A viral stress-relief “Natasha” doll trending on Chinese social media has been deemed “absolutely diabolical” by members of Hong Kong’s Black community.

Resembling a small child, the most popular version is dark-skinned and features exaggerated racial characteristics. Buyers have filmed themselves beating, stretching, boiling and stomping on the toy.

“No design is created, marketed, and sold in isolation of thought and purpose. The design, manufacturing, and selling of a Black baby doll to abuse at one’s whims is at the root of the existence of movements like Black Lives Matter,” Monique Franz, a writer and founder of Kinsman Avenue Publishing – a non-profit which advocates for underrepresented voices – told HKFP.

“By inviting people to take out their stresses on a Black body, we invite populations to abuse our Black bodies at their whims, robbing us of our actual humanity. While this is a game to others, Black people are experiencing widespread global abuse, which is the result of portrayals of us in such degrading ways,” added Franz, who is African-American.

Made from slow-rising memory foam or soft thermoplastic rubber, the dolls remain freely available on e-commerce sites such as Taobao, and have been trending on social media platforms like RedNote and Douyin.

Jayne Jeje, an African-American entrepreneur, advocate, and long-term Hong Kong resident, told HKFP that such trends do not come out of nowhere. “There seems to be an endless fascination with Black hair, Black skin, Black lips, Black bodies, and Black culture, yet people are shocked when we speak up,” she said.

“Some of the viral videos are absolutely diabolical. I’d find them offensive no matter who was being depicted, but this is deeply personal because I am proud of my beautiful dark skin. I refuse to accept the idea that it is something to be squeezed, slapped, mocked, or turned into entertainment for the masses,” she added.

Spotted in Hong Kong

Londiwe Ngubeni – a South African actress and vocalist who lives on Lantau – told HKFP that she spotted a child with a Natasha doll at a Mui Wo supermarket. “At first, I thought she simply liked the toy. Then she began stretching, squeezing, poking the eyes and hitting the doll. When I asked why, she said it was a ‘stress reliever.’ How is relieving stress by hurting a brown baby doll acceptable?”

Ngubeni said she was furious and disappointed. The child “said her friend had given it to her. What message are we teaching children when dehumanising a Black child becomes a plaything?”

She urged manufacturers and retailers to be held to account over “products that reinforce racist attitudes.”

Innocent Mutanga of NGO Africa Center Hong Kong said the trend “risks normalising the dehumanisation of Black bodies… This is particularly disturbing as this dehumanization is directed towards Black children, demonstrating a lack of empathy for Black people, no matter the age.”

He said the China Consumers Association and State Administration for Market Regulation had stepped in to remove violent videos, with schools in mainland China banning the doll.

Although Mutanga said guidance was issued to e-commerce sites in mainland China, the product was still available on Taobao when HKFP checked on Thursday.

Mutanga urged teachers, parents and community leaders across the Greater Bay Region to link up with the Africa Centre to step up education, as people may lack “exposure to African cultures and histories.”

Chinese social media has played host to similarly abusive trends involving Black children before.

In 2022, a BBC investigation found that children in sub-Saharan Africa were being paid to perform in Chinese online videos that often involved degrading or abusive content.

China said Friday it was holding an American citizen accused of espionage, identifying the man as a political analyst at a policy think tank focusing on neighbouring Myanmar.

Min Zin — a founder of the Institute for Strategy and Policy Myanmar (ISP-M) — “has been subjected to criminal compulsory measures”, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a news briefing.

Authorities are holding him “on suspicion of engaging in espionage activities that endanger China’s national security”, he said, without providing further details.

The ISP-M researches the political, resource and conflict dynamics of Myanmar, which was plunged into civil war by a 2021 coup.

Some of their publications detail China’s influence in the borderlands of Myanmar, where Beijing is accused of supporting armed factions which suit its national interests.

It is not clear whether Min Zin was conducting research at the time he was held by Chinese authorities.

A person with professional ties to ISP-M, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, told AFP Min Zin was arrested on June 3 at Kunming airport in Yunnan province, which borders Myanmar.

“He went there to attend a meeting,” said another person with a close relationship to the detained academic, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

Chinese authorities said the US consulate in Guangzhou had been notified of the case.

“His family and colleagues are following up with the consulate office there,” the second source said. “I know his family is worried.”

Neither the US State Department nor the ISP-M have responded to a request for comment.

The ISP-M is based in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, a hub for political exiles from Myanmar since the coup ousted the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Analysts, including those at the ISP-M, say China has intermittently backed both the military and rebels in the civil war according to its varying economic and security interests.

Hong Kong’s top leader has defended a management firm’s delay in holding a meeting with owners displaced by the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire, saying those procedures must be carried out “in accordance with the law.”

