Hong Kong court convicts Jimmy Lai and other pro-democracy activists over 2019 protest

https://ift.tt/31CYryc

Robinhood is getting rid of one of its most controversial features

Robinhood is getting rid of the confetti animation that appears on users' screens after they conduct their first trade and achieve other milestones. The change comes as the app faces growing scrutiny over what critics say is a gamification of trading that masks the potential for real losses in the financial markets.
https://ift.tt/3fu2lS5

Apple will no longer make Siri's voice female by default

Apple's Siri will soon stop defaulting to a female-sounding voice.
https://ift.tt/2PlIAS4

Black Fortune 500 executives want companies to fight Republican voting restrictions

Some of the nation's most prominent Black business leaders are calling out their Fortune 500 peers for their muted response to new laws that restrict voting across the country.
https://ift.tt/3dkMT8p

How to cook the perfect bowl of fried rice? Asia's 'best restaurant' shares its secret

Chef Kwok Keung Tung tosses the wok with one hand, using the other to stir with a metal spatula.
https://ift.tt/2HzFpm9

Top US national security officials call counterparts as Russia and Ukraine tensions rise

Top US national security officials have spoken with their Ukrainian counterparts, and America's top general held a call Wednesday with his Russian opposite number amid concern over Russian military activity in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, including what the US deemed a violation of a ceasefire by Moscow that led to the deaths of four Ukrainian soldiers last week.
https://ift.tt/39wgRoB

Political turbulence in Brazil overshadows Covid-19 crisis

Brazil reported yet another record number of deaths on Tuesday as a surge of Covid-19 infections cripples hospitals across the country. But it's the political turmoil rocking the government that grabbed headlines on Wednesday.
https://ift.tt/39rCA19

Myanmar junta offers ceasefire to some, as UN envoy warns of 'bloodbath'

As the United Nations Security Council discussed Myanmar's military coup on Wednesday, the country's junta declared a "ceasefire" -- though it said it would continue to respond to "actions that disrupt government security and administration."
https://ift.tt/39xZzHP

Alexey Navalny announces he is going on hunger strike

Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny says he is going on a hunger strike to protest against prison officials' refusal to grant him access to proper medical care, in a post shared by his team on his official Instagram page on Wednesday.
https://ift.tt/3fvefLK

Galapagos airport officials find 185 baby tortoises hidden in a suitcase

Airport authorities in the Galapagos Islands seized 185 newborn tortoises that were found wrapped in plastic in a red suitcase.
https://ift.tt/3wfQrRK

Head of mercenary group tells CNN insurgents effectively hold town after attack

In his first on-camera interview, Lionel Dyck, the head of private military contractor Dyck Advisory Group, told CNN's David McKenzie that insurgents in northern Mozambique effectively hold the strategic town of Palma after they staged a complex attack last week.
https://ift.tt/2OeLDv2

French President Macron under pressure to lock down as Covid-19 hospitalizations soar

French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to tighten coronavirus restrictions on Wednesday as case numbers and admissions to intensive care units soar across France, where the government has been resisting a third nationwide lockdown.
https://ift.tt/31AH0OY

BBC moves its China correspondent to Taiwan as tensions with Beijing grow

The British Broadcasting Corporation has moved its China correspondent to Taiwan from Beijing as the news organization comes under increasing pressure over its reporting in the country.
https://ift.tt/3cHanpf

Gibraltar has vaccinated most of its adults. This is what it's like now

People clinking wine glasses in bars and restaurants. Fans watching live soccer and boxing matches. As summer approaches, life has almost returned to normal in one tiny territory in southern Europe -- and there's a very good reason why.
https://ift.tt/2O6XUBs

Children among those killed in Myanmar military airstrikes: activists

• How the internet has redefined protest in Myanmar
https://ift.tt/3w8imTT

The UAE's tiny lunar rover will face big challenges on the moon

Last month, the United Arab Emirates became the first country in the Arab world to put a spacecraft into orbit around Mars. But as it celebrates the achievement of its Hope probe, a group of Emirati scientists is already engaged in another historic feat: building a lunar rover.
https://ift.tt/3cDn3x8

