Should they be accused of discriminating against the Chinese including those from Hong Kong and Macau? The WHO's director for health emergencies Mike Ryan is also of the view that Beijing decided zero-Covid was not the best option anymore. It may appear that Japan reacted hastily when limiting even flights from Hong Kong to a few airports, threatening to disrupt plans for travellers. Following the Hong Kong government's intervention, Japan is now reopening other airports to Hongkongers as long as none on the plane has been to the mainland in the previous seven days. Perhaps this is the new normal to live with as we learn to live with Covid.

A drunk man assaulted a taxi driver to take the wheel and even took the driver seat and left the cabbie behind on the highway early Saturday morning after he slammed the cabbie for driving too slow. The man was later arrested in Sai Wan. The incident occurred around 5am Saturday as the cabbie surnamed Lai, 67, picked up the drunk man surnamed Yip, 49, in Yau Ma Tei, who was going to Hing Wah Estate in Chai Wan. Yip then got off the vehicle as well, but took the driver seat and fled the scene, leaving Lai behind on the road. Yip, who failed the alcohol breath test, was then arrested for drunk driving, common assault and taking a vehicle without authority.

In response, the United States and several other countries announced they would require negative Covid tests for all travelers from mainland China. WHO calls for dataThe European Union's health agency said Thursday it believed the EU-wide introduction of mandatory Covid screenings for travelers from China was currently "unjustified." 'Smears'Following the announcements by some countries of travel restrictions, Beijing has hit out against "smears with ulterior motives" by the Western media. Bodies piling upOn the front lines of China's Covid wave, hospitals are battling surging cases that have hit the elderly and vulnerable hardest. China's National Health Commission said last week it would no longer release an official daily Covid death toll.

POIPET: Rescuers scoured the charred ruins of a Cambodian hotel and casino complex on Friday, warning they expected to find "many more" victims of a deadly fire that forced people to jump from windows. Hundreds of people are believed to have been inside the Grand Diamond City hotel casino, located within sight of Poipet town on the Thai border, when the blaze broke out around 11:30 p.m. local time (0430 GMT) Wednesday. "We believe there are many more bodies still trapped inside the compound," a Cambodian police officer at the site told AFP as rescuers began entering the burned complex. The casino is one of many in Poipet, a border town popular with Thais who face strict restrictions on gambling within the kingdom. Rescue effortsOn Thursday, Thai rescuers were forced to call off their efforts as night fell, with an officer from the Ruamkatanyu Foundation explaining conditions were too dangerous to continue.

MIAMI (AFP) — Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown scored 29 points each as the Eastern Conference leading Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Clippers 116-110 in the NBA on Thursday, Dec. 29. Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics drives to the basket against the LA Clippers on December 29, 2022 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (AFP)The Celtics (25-10) closed out their seven game homestand, which began with three losses, with a fourth straight win. Twice in the game, Brown pulled the Celtics clear of the 21-15 Clippers with runs of seven straight points. Kawhi Leonard top scored for the Clippers with 26 points and eight rebounds while Paul George had 24 points.

PARIS (AFP) — His face appeared on televisions around the world and dominated the homepages of news outlets everywhere as global media bowed to the late, great Pele, the undisputed “King” of football. A man takes a picture of a wall depicting an image of late football stars Diego Maradona of Argentina and Pele of Brazil embracing each other, in Buenos Aires on December 29, 2022, just hours after the passing of Pele. To the Brazilian daily O Globo, whose front page was packed with stories about the sporting legend, Pele may have died, but he remained the “immortal king of football”. In the far less football-mad United States, the New York Times called Pele the “global face of soccer” who “helped popularise the sport” stateside with his 1975-1977 stint with the New York Cosmos. And in Italy’s La Stampa, Matteo Giusti began his article with a quote attributed to the Brazilian writer Jorge Amado: “If football hadn’t been called that, it should have been called Pele.”

BI nabs Chinese over gambling websiteMANILA, Philippines— The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has intercepted a 22-year-old Chinese fugitive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) for his alleged involvement in illegal gambling in his country. In a statement, BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said Zeng Zhanhong was intercepted at the NAIA Terminal 1 as he was about to board an Air China flight for Beijing on Dec. 27. The immigration officer who processed Zeng’s papers found that he is the subject of an Interpol blue notice for being a fugitive from justice in China, according to Tansingco. Zeng is allegedly a member of a syndicate based in Shandong that operates an illegal gambling website, a serious criminal offense under Chinese law. Tansingco said he immediately coordinated with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing, where police arrested Zeng upon his arrival at the airport.

