Local actress Ellie Suriaty Omar, believed to be one of the instigators of loud chants of “Hidup Melayu” during the press conference by Attorney General Tommy Thomas within the court complex.

She was warned by police not to cause provocations along with other Najib supporters.

Several netizens criticised her for her behaviour, but Ellie brushed off the negative comments, saying: “It is their view.”

Ellie told The Star’s Malay portal mStar that she had the right to support any political party and has the right to voice her views.

Another woman in the spotlight was new Wanita Umno chief Datuk Dr Noraini Ahmad who resigned from her position as Malaysia External Trade Development Corp (Matrade) chairman.

In a tweet on Wednesday night, Matrade announced Dr Noraini’s resignation.

“We would like to inform that YB Dato’ Dr Noraini Ahmad, the MP of Parit Sulong, has resigned as Matrade’s chairman on 15 May 2018 after serving Matrade for 5 years,” it tweeted.

The three-term Parit Sulong MP has held the position of Matrade chairman since 2013, replacing Datuk Mah Siew Keong who was chairman from 2010.

Dr Noraini was previously deputy Human Resources minister from March 2008 to 2009.

Before being elected as Wanita Umno chief in the recent party polls, she was the head of Puteri Umno from 2004 to 2008.

In 2016, Dr Noraini was the first Malaysian to be elected as chairman of Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians.

As for Ellie, she told Kosmo that she started chanting because she wanted Attorney General Tommy Thomas to speak Malay, not English.

Tommy, who is acting as public prosecutor, made the request to judge Zainal Abidin at the Sessions Court on Wednesday (July 4) after the charges were read out in Malay.

The planned media conference by Thomas had to be cancelled when supporters of Najib turned rowdy after they started chanting “Bahasa Malaysia”, “Melayu” and “Hidup Melayu”.

The crowd shouted to drown out Thomas’ voice as he was speaking to media, until he had to be escorted away. Thomas was taken aback by the behaviour of Najib’s supporters, saying he “never expected” the commotion.

Both numbers were sold out nationwide in less than two hours after all three 4D betting operators opened for business.

The number 5753 was based on a special 4D booklet used among the punters to indicate “arrested for corruption”.

While 2469 – the number plate of a red Proton Inspira – was believed to have been used to take Najib to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission headquarters on Tuesday evening.

Checks at Magnum, Sports Toto and Pan Malaysian Pools showed all outlets having exhausted the maximum quota allowed for a number to be placed as bets on a single draw.

One of the betting outlet operators, who only wanted to be identified as Lai, said there was a rush to buy both numbers.

“There was already a long queue since 8am. Punters rushed to place their bets as such hot numbers often sold out quickly.”

Magnum has a combination of RM8,000 bet for their big and small draws on a single number while Sports Toto maximum bet is at RM5,000.

Pan Malaysian Pools, the operator of Da Ma Cai, allowed a maximum bet of RM6,000 for a single number draw.

According to an illegal 4D operator in George Town, who declined to be named, some punters had placed bets since Tuesday evening.

“We do not allow any bets that are more than RM100 on a single number initially.”

However, he said, as of noon yesterday, illegal bookies stopped taking in bets but honoured the earlier bookings despite an overwhelming demand.

“We are worried it may turn out as a winning number. In the past, we were badly hit by such hot numbers.”

Following Najib’s arrest, which is the topic of coffeeshop talk everywhere, hardcore punters looked up the “4D bible” for the right number to place bets, hoping it could bring them a windfall.

Wearing a “Rise and Resist” T-shirt, the woman on the fabled symbol of welcome to immigrants at one point told authorities that she would only come down when parents are reunited with all migrant children separated from them by the Trump administration.

“She resisted at the beginning. She would not come down by voice command,” National Park Service spokesman Jerry Willis told AFP.

So police placed her in custody, Willis said, noting that the woman was facing multiple federal charges including trespassing and disorderly conduct.

“We assume that she is protesting,” Willis said, based on the woman’s remarks to police.

After nearly four hours on the statue, the woman finally accompanied police down off the monument, tethered to them by wires.

The woman, who has not yet been identified, at one point walked from one side to the other beneath the statue’s sandal.

New York police assisted US Park Police to remove her from Lady Liberty.

Local media first reported that the woman was among demonstrators opposed to Trump’s immigration policy who protested at the site earlier.

But Rise and Resist NYC, which organized the protest, said her protest on the statue was not part of the group’s move.

