Police find missing head of dismembered Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi in soup pot - The Straits Times

HONG KONG - Police have found the missing head of Hong Kong socialite and influencer Abby Choi in one of two big pots containing soup and human remains, days after her grisly murder was discovered.

In a news briefing late on Sunday, police investigators confirmed that they found a head and ribs inside one of two large pots they retrieved on Friday from inside a house in Hong Kong’s rural Tai Po district where she was said to have been butchered.

The head and ribs are believed to belong to Ms Choi, they said, but DNA tests are needed to confirm it.

The two pots were filled almost to the brim with soup and minced meat believed to be human remains. There were also carrots and green radish in them.

The pots were taken to the mortuary on Saturday. On Sunday, forensic experts began examining the contents. That was when they discovered the head and ribs, and it appeared that someone had tried to bash the head, according to one media report.

Police were continuing the search for body parts that were still missing, including her hands and torso.

Portions of the 28-year-old’s body – her legs were recovered from a refrigerator – were found on Friday in the Tai Po house. A meat slicer, an electric saw, a hammer, face shields and black raincoats were also recovered at the scene.

Four people have been arrested, and three of them charged. Those charged are set to appear in a local court on Monday.

Ms Choi’s former husband Alex Kwong, 28, was arrested on Saturday, but has not been charged yet. He was reported to have been taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital after complaining of feeling unwell.

He was caught at the Tung Chung pier on Lantau Island as he was trying to flee, purportedly with HK$4.5 million (S$774,000) worth of cash and luxury watches.

His father and brother were charged with murder. His 63-year-old mother was also arrested and charged with obstructing the case.

Ms Choi disappeared on Tuesday and was last seen in the Tai Po district where she was found, police said.

About 100 elite divers and police officers were seen on Saturday combing a cemetery where Ms Choi’s former father-in-law and brother-in-law were seen on Wednesday. They had drones and search dogs with them.

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2023-02-26 14:47:48Z
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Gambling hub Macao drops COVID-19 mask mandate for most locations - CNA

HONG KONG: Authorities in Macao, the world's biggest gambling hub, said on Sunday (Feb 26) they would drop COVID 19-related mask requirements for most locations, except for public transportation, hospitals and a handful of other areas.

The rule change takes effect from Monday, the government said in a statement on its website.

"The epidemic situation in Macao has continuously remained stable over the last two months," it said.

"Making reference from the anti-epidemic experience worldwide, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre will adjust its mask-wearing requirements."

The neighbouring Chinese special administrative region of Hong Kong, one of the last places globally that still imposes a mask mandate, extended its requirement until Mar 8, although the authorities have said they hope to drop it as quickly as possible.

Hong Kong and Macao both followed China's zero-COVID policy for much of the past three years. Hong Kong started unwinding its stringent COVID rules last year but mask-wearing has remained constant since 2020.

Residents of mainland China are not required to wear masks outdoors, although authorities encourage them to do so in public indoor areas such as airports and train stations.

Macao's government said that individuals who develop flu-like symptoms should wear a mask when going out and that members of the public should carry face masks with them when commuting around the city.

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2023-02-26 06:50:10Z
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Ex-father-in-law of Hong Kong model and his eldest son charged with murder - CNA

Police said on Saturday that the two children Choi had with her ex-husband were being taken care of by her mother.

The murder came to light on Friday when officers found body parts of 28-year-old Choi – who went missing on Tuesday – in the ground-floor flat of a three-storey house in Tai Po’s Lung Mei Tsuen.

Police uncovered a meat grinder, electric saw and two pots containing human tissue, alongside two types of meat cleavers, a hammer, face shields, black raincoats and a purple handbag that belonged to Choi at the Tai Po flat. The suspects had covered the walls of the flat with a sail.

Two female legs were found in a fridge at the flat. The social media influencer’s head, torso and hands are still missing.

On Saturday, about 100 officers including divers from the force’s elite Special Duties Unit, known as Flying Tigers, and officers from the Police Tactical Unit took part in a search operation at a Tseung Kwan O cemetery.

A drone was used for an aerial search and police tracking dogs were also deployed at the cemetery to detect traces of Choi.

Officers searched the area as their investigation indicated that the ex-father-in-law and brother-in-law went there on Wednesday, a day after Choi was reported missing.

Police said the search would continue on Sunday.

This article was first published on SCMP.

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2023-02-26 04:59:00Z
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North Korea's Kim mobilises young labourers in new housing plan amid economic woes - CNA

Kim has said the housing projects faces "unprecedentedly harsh challenges". He mobilised the young labour units, called dolgyeokdae or "Shock Brigade", in his pet infrastructure initiatives which have often faced lacklustre progress amid resources shortages, including a massive housing campaign in the northern alpine town of Samjiyon.

In Sopo, he aims to create a "distinctive street" with about 4,100 homes, in addition to a recently launched drive for 10,000 apartments, Kim said, thanking some 100,000 young men who volunteered to join the plans.

The new housing project would serve as "another proud page in the history of youth movements" and a symbol of the country's socialist revolution and "political struggle", Kim said.

