Hong Kong was shocked this week by a fatal accident at the airport when a cargo plane veered off a runway and killed two workers in a security patrol vehicle. All eyes were also on which incumbent lawmakers will bow out or seek another term as the nomination period for the Legislative Council election starts. Read on for details about those stories and others.

In today’s edition:

• Deadly plane crash

   

• Legco race picks up 

   

• Aligning with the nation 

   

• Scam farm ordeal 

Deadly plane crash

Authorities have launched an investigation into the crash of an Emirates cargo plane that swerved off the runway at the airport and fell into the sea on Monday. Experts have also started to salvage and remove the aircraft, which broke into two sections.

Legco race picks up

The Legco election is gathering momentum as the nomination period began on Friday. More than a quarter of the 89 lawmakers have already indicated they will not seek another term. 

On the same day, Beijing warned against any attempts to jeopardise the poll, hitting back at “outlandish theories” that the central government was interfering in the race or a so-called blessing list was being circulated. 

Aligning with the nation

Also on the political front, Chief Executive John Lee said Hong Kong would identify its strategic position in the national development after the Communist Party’s Central Committee’s fourth plenum concluded this week, with the core agenda being the formulation of the five-year plan that will guide the country’s progress until 2030.

Lee said Hong Kong would seize the significant opportunities brought about by the country’s development, while also leveraging its own unique advantages.

Scam farm ordeal

Two Hongkongers who had been trapped at scam farms in Myanmar for months shared with the Post the details of their ordeal, with one saying she was “living a life worse than death”. The other recalled how his release was just the start of an immensely difficult journey back to safety.

You can read these stories and more at SCMP.com, and enjoy the weekend.

Politics

• Encourage employees to vote in Hong Kong’s coming Legco election: John Lee

   

• US ‘overstretching’ national security fears by threatening HKT, Hong Kong says

   

• Hong Kong’s new lawmakers must demonstrate ‘effective democracy’: John Lee

   

• Hong Kong officials involved in water procurement fiasco face disciplinary probe

   

• Outspoken Hong Kong lawmaker Doreen Kong, 55, will not seek second Legco term

Society