Hong Kong’s border control measures are not tenable, city should decide whether to fully reopen by end of year, Carrie Lam says
‘If the city is still sticking to the existing border control measures in the coming half-year, or by the end of this year, I will be a bit worried,’ Lam says. ⌘ Read more

From Australia to India, massive passenger demand sparks travel chaos
As borders reopen, travel has sprang back with such voracity that it’s resulted in an unprecedented labour crunch for the aviation industry. ⌘ Read more

Apple workers vote to form tech giant’s first-ever US union
It wasn’t the first time employees at an Apple store had tried to unionise, but it was the first attempt that resulted in a vote. ⌘ Read more

The chicken or the egg? It was probably Asian rice that domesticated the famous fowl
A new study argues that chickens were first domesticated in Thailand about 3,500 years ago thanks to environmental changes made by ancient rice farms. ⌘ Read more

China urges IMF to approve US$1.4 billion Zambia bailout, but told it must reach deal with other lenders
China is the African country’s biggest lender and is a key player in efforts to resolve its debt problems. ⌘ Read more

France faces chaos without me, Macron tells voters
The French president and his proxies took on an apocalyptic tone as the country heads to the polls for the second round of a parliamentary election. ⌘ Read more

Australia to get US-made nuclear submarines by 2030, opposition leader claims
Peter Dutton said on Sunday that the United States ‘would pull out every stop’ to support Australia acquiring nuclear submarines ‘as quickly as possible’. ⌘ Read more

Thailand’s looking to legalise same-sex unions, but will it embrace full marriage equality?
A bill that would legalise same-sex marriage won initial approval from Thai lawmakers this week despite opposition from the government, which wants civil partnerships for LGBT people instead. ⌘ Read more

Ukraine war ‘could take years’, Nato chief warns
The Nato chief’s comments came amid intensified Russian assaults after the EU recommended granting Ukraine candidate status to join the bloc. ⌘ Read more

Beijing approves Hong Kong Chief Executive-elect John Lee’s cabinet line-up
Long-time bureaucrat Eric Chan becomes chief secretary, Financial Secretary Paul Chan to stay in current post. ⌘ Read more

Is abortion legal in China, how common is it and why is it controversial?
The procedure is legal and widely available across the country but it is also used as a means of population and social control. ⌘ Read more

Malaysia wants to fight inflation with GST. Will it cost Ismail Sabri at the polls?
With more people needing financial aid, the Malaysian government is trying to widen its revenue sources to can boost social welfare, analysts say. ⌘ Read more

Wheelchair-friendly places and foster homes: father’s love conquers life of hard knocks for this Hong Kong family
Father of two Chris Cheng, 44, has muscular dystrophy and has to call on foster care to raise his sons, but still tries his best to remain a key part of their lives. ⌘ Read more

Australia’s China bias and colonial blinkers mean it fails to see big picture for Pacific islands’ development
Canberra had chosen symbolic gestures and feeble investments over more practical initiatives now being offered by Beijing to Pacific island nations. Australia must shed its colonial mindset and stop claiming to always have the moral high ground over China. ⌘ Read more

‘Find a sperm donor’: Chinese doctor shocked to find failed-pregnancy patient is married to son of her paternal aunt
A video of a college-educated patient who married her cousin and telling a doctor about a string of failed pregnancies sparks online debate. ⌘ Read more

From shoot-outs on Hong Kong streets to online scams raking in billions: police chief Raymond Siu digs into three decades of crime
Police chief remembers day he was called to robbery carried out by notorious ‘king of thieves’ Kai Yip. ⌘ Read more

Will Indonesia’s Jokowi start his own political party to cement his legacy?
The president’s lobby group Projo says it may register as a political party as talk swirls of officials mulling a constitutional change to allow third terms. ⌘ Read more

US, China talks in Luxembourg may set stage for Biden-Xi face-to-face summit
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Chinese Communist Party Politburo member Yang Jiechi met in Europe’s Luxembourg on Monday, the 4th in-person meeting of US-China officials in 15 months. ⌘ Read more