At least six people were arrested for hanging a banner around the base of the statue that read “Abolish ICE,” referring to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency at the forefront of the immigration debate.

They too were facing misdemeanor federal charges, Willis said.

Cruise operator Statue Cruises said it had to turn away more than 2,000 people waiting to take their tour to the famed statue.

Trump has made cracking down on illegal immigration a cornerstone of his administration.

As a result of Trump’s crackdown, distraught children were separated from their families and, according to widely broadcast pictures, held in chain-link enclosures.

His one-time “zero tolerance” practice of separating migrant parents from their children at the Mexican border triggered international condemnation.

While the policy was abandoned, it is still unclear how and when some 2,000 migrant children will be reunited with their parents.

Many trying to cross the US-Mexico frontier are destitute, fleeing gang violence and other turmoil in Central America.

With only two northern white rhino (NWR) known to be alive today — both infertile females — the team hopes their breakthrough technique will lead to the re-establishment of a viable NWR breeding population.

“Our goal is to have in three years the first NWR calf born,” Thomas Hildebrandt, head of reproduction management at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, told journalists of the work.

“Taking into account 16 months (of) pregnancy, we have a little more than a year to have a successful implantation.”

The team’s work, using a recently-patented, two-metre (6.6-foot) egg extraction device, resulted in the first-ever test tube-produced rhino embryos.

Now frozen, these “have a very high chance to establish a pregnancy once implanted into a surrogate mother,” said Hildebrandt.

The hybrid embryos were created with frozen sperm from dead NWR males and the eggs of southern white rhino (SWR) females, of which there are thousands left on Earth.

The eggs were harvested from rhinos in European zoos.

The team now hopes to use the technique to collect eggs from the last two northern white rhinos — Najin and Fatu, the daughter and granddaughter of Sudan. They live in a Kenyan national park.

Risk and reward

By fertilising these with northern white rhino sperm and implanting the resulting embryos in surrogate southern white rhino females, the team intends to create a new, fledgling NWR population.

“Our results indicate that ART (assisted reproduction techniques) could be a viable strategy to rescue genes from the iconic, almost extinct, northern white rhinoceros,” the team wrote in the journal Nature Communications.

The researchers have sought permission to harvest eggs from Najin and Fatu in Kenya, hopefully before the end of the year.

But the procedure is not without risk: “we have to do a full anaesthesia, the animal is down for two hours, and it is quite a risky situation” for the last two of their kind, conceded Hildebrandt.

“We are highly afraid something unexpected would happen, that would be a nightmare.”

In the meantime, the team will practice, implanting some of their hybrid embryos into SWR surrogates “to test the system”.

Any hybrids born as a result may play a crucial future role as surrogates, sharing more genes with northern rhinos than purely southern surrogates.

There is, however, a key obstacle to the team’s envisaged NWR repopulation.

With only two NWR females left and all the available semen from only four dead males, ART alone would likely lead to a population without the genetic diversity required for a species to thrive.

Can it work?

To this end, the researchers hope to use stem cell technology to engineer eggs and sperm from the frozen skin cells of 12 dead northern white rhinos, unrelated to one another.

“This would enlarge the founding diversity of the future NWR population substantially,” the team said in a statement.

There is time pressure, they pointed out, with only two animals still around to socialise the babies in the mysterious ways of northern white rhinos.

“It is a motivating aspect to succeed as soon a possible so the calf that we produce can grow up with Najin and Fatu,” said Hildebrandt.

Terri Roth and William Swanson of the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, in a comment on the study, said ART alone cannot save a species from extinction.

“Impressive results in a Petri dish don’t easily translate into a herd of healthy offspring,” wrote the duo, not involved in the research.

“Achieving the latter requires navigating an untrodden path fraught with obstacles, and it remains unlikely that a viable population of northern white rhinos will be restored.”

For the researchers, however, a combination of ART and stem cell techniques, could “provide a blueprint on how to save highly endangered species that have already dwindled to numbers that make conventional conservation efforts impossible.”

Counter-terrorism police are now leading the investigation into the incident after tests at the Porton Down defence laboratory confirmed the nature of the substance, which Britain says is a Soviet-made military grade nerve agent.

“It’s the same nerve agent. Whether we can ever tell if it’s the same batch will be up to scientists to determine,” Neil Basu, head of counter-terrorism police, told reporters.

“The priority for the investigation team now, is to establish how these two people have come into contact with this nerve agent,” he said.

