Chinese : Live Updates Every Minute from 25K+ News Agencies Across the Globe
Britain's booming - here's how to cash in: FTSE 250 hits all time high
So will the recovery really boost your portfolio? And which shares are driving the bounce back?
New heights
The FTSE 250 has been on a roll of late, gaining 8 per cent since markets re-opened in January.
The index isn’t short on strong performers, with more than 100 of its members growing by more than 10 per cent in that time.
The biggest winners this year include Cineworld (up 60 per cent), virtual bingo titan Gamesys (up 60 per cent) and services company Mitie (up 55 per cent).
It’s all a long way from last year, when the FTSE 250 suffered a stomach-turning 37 per cent loss during the Covid crash.
So will the recovery really boost your portfolio? And which shares are driving the bounce back?
New heights
The FTSE 250 has been on a roll of late, gaining 8 per cent since markets re-opened in January.
The index isn’t short on strong performers, with more than 100 of its members growing by more than 10 per cent in that time.
The biggest winners this year include Cineworld (up 60 per cent), virtual bingo titan Gamesys (up 60 per cent) and services company Mitie (up 55 per cent).
It’s all a long way from last year, when the FTSE 250 suffered a stomach-turning 37 per cent loss during the Covid crash.
Website Identifies Vaccine Barriers for Asian-Language Speakers

Asian Health Services in Oakland, Calif., unveiled a new website to document incidents of inaccessibility on vaccine websites. The site allows people to make reports in 10 languages other than English.
Overnight Energy: Michigan reps reintroduce measure for national 'forever chemicals' standard | White House says gas tax won't be part of infrastructure bill
HAPPY TUESDAY!!! Welcome to Overnight Energy, your source for the day's energy and environment news.Please send tips and comments to Rachel Frazin at [email protected] . Follow her on Twitter: @RachelFrazin . Reach Zack Budryk at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter: @BudrykZack . Signup for our newsletter and others HERE. Today we're looking at a re-introduced bill aiming to tackle PFAS contamination, the White House saying a gas...
LankaWeb – Chinese Defense Minister's Visit To Sri Lanka In Perspective – Analysis
Posted on April 13th, 2021
The visit has significance due to China’s growing ties with countries in the region and the US policy of containing China through the Quad.
The visit to Sri Lanka of China’s Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe later this month, may be described as a routine ministerial visit”. But seen in light of the developing situation in Sri Lanka and the South Asian and Indian Ocean region, the visit is significant.
China is keen on developing ties with India’s neighbors in South Asia to wean them away from New Delhi. Beijing is effectively using its infrastructural development program under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) towards this end. It is also strengthening its military ties albeit only incrementally so far. At present it is keen to project itself as a benign” power only promoting joint prosperity unlike the Western powers whose aims are imperialistic.
Posted on April 13th, 2021
The visit has significance due to China’s growing ties with countries in the region and the US policy of containing China through the Quad.
The visit to Sri Lanka of China’s Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe later this month, may be described as a routine ministerial visit”. But seen in light of the developing situation in Sri Lanka and the South Asian and Indian Ocean region, the visit is significant.
China is keen on developing ties with India’s neighbors in South Asia to wean them away from New Delhi. Beijing is effectively using its infrastructural development program under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) towards this end. It is also strengthening its military ties albeit only incrementally so far. At present it is keen to project itself as a benign” power only promoting joint prosperity unlike the Western powers whose aims are imperialistic.
The US and the Syrian Issue

More often than not, the US has always been brought up in the context of our earlier articles addressing the Syrian national issue. In all corners of the Syrian\'s issue, the US has a role to bump in. The Syrian file is an American file par excellence. “We cannot withdraw from the Middle East”, says Kissinger, the key architect of the US international policy. “We however need to develop a clear strategy about the nature of our interventions in the region.” He adds. Accordingly, at this stage in history, the US is not a foreign country to the Arabs. No exaggeration, if we would say that it is certainly not an outsider for any country in this world.
'It warmed my heart': How a tiny California town rallied to save its Chinese restaurant

