The children of Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy former Hong Kong media mogul and China critic, said Monday that a possible visit by President Donald Trump to Beijing in April could be “crucial” in securing the release of their 78-year-old father. Lai’s son and daughter pleaded for their father’s freedom on humanitarian grounds after a Hong Kong court on Monday sentenced him to 20 years in prison following convictions under a Beijing-imposed national security law that has virtually silenced the city’s dissent. “The president has said multiple times that this is a case that he cares about,” Sebastien Lai said about...

Nurses and two major hospital systems in New York City have reached a deal to end a nearly monthlong strike over staffing levels, workplace safety, health insurance and other issues. The tentative agreement announced Monday by the nurses’ union involves the Montefiore and Mount Sinai hospital systems. Nurses remain on strike at NewYork-Presbyterian. The walkout began Jan. 12, prompting the hospitals to scramble to hire legions of temporary nurses to fill in during a demanding flu season. The three-year proposal affects roughly 10,500 of the some 15,000 nurses on strike at some of the city’s biggest private, nonprofit hospitals. The...

Federal authorities have denied attempting to expedite an end to asylum claims by the family of a 5-year-old boy who was detained with his father during the immigration crackdown that has shaken the Minneapolis area. Images of Liam Conejo Ramos wearing a bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack surrounded by immigration officers stirred outrage over the crackdown. Danielle Molliver, a lawyer for the boy and his father, told The New York Times that the government was attempting to speed up the deportation proceedings, calling the actions “extraordinary” and possibly “retaliatory.” The government denied that. “These are regular removal proceedings. They are...

When Hong Kong was hit by its deadliest fire in decades last year, it left thousands of residents without some of their friends, family or the place they called home. More than two months later, the occupants of the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex are waiting not just for answers about what happened, but also a new place to live. Authorities are yet to unveil plans for long-term resettlement after surveying the residents’ preferences. The Lunar New Year on Feb. 17, meanwhile, is stirring recent memories of celebrating the festival in what is now a largely burnt-out residential complex in...

An immigration court blocked the deportation of a Turkish Tufts University graduate student who was detained by immigration officials near her Massachusetts home, her attorneys said in court documents filed Monday. Rümeysa Öztürk’s attorneys said the immigration court found on Jan. 29 that the Department of Homeland Security hasn’t proved that Öztürk should be removed from the U.S. The immigration court also terminated Öztürk’s removal proceedings, the attorneys said in a letter to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has been reviewing her case. The department has the option to appeal the immigration court’s decision, the notice from...