Basu said there was no evidence to suggest that the man and the woman, named locally as Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess, “were targeted in any way”.

The two fell ill on Saturday in Amesbury in southwestern England, close to where former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia collapsed on a bench on March 4 in an incident that sparked a bitter diplomatic crisis with Russia.

“The possibility that these two investigations might be linked is clearly a line of enquiry for us,” Basu said.

‘Low risk’ to public

But Basu said there was no evidence the man and the woman had “recently visited any of the sites that were decontaminated” after the poisoning of the Skripals.

“This remains a low risk to the general public,” he said.

“We’re satisfied that if anyone was exposed to that level of nerve agent by now they would be showing symptoms.”

The 44-year-old woman collapsed first and an ambulance was called at around 0915 GMT, while the 45-year-old man fell ill later and an ambulance was called at 1430 GMT.

Police had initially assumed that the two had consumed a contaminated batch of drugs.

But samples from both patients were sent to Porton Down on Monday “due to concern over the symptoms the man and woman were displaying,” Basu said.

Both are still in a critical condition and are at Salisbury District Hospital — the same facility where the Skripals were treated.

Local man Sam Hobson, 29, told AFP he was a friend of the pair and said he saw the man fall ill.

“He was sweating loads, dribbling, and you couldn’t speak to him, he was making funny noises and he was rocking backwards and forwards,” Hobson said.

“It’s like he was in another world.”

Home Secretary Sajid Javid said he would be chairing an emergency cabinet meeting on Thursday on the case and a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said she was being “regularly updated” on the situation.

– Helplines for residents –

In Salisbury, local residents said they were “shocked” that their quiet area was again hitting the headlines.

“I was shocked to hear that something had happened so soon after the last contamination scare,” Patrick Hillman, 70, told AFP.

The Skripal poisoning “really affected business and life in general in Salisbury” in recent months, he said.

“It is a bit of a scare,” said John Reid, 84.

Police launched two helplines for those worried about possible contamination.

“We cannot underestimate the impact the shocking news of a second major incident in this part of our county in such a short space of time will have,” Wiltshire Police Chief Constable Kier Pritchard said in a statement.

Police called for calm but also said that anyone who had visited any of the five sites that the man and the woman went to on Friday and Saturday should wash clothing worn at the time and wipe down personal items.

The sites, which have now been cordoned off, are a park and a homeless hostel in Salisbury, as well as a pharmacy, a church and the house in Amesbury.

– ‘Such a quiet place’ –

Local resident Natalie Smyth, 27, told AFP she saw fire engines and ambulances arrive at the house on Saturday.

“They shut the road. They said it was a chemical incident and then that it was drug-related.

“It is so strange, it is such a quiet place,” she said, indicating that the emergency services personnel were wearing protective suits.

The police said local residents should expect to see officers in protective suits at “a number of sites” in the coming days.

Skripal, 67, and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia, who was visiting from Moscow, collapsed on March 4 in Salisbury and were treated for an extended period of time before being released from hospital.

A police officer who came to their aid, Nick Bailey, was also taken to hospital.

The police said they suspected the nerve agent may have been smeared on a front door handle in liquid form.

Moscow has rejected British accusations of involvement in the Skripal poisoning, which sparked a diplomatic crisis that saw Russia and the West expelling dozens of diplomats in tit-for-tat moves.

The ranking to countries is ascribed with measuring factors like entrepreneurship, openness to business, adventure, citizenship and overall quality of life. The rankings evaluate 80 countries across 24 rankings drawn from a  survey of more than 21,000 global citizens measuring 75 dimensions that have the potential to drive trade, travel and investment.

Japan is ranked the best country in Asia and fifth globally.

Australia also features in the top ten list of best countries of the world. It is ranked seventh globally and second in Asia. It has scored well on indicators like entrepreneurship, being open for business and cultural influence.

Singapore, the bustling metropolis, is ranked 16 globally and third in Asia. The country has high GDP along with a low unemployment rate. However the increasing population has given rise to concerns of income equality and rising cost of living.

With world’s second largest economy after the US, China is ranked 20 globally and is the fourth best country to live in Asia. Although the country has a booming economy there are concerns like the substantial level of rising pollution in the country that affects the quality of life.

South Korea is ranked 22 globally and is the fifth best country in Asia. The country has witnessed a steady growth and has reduced poverty significantly. It is the world’s seventh-largest exporter and 11th-largest economy overall.

