Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai, 78, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for national security offences, including urging foreign sanctions and publishing “seditious” articles in his now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper. The ruling, the harshest under the Beijing-imposed law, sparked international criticism, with rights groups calling it “effectively a death sentence” and a blow to press freedom. Lai will serve 18 additional years after accounting for overlapping jail time (Pics/AFP)

Firefighters battled a blaze at a high-rise apartment complex in Hong Kong for the second day on Thursday, as the death toll rose to 75 in one of the deadliest blazes in the city`s modern history (PICS/AFP, TEXT/AP)