Author: George Lanington

They stuck it out during the political protests of 2019.Then they lasted through nearly two years of pandemic.But this year, they say they've had enough.Residents of Hong Kong are leaving the city in droves in 2022 — not because they want to, several told CNBC, but because Covid restrictions and what they see as an erosion of democratic norms are pushing them to leave.A surge in departures is accelerating a "brain drain" of professional talent — a situation which hit fever pitch around March, as omicron-driven Covid cases skyrocketed across the city.Now Hong Kong's ever-chipper lifestyle websites, once dominated by articles about the city's best dim sum and foot massages parlors, are focusing on moving-to-do lists and farewell gift guides.'Absolute mass exodus'The office of Hong Kong Ch...

Test tubes labeled "Monkeypox virus positive and negative" are seen in this illustration taken May 23, 2022. Given Ruvic | ReutersA recent monkeypox outbreak across the US, Europe, Australia and the Middle East have baffled health experts and are raising concerns of a wider outbreak.As of Wednesday, there were 346 confirmed and suspected cases in 22 countries outside of Africa, where the virus is endemic, according to Our World in Data.It marks the first known community spread of the virus. Prior to this outbreak, cases had been linked to travel to regions where the virus is endemic or imported animals carrying the virus.The majority of new cases have spread through sex, with a particular concentration among men who have sex with other men. However, the World Health Organization has ...

Javier AnsorenaFOLLOW, CONTINUE Updated:05/27/2022 07:10 a.m. Save Related newsOnly 72 hours after Salvador Ramos opened fire with an assault rifle against a class at a school in Uvalde (Texas), this Friday the annual celebration of the National Rifle Association (NRA, in its acronym in English), the great 'lobby' of weapons. It will also do so in the main city of that same state: in Houston, a little less than five hours by car from the place where this 18-year-old, with mental and sociability problems, killed 19 children and their two teachers with a weapon bought in a store, like someone who goes to buy a book.The annual meeting of the NRA is the great event for its members and leaders.It is held in a large convention center in Houston, c...

The grief is visible on almost every corner in Uvalde, Texas: in the faces of the school-aged kids who are no longer in the classroom and the mournful messages written on the backs of vehicles: “Annabell Rodriguez, daddy missing u.”Three days after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb elementary, a loss and a sense of deep confusion hangs over this small ranching town like a shadow. “I feel a big heavy cloud right now,” said Jose Cazares, the uncle of Jackie Cazares, who died in the shooting. "It's not the same."The killings have touched nearly everyone in the community of 16,000 people, which is largely Latino, and left residents struggling to come to grips with what happened and support their bereaved friends and neighbors.“What do you say? What do you do? said Jus...

Zelenskiy accuses Moscow of carrying out 'genocide' in DonbasUkraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Moscow of carrying out a “genocide” in the eastern region of Donbas, where the city of Sievierodonetsk is suffering an onslaught of Russian shelling.Zelenskiy said Russia's brutal assault on the Donbas could leave the entire region “uninhabited” during his latest national address.The current offensive of the occupiers in Donbas can make the region uninhabited. They want to burn Popasna, Bakhmut, Lyman, Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk to ashes. Like Volnovakha, like Mariupol. In cities and communities closer to the Russian border, in Donetsk and Luhansk, they gather everyone they can to fill the place of those killed and wounded in the occupation contingent. All this, i...