Hong Kong will allow mainland China’s pilot digital currency to be used in shops in the city, the head of its de facto central bank said on Friday, marking a step forward for Beijing’s efforts to internationalize the yuan amid rising geopolitical tensions. The programme, backed by Beijing, will allow mainland Chinese and Hong Kong residents to open digital yuan wallets via a mobile app developed by China’s central bank and will permit them to make payments in retail shops and some online stores in Hong Kong and in mainland China. Each wallet used in the city will be subject to a balance limit of 10,000 yuan, with single transactions and daily payments capped at 2,000 yuan and 5,000 yuan, respectively, officials from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said. Currently, users of other digital yuan wallets such as those operated by Ant Group and Tencent can make payments in the city. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China Ltd, China Construction Bank Corp and Bank of Communications Co have been selected as e-CNY wallet operators.

Wu called on democracies to align in countering Russia and China's military assertiveness in Europe, the South China Sea and beyond. China threatens to invade Taiwan, a self-ruled, democratic island that it claims as its own territory. "[China] wants the international community to focus on the Taiwan Strait and forget about China's actions in different parts of the world," Wu said. Wu said joint military drills between China and Russia in the region raised tensions in Japan and other neighboring countries. "We don't provoke the other side of the Taiwan Strait, and we don't bow to the pressure," Wu said.

Tang Renjian, the head of China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, is "suspected of serious violations of discipline and law", state broadcaster CCTV said. Xi has overseen a sweeping drive to abolish deep-rooted official corruption since coming to power a decade ago. Supporters say the campaign promotes clean governance, but critics say it also provides Xi with the power to purge political rivals. In 2022, then minister of industry and information technology Xiao Yaqing was placed under investigation for corruption. Last month Liu Liange, chairman of the Bank of China from 2019 to 2023, admitted to "accepting bribes and illegally providing loans".

Long COVID: My ordealLong COVID is real. The next day I went into respiratory shock and 2D echo showed that my heart had 20 percent function. After 17 days, we asked to be transferred to the Philippine Heart Center, since it was closer to home and my heart was the center of the illness. There, we finally found out what had struck me down: Long COVID. Apparently, once you’ve had COVID, it may quietly go to work on your body, and viruses love the heart.

First, plan ahead, way ahead. Even with practice, however, the Camino is a walk of life. It is a walk where your focus turns to Nature and just finishing the walk for the day. Some walk 20-25 kilometers a day to finish 100 kilometers in 4-5 days. All along the way, people greet you with “Hola!” to which you return “Hola” or “Buen Camino” – to every stranger, every group who are walking and may walk past you or just walk behind you.

Amit Bagga, CEO of Daryaganj restaurant, shows a freshly prepared butter chicken dish and the lentil dish Dal Makhani inside Daryaganj restaurant at a mall, in Noida, India, January 23, 2024. REUTERS/Sahiba Chawdhary/File PhotoWith new photographic and video evidence, an Indian court battle over the origins of the world famous butter chicken is set to get spicier. That "story of invention of butter chicken does not ring true" and is aimed at misleading the court, Daryaganj said in a new, 642-page counter-filing reviewed by Reuters. Butter chicken is ranked 43rd in a list of world's "best dishes" by TasteAtlas, and bragging rights about who invented it can matter, brand experts said. Its butter chicken dishes start at $8 in New Delhi, and are priced at $23 in New York.

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Friday that he believes every region in the Philippines is beautiful— except for the cities, perhaps. Speaking at the inauguration of the Pagudpud Tourist Rest Area in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte, the President touted the country’s beaches and other nature sites. READ: Marcos sees sustained PPP to boost PH tourismADVERTISEMENT“Maganda talaga masyado ang Pilipinas, kahit saan ka talaga tumingin maganda. Siguro yung mga city lang medyo hindi kasing ganda (The Philippines is too beautiful. There is no place in the Philippines that’s not beautiful, so that is our investment.

A 17-year-old teenager was among 45 women arrested during two anti-prostitution operations in Wan Chai and Yuen Long with all but one found to have a mainland origin. Both operations were jointly conducted by the police and the Immigration Department on Thursday. In the first operation, officers arrested 37 mainland women aged 17 to 57 in Yuen Long for breaching conditions of stay to combat illegal prostitution activities. In the second one, officers raided a number of units on Thomson Road and Lockhart Road and arrested a 21-year-old non-Chinese woman as well as seven mainland women aged 29 to 49 also for breaching conditions of stay. Police said they will step up enforcement against illegal prostitution and called on citizens to report suspicious illegal activities if they encounter any.