India is ranked 25 globally and is the sixth best country in Asia. It is followed by Thailand that is ranked 27 globally and seventh in Asia.

Malaysia is ranked 34 globally and is eighth best country in Asia. The country has “gone a long way toward reducing poverty, moving the share of households living below the poverty line from more than 50 per cent in the 1960s to less than 1 percent in 2015”. Malaysia is followed by Indonesia (41), Vietnam (44) and Philippines (49).

Sri Lanka is ranked 51 globally and is the 12th best country in the region. Health standards and literacy are high in the country although poverty remains a concern.  It is followed by Myanmar (63) and Pakistan (74)

PETALING JAYA: The arrest and subsequent charge of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak garnered worldwide press attention, with many major news organisations playing up the developments of his graft probe.

Media organisations from Australia, Pakistan, South Africa, Thailand, Korea, the Middle East to the United States, featured news of Najib’s charges prominently, with many using it as the lead story on websites.

The news was featured in many different languages from English, Mandarin, Tamil, Turkish and even Russian.

Among the outlets that reported on the former prime minister’s arrest included the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), The Guardian, Bloomberg, CNN, Al-Jazeera, Der Spigel, Asian Nikkei Review and the BBC.

The New York Times went with the heading “Malaysia’s Ex-Leader, Najib Razak, Is Charged in Corruption Inquiry” while WSJ went with the heading “1MDB Scandal: Najib Razak Is Charged in Court”.

Journalists from all over the world were in Kuala Lumpur to cover the trial first hand.

CNBC ran a commentary on how Najib’s arrest would test the country’s reform-minded government.

“The 1MDB case is seen as a way for Dr Mahathir to uphold his campaign pledges of restoring the rule of law and abolishing graft in a country where deeply-rooted patronage and cronyism have stymied economic and political reforms.

“To boost the country’s health, it’s imperative for Dr Mahathir’s team to show that the premier’s office will no longer be exploited, experts have said,” CNBC said in an editorial piece.

The South China Morning Post ran an article about how Najib was not the only world leader in court, giving the example of eight other world leaders who suffered the same fate.

Najib’s arrest was also considered breaking news by many outlets who also sent out instant alerts on this.

The former prime minister, has been charged for corruption and criminal breach of trust in a case linked to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.

The 64-year-old was charged with misusing his position as a government official to receive a RM42mil bribe as inducement to provide a sovereign guarantee on behalf of the Malaysian Government for a loan of RM4bil from a government pension fund to SRC International Sdn Bhd.

This month alone, two mayors in Luzon were killed in two days: General Tinio, Nueva Ecija Mayor Ferdinand Bote and controversial Tanauan Mayor Antonio Halili, known for his “Walk of Shame” campaign where he made criminal offenders walk around the city.

Out of the 10 slain mayors, three were from Luzon, four were from the Visayas, and three were from Mindanao.

All of the mayors, except one — Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. — were incumbent local executives when they were killed.

Only Espinosa was not holding office when he was killed as he happened to be in jail on suspicion of being involved in the drug trade. Of the 10 slain mayors, only one was a woman, Bien Unido, Bohol Mayor Gisela Bendong-Boniel, who was allegedly shot dead by her husband and thrown off the sea.

Of the 10 slain mayors, only Boniel’s body has yet to be found.

Mayors killed since 2016:

1. SAMSUDIN DIMAUKOM, Mayor of Datu Saudi Ampatuan town, Maguindanao (Mindanao)

Date killed: October 28, 2016

Place: Makilala, North Cotabato (Mindanao)

READ: Samsudin Dimaukom: The mayor who loved pink

Mayor Samsudin Dimaukom of Datu Saudi Ampatuan town was on the so-called “narco list.” He died in October 2016 in an alleged shootout with government operatives at a checkpoint in Makilala, North Cotabato.

Dimaukom was known as the “mayor who loved pink” as he had a fondness for the color. He had a mosque built in the color pink. He also had the municipal hall renovated and had it painted in pink.

2. ROLANDO ESPINOSA SR., Mayor of Albuera town, Leyte (Visayas)

   Date killed: November 5, 2016

   Place: Leyte Sub-provincial jail

READ: WHAT WENT BEFORE: Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. slay

Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. was killed inside his jail cell at the Leyte Sub-Provincial Jail in Baybay City in November 2016 as he reportedly resisted the search warrant being issued against him.

Espinosa was in jail for alleged violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 and for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.

