The United States has ignored warnings from Beijing and sanctioned 14 Chinese officials over the expulsion of Hong Kong lawmakers. They are the vice chairs of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, which disqualified four pro-democracy legislators, Alvin Yeung, Dennis Kwok, Kwok Ka-ki and Kenneth Leung, last month. The move prompted the entire pan-democrat camp to resign from the Legislative Council. Robert Kemp has more:

The Trump Administration’s decision to sanction 14 vice-chairs of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress may box US president-elect Joe Biden into a tough line on Beijing, especially given the bipartisan support in Congress for such measures. It’s also expected to deepen the rift between China and the US. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson warned on Monday that it would take "firm countermeasures" to safeguard China's sovereignty and security if the US went ahead with the move. Mike Weeks asked Professor Jean-Pierre Cabestan, from the Baptist University, if such sanctions have much impact:

Police have arrested eight people over a graduation day protest at the Chinese University. Three of them were accused of inciting secession in violation of the national security law. As Richard Pyne reports, officers say pro-independence slogans were heard and banners waved during the unauthorised rally:

The police asked banks in Hong Kong on Monday to freeze all the accounts of former pro-democracy lawmaker Ted Hui and his family members as part of an investigation into alleged embezzlement. They say the move became necessary after the former legislator fled into exile. Violet Wong reports:

The new chairman of the Democratic Party, Lo Kin-hei, has taken over at a time of almost unparalleled political uncertainty in Hong Kong. All the pan-democrats are gone from the Legislative Council, having either resigned or been kicked out by Beijing. One of the party's former lawmakers, Ted Hui, has fled; and there are questions over any participation by pro-democracy forces if elections for the council are held next year. So given all that, how does Lo plan to shepherd the party into the future? He spoke with Janice Wong about the challenges ahead:

The entire floor of a Kwai Chung public housing block was sent into quarantine early on Tuesday after three more residents were confirmed to have Covid-19. That raised the number of infections on the fifth floor of Block 8, Kwai Shing West Estate to 15. But health officials say they still haven't decided whether to require all the estate's residents to undergo mandatory testing because of the outbreak. They earlier reported 78 new coronavirus cases across Hong Kong. Cecil Wong has more on that and the cases at Kwai Shing Estate:

Around 10,000 collection packs for possible Covid-19 specimens were handed out for free at MTR stations on Monday, the first day of a new government initiative to boost testing. Most people RTHK spoke said it was a good idea, but some took more than one test kit. Jimmy Choi reports:

The Financial Secretary, Paul Chan, has promised the government won't be 'reckless' in cutting costs, even though he expects government finances to remain in the red for at least one more year because of the pandemic-driven recession. Richard Pyne reports:

A report by the Hong Kong-based marine conservation group, OceansAsia, estimates that more than 1.5 billion face masks will have entered the sea this year. It says this amounts to between 4,000 and 6.000 tonnes of marine plastic pollution. The report says the masks could take several hundred years to break down, and will slowly turn into micro plastics. But it's not just masks that are new problems caused by the pandemic. OceansAsia says a huge increase in the use of plastic bags and takeaway food has resulted in a massive jump in single-use plastics. AnneMarie Evans asked its director of operations Gary Stokes what risks these millions of masks pose to the marine environment: