WORLD

A day after Joe Biden returned to the US from an Asia trip where he proposed the Indo-Pacific pact agreement, China is reportedly working on its own proposal to 10...

President Joe Biden paid his first-ever visit to Asia as president this week, conducting a series of summits in South Korea and Japan – both close US allies. He held...

During the early days of COVID, thousands of Cathay Pacific employees, from flight attendants to pilots, got laid off. Now that the pandemic has settled down, the airline company is...

HSBC’s Indonesia unit is considering filing an IPO to tap into a hefty investor market in the world’s fourth-most populous country, according to anonymous sources familiar with the plan. 

From the Texas school shooting to Russia heading toward default – Here is your May 26 news briefing

Russia is looking down the barrel of default, and it isn’t going to be pretty. Basically, until now, the US has been giving Russian banks an exemption from sanctions to...

Since Hong Kong’s ban on alternative smoking products, customs has seized around HK$10 million worth of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products. This comes from 10 cases detected within two weeks...

US President Joe Biden addressed the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday, which left 19 children and two teachers dead. The 18-year-old gunman, who reportedly bought...

From a rundown of Biden's trip in Asia so far to Hong Kong's border controls – Here is your May 25 news briefing

As we’ve said, Biden has been on an Asia trip recently. We’ve been waiting to see how things develop before reporting more. And, so far, here’s everything that has happened:

Up until now, unlike many other Asian countries, Singapore has made it difficult for single women to freeze their eggs, allowing only women with medical conditions to go through the...

Hong Kong will seemingly keep its current quarantine policy for inbound travelers, as a “significant amount” of daily infections still comes from imported cases, said the city’s outgoing Chief Executive...

From Spain's soaring temperatures to Airbnb pulling out of China – Here is your May 24 news briefing

More than 100 cases of monkeypox have been reported in the Americas, Europe and Australia, but the WHO says that the situation is containable. 

Airbnb is closing domestic operations in China, saying that the company will shift its focus to outbound travelers rather than those visiting China. It will still keep an office in...

Spain is facing a record-high heat wave in May, soaring up to 16 C degrees above average temperatures, according to the national weather agency AEMET. For instance, the Southern city...

President Joe Biden said that the US would respond militarily if China tried to take Taiwan by force, which seemed to defy Washington’s decades-long strategic ambiguity regarding the matter. Biden...

From Australia's new Prime Minister to Biden's greeting to North Korea – Here is your May 23 news briefing

The Ukrainian government has said that it refuses to hand over land to Russia as part of a peace agreement. This is a big deal since Russia’s goal in this...

Just before US President Joe Biden wrapped up his three-day visit to South Korea on Sunday, he reportedly said, “Hello. Period.” to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un when asked...

After nine years of conservative rule, Australians have decided to go for the center-left opposition. Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese declared victory as the country’s 31st prime minister on Saturday,...

From the US$40 billion of Ukraine aid from the US to the rare monkeypox outbreak – Here is your May 20 news briefing

Wednesday was probably the typical mid-week “hump day for most people.” But Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and Tesla CEO, was busy tweeting away US$12.3 billion of his wealth....

The US is making it even clearer whose side of the Ukraine-Russia war it’s on. On Wednesday, American lawmakers passed more than US$40 billion worth of aid for Ukraine across...

Indonesia will reverse its palm oil export ban from Monday, allowing export shipments for the first time in more than three weeks. The president said the ban would be lifted...

Monkeypox isn't a new virus, though, as it was discovered in monkeys decades ago and typically originates in central and western Africa. Yet currently, a small number of confirmed infections...

From North Korea's COVID spike to Google Russia declaring bankruptcy – Here is your May 19 news briefing

This isn’t the first time Google has been under attack in Russia, though. The company has been facing pressure because it refuses to delete content that is considered illegal in...

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US is looking into over 100 personal cell phones used by top traders and bankers on Wall Street to find out if...

Finland and Sweden officially applied to join NATO on Wednesday morning amid security concerns posed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While both Nordic nations have remained non-aligned for more than...

So far, North Korea had appeared outwardly to have prevented COVID from entering its borders. That is, until May 12, when the country had its first publicly recorded case.

From Hong Kong banning Telegram to Turkey blocking Sweden and Finland from joining NATO – Here is your May 18 briefing

Newly appointed Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in an address on Monday that the country had only one day’s worth of petrol and that it needed US$75 million...

However the war in Ukraine ends, one thing is certain – someone will have to pay to rebuild the country. The question, then, is who? According to a leaked proposal...

Last year, China decided to implement a three-child policy amid record low birth rates since 1950. Shortly after, the COVID-19 pandemic kicked off, and the property market subsequently took a...

According to local newspaper Sing Tao Daily, Hong Kong authorities might restrict public access to Telegram, a widely-used messaging service, over issues with “doxxing,” the online exposure of sensitive and...

From US recession fears to an update on the Musk-Twitter deal – Here is your May 17 news briefing

Elon Musk is starting to sound a little bit skeptical about his US$44 billion deal to buy Twitter, mostly because of the platform’s problem with spam bot accounts. Twitter’s CEO...

A retired Indian couple is suing their son and daughter-in-law, demanding that they either give them a grandkid within the year or pay them 50 million rupees (US$675,000). The choice...

A couple of days ago, India banned wheat exports because of local price increases, a move that freaked out much of the rest of the global community. See, Ukraine is a...

According to Goldman Sachs experts, the US is likely headed towards a recession, and there’s a “narrow path” to avoid it. Let’s back up just a second – the US...

Three decades ago, McDonald’s opened its doors in Russia for the first time, and just a year later the Soviet Union fell. The opening broke records – the first Russian...

From India's heat wave to Finland and Sweden's moves toward joining NATO – Here is your May 16 news briefing

Markets have been skeptical about whether Elon Musk will actually complete the buyout of Twitter. And late last week, the world’s richest person added to the skepticism by saying that...

A Communist Party journal released remarks that Chinese President Xi Jinping made in December where he warned against the inappropriate accumulation of wealth and the risks it poses to a...

Both Finland and Sweden are making moves to join NATO, which is a major shift from their non-alignment stances throughout modern history.

India’s unexpected April heat wave has increasingly taken a toll on people's livelihood, especially for outside laborers who have to work at the forefront of this climate crisis. Average maximum...

After years of delays and budget overruns, Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation launched its new (and priciest) cross-harbor extension of the East Rail line on Sunday. Hundreds of railway enthusiasts waited...

From TikTok's lawsuit to Softbank's highest-ever annual loss – Here is your May 13 news briefing

SoftBank reported its highest-ever annual loss at its Vision Fund investment arm, which lost around US$27 billion for the year that ended in March. A lot of these losses happened...

TikTok is being sued by the family of a 10-year-old girl who died after trying the “Blackout Challenge,” a viral stunt where people choke themselves until they black out. The...

US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are among the first world leaders to congratulate incoming President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. of the Philippines after he claimed a...

Just as Hong Kong proceeds towards recovery from its deadliest COVID outbreak, sewage samples at a public housing residence in Kennedy Town (Sai Wan Estate) tested positive for high levels...

Twitter's CEO Parag Agrawal sent an unsettling memo to its staff saying, among other things, that it would fire its consumer product head and head of revenue product. The company...

From Terra UST's crash to Japan's low birth rate – Here is your May 12 news briefing

About a decade ago, Google tried to get into the market with internet-connected consumer glasses. Things didn’t work out. Today, Snap, Meta and Apple are all in the space, and...

Can you really brand a currency as “stable” if it can still drop 80% to hit a market low within two days? Well, apparently, you can. That’s exactly what happened with...

Have you ever seen YouTubers living their absolute best lives and thought, “Wow, they’re living the dream?” This might come as a surprise, but it isn’t all that rosy behind...

A peer-reviewed study by Shanghai's Fudan University said that if China were to abandon its COVID-zero policies, hospitals would overflow and there could be more than 1.55 million deaths. This...

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

We know 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...

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...

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

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...

From EU sanctions talks to Kushner investing Saudi Arabia's money in Israel – Here is your May 10 news briefing

Last week, the EU proposed a sixth round of sanctions against Russia. But some EU countries are still not totally on board with the idea, specifically when it comes to...

The worry over whether the US central bank can tackle inflation without throwing the economy into a recession is sending investors into a bit of a fight or flight mode...

Votes are being counted from election day in the Philippines, and Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., the son of the country’s former dictator, is presumed to make a landslide victory, with...

Jared Kushner, aka Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former White House Advisor, has a new private equity fund with plans to invest money from Saudi Arabia into Israel. What’s most interesting...

From the Philippines elections to the Great Resignation Flop – Here is your May 9 news briefing

Chinese phone maker Xiaomi says that Indian officials made threats of physical violence against Xiaomi’s executives during questioning.

You might have heard of the “Great Resignation,” where millions of people left their jobs in pursuit of a more fulfilling career. Well, it turns out that not everyone managed...

Sunday marked ex-security chief John Lee’s role as Hong Kong’s newly-appointed Chief Executive. Of the 1,424 valid votes cast by electors, Lee won 1,416. Lee’s platform included promises of diversity,...