Chief Executive John Lee said at a Tuesday press conference that Hop On Management “has always given people the impression that it is serious,” citing two briefing sessions held online last month and arrangements for maintenance fee refunds.

“My requirement is that they need to handle all matters in accordance with the law,” Lee added.

Lee replied to a reporter’s question about whether the government would take any steps regarding the Lands Tribunal’s decision to deny Hop On’s bid to extend the statutory deadline for an owners’ meeting.

After receiving a petition from Wang Fuk Court homeowners in late April, the firm originally had to call a meeting by May 13 and hold it by June 13.

The Lands Tribunal ruled last week that postponing the deadline would affect homeowners’ rights to have a meeting. Judge Gary Lam said in his ruling that Hop On remained in breach of its statutory obligations and added that it should “convene and hold the meeting as requested as soon as possible.”

Lee said that the tribunal had acknowledged difficulties faced by Hop On, from verifying the petition’s 247 signatures to putting together a complete register of owners’ particulars.

He said that some of the people killed in the fire may have been flat owners and that probate certifications would be needed to account for those cases.

“Hop On needs to make residents understand that it will handle all matters in accordance with the law,” he said, adding that the government would continue to assist the firm.

See also: Wang Fuk Court administrator to study ruling after court rejects bid to extend meeting deadline

Following the tribunal’s ruling, Hop On told HKFP last week that it “is doing its utmost to discharge its duties in accordance with the law, even in difficult times.”

“Hop On is currently conducting a thorough review of the judgment, and will continue with its work in verifying owners’ signatures and identifying a suitable venue, aiming at convening the owners’ meeting while safeguarding the rights and interests of all owners of Wang Fuk Court,” it said.

A Hong Kong rugby player is set to plead not guilty to molesting a customer at a bar in Central last year, with the trial scheduled for June.

Faizal Solomona Penesa, a player for the Hong Kong China Rugby team, appeared at Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on Monday to face one count of indecent assault at Bobby’s Rabble, a bar in Central, and another count of criminal damage after allegedly vandalising police property at a police station following his arrest.

Solomona pleaded guilty to the criminal damage offence, in which he allegedly damaged a door latch at Central Police Station on September 28, 2025, according to local media.

According to the facts agreed by the prosecution and the defence, he was emotional when he was detained and kicked the door latch. Police filmed the incident and arrested him on suspicion of criminal damage.

But he denied the charge of indecent assault, which allegedly occurred at the Central bar on September 28 last year. The court heard that Solomona did not know the complainant, who was another customer in the bar, and that they had arrived there separately.

When he was arrested on the second charge, Solomona told officers under police caution that he “didn’t really mean to do that” and “won’t do that next time.”

Citing a prosecution summary, local media reported that Solomona and the complainant had been drinking with their own groups at adjacent high tables.

Solomona, who is out on bail, will appear in court next on June 26 for trial. The prosecution said it planned on summoning three witnesses, including the complainant. She is known as X, and her identity will not be revealed during the hearing.

The defence said it would call one to three witnesses.

In a statement published in January, Hong Kong China Rugby said it took the allegations against Solomona “very seriously.”

Solomona has been suspended from all rugby activities until there is an outcome for the legal proceedings, it said.

Hong Kong authorities have proposed tightening the regulation of claw machine shops by implementing a licensing regime to curb addiction risks.

The Home and Youth Affairs Bureau’s proposal, included in a document submitted to the Legislative Council (LegCo) on Monday, comes as claw machine shops proliferate in the city as a low-maintenance business opportunity.

“Since these activities may involve gaming elements or addiction risks, appropriate restrictions on format or content may be necessary to protect participants, especially youth, from physical or mental harm or significant financial loss,” the bureau said.

The government seeks to introduce new requirements, such as posting a notice indicating that devices are licensed. The bureau is also considering mandatory addiction warning labels on machines.

A list of licensed premises has also been uploaded to the Home Affairs Department’s Office of the Licensing Authority, the document read.

The tightened regulations will function under the city’s Gambling Ordinance, which currently stipulates that claw machine shops must hold an Amusement With Prizes Licence (AWPL). Before that licence can be granted, a venue must hold a public entertainment licence.

However, a 2022 High Court ruling determined that claw machines do not meet the definition of “entertainment” and thus do not require a public entertainment licence, creating a regulatory gap.

The bureau is proposing to remove the requirement for a public entertainment licence and allow the Home Affairs Department to issue AWPLs directly.

Prize caps, addiction risks

Speaking on an RTHK programme, lawmaker Vincent Cheng said he agreed with the government’s proposal in principle but asked the authorities to consider whether the new curbs would stamp out the business.

“We have to consider whether [the regulation] will affect the industry’s development,” he said, urging the government to “strike a balance.”

Lawmaker Bill Tang, who chairs the LegCo Panel on Home Affairs, Culture and Sports, welcomed the tightened regulations, saying that some claw machine operations had “evolved” beyond their original leisurely purpose.