Full 'worm moon' helped break logjam in Suez Canal

https://ift.tt/3cEYPmp

Xiaomi is investing $10 billion to join the electric car race

A big smartphone maker is getting into electric cars. And it's not Apple.
https://ift.tt/3fpMbJs

Why Archegos escaped scrutiny from Wall Street's cops

The dramatic implosion of Archegos Capital Management is another warning to Wall Street about the dangers of hefty leverage and speculative behavior fueled by rock-bottom interest rates.
https://ift.tt/2Oc07Mc

Analysis: Hedge fund implosion should be a wake up call for Wall Street

The names of the key players are different, but the lessons similar. The spectacular implosion of hedge fund Archegos Capital Management, much like the GameStop saga earlier this year, serves as a reminder of the dangers posed by extreme leverage, secret derivatives and rock-bottom interest rates.
https://ift.tt/3fpEfYI

Bolsonaro will replace top military commanders after cabinet reshuffle

The top commanders of Brazil's Armed Forces are stepping down -- marking the first time in Brazil´s history that a president will replace all three military chiefs at once.
https://ift.tt/31wFdKu

The fight to legalize cannabis in Mexico

When Javier Zaragoza wakes up in the morning, he rolls a blunt for breakfast. He repeats it four times a day.
https://ift.tt/3mcwsin

The brutal attacks in Mozambique are a 'game-changer'

The assault over the last week by Islamist militants on a town in northern Mozambique is the most serious and deadly in their four-year insurgency -- and directly threatens the country's economic future.
https://ift.tt/3u5NyBd

This palm tree nearly went extinct. Now its super-berries are helping to save it

Small, round, and midnight blue, you'd be forgiven for mistaking the juçara berry for its superfood cousin, the açaí berry, or even the humble blueberry.
https://ift.tt/2Pi6Lkt

Thailand pushes back thousands fleeing Myanmar as death toll surpasses 500

Thailand has reportedly pushed back more than 2,000 people attempting to flee neighboring Myanmar following a series of air strikes carried out by the ruling junta in the southeast of the country.
https://ift.tt/3szdzIY

Federal prosecutors add sex trafficking charges against Ghislaine Maxwell

Federal prosecutors filed sex trafficking charges against Ghislaine Maxwell, the former associate of Jeffrey Epstein, alleging she recruited and groomed a 14-year-old girl to engage in sex acts with Epstein as recently as 2004.
https://ift.tt/3w9hQEV

Ever Given ship freed in the Suez Canal, authority confirms

The Ever Given container ship has been dislodged and is now floating, after blocking the Suez Canal for almost a week, authorities said Monday.
https://ift.tt/3dcXqT3

Beijing passes new 'patriot' election law for Hong Kong that restricts opposition

• How Beijing remade Hong Kong's political fate
https://ift.tt/3w9Dr04

Dramatic video shows fire at Indonesia oil refinery

Nearly a thousand residents have been evacuated and several injured after a fire broke out at the Balongan refinery in West Java on Monday.
https://ift.tt/3m3jIKR

Chinese celebrities rush to defend Beijing's Xinjiang policy by cutting ties with international brands

Chinese celebrities are finding it increasingly difficult to stay out of politics.
https://ift.tt/31yUCKF

What happened to Asia's most famous beach party

It's approaching sundown on a full moon Saturday, but revelry is in short supply in Haad Rin, home of Koh Phangan's legendary Full Moon Party.
https://ift.tt/3fmsH8O

Netflix and Amazon gave Indian filmmakers hope. That's turning to fear

Screenwriter and director Ruchi Narain struggled for decades to find steady work in the Indian film industry.
https://ift.tt/31rePBO

Global shipping was in chaos even before the Suez blockage

One of the world's most vital trade arteries has been blocked by a quarter-mile-long container ship, creating a traffic jam that has ensnared over 200 vessels and could take weeks to clear.
https://ift.tt/31kZyCB

76 all-cash offers on one home. The buying madness shows no signs of slowing

Ellen Coleman had never received so many offers on a house in her 15 years of selling real estate.
https://ift.tt/3fkVTNn

