, and scaremongering” and said some people were attempting to incite hatred towards the government.

“Some people delivered alarmist remarks, saying that the government can randomly certify any acts of the public as national security offences. Those people may have ulterior motives or are cruel-hearted, hoping to incite others’ hatred of the HKSAR,” Tang said in Cantonese.

Also speaking at LegCo, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam said he noticed “some media outlets with ulterior motives, foreign forces, and fugitives” had made “groundless accusations” against the national security law.

The two ministers delivered their remarks during LegCo’s first meeting to review the Safeguarding National Security (Procedural Matters) Regulation, a subsidiary legislation of the homegrown national security law, commonly known as Article 23.

Authorities enacted the subsidiary law through the “negative vetting” mechanism, which allows the law to be gazetted and to take effect before legislative scrutiny.

The law came into effect on Tuesday, one day after the government tabled the bill in LegCo.

Lam, the justice chief, said that the subsidiary legislation was necessary to further explain articles in the Beijing-imposed national security law and Article 23, which stipulate that the chief executive should have the power to determine whether a criminal case involves national security.

In its proposal, the government cited the “legislative intent” of the Beijing-imposed national security law, saying that offences endangering national security include not only the four types of offences under the national security law, but also “other offences endangering national security under the law of the HKSAR.”

Lam said the recent legislative update was intended to further define “other offences endangering national security under the law of the HKSAR,” and it did not introduce any new power or new offences.

Earlier on Tuesday, Chief Executive John Lee said the new subsidiary legislation “is purely to make the law even clearer.”

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Taken in the pits at the 2005 AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course near Lexington, Ohio.

MADRID, June 5 — Spain’s 64-year-old manager Luis de la Fuente looks like a man who has made peace with football’s chaos.

Kind, warm, smiling and armed with the serene certainty of someone who has spent more than a decade building his team piece-by-piece, he heads to the World Cup with a side many regard as the one to beat.

De la Fuente, who spoke to Reuters before travelling to North America, said the secret of the European champions’ rise was more than a clear tactical path, a motivational speech or one man’s genius but something simpler and warmer.

“Some time ago, we began to emphasise a word that gave us a great deal of security, confidence and strength - family’. We want the Spanish national team to be a family,” he said.

“From the first player to the last, we all work with that idea in mind and that makes me feel very calm, very serene. It makes me work knowing that I am in good company and that gives me a great deal of confidence.”

De la Fuente’s long and unusual route to the top

It has been a long and unusual route to the top for De la Fuente, once a hard-working full back who made his name in the Basque Country with Athletic Bilbao and built his coaching career largely away from club football’s glare, spending a decade inside Spain’s youth system.

When he was appointed Spain manager over three years ago, parts of the media mocked him as “Luis de la Who?” He was seen by many as a low-key federation man, orderly and diligent, but lacking the glamour usually demanded of such a job.

His answer has been emphatic: Nations League glory in 2023, the European Championship in 2024 and a Spain side arriving at the World Cup carrying the confidence of a team that knows exactly what it is.

A practising Catholic who strives to live according to his faith, De la Fuente said he had no interest in settling old scores.

“Time proves you right and proves you wrong. Time puts everyone in their place. I knew what I had to do,” he said.

“I’m not vindictive and I believe everyone should reflect on what they may have said or done and weigh it up. I haven’t changed a bit since then. I’m still the same person, believe me ... My life hasn’t changed.

“I’m still doing exactly the same things I was doing three and a half years ago. I go to the same places, I go to the same restaurants, the same cafes, I walk down the street calmly doing exactly the same things.”

De la Fuente’s greatest advantage

If others needed convincing, his players did not. De la Fuente’s greatest advantage was once treated as a weakness: he rose step-by-step and took many of this generation with him.

Mikel Merino played under him in back-to-back European Under-21 finals against Germany, losing in 2017 but winning two years later. Mikel Oyarzabal, Dani Olmo and Fabian Ruiz were also part of that 2019 success and became senior European champions.

Merino’s first international title with De la Fuente came even earlier, in 2015, when he played alongside Rodri and goalkeeper Unai Simon in Spain’s 2-0 win over Russia in the European Under-19 Championship final in Greece.

From those older figures to Pedri, Martin Zubimendi and Marc Cucurella, players who were part of Spain’s Olympic silver-medal campaign in Tokyo, De la Fuente has a squad that often appears to understand him before he finishes a sentence.

“Our relationship goes beyond the purely professional,” he said.

“With Rodri in particular, we’ve known each other for more than 10 years; since 2015 we’ve been through a lot.

“So I’m sure that in his life, and in the lives of many of the players who are with me today, there hasn’t been a single coach who’s been able to tell them things the way I’ve told them. I guarantee it.”

For De la Fuente, that intimacy is not just sentimental but them an edge.

“They know that what I tell them comes from honesty, from integrity, and always with their best interests at heart, because they know me,” he added.

“When someone speaks from a place of confidence, from that conviction, knowing that it will get through to you, touch your heart and convince you, well, I think we’ve already won a great deal.

