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Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, from which many workers have fled, now under seven-day Covid lockdown
Chinese authorities have announced a seven-day coronavirus lockdown in the area around the world’s largest iPhone factory, stoking concern that production will be severely curtailed ahead of the Christmas period.
Foxconn’s plant in Zhengzhou, which employs about 200,000 people, produces the majority of Apple’s new phones, including the new iPhone 14.

State regulator tightens advertising rules to align society with ‘core socialist values’
China has banned all celebrities from endorsing a range of products and banned those with “lapsed morals” from endorsing anything, as part of an ongoing drive to align society with “core socialist values”.
The regulations, announced by state regulators this week, bar Chinese celebrities from publicly endorsing or advertising health, education and financial commodities, including e-cigarettes and baby formula.

In mailers and TV ads, GOP groups and candidates have tailored broad criticisms of crime, schools and left-wing politics to an Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community rattled by anti ...

Asian-American advocates are optimistic the Supreme Court will rule against universities that use race-based admissions and end the practice once and for all. The Supreme Court on Monday heard two ...

I was a young Asian American college student in California, who worked with Chicano/Latino and Black students statewide to protest the first major attack on minority admissions. This grew out of a ...

the lowest within the Asian American community. In some parts of the country, members of the group made an impact on some school districts. In San Francisco, for example, many Chinese Americans ...

Among Chinese Americans, support for affirmative action is at 59%, the lowest within the Asian American community. In some parts of the country, members of the group made an impact on some school ...

As the Supreme Court weighs two high-profile cases challenging affirmative action, a vocal minority of Asian Americans continues to impact public debate.

Residents claim Zhengzhou authorities are trying to avoid scrutiny of Covid lockdown’s severity
Authorities in Zhengzhou have been accused of “performative lockdown lifting” after they partially lifted restrictions amid growing pressure from residents and the reported arrival of state media.
An almost month-long lockdown in the Chinese city of about 12 million people had prompted complaints of arduous conditions, sometimes violent enforcement, inadequate medical care, and worsening mental health. But a sudden decision to ease restrictions on Tuesday was greeted by some residents with scepticism and anger.

Apple supplier Foxconn raises daily bonuses to $55 to ease discontent after strict Covid measures prompted some workers to flee the site
Apple supplier Foxconn said it has quadrupled bonuses on offer for workers at its Zhengzhou plant in central China as it seeks to and retain staff at the giant iPhone manufacturing site.
Daily bonuses for employees, who are part of a Foxconn unit responsible for making electronics including smartphones at the site, have been raised to 400 yuan ($55) a day for November from 100 yuan, according to the official WeChat account of Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant.

Researchers say change could be result of selection pressures as human hunters preferred to target animals with larger horns
Rhinoceros horns have become shorter over the last century, researchers have found, adding the development could be a result of hunters and targeting larger prizes.
Rhino horns were much sought after among hunters over the centuries, while modern poachers sell them for use in traditional medicines in China and Vietnam.

As the world faces the worst debt crisis in decades, the need for a global lender of last resort is clearer than ever. But many nations view the IMF as overbearing, or even neocolonial – and are now looking elsewhere for help
Last summer, after months of unusually heavy monsoon rains, and temperatures that approached the , Pakistan – home to thousands of melting Himalayan glaciers – experienced some of the worst floods in its history. The most extensive destruction was in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan, but some that up to a third of the country was submerged. The floods killed more than 1,700 people and displaced a further – more than the entire population of Australia. Some of the country’s most fertile agricultural areas became giant lakes, drowning livestock and destroying crops and infrastructure. The cost of the disaster now runs to tens of billions of dollars.
In late August, as the scale of this catastrophe was becoming clear, the Pakistani government was trying to avert a second disaster. It was finally reaching a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to avoid missing payment on its foreign debt. Without this agreement, Pakistan would likely have been declared in default – an event that can spark a recession, weaken a country’s long-term growth, and make it more difficult to borrow at affordable rates in the future. The terms of the deal were painful: the government was IMF bailout only after it demonstrated a to undertaking unpopular austerity policies, such as slashing energy subsidies. But the recent fate of another south Asian country appeared to show what happens if you put off the IMF for too long. Only weeks before, the Sri Lankan government, shortly after its own default – and of refusing to implement IMF-demanded reforms – in a popular uprising.