Carbone takes aim at Rao's with new supermarket sauce lineup

Watch out, Rao's. There's a new fancy pasta sauce headed for grocery shelves.
https://ift.tt/3fsvU6C

This new artificial heart responds to the patient

Heart disease is the world's biggest killer, and around one in five people in developed countries will suffer heart failure in their lifetime.
https://ift.tt/2PsaJXi

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro replaces six ministers amid Covid crisis

Brazilian Defense Minister Fernando Azevedo e Silva has resigned from his position in a surprise move.
https://ift.tt/3su5dSN

US suspends all diplomatic trade engagement with Myanmar after weekend of violence against pro-democracy protesters

The Biden administration announced the suspension of all trade engagement with Myanmar on Monday following a weekend of violence against pro-democracy protesters and the deadliest day since military seized power in a February 1 coup.
https://ift.tt/3sz7VGJ

Junta leader held lavish dinner party while troops killed more than 100 people

Myanmar's military junta chief Min Aung Hlaing threw a lavish dinner party Saturday while his troops reportedly shot dead more than 100 people in the streets and forced thousands of people to flee into neighboring Thailand, during a weekend of indiscriminate terror and bloodshed that was widely condemned internationally.
https://ift.tt/31u235K

These children escaped Xinjiang, but their parents are in China and cut off from the world

It's been nearly five years since Hassan heard from his family, and he is terrified that he will forget them.
https://ift.tt/3way1lC

London records zero Covid-19 daily deaths for first time in six months as cases soar elsewhere in Europe

London has recorded zero daily deaths from Covid-19 in a single day for the first time in over six months, official data indicates.
https://ift.tt/2PEOy08

Cruises are restarting this summer. This is what's on offer

It's been a year since the cruise industry was in the eye of the Covid storm as leisure ships proved themselves ideal places for the disease to spread.
https://ift.tt/38GQhZG

CNN investigates conglomerate behind Myanmar's junta

The military in Myanmar is one of the biggest economic players in the country with the general who declared himself ruler of the country after the military coup both a business magnate and CEO of a military-owned conglomerate and hotels. CNN's Ivan Watson reports.
https://ift.tt/2QK7mMl

Philippines orders more than 25 million people into lockdown over Easter as Covid-19 cases soar

Millions of people in the Philippines won't be celebrating Easter as normal this year after the majority Catholic country imposed a strict lockdown in the capital and nearby provinces.
https://ift.tt/3tX5OMY

Doctors warn Paris ICUs could be overwhelmed by Covid-19 surge

Dozens of doctors from the Paris public hospital group (AP-HP) warned on Sunday they were preparing to have to triage patients in the next two weeks, amid fears of surging Covid-19 cases in the French capital.
https://ift.tt/3swOzSy

Mexico's Covid death toll may be 60% higher than officially reported

Mexico's government has released a new report that shows nearly 120,000 victims of Covid-19 may have gone uncounted until now -- a finding which would raise the country's death toll from the virus by nearly 60%.
https://ift.tt/2P8eT7c

The pandemic is stirring deep resentments in Europe

Europe's had a torrid time since the start of the pandemic. For a continent whose prosperity relies on political cooperation, seamless supply chains and the uncomplicated crossing of borders, a crisis that pits nation against nation and demands limited movement is a challenge.
https://ift.tt/3lVMSvm

Bolsonaro ordered to pay 'moral damages' to journalist

A Brazilian court has ordered that President Jair Bolsonaro pay damages to a journalist after he made remarks that questioned her credibility, according to newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.
https://ift.tt/3rqq7Rz

Evacuation of people trapped by militant attack in Mozambique runs into ambush, reports say

The attempted evacuation of people trapped during an attack in northern Mozambique by Islamist militants has led to multiple casualties, with dozens of people still unaccounted for, according to reports, in what the US embassy in Maputo is calling a "horrific situation."
https://ift.tt/3lZoskB

UN officials condemn Myanmar junta after 100-plus civilians killed in one day

Human rights officials are calling on the international community to do more to stop the bloodshed in Myanmar after more than 100 civilians were reportedly killed by Myanmar military junta that overthrew the country's elected government.
https://ift.tt/3cr1bVM