The Philippines will elect President Rodrigo Duterte’s successor today – a moment that will determine the country’s fate for the next six years. It seems as though Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos...

From Gucci's crypto payments to the hundreds of thousands of Russians moving to the UAE – Here is your May 6 news briefing

The Russian invasion of Ukraine led to multiple rounds of Western sanctions against Russian businesses and billionaires. With that, many Russian oligarchs are trying to flee these measures, finding a...

Crypto is obviously a very divisive topic. The ones who love it can’t stop talking about it and touting their love. On the other hand, skeptics dismiss the whole thing...

Lockdowns in Shanghai have been going on for over a month now, and officials say they will continue until the community reaches zero COVID cases for three days straight. Things...

If someone approaches you with a promise of a low-risk, high-return investment plan that sounds too good to be true – it probably is. So far this year in Hong...

From the US fed rate hike to Netflix's lawsuit – Here is your May 5 news briefing

Netflix is getting sued by some of its shareholders, who claim that it withheld the fact that it was losing subscribers.

The Fed just hiked interest rates the most since 2000, and it has said it’s not done yet. This time around, rates went up by a half-percentage point. While there...

A recent UN report shows world hunger spiked 25% in 2021, and the figure is rising as the Russian invasion of Ukraine sends food prices soaring across the globe. With...

The EU has long been talking about imposing bans on Russian oil imports, a decision that will probably make some EU countries suffer economically. So when the President of the...

From the US Supreme Court abortion law leak to Hong Kong's further easing of COVID rules – Here is your May 4 briefing

President Zelenskiy said that Ukraine forces are not retreating from the fight and they’re even gaining back some ground in some regions. On the other hand, Russia is targeting western...

On Monday, Politico released a leaked US Supreme Court draft that suggested the court was planning on overturning nearly five decades of precedent in abortion protection, essentially giving individual states...

After Chinese state media CCTV reported the arrest of an individual surnamed “Ma” for subverting national security laws, Alibaba shares fell around 9.4%, dropping the company’s market value by around...

In light of daily COVID infections finally falling below 300 recently, Hong Kong is going forward with the second stage of social-distancing relaxations initially set to launch on May 19....

Non-fungible tokens, aka NFTs, have been widely talked about across pretty much every industry. Sentiment toward the digital asset varies depending on which side of the street you’re talking to...

From the wage gap for Asian American women to the Bored Ape Yacht Club Ethereum blockchain disruption – Here is your May 3 news briefing

A new US report found that Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women are making an average of US$3,000 less per year than their white male counterparts. If that...

Chinese tech company Xiaomi is pretty big in India, with around a 23% grip on the local smartphone market share. But, the relationship between China and India has somewhat soured...

Two companies just got permission to have fully self-driving cars do taxi services in part of Beijing. One company, Baidu’s Apollo Go, got permission for ten cars, and Pony.ai got...

The creators behind the Bored Ape NFT collection, Yuga Labs, raised what was considered the largest NFT mint in history, or around US$320 million in crypto, by selling virtual land...

From Airbnb's permanent remote work shift to Warren Buffett's US$41 billion spending spree – Here is your May 2 news briefing

A week after the US Secretaries of Defense and State made a trip to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a congressional delegation...

Airbnb decided it really likes its Zoom-call-in-sweatpants office situation, telling employees last week that they would all have the option to work remotely permanently. It also said that US-based employees...

Over the past few years, Warren Buffett, the founder of investment giant Berkshire Hathaway, has been somewhat complaining about not being able to find companies to put their money into...

Over the weekend, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong addressed the nation, joining a growing list of officials and policymakers saying that the world could face another recession.

From Indonesia's palm oil export ban to Twitter's daily users miscount – Here is your April 29 news briefing

Indonesia, the world’s top palm oil exporter, has put in place an export ban on edible oils amid a local shortage. The move comes after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which...

For three years straight, Twitter miscounted its amount of daily users, overcounting by up to 1.9 million users each quarter. The good news is that it isn’t too huge of...

Kenneth Tsang, an 87-year-old veteran star known for his roles in Cantonese and Hollywood movies, was found dead in his quarantine hotel room on Wednesday. He had just arrived in...

Elon Musk is on a shopping spree – first, he bought Twitter (for a whopping US$44 billion) on Tuesday, and now he’s joking around on Twitter about buying Coca-Cola. His...

From Meta's stock surge to Africa's wealth spike over the next decade – Here is your April 28 news briefing.

s & African” on Netflix, it’s probably given you a disproportionate glimpse into the lifestyles of a handful of Africans. But, according to a Henley & Partners Africa Wealth Report,...

