Access to Justice (司法公正)

求自由获救抵美 李爱杰誓为夫发声 (Li Aijie, rights defender Zhang Haitao’s wife, arrives in US for freedom and vows to speak for husband)
Radio Free Asia, December 28, 2017
http://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/us-li-12282017163300.html?encoding=simplified

劉曉波62歲冥誕 諾貝爾獎twitter發帖悼念 (Nobel Prize tweets in memory of Liu Xiaobo’s 62nd birthday)
Mingpao, December 28, 2017
https://news.mingpao.com/ins/instantnews/web_tc/article/20171228/s00004/1514461052003

Related:
外交部：不了解劉霞行蹤和情況但知她目前自由 (MFA says it doesn't know Liu Xia’s whereabouts but claims she has freedom)
Radio Television Hong Kong, December 28, 2017
http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/ch/component/k2/1372314-20171228.htm

被判免於刑事處罰 謝陽：一場荒誕離奇的審判 (Rights lawyer Xie Yang, avoided criminal punishment, calls his trial ridiculous and bizarre)
Radio Television Hong Kong, December 28, 2017
http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/ch/component/k2/1372318-20171228.htm

最高检：2016年来共批准逮捕幼儿园工作人员侵害儿童案件69人 (Supreme People's Procuratorate claims it has approved 69 arrests of kindergarten workers for child abuse since January 2016)
The Beijing News, December 28, 2017
http://www.bjnews.com.cn/news/2017/12/28/470433.html

法官法首次大修：法官任职要求提高，曾参阅14国相关法条 (Drastic revision to Judges Law raises bar for judges to qualify)
People's Court Daily, December 28, 2017
http://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1925731

China chides US, German embassies after call for release of activist
Reuters, December 28, 2017
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-rights/china-chides-u-s-german-embassies-after-call-for-release-of-activist-idUSKBN1EM0TB

Access to Information (信息公开)

All the things you can—and can’t—do with your WeChat account in China
Quartz, December 28, 2017
https://qz.com/1167024/all-the-things-you-can-and-cant-do-with-your-wechat-account-in-china/

Government Accountability (政府问责)

China measures how “green” its cadres are – but will it be enough?
South China Morning Post, December 29, 2017
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/economy/article/2126026/china-measures-how-green-its-cadres-are-will-it-be-enough

Chinese children from poor home die after lighting fire to keep warm
South China Morning Post, December 29, 2017
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2126090/chinese-children-poor-home-die-after-burning-fire-keep-warm

11月全国查处违反中央八项规定精神问题5590起 (5,590 cases of party discipline violations investigated in November countrywide)
People’s Daily, December 29, 2017
http://politics.people.com.cn/n1/2017/1229/c1001-29734880.html

人社部部长尹蔚民：2018年将完善工资收入分配制度 (Head of Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security claims to improve income distribution mechanism in 2018)
The Beijing News, December 28, 2017
http://www.bjnews.com.cn/news/2017/12/28/470451.html

ICTs and Human Rights (信息技术与人权)

The big data and AI projects China is pinning its global tech ambitions on
South China Morning Post, December 29, 2017
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/economy/article/2126029/big-data-and-ai-projects-china-pinning-its-global-tech-ambitions

National Security & Counterterrorism (国家安全和反恐)

阿坝又有一藏民点火自焚身亡 (Another Tibetan dies after self-immolation in Sichuan)
Deutsche Welle, December 28, 2017
http://bit.ly/2CliXWJ

Hong Kong (香港)

Statement of the Hong Kong Bar Association on the decision of the NPCSC of 27 December 2017 on the co-operation agreement between the mainland and the HKSAR on the establishment of the port at the West Kowloon station of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong express rail link for implementing co-location arrangement
香港大律師公會就全國人大常委會於2017年12月27日批准「一地兩檢」合作安排的決定之聲明
Hong Kong Bar Association, December 28, 2017
EN: http://bit.ly/2lfa4qd
CH: http://bit.ly/2C6vxfH

Related:
梁愛詩：不能直接用普通法原則詮釋《基本法》 大律師公會不明白中國憲法 (Elsie Leung says can’t directly use Common law principles to interpret the Basic Law and claims HK Bar Association doesn’t understand Constitution of PRC)
Stand News, December 29, 2017
http://bit.ly/2BRplEd

Protesters slam “fake” opening of Hong Kong’s long-shuttered Civic Square
公民廣場重開 民主派不滿限日限時示威
Radio Free Asia, December 28, 2017
EN: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/hongkong-square-12282017134202.html
CH: http://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/htm/hk-square-12282017062339.html?encoding=traditional

Commentary (评论)

原來香港可以逐吋切割 (It turns out Hong Kong can be ceded inch by inch)
Mingpao, December 29, 2017
https://news.mingpao.com/ins/instantnews/web_tc/article/20171229/s00022/1514465978929

Asia made big strides in LGBT rights in 2017
Quartz, December 28, 2017
https://qz.com/1149730/asia-made-big-strides-in-lgbt-rights-in-2017/

世界报：习近平怎么发明的新独裁 (Xi Jinping has reinvented dictatorship)
Le Monde, December 27, 2017
http://bit.ly/2CliLHa

Related:
Trump, Xi and a dark year for democracy
Financial Times, December 29, 2017
https://www.ft.com/content/899d6190-eaf9-11e7-bd17-521324c81e23