Hello and welcome to The Pulse coming to you in a rather different format matching the rather strange times we are now facing, not least for some of us who have been working at RTHK’s Television House where a hair stylist was found to have contracted Covid-19 resulting in over 20 people being detained in the decidedly spartan Penny’s Bay Quarantine Centre. And so, for the first and hopefully, only time I am hosting the Pulse from here while colleagues on the ‘outside’ have been scrambling to put this show together. Meanwhile after three months of stringent social distancing, yesterday the government relaxed restrictions on restaurant dine-in services and allowed some venues such as gyms, cinemas and beauty parlours to reopen, but there are conditions. To talk about this issue With me, at least virtually, is Simon Wong, President of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurant and Related Trades.

Donald Trump might have escaped a second impeachment, but he still faces a great many legal problems and investigations . Prosecutors in New York are looking into his business dealings. In Washington, federal prosecutors said “nothing is off the table” in terms of further investigation of Trump’s role in the January 6th insurrection at Capitol Hill. And officials in Georgia have also opened two new investigations into the former President’s attempt to intervene in the state’s election count.
In the November presidential election and the subsequent run-off for two Senate seats, Georgia played a key role. After a neck and neck race, two Democratic Party candidates managed to turn the Republican stronghold blue and get control of the Senate. Voters from Atlanta played a large part in that success. That’s why our correspondents went to Gwinnett county, one of five metro counties in Atlanta, where Asian-American and Pacific Island voters had a major impact on the election.

On Friday morning, shortly before ten o'clock Director of Broadcasting Leung Ka-wing sent an email to all staff announcing his departure from the station, six months before than the expiry of his contract. The announcement came just ahead of the release of an 85-page report on the governance and management of RTHK. Leung is to be replaced by Patrick Li, currently a deputy secretary for the Home Affairs Bureau. In a farewell note to all staff, the departing Director said, “These past five years and a half of serving RTHK and society with you have been indelible and I am grateful for every moment.”