From ongoing lockdowns in Shanghai to JP Morgan’s public slip-up – Here is your May 11 news briefing

From ongoing lockdowns in Shanghai to JP Morgan’s public slip-up – Here is your May 11 news briefing
FILE PHOTO: A resident looks out through a gap in the barrier at a residential area during lockdown, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Shanghai, China, May 6, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo

To start off, we’re looking into:

Shanghai citizens see “no end in sight”

China COVID
FILE PHOTO: A resident is seen behind barriers sealing off an area under lockdown amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Shanghai, China April 14, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song

China has been seeing a consecutive drop in COVID cases lately. Yet, authorities have continued to tighten measures (on top of Shanghai’s lockdowns) to achieve the government’s COVID-zero policy. Now videos about the tightened policies have been going around on China’s social media platforms – and some of them have sparked public outrage.

In one viral video, officials in hazmat suits break down an apartment door to take one of the residents to a quarantine facility. Meanwhile, the WHO director general has urged China to rethink its strategy.

Hong Kong quarantine-free travel?

Hong Kong borders
FILE PHOTO: A Cathay Pacific aircraft takes off at the airport, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Hong Kong, China, March 31, 2022. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

When China and Hong Kong talked about prerequisites to open borders quarantine-free late last year, one of them was “no local infections for a while.” Hong Kong then faced its deadliest virus outbreak, which derailed these talks. Now, despite recent fluctuations in case numbers, the city is more or less on track for recovery.

With that, on Tuesday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam has said that either she or her incoming successor, John Lee, will need to talk to Beijing about whether the COVID-zero policy is non-negotiable. A date for these talks isn’t set yet, as China is currently going through its worst outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic.

Elon says he’d reverse Trump’s 2021 Twitter ban

JP Morgan China
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are seen at the Firing Room Four after the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft on NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. May 30, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

As many of us remember, Twitter permanently suspended former US President Trump from the platform in January 2021 following the attack on the US Capitol, which was led by his MAGA supporters.

In a summit about the future of cars on Tuesday, Elon Musk said he would reverse the 2021 Twitter ban on Donald Trump if it were up to him. And, assuming this whole US$44 billion purchase goes smoothly, it’s about to be up to him.

His argument? Permanent bans undermine trust in Twitter, and, in this instance, it didn’t actually diminish Trump’s voice; it just made it so that he was really only talking to people on the far right.

JP Morgan’s public slip-up

JP Morgan China
The office of the locally incorporated JPMorgan Chase Bank in Beijing 11 October 2007. JPMorgan Chase Bank has received approval from the China Banking Regulatory Commission to establish a locally incorporated bank in China, the first time that the commission has granted a foreign bank approval to incorporate in Beijing. AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)

We know that even with our 10 news sources and wires and countless rounds of editing, we still make the occasional boo-boo.

What about you? Ever made a typo in a text? That’s not so bad. An email? Mmm … that’s a little worse. What about a document by JP Morgan Chase & Co labeling Chinese internet companies “uninvestable” when what you really meant was “unattractive”? Really, really bad.

And that’s precisely what happened, and the mistake led investors to pull about US$200 billion from the market and sent JP Morgan into apology mode, saying that it was just a content error, not a conclusion from their analysis.

To end, we’ll look into:

Some shameful stats about our productivity

You can lead a horse to water – but what if he isn’t sure if he wants water … or tea … or coffee … or …

With that, we’ve got some stats for you from Quartz.

  • 150 minutes: Time spent each week deciding what to eat
  • 90-115 minutes: Time spent each week deciding what to wear
  • 50 minutes: Time spent each week deciding what to watch on Netflix

So, we’ll just leave it at that.

In other news …

🇫🇷According to the Élysée presidential office, Macron and Xi spoke on the phone on Tuesday to discuss the need for a ceasefire in Ukraine.

🇱🇰Sri Lanka’s in serious economic trouble, which has led to calls for the president to resign. On Monday, the prime minister (his brother) did just that, but anti-government protests have continued. Now troops have been ordered to open fire on looters and vandals.

✈️Emirates Airline’s CEO has stood by its decision to continue flights to Russia. His reason is that the people and government decisions should not be put together.

🎨Andy Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn sold at Christie’s in New York for US$195 million, breaking the record for the most expensive American artwork ever sold.

💰Grindr is going public in a US$2.1 billion SPAC deal.

🏭Sony is making fewer of its PlayStation 5 because of supply-chain issues.

🎵It is the end of the iPod – the last iPod touch is being discontinued, and Apple announced it will sell the remaining stock while supplies last.

Written and put together by Jake Shropshire, Christine Dulion, Julianna Barcela and Krystal Lai