Rishi Sunak APSchools in England will be banned from teaching sex education and gender identity to children below nine under new government proposals. It follows concerns over the content of lessons for primary age school children, an education ministry statement said. "That's why I was horrified to hear reports of this happening in our classrooms last year," he added. In addition to a ban on sex education for under nines, the "contested theory of gender identity will not be taught," the ministry added. The move follows a landmark review which last month urged "extreme caution" on prescribing masculinizing or feminizing hormone treatments for young people grappling with gender identity issues.

China's holdings - the most behind Japan's - fell by US$7.6 billion (HK$59.28 billion) to US$767.4 billion. Starting with the February report, the Treasury began including details about how much the changes in a nation's long-term Treasuries holdings were due to movements in prices of the securities. Total overseas holdings of US Treasuries rose by US$119.9 billion to US$8.09 trillion in March. Japan's holdings rose by US$19.9 billion to US$1.19 trillion while the UK's holdings, the third largest, increased by US$26.8 billion to US$728.1 billion, an all-time high. Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields fell by about five basis points in the month.

The government intend to deter locals from chasing extreme weather by imposing fines and imprisonment, said Chief Secretary for Administration Eric Chan Kwok-ki on Thursday. To enhance strategies and measures to cope with extreme weather, a joint press conference was held by the government to prepare for the upcoming typhoon season by strengthening forecast warnings and undertaking emergency and recovery measures. For citizens who refuse to listen to warnings, Chan said the government will take strict enforcement actions and charged them to reach a deterrent effect. Under Secretary for Security Michael Cheuk Hau-yip said rescue workers were deployed 35 times to mountain and water search and rescue over the course of three years under extreme weather. He added that the government would shut down beaches and the country parks during extreme weather, and those breaking the ban will be fined HK$2,000 and jailed for 14 days.

Community fishingFor the record, I am not a fish lover; however, I consider myself a lover of sea and sand. Of course, I was rather surprised by this, considering that the community they serve mostly belong to the blue economy, since fishing was the main source of income. Hence this is why eventually, we thought of how to establish some kind of community fishing and environmental initiative in order to help people out. It is also worth mentioning that while community fishing matters in sustaining communities, commercial fishing is also an integral component to the overall ecosystem. Community fishing is so important because it serves as the foundation of food security and at the same time, fisherfolk are able to participate in management measures that will allow their communities to thrive.

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. on Thursday bared an alternative scheme to bring down the price of rice amid proposals to amend the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL). ADVERTISEMENTMarcos said that if rice prices are high, the government would release cheap rice into the market to force the prices down. While Marcos reiterated that he would certify amendments to the RTL as urgent, he has been speaking to both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The RTL limited the National Food Authority’s role in selling rice. The proposed amendments hope to allow the said agency to sell affordable rice during times of emergency or when prices increase.

Two spam call blocker apps – “CallApp” and “Truecaller” – upload and consolidate information of the entirety of the users’ contacts into the apps’ databases, rendering it available for search by other users, the Consumer Council has found. For CallApp, the council found that it automatically uploads and integrates all contact information into the traders’ databases for other users to perform a “reverse lookup”. Truecaller also accesses and uploads users’ contact lists in a similar manner, but only when the user downloads an APK file from its official website, installs the app, and enables the “Enhanced Search Functionality”. The names and other information of these number holders are also made available for viewing without any need for approval from the relevant people. The privacy policy of CallApp stipulates that users’ personal data and unlisted data will still be stored in the developer’s backup system despite the five years retention period.

According to official data, the net pay trend indicators (PTI) for civil servants in the upper, middle, and lower salary bands are 4.01, 4.32, and 5.47 percent, respectively. Alexa Chow Yee-ping, managing director at recruitment agency ACTS Consulting, said she was surprised by the latest findings in the 2024 Pay Trend Survey Report. Civil servants had their salaries frozen when the economy was bad and the accumulative salary hikes for civil servants in certain ranks still lag behind the inflation rate. Leung Chau-ting, chair of the Federation of Civil Service Unions, hopes the government will increase civil servants’ salaries in accordance with the indicators. Read more: Govt releases latest net pay trend indicators for salary adjustments of civil servants