3. MOHAMMAD EXCHAN LIMBONA, Mayor of Pantar, Lanao del Norte (Mindanao)

Date killed: December 29, 2016

Place: Barangay Dalipuga., Iligan CityREAD: Lanao del Norte mayor dead in ambush

Pantar, Lanao del Norte Mayor Mohammad Exchan Limbona was ambushed in Iligan City in December 2016. The mayor was in a vehicle with his wife and daughter when shooters opened fire at them.

4. ARSENIO AGUSTIN, Mayor of Marcos town, Ilocos Norte (Luzon)

Date killed: June 3, 2017

Place: Ilocos Norte

READ: Ilocos Norte mayor, employee shot dead

Marcos Mayor Arsenio Agustin was killed by a lone gunman in his hometown in Ilocos Norte in June 2017. The mayor was walking toward his parked vehicle after inspecting a water impounding project.

5. GISELA BENDONG-BONIEL, Mayor of Bien Unido, Bohol (Visayas)

Date killed: June 7, 2017

Place: Lapu-Lapu City, Visayas

READ: Memorial at sea for Bohol mayor

Bien Unido Mayor Gisela Bendong-Boniel was allegedly shot in the head by her husband, Bohol Board Member Niño Boniel.

A suspect, Riolito “Etad” Boniel, told police that Niño’s group dumped her body into the sea. Etad said he operated the boat that carried the body of the slain mayor.

He also accompanied authorities and divers to the area where they allegedly threw the body. The mayor’s remains have yet to be found.

6. LEOVINO HIDALGO

Mayor of Balete, Batangas (Luzon)

Date killed: June 10, 2017

Place: Visayas

READ: Batangas town mayor gunned down

Balete Mayor Leovino Hidalgo was shot during a local sports event in Barangay Poblacion at around 10:30 a.m. on June 10 last year. The suspects were reportedly on board a white van.

The mayor was rushed to Metro Lipa Medical Center but died along the way.

7. Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr. (Photo from the official Ozamiz City website, http://www.ozamiz.gov.ph)

   REYNALDO PAROJINOG, Mayor of Ozamiz, Misamis Occidental (Mindanao)

Date killed: July 30, 2017

Place: Ozamiz

READ: Duterte backs cops in Parojinog killing

Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog and 14 other people, including his wife Susan, were killed in a police raid in July last year.

He was allegedly being served a search warrant when his security personnel attacked.

The Parojinogs, an influential clan in Misamis Occidental in Mindanao, were on the narco list.

8. RONALD LOWELL TIROL, Mayor of Buenavista, Bohol (Visayas)

Date killed: May 27, 2018

Place: Buenavista, Bohol

READ: Cops name gunman in Bohol mayor’s slay

In 2014, an assassination attempt was carried out against Mayor Ronald Tirol of Buenavista, Bohol province but he survived.

In May this year, the Buenavista Mayor was killed at a cockpit arena in his town.

One of the three suspects in Tirol’s killing was allegedly also involved in the 2014 assassination attempt against him.

9. ANTONIO HALILI, Mayor of Tanuan City, Batangas (Luzon)

Date killed: July 2, 2018

Place: Tanauan City Hall, Batangas

READ: Duterte: I told Halili not to get involved in illegal drugs

Tanauan City, Batangas Mayor Antonio Halili was shot dead by a sniper during a flag ceremony at the city hall on July 2, 2018.

Halili was a controversial mayor as he made drug suspects participate in a walk of shame in the city. This practice was declared unconstitutional by the Commission on Human Rights.

In November 2017, Halili was linked to the illegal drug trade. The mayor was stripped of his powers over the local police but Halili refused to surrender.

10. FERDINAND BOTE, Mayor of General Tinio, Nueva Ecija (Luzon)

    Date killed: July 3, 2018

    Place: Cabanatuan City

READ: Nueva Ecija mayor dead in ambush

Motorcycle-riding gunmen killed General Tinio Mayor Ferdinand Bote on July 3, 2018.

The mayor was leaving the National Irrigation Administration office in Cabanatuan City on a Toyota Fortuner when he was shot several times, apparently with the use of a short firearm at around 4:50 p.m. on Tuesday.

He sustained multiple wounds and was declared dead on arrival at a nearby hospital.

According to a foreign reporter who declined to be identified, the incident occurred during a commotion as Najib was entering the main door of the court complex.

“It happened to a few others (also) when we were trying to take photographs of Najib.

“Two other reporters and two photographers were also injured,” he told Bernama.