"The distinctive architectures of this street will intuitively show our nation's status and rapid development," Kim said, accompanied by his young daughter who has appeared recently in a series of major events.

"It will clearly prove it to the world how our movement and struggle are advancing and developing and how vigorously they are expanding even in the face of the most arduous trials and difficulties," he added.

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2023-02-25 23:33:00Z
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No G20 joint statement after China objections on Ukraine war - CNA

China has sought to position itself as a neutral party in the conflict while maintaining close ties with strategic ally Russia.

Top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi was in Moscow on Wednesday to meet President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who is due at a G20 foreign ministers meeting in New Delhi next week.

Chinese state news agency Xinhua quoted Wang as saying China was willing to "deepen political trust" and "strengthen strategic coordination" with Russia.

On Friday, the first anniversary of the invasion, China published a 12-point paper calling for a "political settlement" to the crisis that was met with scepticism from Ukraine's allies.

G20 host India has also refused to condemn Russia, which is New Delhi's biggest arms supplier and has become a major source of oil for India since the invasion.

Western countries - including the United States, Germany and France - had insisted the language in any joint statement could not be weaker than the communique issued by G20 leaders in Indonesia in November.

"This is a war. And this war has a cause, has one cause, and that is Russia and Vladimir Putin. That must be expressed clearly at this G20 finance meeting," German Finance Minister Christian Lindner told a news conference on Friday.

DEBT RELIEF

The gathering also focused on debt relief for poorer countries hit by rocketing inflation because of the war.

The International Monetary Fund said ahead of the meeting that around 15 per cent of low-income countries were in debt distress and an additional 45 per cent were at high risk.

Western officials including US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called on China to take "haircuts" on its loans to debt-stricken nations such as Zambia and Sri Lanka.

China wants multilateral lenders including the World Bank - which Beijing sees as Western-controlled - also to restructure their loans, but the United States and others oppose this.

Other topics in Bengaluru included efforts towards a global tax on tech giants, and widening the remit of multilateral development banks such as the World Bank to help nations hit by climate change.

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2023-02-25 15:14:13Z
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G20 finance chiefs differ on debt, Russia-Ukraine war - CNA

Besides the G7 nations, the G20 bloc also includes such countries as Australia, Brazil and Saudi Arabia.

The delegates said the meeting was likely to end with a statement by the host summarising the discussions.

"In the absence of a consensus, the option for India would be to issue a chair statement," one official said.

India's foreign, finance and information ministries did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.

DEBT NEGOTIATIONS

On the sidelines, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) held a meeting on Saturday with the World Bank, China, India, Saudi Arabia and the G7 on restructuring debt for distressed economies, but there were disagreements among members, said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.

"We just finished a session in which it was clear that there is a commitment to bridge differences for the benefit of countries," Georgieva, who co-chaired the roundtable with Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, told reporters.

One delegate told Reuters there was some initial progress made, mostly on the language around the issue, but restructuring was not discussed in detail.

Yellen said there were no "deliverables" from the meeting, which was mostly organisational.

Further discussions of the panel are planned around the time of the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in April.

Pressure has been building on China, the world's largest bilateral creditor, and other nations to take a large haircut in loans given to struggling developing nations.

In a video address to the G20 meeting on Friday, Chinese Finance Minister Liu Kun reiterated Beijing's position that the World Bank and other multilateral development banks should participate in debt relief by taking haircuts alongside bilateral creditors.

Yellen had said before the debt meeting that she would press all bilateral creditors, including China, to participate in meaningful discussions, adding that debt treatment for Zambia and financing assurances for Sri Lanka were "most urgent".

Zambia owed Beijing nearly US$6 billion of a total external debt of US$17 billion at the end of 2021, according to government data, while Ghana owes China US$1.7 billion, according to the International Institute of Finance, a financial services trade association focused on emerging markets.

Sri Lanka owed Chinese lenders US$7.4 billion - or nearly a fifth of public external debt - by the end of 2022, calculations by the China Africa Research Initiative think tank show. 

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2023-02-25 10:56:01Z
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Hong Kong model butchered over money dispute; ex-husband's family among 4 arrested - CNA

HONG KONG: Hong Kong police have made four arrests over the gruesome murder of a 28-year-old model who was dismembered after a financial dispute with her ex-husband's family, authorities said on Saturday (Feb 25).

The partial remains of well-known influencer Abby Choi, who last week appeared on the digital cover of fashion magazine L'Officiel Monaco, were found in a village house set up as a butchery site, police said.

"We are still looking for the head," superintendent Alan Chung told reporters, after disclosing that a woman's limbs had been discovered inside a refrigerator.

The house was equipped with an electric saw and a meat grinder that had been used to mince human flesh, Chung said.

"Two pots of stew believed to contain human tissue" were left at the scene, he added.

Choi's ex-husband, a 28-year-old man surnamed Kwong, was arrested for murder Saturday afternoon as he was attempting to flee the city by boat, Chung said.

The man's father, mother and elder brother had been arrested on the same charge a day earlier.

"We believe the victim and her ex-husband's family had many financial disputes involving huge sums," Chung said.

"Someone was dissatisfied with how the victim handled her assets, which became a motive to kill."

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2023-02-25 09:55:59Z
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