AUSTRALIA
New visas for Hong Kongers
The government yesterday said it is to introduce two permanent residence visas for Hong Kongers who have been living in the nation. About 9,000 Hong Kongers on temporary visas would be eligible to apply for the permanent visas starting in March next year, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs Alex Hawke said in a statement. Canberra has been critical of Beijing imposing a National Security Law in Hong Kong and changing its electoral system. It says those moves undermine rights and the high degree of autonomy that China had guaranteed until 2047. In the 18 months to July last year, about 6,000 Hong Kongers have been granted permanent visas, and 9,250 applications were filed, immigration records show. “These new visas will provide a pathway for temporary graduates and temporary skilled workers from Hong Kong currently in Australia on extended visas, and will build on the already close family connections and economic ties with Hong Kong that have existed for many years,” Hawke said.
SINGAPORE
Rapper Subhas Nair charged
A controversial Singaporean rapper of Indian descent who has accused authorities of racism might face jail after being charged yesterday with sowing divisions between the city-state’s different ethnic and religious groups. Outspoken rapper Subhas Nair faced four counts when he appeared in court over offenses that allegedly occurred between 2019 and this year. According to charge sheets, the 29-year-old made comments on social media appearing to suggest a Chinese man involved in the death of an Indian received lenient treatment from authorities because of his ethnicity. He allegedly posted further remarks on Instagram suggesting Chinese Christians are treated more leniently than Muslims over hate speech. He was also charged over a 2019 rap video that criticized a local Chinese actor who darkened his skin to portray an Indian in an advert. Police had already issued a warning over the video to Nair and his sister Preetipls, a well-known local comedian, who rapped alongside him. Nair appeared in court with his sister and was wearing a T-shirt bearing a picture of a Malaysian man convicted of drug trafficking in the nation, who is set to be executed soon.
UNITED STATES
Psaki has COVID-19
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Sunday said she has contracted COVID-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms. Psaki, 42, said she was last in contact with President Joe Biden on Tuesday last week, when she met him in the White House, where they were more than 1.8m apart and wearing masks. Biden, who is tested frequently, last tested negative on Saturday, the White House said.
? CAMBODIA
Nation hits vaccination goal
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday declared his country reopen and ready for a new way of life, having surpassed its COVID-19 vaccination target and recorded one of Asia’s highest inoculation rates. The nation has vaccinated nearly 86 percent of its more than 16 million people, with 2 million given booster shots already and 300,000 school children aged five set to be inoculated yesterday alone. The ratio is similar to that of Singapore. “From now on, the full reopening of the country in all areas and living with COVID-19 in a new way of life starts from today,” he said. “I won’t be in a crab cave anymore,” he said. The nation has recorded more than 118,522 COVID-19 cases and 2,788 deaths overall, the vast majority this year.
Packed crowds in India celebrating their cricket team’s victory ended in a deadly stampede on Wednesday, with 11 mainly young fans crushed to death, the local state’s chief minister said. Joyous cricket fans had come out to celebrate and welcome home their heroes, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, after they beat Punjab Kings in a roller-coaster Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket final on Tuesday night. However, the euphoria of the vast crowds in the southern tech city of Bengaluru ended in disaster, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra calling it “absolutely heartrending.” Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said most of the deceased are young, with 11 dead
By 2027, Denmark would relocate its foreign convicts to a prison in Kosovo under a 200-million-euro (US$228.6 million) agreement that has raised concerns among non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and residents, but which could serve as a model for the rest of the EU. The agreement, reached in 2022 and ratified by Kosovar lawmakers last year, provides for the reception of up to 300 foreign prisoners sentenced in Denmark. They must not have been convicted of terrorism or war crimes, or have a mental condition or terminal disease. Once their sentence is completed in Kosovan, they would be deported to their home country. In
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
LOST CONTACT: The mission carried payloads from Japan, the US and Taiwan’s National Central University, including a deep space radiation probe, ispace said Japanese company ispace said its uncrewed moon lander likely crashed onto the moon’s surface during its lunar touchdown attempt yesterday, marking another failure two years after its unsuccessful inaugural mission. Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to join US firms Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace as companies that have accomplished commercial landings amid a global race for the moon, which includes state-run missions from China and India. A successful mission would have made ispace the first company outside the US to achieve a moon landing. Resilience, ispace’s second lunar lander, could not decelerate fast enough as it approached the moon, and the company has
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