Hong Kong stripped four pro-democracy lawmakers of their seats Wednesday after Beijing passed a resolution giving local authorities the power to disqualify politicians deemed a threat to national security without having to go through the city's courts. "In accordance with the above decision of the Standing Committee (of the National People's Congress), the SAR government now announces... the following four members... will lose their qualification as legislators immediately: Alvin Yeung, Dennis Kwok, Kwok Ka-ki and Kenneth Kwok," the Hong Kong government said in a statement. zy-rma/leg