Tencent’s WeChat bans public accounts from providing secondary trading services for NFTs
WeChat is banning secondary trading of NFTs, heeding Chinese regulators’ guidelines to steer clear of the financial aspect of such digital assets. ⌘ Read more

Hong Kong and BNO passport holders can travel to South Korea visa-free again after Seoul relaxes restrictions
From July 1 travellers will only need to apply for electronic travel authorisation and obtain approval 72 hours before boarding. ⌘ Read more

Singapore unveils US$1 billion package as cost of living rises amid inflation, Ukraine war
Adult Singaporeans earning below S$34,000 (US$24,500) a year will receive S$300 in cash in August, and every household will get S$100 to offset utilities. ⌘ Read more

Inside Ukraine’s secret, helicopter rescue missions: ‘We lost a lot of pilots’
A series of clandestine, against-the-odds helicopter missions to reach besieged soldiers are being celebrated in Ukraine as one of the riskiest, most heroic feats in the four-month war against Russia. ⌘ Read more

‘We will not give up’: wife of jailed Chinese coal magnate vows to push for new trial after he loses appeal
Zhao Faqi’s 7½-year sentence for bribery and theft of state secrets was upheld in verdict that lasted just a few minutes, according to his wife Cathy Li. ⌘ Read more

COP15: UN officially declares China is giving up host role but will continue with CBD presidential duties
In Montreal in December, about 200 member states of the CBD are expected to finalise a new accord to halt biodiversity loss by 2030 and achieve recovery by 2050. ⌘ Read more

Will NFT, metaverse developments in Hong Kong help deliver the city’s next ‘Octopus moment’ in a post-pandemic world?
A new wave of digital-first enterprises focused on NFT and metaverse projects may be in a position to deliver the city’s next tech breakthrough, nearly 25 years since the Octopus card was launched. ⌘ Read more

Tencent trims stake in Koolearn, New Oriental’s live-streaming unit, as new venture fuels a six-fold jump in stock
Tencent collected US$92 million by selling down its stake in Koolearn Technology in two transactions this month after the education group switched its focus to live-streaming business. ⌘ Read more

As BTS ‘takes a break’, what does it mean for the K-pop supergroup’s future?
Looming military enlistment for the older members of BTS is creating a headache for the company behind the band. Last week’s shock announcement also leaves the group’s social justice efforts in doubt. ⌘ Read more

Russia’s Putin alert for signs of eroding Western unity on Ukraine
Vladimir Putin, who has likened himself to Peter the Great, has used recent public appearances to articulate his raw imperial ambitions. ⌘ Read more

Singapore seeks ‘online safety’ rules to remove or block harmful social media content
Examples of content that could be blocked reportedly include live-streamed videos of mass shootings and viral social media challenges that encourage young people to perform dangerous stunts. ⌘ Read more

EU companies in China pay the price for Brussels stance on Xinjiang
Chamber of Commerce chief Joerg Wuttke says companies will find it difficult to prove their supply chains are free of forced labour links. ⌘ Read more

NetEase to launch app of virtual meeting platform Yaotai in August, as competition heats up on metaverse-related products
Chinese video gaming giant NetEase plans to introduce its Yaotai app as early as August to help expand the virtual meeting platform’s user base. ⌘ Read more

Quirky China: Chinese factory uses mannequin as ‘fire warden’, pupils use train bench as homework desk, school lets kids wear hanfu clothes
Quirky China: A factory is caught using a mannequin to police fire warnings, three students have turned a train bench into a homework desk and a school is allowing pupils to attend classes dressed in traditional hanfu costumes. ⌘ Read more

Coronavirus: Is North Korea getting ready to declare victory over Covid-19?
Pyongyang only acknowledged that it had a coronavirus outbreak last month. Yet state media claims cases are already plummeting and says just 73 people have died – a widely disputed fatality rate of 0.002 per cent, the lowest in the world. ⌘ Read more

Belgium returns Congo independence hero Patrice Lumumba’s tooth to family
Belgium handed over the last remains of slain Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba – a tooth – to his family, turning a page on a grim chapter in its colonial past. ⌘ Read more

Elon Musk’s 18-year-old trans child seeks name change to sever ties with father
Vivian Jenna Wilson cited gender identity as a reason for the name change and ‘the fact that I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form’. ⌘ Read more

