ENG-2018 — Page 18

Calendar of Events

2018

February

2

6

Οι

9-25

13

17-18

20

The city's first low-floor, wheelchair-accessible public light bus begins a trial operation between Kennedy Town Station and Queen Mary Hospital.

Hong Kong is ranked the world's freest economy for the 24th year in a row by the US-based Heritage Foundation.

Mr Wong Chi-fung, Mr Law Kwun-chung and Mr Alex Chow Yong-kang win their appeals in the Court of Final Appeal against jail sentences substituted by the Court of Appeal in August 2017 over an unlawful assembly two days before the start of an 'Occupy Movement' protest in 2014. The Court of Final Appeal emphasises, however, that future offenders involved in violent, large-scale unlawful assemblies will be subject to the Court of Appeal's new guidelines. It says the Court of Appeal was right to send the message that violent unlawful assemblies will not be condoned and may warrant jailing, and that little weight will be given to the mitigation that the offending act was committed in the exercise of constitutional rights or acts of civil disobedience because a conviction necessarily means the offender has crossed the line separating the lawful exercise of his constitutional rights from unlawful activity.

For the first time, Hong Kong has three universities - the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in the top 10 of the Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings, making it also the most represented territory in the top 10.

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Skier Arabella Ng becomes the first Hong Kong athlete at an Olympic snow event, competing in the slalom and giant slalom events at the Winter Games in Pyeongchang, Korea.

The Court of First Instance rules in an election petition lodged by Mr Chan Ho- tin against the 2016 Legislative Council General Election that the declaration requirement to support the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and pledge allegiance to the HKSAR is a substantive legal requirement and a precondition for candidature instead of a requirement in formality, and that returning officers, in accordance with the Legislative Council Ordinance and the relevant subsidiary legislation, are entitled to look at various materials relating to a candidate's objective intention and to ask questions in order to determine whether the candidate has complied with the declaration requirement substantively. The court also rules that the Electoral Affairs Commission is entitled and empowered to issue the non-mandatory Confirmation Form asking a candidate to furnish the information requested therein to assist the returning officer in deciding on the validity of a nomination.

Cyclist Sarah Lee Wai-sze wins a gold medal for the seventh time in the Asian Track Championships women's 500m time trial in Malaysia and also defends her title in the women's sprint.

Snooker player Ng On-yee makes history as the first Asian woman to be No 1 in the World Ladies Billiards and Snooker (WLBS) world women's rankings. She remains in top spot throughout the rest of the year.

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