A firm run by James Murdoch, the son of global media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and Uday Shankar, a former Disney executive, is going to be investing 135 billion rupees, or...

Meta, formerly Facebook, saw its slowest revenue growth since it went public a decade ago during the first quarter of the year. Still, the company outperformed analyst expectations and revenue...

Myanmar’s ex-leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced on Wednesday to five years in jail, according to a source with knowledge of the closed trial proceedings. She has already been...

A Malaysian man named Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam was executed in Singapore on Wednesday for smuggling about 43 grams (1.5 ounces) of heroin into the country.

From Russia cutting Poland and Bulgaria's gas supply to the Depp and Heard court case – Here is your April 27 news briefing.

China is important to Tesla. Very, very important. Now that Elon Musk is buying out Twitter, Jeff Bezos, the second-richest man in the world after Musk, has raised some concerns...

Russia is following through on a promise it made to European countries that if they didn’t pay for Russian oil with rubles, they wouldn’t be allowed to buy it at...

Now that Hong Kong has eased COVID rules with social distancing, quarantine and travel (to name a few), many have been speculating that border controls would be next on the...

Payments giant Visa said that despite the omicron variant of COVID, the war in Ukraine and rising inflation, it still had a pretty good fiscal quarter.

You may have been seeing a fair few Johnny Depp and Amber Heard memes and clips going around. Their high-profile court case has been going on since 2019, and now...

From the Twitter-Musk deal to lockdown fears in Beijing – Here is your April 26 news briefing.

Newsflash – millennials are getting older! But with the gray hair and creaky joints also comes retirement planning, which a new study shows millennials do differently than older generations.

For the first time ever, global military spending, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has topped US$2 trillion per year, or US$2,113 billion to be more specific. This...

Beijing has been watching Shanghai city residents experience some of the harshest lockdowns yet imposed by China. But now, after seeing a handful of cases within its own city limits,...

Elon Musk landed a deal on Monday evening to buy out Twitter and take it private for a whopping US$44 billion.

From the mysterious liver disease to US officials and Zelenskiy meeting – Here is your April 25 news briefing

Some crypto traders are now going to rehab. Yes, we’re 100% serious. Think luxurious clinics in Switzerland for US$90,000 weekly for treatment to less expensive telehealth options. Our team found...

Citizens in Shanghai are getting fed up, to say the least, over the harsh COVID regulations being imposed in response to the country’s worst outbreak since Wuhan. Now, metal fences...

Over the weekend EU lawmakers were again busy cracking down on tech giants. The group broadly came to an agreement on a Digital Services Act (DSA), which essentially will find...

The US sent two of its top diplomats, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Zelenskiy on Sunday.

A mysterious severe acute hepatitis has been found in 12 countries, including the US and the UK, which has led to over 12 children needing a liver transplant and one...

President Xi's speech at the Boao Forum, Instagram's fight against recycled content, Cathay Pacific pilot perks – here are several things to know to kickstart your day.

Insta content aggregators, beware. Instagram head Adam Mosseri said that Instagram is going to be making some changes to its platform to benefit creators, like promoting original content over reposts.

After weeks of lockdown, Shanghai’s battle with COVID seems far from over, with the city recording triple the number of severe cases from the previous day.

Generally speaking, when the US central bank increases its rate, it does it in quarter-point increments. But right now, inflation is at a four-decade high, and it's a problem around...

Once a “glamour industry,” pilots are finding roles at Cathay Pacific airlines less and less enticing. With exhausting “closed loop” flights meant to avoid triggering quarantine and Hong Kong’s strict...

Xi told countries to "reject the Cold War mentality, oppose unilateralism, and say no to group politics and bloc confrontation." He referred to the international community as a ship and...

YouTube terminates Hong Kong chief executive candidate's campaign channel, Elon's cryptic tweets, Netflix's gains in the APAC region – here are several things you need to know to kickstart your...

Throughout the week, Elon Musk has hinted at a tender offer for Twitter, meaning he could approach shareholders directly to buy the company stock at a premium if the board...

Hong Kong’s chief executive candidate John Lee had a rough day at work when he found out that YouTube terminated his campaign channel, citing US sanctions.

The US is piling even more sanctions on Russia, with this most recent round targeting “more than 40 individuals and entities led by U.S.-designated Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev” as well...

We talked about Netflix being sick of free riders yesterday, but its motivation to solve the problem, after its customer growth declined drastically for the first time since 2011, has...