A new Quad? Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand eye four-way anti-China meet on sidelines of Nato gathering
The envisaged meeting on the sidelines of next week’s gathering of Nato leaders in Spain is reportedly seen by the four nations as an attempt to keep an assertive China in check. ⌘ Read more

Before the storm (2007-2012): Hong Kong’s national pride and a rare political deal in 25 photos
The city weathered the global financial crisis in a relatively calmer period domestically, but the seeds of activism were sowed over the demolition of Queen’s Pier. ⌘ Read more

Indonesian Islamist group Khilafatul Muslimin with ‘hundreds of thousands’ of members wants to build caliphate
A group called Khilafatul Muslimin aims to turn Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, into an Islamic caliphate, which is ‘very dangerous’ for the nation, according to the national terrorism prevention chief. ⌘ Read more

Former Hong Kong leader CY Leung says American Express apologised to wife Regina after suing her over allegedly unpaid HK$93,155 credit card bill
American Express International claimed Regina Leung Tong Ching-yee had ‘refused, failed or otherwise neglected’ to settle an outstanding bill of HK$93,155 as of April 28. ⌘ Read more

Teen girl in China steals US$18,000 meant for sick mother’s operation to go on a shopping spree
Police in China helping a distraught woman recover some of the money she’d saved for an operation after her daughter stole it and blew it on online games, mobile phones and clothing. ⌘ Read more

China’s political party school in Africa takes first students from 6 countries
120 cadres from ruling parties attend workshop at the US$40 million facility in Tanzania funded by the Chinese Communist Party. ⌘ Read more

Satire in Hong Kong: ‘You have to laugh, or you will cry,’ says political cartoonist Harry Harrison
Hong Kong’s satire today takes the shape of internet memes, cartoons, protest props, chants of clever word plays, and derivative works to express opposition. ⌘ Read more

Despite Western weapons, Ukraine is outgunned in the east
Much-hyped deliveries of military aid have not kept pace with the defenders’ needs, and they are forced to conserve ammunition as Moscow’s forces pummel them. ⌘ Read more

Anti-terrorism campaign urges Hong Kong hardware store owners, chemical suppliers to report suspicious customers
City launches counterterrorism initiative as law enforcement says they have dealt with 20 cases related to explosives or precursor chemicals since mid-2019. ⌘ Read more

Ukraine war: US and allies mulling Russian oil price cap, Treasury chief Janet Yellen says
Such a move would further restrict Moscow’s energy revenue, in addition to existing or planned Western restrictions over the Ukraine invasion. ⌘ Read more

China’s Horn of Africa envoy tells regional peace conference he is ready to mediate disputes
Offer at first-of-its-kind peace and governance gathering in Addis Ababa finds Beijing positioning itself as a ‘different kind of external actor’ in conflict-prone region. ⌘ Read more

Hopes fade for swift Nato accession for Finland and Sweden
A dispute with Türkiye, which is blocking their bid to join the alliance, appears unlikely to be resolved before a summit in Spain next week. ⌘ Read more

European nations tell China ‘self-isolation’ is stoking ‘mistrust’ in plea for easing of Covid-19 curbs
European ambassadors from Switzerland, France, Norway, Italy and Croatia have appealed to China to relax rules that prevent face-to-face meetings, saying direct communication will help reduce international tensions. ⌘ Read more

Chinese fugitive wanted for racist videos of Malawi children arrested in Zambia
Fugitive Lu Ke is accused of filming young villagers saying racist things about themselves in Chinese, then selling the footage on social media. ⌘ Read more

China’s Mars mission on track to lead the world in retrieving Martian rocks by 2031, says programme veteran
China’s timeline is two years ahead of a US-European planned Mars mission to return samples to Earth for laboratory testing, according to Sun Zezhou. ⌘ Read more

Israel’s parliament dissolving, sending country to fifth election in three years
Besieged PM Naftali Bennett will be replaced by Foreign Minister Yair Lapid until new polls can be held. ⌘ Read more

Ex-Hong Kong governor: China’s guarantee of city’s high degree of autonomy ‘breached comprehensively’
The ‘one country, two systems’ principle was supposed to provide a ‘high degree of autonomy’ to Hong Kong, but the agreement to protect that autonomy has been ‘breached comprehensively’ in recent years, according to Chris Patten, the city’s last British governor. ⌘ Read more

