Flagship

HK law threatens global standing

Hong Kong passed a sweeping new national security law that threatens civil liberties and the city’s standing as an international business and finance hub. The law — which was approved in just 11 days, the shortest time period for any bill since Hong Kong returned to Chinese control in 1997 — reinforces Beijing’s grip on the city. It targets offenses deemed as threats to national security, including espionage and treason, potentially chilling the work of journalists, diplomats, and academics. It could also hurt Hong Kong’s status as a place “open for business,” a U.S.-based China law professor said, while a Harvard expert told The New York Times that Hong Kong’s “comparative advantage is less clear than it once was for many businesses.”

China, Russia, Iran get chummy

China and Iran congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin’s sham reelection, reflecting the closer economic ties among the three countries. In the last few years, China has imported more Iranian and Russian oil; Russia bought more Chinese goods and cars; and Iran sold more drones and oil to Russia, according to The Economist. The alliance reflects their joint support “for a multipolar world no longer dominated by America. … For America and its allies, this is the stuff of nightmares.” But it’s more likely the entente “serves China’s interests, rather than becoming a true partnership,” the outlet wrote. Putin is set to visit China in May, Reuters reported.

The movie dividing Russia

A new film adaptation of the Soviet-era novel The Master and Margarita surged to the top of the Russian box office in January, “setting Russian society aflame.” Writer Mikhail Bulgakov’s satirical story of the devil visiting the Soviet Union was heavily censored when it was published in the 1960s. The latest adaptation received millions in government funding and was filmed before Russia invaded Ukraine. It’s “rich with poignant nods to the present day. Scenes depicting patriotic parades steeped in Soviet propaganda evoke strong parallels to Kremlin’s contemporary Red Square marches,” Literary Hub wrote. Despite a rapturous reception from audiences, pro-Kremlin propagandists denounced American director Michael Lockshin’s anti-war stance, with one calling for him to be charged.

Chinese hospitals end newborn services

More Chinese hospitals are shutting down their newborn delivery services due to a lack of demand stemming from a declining population and birth rate. At least four hospitals across three provinces announced the closure of their obstetrics departments in the last month alone, a Semafor review found. The declining population — which fell for a second consecutive year in 2023 — is forcing hospitals to sacrifice once-vital services to prioritize its aging citizens, as the government struggles to convince women to have more babies. South Korea is facing a similar crisis: Fewer medical students are choosing to specialize in women’s health, shuttering delivery rooms across the country.

Bolsonaro indicted over vaccine record

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was indicted Tuesday for allegedly falsifying his own COVID-19 vaccine record before a U.S. trip in 2022. Bolsonaro’s reign of “scientific denialism” — he railed against vaccines and pandemic restrictions — led vaccination rates to fall even after he left office, with disastrous public health consequences, the country’s health minister warned. These are his first potential criminal charges; Bolsonaro is also banned from running for office over his involvement in sowing doubt about the country’s elections before his supporters’ anti-democratic uprising last year. But Bolsonaro’s popularity endures, and arresting him would “generate a commotion,” potentially influencing upcoming municipal elections, an editorial in Brazil’s Universo Online warned.

Texas wins immigration clash

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday let Texas temporarily enforce a controversial immigration law allowing local police to arrest people suspected of entering the country illegally — a setback for the Biden administration in a presidential election year where immigration is a central issue. The White House has argued that only federal authorities can arrest migrants, while Texas cites a federal law saying states can engage in war when “invaded.” A federal judge earlier said he saw no evidence of a war in Texas, and a liberal Supreme Court justice warned the law could “sow chaos.” Immigration advocates fear the legislation will increase racial profiling; a leading U.S. civil liberties group deemed it the “most extreme anti-immigrant laws ever passed.”

Asia dominates most-polluted list

Ninety-nine of the 100 cities with the world’s highest air pollution levels last year were in Asia, according to a new report measuring exposure to fine particulate matter, tiny pieces of soot that pose health risks. More than 80 of those cities were in India, the IQAir report found. The world’s air is generally cleaner than it was in the past century, but a pickup in post-pandemic economic activity and extensive wildfire smoke worsened air quality in places like China, where particle pollution levels rose 6.5%. “Unfortunately things have gone backwards,” the CEO of IQAir’s North American division said. Only seven countries globally — Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius, and New Zealand — meet the World Health Organization’s air quality guidelines.

Saudi’s non-oil economic success

Saudi Arabia’s non-oil economy accounted for half its GDP for the first time in 2023. The kingdom is the world’s third-largest oil producer, but a 57% surge in investment over the last two years drove the value of its non-oil economy to $453 billion, according to Saudi government statistics, boosted by growth in tourism, arts, and entertainment. In 2021, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman declared a goal of diversifying the Saudi economy by 2030, including ramping up renewable energy and attracting overseas investment: The government will take this milestone as a sign of success. Other Gulf states are also seeing positive growth in their non-oil sectors, OilPrice.com reported.

Sen. Michael Bennet; Sen. Ron Wyden; Kevin Scott, CTO, Microsoft; John Waldron, President & COO, Goldman Sachs; Tom Lue, General Counsel, Google DeepMind; Nicolas Kazadi, Finance Minister, DR Congo and Jeetu Patel, EVP and General Manager, Security & Collaboration, Cisco have joined the world class line-up of global economic leaders for the 2024 World Economy Summit, taking place in Washington, D.C. on April 17-18. See all speakers and sessions, and RSVP here.

Number of plumbers plummeting

The U.S. is facing a plumber shortage. About half a million Americans are in the business, and earn $65,000 a year on average, which is above the national median. But fewer people are joining the trade than are retiring each year, driving up costs and time for both construction and maintenance — to the tune of $33 billion in 2022, analysis suggested. The job’s perception as “physically arduous dirty work with long hours,” according to Bloomberg, may be part of the problem. But it is also somewhat future-proofed: One trainee said he took it up over welding, because “I didn’t see any plumbing being done by robots.”

Aussie snake catchers in demand

The snake-catching business in Queensland, Australia is thriving thanks to warming temperatures. Most snakes enter a sort of hibernation phase called “brumation” during the cooler months — traditionally April to September in subtropical southern Queensland. But brumation has shrunk as the climate has warmed, and snakes and humans now have more time together. Southern Queensland’s growing population is also increasingly treading on snake territory. One snake catcher told The New York Times that his winter break has grown shorter and he now sometimes gets 35 calls a day. While Australia only sees about two fatal snake bites a year — and snakes are legally protected — people are still scared: The Times reported that many older citizens still think “The only good snake is a dead snake.”

March 20:

• Gaming industry leaders across Asia convene in Manila for the annual ASEAN Gaming Summit.
• South Korea hosts a Major League Baseball regular-season game — a season opener between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres — for the first time.
• Draws for the Olympic men’s and women’s soccer tournaments take place in Paris.

The epic Indian historical action movie RRR has been continuously running in Japanese theaters for nearly a year and a half after its release. Tickets for a Japanese screening Monday of the Telugu-language film — a high-octane tale about two Indian revolutionaries, featuring an Oscar-winning dance number — sold out in a minute after director SS Rajamouli was confirmed to attend. Rajamouli, whose 2017 film Baahubali 2 ran for a year in Japan, received a hero’s welcome in Tokyo. Japanese audiences “find that Indian films, especially RRR, are completely different from the films they normally watch and it has tremendous energy, which makes them feel refreshed,” a local film distributor told Variety.

• How Donald Trump learned to love the January 6 prisoner movement.
• Damaged undersea cables disrupting Africa’s internet will take weeks to repair.
• Key senator criticizes Mnuchin’s TikTok bid, ties to Gulf money.