Health of Hong Kong’s poor is in the hands of the whole of society, not just the heathcare sector
Marked health inequalities exist in wealthy Hong Kong, and government intervention alone is not enough to address them. Civil society and businesses play a major role in the improvement of living and working conditions, thereby minimising illness and injury. ⌘ Read more

Warplanes hit Hamas sites in Gaza in retaliation to rocket fire, Israeli army says
On Saturday evening, Defence Minister Benny Gantz suspended an increase in Israeli entry permits for Gazan workers in response to the rocket fire. ⌘ Read more

Chinese firm’s hopes of resolving royalties row at massive DR Congo copper and cobalt mine hits political hurdle
Chinese mining company denies that court-appointed administrator has taken control of operation. ⌘ Read more

Bitcoin’s cascading losses accelerate in record-breaking rout
Largest cryptocurrency tumbles as much as 13 per cent on Saturday, breaching US$18,000, as sell-off quickens. ⌘ Read more

Spain battles to bring fires under control as it swelters in heatwave
Dry and windy conditions have caused fires in several areas, with Zamora, near the border with Portugal, among the worst hit. ⌘ Read more

Defrocked Chilean priest sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing minors
Oscar Munoz, 60, was sentenced by a criminal court in the capital Santiago. Pope Francis expelled Munoz from the church in 2019. ⌘ Read more

Ukraine plans to resume peace talks with Russia by August, officials say
The country will be in a better position to negotiate at that time, Kyiv’s chief negotiator, David Arakhamia, said in an interview with US broadcaster Voice of America. ⌘ Read more

Coronavirus: vaccine roll-out for American children under 5 close after CDC panel vote
US President Joe Biden’s administration plans to roll out the vaccines to the under-5 age groups as early as next week. ⌘ Read more

‘Bloodsicles’ and ice baths: How US zookeepers coax animals through heatwaves
Siberian tigers Yuri and Nikita at the Denver Zoo, who are supposed to mate, suffer most during Denver’s intensifying heatwaves. ⌘ Read more

Kate Bush classic Running Up That Hill tops UK chart after 37 years
The British singer’s 1985 track has enjoyed a renaissance globally after featuring in the hit Netflix sci-fi horror series Stranger Things. ⌘ Read more

Gunman, 70, kills 3 senior citizens during potluck dinner at Alabama church
Police say the suspect, Robert Findlay Smith, showed up for the dinner, pulled out a handgun and fatally shot three of the elderly participants, one of whom died in his wife’s arms. ⌘ Read more

Biden, China’s Xi ‘will talk’ says US president, weighing action on tariffs
Biden said he would be talking to Xi and was ‘in the process’ of making a decision about the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on Chinese imports. ⌘ Read more

US billionaire Warren Buffett’s last charity private lunch sees record US$19 million bid
A wealthy person has bid a whopping US$19 million to eat at a New York steakhouse with Warren Buffett, 91, in his last such auction for San Francisco charity Glide. ⌘ Read more

Beijing is likely to step up its campaign to ‘reunify’ with Taiwan, analysts say
Chance of an armed conflict is higher than five years ago as PLA ‘will soon be equipped with the tools needed’ to attack the island, analyst says. ⌘ Read more

Russia frees Ukraine medic who filmed Mariupol horror, saved both sides’ people
Yuliia Paievska, known as Taira, used a body camera to record her team’s efforts to save the wounded and was held captive for three months. President Zelensky said ‘we will keep working to free everyone’. ⌘ Read more

Boris sings out for Ukraine: UK PM Johnson says nation deserves to host Eurovision
British PM says Ukraine, winner of this year’s contest, ‘can have it’, ‘should have it’ in 2023. European Broadcasting Union has ruled the event cannot take place in the war-torn country, but its public broadcaster wants more negotiations. ⌘ Read more