In the Slow Food movement, we promote the consumption and production of heirloom grains like adlai and heirloom varieties like Jeykot, Minaangan or generally Tinawon (meaning once a year) rice. Why is it premium – adlai and heirloom rice? Why must we care about the price of rice, adlai and heirloom rice? I wish I could explain better why heirloom rice and adlai are better for you. Meantime, I hope to share with Alvin and Doris about heirloom rice and adlai.

"Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, and our operation aims to safeguard peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits. This marked a record-breaking number in terms of PLA aircraft detected in the region, media on the island said. The intensity of the drills surpassed, or was at least comparable with the peak number during the PLA drills in August in response to Pelosi's provocative visit on August 2, if taking vessels into account, observers said. On August 5, Taiwan's defense authority reported sighting 68 PLA aircraft and 13 PLA vessels, and on August 7, it reported 66 PLA aircraft and 14 PLA vessels. The US' financing of weapons to Taiwan island is a serious provocation that has crossed the bottom line, and the PLA's drills were a response that showed its strong will and capability, Fu said.

The United States this week also expanded its voluntary genomic sequencing program at airports, adding Seattle and Los Angeles to the program. "Previous COVID-19 wastewater surveillance has shown to be a valuable tool and airplane wastewater surveillance could potentially be an option," she wrote. French researchers reported in July that airplane wastewater tests showed requiring negative COVID tests before international flights does not protect countries from the spread of new variants. They found the Omicron variant in wastewater from two commercial airplanes that flew from Ethiopia to France in December 2021 even though passengers had been required to take COVID tests before boarding. Osterholm and others said mandatory testing before travel to the United States is unlikely to keep new variants out of the country.

Cryptocurrency meets food in Bored and Hungry, a one-of-a-kind burger shop and the first NFT-themed restaurant. Bored and Hungry was started by entrepreneurs Andy Nguyen, Kevin Seo, and Philiip Huynh, who are also the founders of the Food Fighters Universe. Andy Nguyen is no stranger to the restaurant industry. Before Bored and Hungry, Andy has opened over 10 restaurants including ice-cream chain Afters, with 27 locations in California and Nevada, Matte Black Coffee, and Dough & Arrow. Bored and Hungry is part of the Food Fighters Universe, a restaurant group that aims to bring together real-life experiences with the world of Web3 and digital assets through food.

This will place Hong Kong in a stronger position to benefit the most from a busy schedule that Hong Kong Monetary Authority chief executive Eddie Yue Wai-man is predicting for 2023. This is also believed to be the top priority that Beijing has assigned to Hong Kong. Among them are plans by four leading financial institutions to organize large events in the SAR as well as plans for a few central bank conferences. Likewise, apart from organizing international events, Hong Kong will have to be practical in policies too if it wants to win back opportunities that, once owned by us, would not have been lost to others if the city had not isolated itself for so long a period. It is useful to showcase Hong Kong to the world by hosting international events.

The Philippines and China will establish direct communication between their foreign ministries to avoid "miscalculation and miscommunication" in the hotly disputed South China Sea, Manila said Thursday. Marcos has insisted he will not let China trample on the Philippines' maritime rights in the sea -- in contrast to his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, who was reluctant to criticise the superpower. Manila refers to the waters immediately west of the Philippines as the West Philippine Sea. Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea and has ignored an international court ruling that its claims have no legal basis. China has reinforced its stance in the South China Sea by ripping up thousands of hectares of reef to create new land for artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago.

Bay Area head coach Brian Goorjian is enjoying the feeling of pressure and he hopes his wards would learn to thrive under it as well. This environment is second to none,” said Goorjian who is a six-time Australia NBL champion and Coach of the Year. “This environment is incredible, the fans and all of them in that stadium cheering for their team. “I’ve said to the group, just do what you did in the last game, take your shots. Enjoy the experience, get off in this environment and play under this pressure, it’s got to be something you enjoy,” he added.

What he didn't foresee was the fierce defense put up by the outgunned and outnumbered Ukrainian military. That's reason enough for Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy to spurn Putin's overture to negotiate peace. And unless he presents a counterproposal, the accusations that restoring peace in Ukraine is not his intent will continue to gain legitimacy. Unless peace is brokered, the Ukraine war will continue to fuel economic uncertainty. Finding peace in Ukraine has become a maze with a lot of dead ends.