Hong Kong authorities have declined to comment on reports that an activist wanted by the city’s national security police could face deportation to China after being arrested in Thailand for allegedly overstaying her visa.

Responding to media queries about concerns that wanted activist Zhang Xinyan could be transferred to China, the Security Bureau said on Monday that it would not comment on news reports about law enforcement actions in other jurisdictions.

“Endangering national security is an extremely serious crime… no fugitive should harbour the illusion that they can evade criminal liability by fleeing Hong Kong,” the bureau said in a statement.

Zhang, 54, is wanted by national security police for allegedly committing subversion, a crime under Article 23 – also known as Hong Kong’s homegrown national security law.

NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Saturday that Zhang could face deportation from Thailand. She is now being held at the Suan Phlu Immigration Detention Centre in Bangkok.

Zhang holds refugee status issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the NGO said.

According to media reports, overseas activist group the Hong Kong Parliament said she had overstayed her visa in Thailand.

Hong Kong and Thailand do not have any extradition agreements, although the transfer of fugitives can still be arranged. In February, a 62-year-old man accused in a murder case nearly 37 years ago was arrested in Thailand and extradited to Hong Kong.

HRW senior Thailand adviser Sunai Phasuk said sending Zhang to Hong Kong would put her in “grave danger.”

“Thai authorities should do the right thing by immediately releasing her and ensuring that she is not put in harm’s way,” he said.

34 activists wanted

Zhang is among a group of 19 activists named in a round of arrest warrants issued in July 2025, with bounties between HK$200,000 and HK$1 million.

Authorities cited their involvement from February to June 2025 in the “Hong Kong Parliament,” a group of overseas activists who held unofficial polls outside the city to form a shadow legislature to “pursue the ideal of Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong.”

According to the Hong Kong Parliament’s YouTube channel, Zhang ran for a seat in the shadow legislature earlier that year.

According to the police force’s notices, Zhang and the others wanted for their involvement in the Hong Kong Parliament have a view to achieve self-determination and subvert state power.

In total, 34 people are wanted under the national security law on suspicion of committing offences including subversion, inciting secession and colluding with foreign forces.

Some of them have bounties of HK$1 million on their heads, including former pro-democracy lawmakers Ted Hui, Dennis Kwok and Nathan Law.

Activists Anna Kwok and Frances Hui, as well as political commentator Elmer Yuen, who is accused of launching a “referendum” to form the Hong Kong Parliament, are also among those targeted with million-dollar bounties.

KUALA LUMPUR, June 12 — Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung has stepped down from PKR’s central leadership council after 18 years in the party, citing concerns over its direction and internal decision-making.

Lee, however, said he will remain a PKR member and continue serving as an MP until Parliament is dissolved.

“PKR today is no longer the PKR I once knew,” he said in a Facebook post today announcing his decision.

He said he could no longer continue in the party leadership, adding that he would instead focus on his duties as a backbench MP.

Lee also said he would continue to carry out his parliamentary role, including supporting institutional reform bills expected to be tabled in June.

In his post, he said he was seeking clarification from the party over recent administrative issues affecting constituency work and public programmes, but said no official explanation had been provided.

Lee said the developments had left him unable to continue working with the current leadership structure.

He stressed that he would remain committed to parliamentary oversight and reform efforts, including proposals on term limits for the prime minister, separation of powers for the Attorney General, and a Freedom of Information law.

MADRID, June 8 — Pope Leo told Spain’s parliament that escalating conflict, deepening polarisation and widespread disregard for human rights had pushed the world into a profound crisis, in one of his most expansive political addresses yet today. Leo, who has adopted a more forceful tone ‌recently against the direction of global leadership, also firmly repeated his opposition to increased European military spending, urging politicians instead to end the wars ravaging the globe and help migrants. “The world is undergoing a profound spiritual and cultural crisis, which is manifested in multiple forms of violence, polarisation, and mutual distrust,” the pope said in the address, which came hours after Israel and Iran renewed their attacks on one another in the most serious test of a two-month ceasefire.