Masks, Covid-19 test kits, plastic bottles: more than 9,000kg of litter found on Hong Kong’s hiking trails, seashore last year, green group says
Plastic bottles, bottle lids and buoys top three types of rubbish commonly found on seashore, while cigarettes, tissue paper and food packaging dot hiking trails, green group Ecobus says. ⌘ Read more

Chinese disciplinary watchdog to investigate after bank protesters flagged as health risk
The Zhengzhou commission for discipline inspection says it has started a probe into why angry depositors found their health codes had suddenly turned red. ⌘ Read more

UK begins electronically tagging migrants coming via ‘unnecessary, dangerous routes’
The 12-month pilot scheme involves electronically tagging some people arriving on small boats or in the back of lorries. On Tuesday the European Court of Human Rights granted an injunction preventing the departure of a UK-chartered aircraft carrying asylum seekers to Rwanda. ⌘ Read more

Fraudsters swindled HK$1.28 billion from more than 6,000 Hongkongers through online, phone scams in first 4 months of year
Nearly one-fourth of money victims lost was swindled through email fraud, while phone scammers pocketed HK$280 million. ⌘ Read more

Singapore’s Pink Dot gay pride rally returns, as MP from ruling party attends for first time – and in a pink T-shirt
After two years of Covid postponements, LGBT event returns, with excitement that archaic colonial-era Section 377A Penal Code law criminalising sex between men will soon be repealed. ⌘ Read more

Hong Kong’s buyers snap up 70 per cent of new homes on offer, casting aside HKMA’s 75-point interest hike as banks deferred raising mortgage rates
HSBC, Standard Chartered, Bank of China (Hong Kong) and Hang Seng Bank kept their prime rates unchanged this week, even after the city’s de facto central bank raised its base rate by 75 basis points. ⌘ Read more

Chinese President Xi Jinping warns against international decoupling in Russia speech
Xi address to the St Petersburg International Economic Forum also included warnings against decoupling and the use of sanctions. ⌘ Read more

Total recall: Chinese wife nurses stroke-stricken husband back from the brink using the power of love
Chinese social media falls in love with an elderly couple who battled together to overcome a terrible medical condition ⌘ Read more

‘Never seen such floods in her life’: 41 dead, millions stranded in India, Bangladesh
Floods are a regular menace in low-lying Bangladesh, but experts say climate change is increasing frequency, ferocity, unpredictability. ⌘ Read more

The way we wed: How Indian brides are reinventing ceremonies to push for gender equality
Modern brides are doing away with practices such as looking sad as they leave their families, and changing their surnames after marriage. ⌘ Read more

Biden urges China, other major economies to step up climate action, as US and EU join global methane cuts pledge
China a notable absentee from 13 inaugural members of Global Methane Pledge Energy Pathway agreed upon at the forum. ⌘ Read more

‘My mum was a bit worried’: reality show idea to bring German mother-in-law to China to live with couple sparks national debate
A reality show situation where a couple in China suggested moving the German husband’s mother to live with them sparked a national debate. ⌘ Read more

Woman arrested for making anti-Asian remarks, pepper spraying 4 people in New York
Madeline Barker was charged with hate crimes over the June 11 attack in which she pepper-sprayed four Asian women. ⌘ Read more

China to tighten grip on social media comments, requiring sites to employ sufficient content moderators
The draft regulation demands platforms to employ a content moderation team commensurate with the scale of the services. ⌘ Read more

Greater Bay Area: can China ‘integrate’ Hong Kong into its southern economic powerhouse?
Some Hongkongers are trying their luck on the mainland and excited about the opportunities, but for others the idea of integration is ‘unconvincing’. ⌘ Read more

China’s latest hot export is a US$50 toy Russian fighter jet that ‘will never break’, helped by social media such as TikTok
The fighter jet toy, with a price tag of less than US$50 on e-commerce sites such as eBay and Amazon, has gained popularity for its affordability and durability. ⌘ Read more