Prizes in certain machines now include high-value items such as mobile phones, encouraging gambling behaviour, Tang said. He proposed a HK$5 limit on the fee for each game and that the value of each prize be capped at HK$300.

The bureau has also proposed to regulate internet cafes, moving away from a Code of Practice model and introducing a mandatory licensing system.

One option is to bring internet cafes in line with the regulatory regime for traditional gaming arcades, imposing strict age restrictions for adult- or children-only venues and a ban on students in school uniform.

Another model would be to allow cafes to operate if they meet strict safety conditions.

The proposals are scheduled to be discussed at the legislature on Monday.

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.

A 55-year-old man has pleaded guilty to making and distributing “seditious” materials, including ones that called for a boycott of the “patriots only” legislative elections last year.

Raymond Wong, a construction worker, was charged and brought to the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Thursday afternoon.

He was arrested by national security police on April 21, a government statement said on Thursday. His arrest was not known to the public before, as police did not issue information about it at the time.

Wong was charged with two counts of “doing with a seditious intention an act or acts that had a seditious intention,” an offence under Hong Kong’s homegrown national security law, also known as Article 23.

According to a court document, Wong allegedly made “paper sheets written with statements” and threw them “into a public space” from a 12th-floor flat in On Tat Estate, a public housing estate in Kwun Tong. The first count of the sedition offence was dated October 2, 2024, and the second one was dated December 5, 2025.

Local media reported that on October 2, 2024, a Kwun Tong district councillor found pieces of paper with phrases including “blow up corrupt police officers” scattered on the estate’s podium. The district councillor called the police and handed over 41 sheets of paper.

On December 5 last year, two days before the “patriots only” Legislative Council elections, a staff member at the estate’s property management company found sheets of paper reading “liberate Hong Kong, do not vote,” also on the estate’s podium.

Police were called, and they seized 16 pieces of paper with seditious phrases. Wong’s fingerprints were found on two of them.

Wong’s case was adjourned to June 9 for sentencing to await his background report, a social welfare report and a psychological report.

Sedition is punishable by up to seven years in jail. If the defendant is found to have colluded with an “external force” when committing the offence, they face a maximum of 10 years behind bars.

Jail terms handed down at the magistrate’s court, however, are capped at two years, or three when a defendant is convicted of more than one offence.

The maximum penalty for sedition was increased in March 2024, when lawmakers passed Article 23. Before that, it was punishable by up to two years, when sedition fell under a colonial-era ordinance.

A Hong Kong company appointed by the government to administer the fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court has asked the Lands Tribunal to postpone a statutory deadline for holding a homeowners’ meeting.

Hectar Pun, a lawyer representing Hop On Management, told the tribunal on Monday that the firm had faced challenges in verifying signatures and finding venues for the meeting.

Hop On, a subsidiary of real estate giant Chinachem Group, applied to the Lands Tribunal to postpone the May 13 deadline for notifying owners of the meeting and the June 13 deadline for convening the meeting.

Judge Gary Lam noted that Hop On had made an ex parte application – a request for a court order without the presence of the opposing party – and told the firm to consider the matter from the perspective of the flat owners.

He also asked whether the court should postpone the deadline every time Hop On encountered difficulties. Pun replied that the tribunal has the judicial powers to make delays as long as there is “good cause” to do so.

Judge Lam said that the court would hand down its decision at 3pm on Tuesday.

Hop On was appointed by the government to take over administrative duties at Wang Fuk Court from the board of the owners’ corporation weeks after the deadly November fire at the Tai Po housing estate.

The Lands Tribunal granted the government’s appointment of the firm in early January.

Homeowners’ petition

Hop On said last month that it would apply to the tribunal to extend the deadline for holding a homeowners’ meeting after it received a petition with 247 handwritten signatures asking the firm to meet with flat owners to discuss long-term resettlement and related financial matters.

The total number of signatures supporting the petition exceeded the 5 per cent threshold needed to convene a meeting stipulated by the Building Management Ordinance.

See also: Tai Po fire: Residents say ‘no choice’ but to accept buyback as deadline looms

According to the ordinance, the management committee should issue notice of the meeting within 14 days and hold the general meeting with owners within 45 days.

Wang Fuk Court resident Jason Kong, one of the petition’s organisers and a former board member, was arrested for alleged government loan fraud last month, two weeks after delivering the petition.

After he was released from police detention, he said he would no longer take media interviews.

A woman has denied charges of offering bribes to Hong Kong immigration officers over a permanent residency application and obstructing anti-graft officers in the execution of their duties.

Wang Subing, an unemployed 36-year-old, appeared at the Kwun Tong Magistrates’ Courts on Thursday, Ming Pao reported.

