Hong Kong Tiananmen vigil organiser Chow Hang-tung has filed an appeal against her conviction and sentence under the Beijing-imposed national security law.

Chow Hang-tung was sentenced to seven years and three months behind bars last month after being convicted of inciting subversion, a charge to which she had pleaded not guilty. Former lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, was also found guilty alongside Chow and sentenced to seven years in prison. Another former lawmaker, 74-year-old Albert Ho, pleaded guilty when the trial opened in January and was jailed for five years and two months.

The trio were former leaders of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which for decades held annual vigils to commemorate China’s 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. The Alliance, which was also convicted and fined HK$1.5 million, voted to disband in September 2021 following the arrests of its leadership.

Authorities accused the Alliance of inciting subversion under the national security law through its calls to “end one-party rule” in China, a key tenet of the group since it was founded in 1989. A court in August found the trio guilty of the offence, with three designated national security judges saying that the defendants “had all along been hostile towards the [Chinese Communist Party] and the Central Government under its leadership.”

Their conviction has been condemned by Western governments, rights groups, and the United Nations. Meanwhile, the ruling was lauded by local authorities.

Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has landed her next gig at Fox News.

Leavitt announced she was leaving the White House in August. One of the most prominent faces of President Donald Trump’s second administration, the network said Ms Leavitt will serve as an on-air contributor in November.

Trump has an increasingly thorny relationship with the network, whose key commentators have long given him favourable coverage. He has expressed frustration with Fox coverage choices as recently as Sunday, when he bemoaned what he said was the network’s lack of coverage of his rallies.

Mr Trump is embroiled in a stand-off with news outlets whose coverage displeases him, capped by his recent efforts to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from White House grounds. A judge has issued a temporary restraining order against the ban, and a hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

Nepal has ended the search and rescue operation for those still missing after the devastating flood in August that killed at least 1,455 people, officials say.

Phanindra Paudel, chief of the National Emergency Operation Centre, said authorities were considering how to legally declare the missing persons dead to allow their families or relatives to complete insurance, banking and other legal formalities.

National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority chief Dharam Raj Uprety said authorities would no longer actively search for bodies but would recover any remains, property or other valuables found during the rehabilitation process. Nepal will begin a high-stakes effort to drain four glacial lakes perched high in the mountains as it scrambles to reduce flood risks, officials said, with the aim to lower the risk of the lakes breaching their natural dams and reduce the risk of downstream floods.

Canals will drain water into nearby rivers in a regulated way, he said, adding that workers faced health risks as a result of the lengthy periods of high-altitude work required, in addition to the dangers of sudden flooding. There will be design work and detailed studies targeting the central and eastern lakes of Thulagi, Lower Barun, Lumding Tsho and Hongu II, authorities said.

The work of draining “through gated structures” will start after a detailed study, and could take up to six years to complete, said Sanjeeb Baral, the Centre’s executive director.