India prepares to bridge gaps in global wheat stocks, UK Prime Minister Johnson has made it clear he won't "lecture" India, Netflix's huge subscriber drop – here are several things...

Successful flight and hotel room bookings are only the beginning of inbound Hong Kong travelers’ worries. The next step is hoping their flight actually follows through. Airline routes may suddenly...

According to a statement Tuesday, Netflix lost 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter, and this is just the beginning. This is the first time the streaming giant has lost subscribers...

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is headed to India to strengthen security ties with the country. Some in the UK have been disappointed with India’s stance on Russia, but Johnson...

Amid the war, vital food supplies from Ukraine (one of the world’s biggest wheat exporters) have been blocked from leaving seaports and the country’s fields bombed, which means fewer crops...

Both Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk criticize the Twitter board, Yellen meets global leaders to tackle impending food shortage and Ronaldo and partner announce death of baby boy. Here are...

Some high profile global investors are pulling some money out of China. The main fear is that the risks don’t outweigh the rewards of being there. For example, many investors...

Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, has finally made some public comments about the whole Musk and Twitter saga. Dorsey got fired from the company in 2008 and, during that...

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her deputy are going to be meeting with a bunch of high-level officials, say the G7, the G20 (including Russia) and the IMF, around...

The Portugal international soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo and his partner Georgina Rodríguez were expecting twins. But today, the couple announced the death of their baby boy, saying that it’s the...

Shanghai's tentative reopening, the encircling of Mariupol, a Musk and Twitter relationship update – here are several things you need to know to kickstart your day.

Russian forces have encircled Mariupol, a large city in southeastern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials. They said there could be airstrikes and a naval landing on the coastal city, but...

According to flight-tracking data, China Eastern, the airline involved in that plane crash last month that killed 132 people in Guangzhou, has restarted flights of the same plane model that...

Shanghai reported close to 25,000 cases on Saturday, and the city is in its third week of lockdown. Now, Shanghai’s Economic and Information Technology Commission has published a statement on...

Whoever said zoomers weren’t creative obviously hasn’t witnessed their ingenuity on TikTok. Our team was sent some slang that current tweens and teens in the West are fans of.

Twitter’s board of directors isn’t thrilled about Musk’s offer to take over the company so that he can “unlock” its potential, so they issued a “shareholder rights plan” in place...

Elon's Twitter bid, Hong Kong's COVID rules ease, Indonesia won't exclude Russia from G20 meeting, China's real estate sector. Here are several things you need to know to kickstart your...

Have you ever been so impatient that you wished your package would just teleport to your house at that given moment? Jeff Bezos had a similar (not so instant) vision...

Indonesia, which is currently holding the presidency for the G20, said it wasn't going to exclude Russia from a meeting of G-20 finance chiefs taking place next week.

With the fifth wave seemingly over, Hong Kong is now seeing below 1,300 daily COVID infections. Along with the recently boosted testing and isolation capacity, the government will also ease...

Now, in another turn of events, on Thursday, the man, who’s worth around US$260 billion, has offered to buy the company for US$43 billion at US$54.20 per share, calling it...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy proposed a trade with Putin – Ukraine will hand over a Russian tycoon Viktor Medvedchuk if Putin will hand over soldiers captured since the start of...

In February, Hong Kong’s unemployment rate hit a five-month high of 4.5% amid strict social-distancing rules. With that, the government opened applications for a one-off relief payment of HK$10,000 for...

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is leading other countries in Europe to think more closely about their security decisions, and right now that’s happening in the Nordic countries. Finland and...

While China is trying to contain its worst COVID outbreak yet, lockdowns have only strained the economy with millions stuck inside.

It’s no secret that some A-list celebs have jumped onto the crypto bandwagon, creating and promoting their own NFTs, starting crypto companies and whatnot. Now, big celebs like Justin Bieber,...

Profit shifting is the whole idea of MNCs reporting profit to places with relatively less or no tax, a practice that, according to The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development...

Vladimir Putin vowed to continue Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying that peace talks with Ukraine had hit “a dead end.” Ukraine, for their part, accused the Kremlin of sabotaging the...

After a will-they or won’t-they story with Elon Musk and the Twitter board, Musk finally said he wouldn’t join it. But now, one shareholder is suing Musk for not declaring...

Have you ever bonded with a stranger over your shared experience of catching COVID or getting the vaccine? Used it as small talk, maybe?

Hong Kong’s ex-Finance Chief John Tsang is joining StashAway, a Singapore based investment company currently in talks to offer crypto-related products to clients.

Pretty much everything on the global market is falling, including everything from stocks and even oil, from shipping companies to chip producers. The main reason for it? The Fed.