“Then, out on the pitch, put all your talent at the service of that idea. And at the service of your teammates - that’s your job.”

Their job will be to first get past debutants Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay in Group H as they bid to win the country’s second World Cup title after Spain’s 2010 triumph. — Reuters

A Hong Kong government proposal that will allow the city’s leader to certify criminal acts as national security offences is intended to “make the law clear,” Chief Executive John Lee has said.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Lee said the new subsidiary legislation for Hong Kong’s homegrown national security law, the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, commonly known as Article 23, “is purely to make the law even clearer.”

Shortly after, Lee approved the subsidiary legislation during a meeting with the Executive Council, the city’s top decision-making body.

Under the new law, which was gazetted and came into effect the same day, the chief executive will be able to certify “other offences endangering national security.”

Criminal cases classified as endangering national security will have tougher court procedures, such as a higher bar for bail and trial before designated judges.

“The purpose of introducing the subsidiary legislation is to make it clear, make it much, much clearer, how offences… endangering national security under the law of Hong Kong will be so classified,” Lee told reporters on Tuesday.

“It is not intended and will not expand the definition of the offences, and it’s not adding any new offences or any new powers or punishments. It also does not expand the scope of the application of the law,” he added.

‘Sensitive’ information

Lee said the new piece of legislation would reduce “controversy or debate in court” about what constitutes national security offences.

Asked whether he was concerned about giving an impression of further centralising power into his hands, Lee said the city’s chief executive must shoulder the “important responsibility” of safeguarding national security.

Lee said he would exercise the new power with “prudence and seriousness,” but added that, as city leader, he has access to exclusive information regarding threats to national security.

A lot of activities endangering national security “are committed by state players of another place. They are professional, sophisticated, and the series of information that may be available to indicate the seriousness of the matters [is] privy to the chief executive,” he said.

“A lot of this information is sensitive and not suitable for public disclosure,” he added.

Under the government proposal, the certificate issued by the chief executive will be binding on the city’s courts and cannot be challenged.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam said the designation of national security offences involves “highly confidential” information that would not be available to the courts.

“The judiciary would not be capable of making such a decision,” Lam said.

Asked whether the chief executive’s certificates will be announced, Lam only said “people will know” as court proceedings are open to the public.

“If you see designated judges or other special arrangements in a trial, you will know” that the case has been designated as relating to national security, he said.

Three people who were arrested by national security police over alleged illegal weapons training last December have been charged with conspiracy to commit subversion.

Students Wong Kit-lun, 20, and Tang Ngai-pok, 23, as well as waiter Chan Hiu-chun, 23, appeared at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Thursday.

They are among a group of 10 people arrested in December for alleged “unlawful drilling” – an offence under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance.

They stood in the defendant dock beside Gallian Pang and Lee Chun-sum, who were charged with the same offence of conspiring to subvert state power – an offence under the Beijing-imposed national security law – a week after the arrests. At the time they were charged in December, both Pang and Lee were security guards aged 24 and 25 respectively.

On Thursday, the prosecution accused Wong, Tang and Chan of conspiring with Pang, Lee and “other persons unknown between November 1, 2024 to December 11, 2025 to organise, plan, commit or participate in acts to subvert the state power.”

Wong faced an additional charge of possession of child pornography, an offence under the Prevention of Child Pornography Ordinance.

The prosecution also announced that it was charging Lee for allegedly possessing explosives and radio communications apparatus without a licence.

Possession of explosives is punishable by a maximum of 14 years’ imprisonment, while possession of radio communications apparatus without a licence is punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment.

In a statement published on Thursday, the government said the December arrests were made after investigation revealed a “syndicate” that “conducted firearms drills, knife techniques, and martial arts combat in a unit of an industrial building in Kowloon.”

Their aim was to subvert state power by means or threat of force, “i.e., to overthrow [Hong Kong’s] organs of power,” the government said.

The arrests marked the first time authorities had invoked the unlawful drilling offence.

The remaining arrestees in the case who were not charged have been released on bail. They are required to report to the police in mid-June, the statement added.

Conspiring to commit subversion, an offence under the national security law, is punishable by up to life imprisonment in Hong Kong.

The sitcom is one of the most reliable formats in TV history for a reason. Situational comedy — characters stuck together in a recurring setting, same problems, same dynamics, episode after episode — works because it's built on comfort. You know these people, where they live, and what's going to set them off. That familiarity is the whole point. It's why people still rewatch Seinfeld and Friends decades later, and it's why a good sitcom, even a short-lived one, never really goes away.

Sitcoms arguably aren't what they used to be. While there are some great new ones, many sitcoms today rely on inspiration from ones that came before them. Some of them are even outright copies, spinoffs, or sequels. There have been some near-perfect sitcoms that changed the game and inspired others, like Friends and Seinfeld. But there are also forgotten ones that, rather than make a mark, have fallen into obscurity despite being so good, and likely used as references for shows we see today.