According to him, a female reporter went to a nearby hospital to seek treatment after she suffered a nosebleed during the scuffle.

Media personnel covering Najib’s court case at the KL Courts Complex have been asked to observe the rules and obey police’s instructions.

City police chief Datuk Seri Mazlan Lazim said this was because the area is a restricted zone and there are rules that must be followed.

He urged media personnel and the public not to do anything that violated the rules.

“I hope they (media personnel) will obey police’s instructions and not be in areas prohibited by the courts,” he told Bernama.

Asked about the level of security at the complex, Mazlan said police had the situation under control and that adequate manpower was being provided for the task.

The Star reported that police officers from the canine unit were seen inspecting the car park and courts complex at about 7am.

Officers were also seen using metal detectors on nearby plant pots and garbage bins.

Najib was charged with one count of abuse of power to receive a a RM42mil bribe to allow pension fund KWAP to give a RM4bil loan to SRC International.

He was also charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT).

SRC International was a subsidiary of 1MDB until it was placed under the jurisdiction of the Finance Ministry in 2012.

“QT”, who entered into a civil partnership in Britain in 2011 and moved to Hong Kong with her partner the same year, was backed by major financial institutions in her fight for visa rights in the economic powerhouse.

The Court of Final Appeal ended the protracted legal battle by ruling that it was “counter-productive” to limit dependant work rights to straight couples.

“The ability to bring in dependants is an important issue for persons deciding whether to move to Hong Kong,” the court said.

It said employment visas are granted because someone “has the talent or skills deemed needed or desirable. Such a person could be straight or gay”.

Hong Kong does not currently recognise gay marriage or same-sex civil unions.

QT’s lawyer Michael Vidler said the verdict marked the first time the city’s highest court has ruled in relation to the rights of same-sex couples.

“Hopefully it will pave the way to change” and to the recognition of same-sex marriage, he said.

Top financial institutions including Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have publicly supported QT, saying diverse hiring practices are crucial to attracting and retaining top talent.

In a statement delivered by her lawyer after the verdict, QT said she felt “joy” in the court’s decision “and knowing that I have in some small part helped advance the rights of LGBTI people in Hong Kong”.

She accused the government of treating her “like many thousands of other lesbian and gay people in Hong Kong, like a second class citizen because of my sexual orientation”.

Denied a dependant visa when she moved to Hong Kong after her partner got a job in the city, QT was forced to stay on as a visitor without the right to work.

In September last year she won her case at the Court of Appeal, which ruled immigration authorities had “failed to justify the indirect discrimination on account of sexual orientation that QT suffers”.

But that decision was challenged by the government and taken to the city’s highest court, in what critics said was a disappointing backwards step.

A security guard stands at an entrance to the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong on July 4, 2018. A British lesbian won the right to live and work in Hong Kong with her partner in a landmark decision on July 4 by the top court in the city, where same-sex unions are not recognised. // AFP PHOTO 

– A ‘milestone’ –

During the case, Dinah Rose, representing QT, argued the couple have a “public, registered” and legal bond which is not recognised in Hong Kong and are therefore “placed in a significant disadvantage” compared to straight couples.

David Pannick, representing the government, told the court “marriage creates a status” which in itself justified different treatment for same-sex couples and heterosexual couples.

Hong Kong’s first openly gay lawmaker Ray Chan hailed Wednesday’s ruling as a “milestone”.

“The LGBT community, with myself included, is elated today over the Court of Final Appeal’s judgement,” said Chan, a pro-democracy politician.

“(They) should not be burdened with going through laborious legal and political processes to seek the rights that they should already enjoy as human beings,” Chan added.

Amnesty International urged the government to “swiftly introduce comprehensive legislation against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status” in a statement following the verdict.

When the constitutional court in neighbouring Taiwan ruled in favour of allowing gay marriage last May, campaigners in socially conservative Hong Kong highlighted the city’s lack of progress on equality issues.

Hong Kong only decriminalised homosexuality in 1991 and while LGBT groups have become more prominent in the semi-autonomous Chinese city, conservative activists have also launched anti-rights campaigns.

Public libraries have recently hidden away LGBT-themed children’s books in request only closed-off areas after pressure from conservative campaigners, sparking outrage among the LGBT community and supporters.

However, there are other signs that attitudes are changing.

A study published by the centre for comparative and public law at the University of Hong Kong on Tuesday said 50.4 percent of people expressed support for same-sex marriage last year, up from 38 percent in 2013.