She was charged with one count of offering an advantage to a public servant and one count of resisting or obstructing officers in the execution of their duties.

The case was adjourned to July 20 for a pre-trial review, and the defendant was released on HK$20,000 bail.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) charged Wang on April 1, the anti-graft watchdog said last month.

According to the ICAC, she lived in Hong Kong on a student visa between mid-2018 and early 2020.

“She later entered Hong Kong as a visitor and had a record of overstaying. The offences took place in 2025,” it said. “At the material time, the defendant was applying for the issuance of a permanent identity card of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.”

The Immigration Department rejected her application because Wang did not meet the requirement of seven years’ ordinary residence in Hong Kong.

Then, on September 17, Wang handed over a letter to immigration officers with banknotes of HK$1,100 and RMB100 – although applications for permanent residency are free of charge.

The ICAC investigated the case after the Immigration Department made a report to the watchdog.

Wang is also accused of resisting or obstructing ICAC officers on October 8, when they tried to take her from the Immigration Headquarters in Tseung Kwan O to the ICAC office.

Offering an advantage to a public servant in Hong Kong is an offence under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance. Upon conviction, the maximum penalty is seven years’ imprisonment and a fine of HK$500,000.

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.

An Australian man has been remanded after allegedly dining at five-star hotels in Hong Kong without paying, just a day after being fined HK$3,000 over similar charges.

Samuel Anthony Monkivitch, 50, appeared at Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on Friday. He was charged with making off without payment and criminal damage between April 24 and May 5, local media reported.

Monkivitch, a lawyer, is accused of not paying restaurant bills at Cafe Too at the Island Shangri-La in Admiralty, Cafe Kool at the Kowloon Shangri-La in Tsim Sha Tsui, and two other restaurants – one in Central and another in Wan Chai.

His bill at the four places totalled around HK$2,039, the court heard.

The criminal damage offences relate to allegations that on May 4, he destroyed a sales terminal at the Island Shangri-La and damaged a person’s iPhone outside the Hong Kong Museum of History in Tsim Sha Tsui.

Magistrate Tobias Cheng denied Monkivitch bail and adjourned the case to June 5. Monkivitch will attend a bail hearing on May 15.

Previously, on Thursday, the lawyer was fined HK$3,000 for two counts of making off without payment and one count of common assault. He pleaded guilty to the offences the same day, local media reported.

Monkivitch was accused of dashing off after spending HK$639.10 at a Chiu Chow restaurant in Times Square, a mall in Causeway Bay, on March 23. A restaurant staff member chased Monkivitch and said he had not paid, attracting the attention of a bystander surnamed Chen, who pointed a camera at him.

The lawyer got into an altercation with the bystander and said to him, “Do you want your head smashed in?”

Monkivitch was also accused of leaving before paying a bill of HK$586 at Footaholic, a massage parlour in Wan Chai, on March 25.

An outspoken resident who survived Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades has said he will not give any more media interviews after his release following an arrest over alleged government loan fraud.

“Going forward, I won’t be responding to anything, OK?” Wang Fuk Court resident Jason Kong told reporters outside Tsuen Wan Police Station shortly after midnight on Saturday. “Thank you all for your care and support over the past few months.”

Kong and his wife were reportedly arrested on Thursday on suspicion of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud.

The couple, both directors of an interior design company, allegedly used fraudulent means to obtain several hundred thousand dollars in loans under the government’s Special 100% Loan Guarantee scheme, which was launched during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sources familiar with the matter told HKFP on Friday that they were being detained at a police station.

The arrests came around two weeks after Kong was involved in organising and delivering a petition to Hop On Management, the government-appointed administrator for the Tai Po housing estate, asking the firm to hold a meeting with homeowners.

Kong, who was a member of the Wang Fuk Court owners’ board when the fire broke out in November, had also spoken with the media on other issues, such as long-term resettlement.

However, upon his release on Saturday, he refused to answer reporters’ questions about whether he was under investigation for other matters, as well as whether he would still handle matters relating to a petition for an owners’ meeting.

Asked whether he was still able to speak for residents, Kong said that he had “no comment.”

“I hope that everyone can stay safe and healthy, and once again I thank everyone for their support,” he said.

“I hope that residents can settle down as soon as possible,” Kong added as he got into a taxi.

Hop On, which received a petition with 247 handwritten signatures on April 29, has yet to hold an in-person meeting with homeowners. The management firm said last week that it would apply to the Lands Tribunal to extend the statutory deadline for the meeting.

Kong and other fire survivors previously launched a similar petition online in March, signed by more than 400 homeowners and representatives of those killed in the fire.

Hop On rejected the demand, while the Home Affairs Department said the signatures might have been forged.

Kong also testified before an independent committee investigating the blaze last month, saying that government agencies had “failed in their duties” despite receiving complaints about the renovation project at the estate.