“Weapons can impose a temporary silence; but they can never build an authentic and lasting peace,” he said.

Migration challenging world’s ‘ethical foundation’ 

Leo’s speech, which was delivered in Spanish and was received with a seven-minute standing ovation by lawmakers, was a rare papal address to a national legislature and the first by a pope to Spain’s parliament. It is part of a week-long visit to the country in which the pontiff has met with migrants and the homeless, and called on national leaders to stop dividing their electorates. The pope, whose Spain tour will culminate with the pontiff meeting migrants in the Canary Islands who braved dangerous Atlantic ‌waters to enter Europe, said a lack of help for the world’s migrants was challenging “the ethical foundation of the international order”.

He said countries must look ⁠for solutions that go beyond “the mere management of flows” and should address ⁠the causes that force people to leave their countries of origin, including war, poverty and climate change.

The pope ⁠told parliament that “the moral greatness of a nation ⁠is manifested above all in its ⁠capacity to accompany, protect, and love those lives that pass through the greatest fragility”.

More than 3,000 people died in 2025 trying to reach the Canary Islands, off the western coast of Africa, often in makeshift dinghies, according to NGO Caminando Fronteras. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government has opened a mass amnesty programme, allowing an estimated ⁠500,000 immigrants to apply for legal status.

Pope calls European rearmament ‘troubling’ 

Leo, who issued a fervent manifesto last month urging global governments to slow down the development of AI systems, called on Monday for “rigorous ethical vigilance” over how AI was used in warfare. He said that rising European military spending, which grew last year by the highest amount since the end of the Cold War amid pressure from US President Donald Trump, was “troubling.” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has refused to meet Trump’s demands for Nato member countries to increase defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP, although the expenditure has tripled since he took office in 2018, ⁠rising from around €10 billion (RM46.8 billion) to more than €34 billion. The pope last month called European rearmament a betrayal of democracy.

Leo also offered some of his most in-depth remarks yet addressing the balance in the relationship between Church and state. He urged protection ⁠of religious freedom, saying that faith “cannot be relegated to silence as though it were irrelevant to public life”.

The pope likewise defended the privacy of the Catholic seal of ⁠confession, which obliges a ⁠priest not to reveal any information given to him by penitents.

Several countries, including France, have debated whether to compel priests to report sexual abuse disclosed in confessions, following scandals that have shaken the Church internationally.

Protecting the seal, Leo said, preserves “a sacred space of inner freedom, where the believer can open his or her soul before God”. A 2023 report ‌by Spain’s human rights ombudsman estimated hundreds of thousands of victims of clerical abuse there over decades. The Vatican has said the pope would meet with a group of victims during the visit, but has yet to offer further details. The pope did not mention abuse by Catholic clergy in his speech. — Reuters

PUTRAJAYA, June 5 — Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today dismissed suggestions of reviving Muafakat Nasional (MN) 2.0, saying there have been no discussions on the matter between Umno and PAS.

“There have been no discussions on that,” he told reporters after visiting the exhibition site for National Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Day 2026 at Dataran Putrajaya here today.

Ahmad Zahid, who is also deputy prime minister, said Umno and Barisan Nasional’s (BN) priority remains ensuring political stability through the unity government formed with Pakatan Harapan (PH) and parties from Sabah and Sarawak.

“The most important thing is to ensure that the current government remains intact until the end of the 15th Parliament’s term,” he said.

Yesterday, PAS Youth proposed that Umno revive political cooperation through Muafakat Nasional ahead of the upcoming Johor state election.

On a separate matter, Ahmad Zahid said a political meeting involving Umno and PAS leaders held last night did not involve the presidents of either party and was focused on political collaboration and national issues.

He said politics is dynamic and BN remains open to political discussions and deliberations on national matters in the interest of preserving the country’s stability. — Bernama