Fear grips cryptocurrency traders and magnifies the global rout in US$247 billion DeFi market, Binance’s founder CZ says
The crash in cryptocurrencies shows how the fundamental principle of DeFi – the pursuit of higher yields in the era of cheap money to disrupt and replace traditional banks – has been upended by rising interest rates. ⌘ Read more

World’s biggest freshwater fish caught by Cambodian in the Mekong River
The stingray measures almost 4 metres from snout to tail and weighs about 300kg. Scientists say it’s a hopeful sign for the waterway that faces environmental challenges. ⌘ Read more

Hong Kong Palace Museum to act as ‘window’ for promoting Chinese culture, director of Beijing counterpart says
Museum to amplify global influence of Chinese culture, Wang says two days ahead of opening ceremony. ⌘ Read more

Hong Kong’s iconic Jumbo Floating Restaurant capsizes in South China Sea after encountering adverse conditions
Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises says the vessel capsized as it was passing Paracel Islands in South China Sea during the weekend. ⌘ Read more

Mass evacuations as record rain, floods strike southern China
Beijing sends rescue task force to region as heavy rain forces nearly 150,000 residents to flee. ⌘ Read more

1 in 10 Hong Kong kindergartens warn of possible closure in coming years as enrolment declines
Kindergartens have fewer pupils due to plunging birth rate, emigration wave and absence of cross-border pupils. ⌘ Read more

Hong Kong government to give eligible elderly receiving allowances an extra HK$995 a month from September 1
All eligible elderly single people with assets of no more than HK$374,000 and couples with no more than HK$568,000 will receive HK$3,915 a month. ⌘ Read more

Japan court upholds gay marriage ban, saying it is constitutional
The District Court in Osaka rejected arguments made by three same-sex couples as part of a series of suits filed by activists seeking marriage equality. ⌘ Read more

Debate over whether Hong Kong was indeed British colony reflects lack of education on Chinese constitution, lawmakers say
Pro-Beijing legislators say some residents have misunderstandings about history due to lack of education about Basic Law and nation’s constitution. ⌘ Read more

Russian journalist sells Nobel Prize for Ukrainian children – worth millions
‘It has to become a beginning of a flash mob as an example to follow so people auction their valuable possessions to help Ukrainians,’ said Dmitry Muratov, who shared Nobel Peace Prize with Filipino journalist Maria Ressa. ⌘ Read more

Rice job: Philippines’ Bongbong Marcos appoints himself agriculture chief, plans ‘impossible’ rice price slash
Marcos’ plan to slash local rice prices to 20 pesos a kg (37 cents) is ‘impossible’, agriculture economist said Though not unprecedented, it is unusual for a Philippines president to hold a post in their own cabinet. ⌘ Read more

‘Spicy policies’ helped fortify Hong Kong’s market, save homeowners from negative-equity trap, defaults, ex-HKMA CEO Chan says
Hong Kong is better prepared today to withstand future financial crises, such as a property market slump, according to former HKMA CEO Norman Chan Tak-lam. ⌘ Read more

Airlines restoring flights faster than planned to meet demand
Seats on international flights are about 90 per cent full, and daily services between Sydney and London via Singapore on the Airbus superjumbo are fully booked for weeks. ‘There’s massive demand’, Qantas CEO said. ⌘ Read more

What’s the key to stopping Covid overload of health systems in China? Focus on the vulnerable, study finds
Research on Shanghai’s outbreak points to low risk of milder cases becoming severe. ⌘ Read more

Should Philippines’ Marcos be ‘on guard’ as Sara Duterte is sworn in early, meets China envoy?
The VP-elect’s move to take her oath 11 days early, in a ceremony attended by diplomats including China’s ambassador, shows she remains a ‘force’ beyond her office, analysts say. ⌘ Read more

Tencent news aggregator app Kuai Bao to cease operations next month, as China’s Big Tech firms cut noncore businesses
Launched in 2015, Kuai Bao has failed to grow big enough to remain competitive against rivals led by ByteDance-owned Jinri Toutiao. ⌘ Read more