'It warmed my heart': How a tiny California town rallied to save its Chinese restaurant
Share
Updated: 5:10 PM EDT Apr 13, 2021
By Ashley Harrell/SF Gate
Ashley Harrell
SOURCE: Ashley Harrell
Share
Updated: 5:10 PM EDT Apr 13, 2021
By Ashley Harrell/SF Gate
Jenny Wu is trying to give me a lot of stuff for free. She's the owner of The Red Pearl, a beloved Chinese restaurant in downtown Boulder Creek, the gateway to what's left of Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Wu lost her house in the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex fires and temporarily shuttered her restaurant due to the fires and pandemic, and recently her business was robbed. But here she is, shoving extra egg rolls in with my order, and dashing across the restaurant to the refrigerator, insisting I take a soda, or how about two? No charge.It's not just me she does this for. Wu simply loves to feed people, to give more than she gets. She's been running her restaurant like this, treating everyone who comes in like family, for the last 16 years. And her unconditional love for Boulder Creek has, in these difficult times, proven mutual. In Wu's time of need, the 5,000-person mountain town has come to her rescue, and it’s a story that’ll warm the iciest of hearts. The story begins with Wu's journey to Boulder Creek, but finding out about her history is a bit of a challenge. She’s modest, intensely private and prefers not to speak about her own life. But over the course of a few visits to Boulder Creek and conversations on Facebook, she opened up.Wu was raised in China's Sichuan province, she tells me, where much of her large family still lives. One uncle lives in Los Angeles, though, and after Wu finished college at Yibin University, she traveled to California with a dream of opening a restaurant here. To learn the business she worked in Chinese restaurants in LA and Santa Cruz, and eventually she and a friend, a chef named Ren He, became business partners. Related video below: Cincinnati Asian restaurant receives $2,200 donation after disturbing calls and harassmentWhen He and Wu learned that the town of Boulder Creek had no Chinese restaurant in 2006, they opened The Red Pearl in a space downtown on Central Avenue. Although many residents were thrilled to have a Chinese place in the town, a strange thing began to happen: negative posts about the restaurant started popping up on a local news forum and phony orders started coming in.A resident named Chuck Winser did some sleuthing, and eventually connected the posts with a competing Chinese restaurant in Felton, a few towns over. The owner was organizing a campaign to hold on to its customers in Boulder Creek, says Winser, and "once the owner got identified and called out, the harassment ended."Wu was grateful and awarded Winser a generous gift certificate. To express her gratitude to the town, she also started including extra items in customers' orders at no charge. They appreciated the gesture, and they also liked not having to drive 15 minutes to Felton for Chinese meals. Whenever customers showed up at The Red Pearl, Wu always greeted them personally with her sweet smile. Longtime resident and local tree feller Bruce Baker enjoyed picking up his food at The Red Pearl, he says, because Wu always remembered his name and seemed to be giving him special treatment. Then he realized, "she treats everybody special. She remembers everybody's name," he says. "I noticed that many folks were coming in just to say hi to Jenny."Baker also noticed that if someone wanted to eat but didn’t have money, Wu fed them anyway. When regular customers got sick, Wu brought them free food and vitamins. On holidays, anyone who showed up for a meal got it for free.Flash forward to early 2020. Wu was visiting family in Sichuan province when word of the pandemic first surfaced. She was forced to quarantine for two weeks in China, and nearly got stuck there, she says, because China Southern Airlines canceled her flight home. The restaurant had to close, and Wu was so worried she could barely sleep. She called the airline each day and waited for hours on hold while trying to rebook herself, and finally made it back to California.The restaurant was unable to open for several weeks, Wu says. Then in August, fire tore through the Santa Cruz Mountains, devastating the area and burning Wu’s house to the ground. She lost all of her belongings, including family photos, jewelry and jade from her parents and other artifacts she brought from China. She lost a recipe book from her grandmother, and an erhu, a two-stringed ancient instrument that she played.The restaurant closed again for a month and a half while Wu regrouped. She had to deal with insurance and find new lodgings, but she didn’t have to do it alone. When members of the community learned what had happened, they sprang into action to help Wu."Jenny has lost her home in the Santa Cruz mountains due to the fire," customer Meggan Stringent wrote for a GoFundMe campaign. "Now is our chance to show her our appreciation and help her rebuild … We love you, Jenny."That campaign raised $16,470. A second one brought in $2,235. Customers who preferred to make a donation in person showed up to the restaurant and handed Wu hundreds of dollars in cash. Charlie Brown, the owner of a local moving and hauling company, helped Wu find a new house and filled it with complimentary furniture. Another customer, Valerie White, helped take care of Wu's dog Ginger and her cats Mao and Mi."It warmed my heart," Wu says of the efforts.When she was ready, Wu held a pre-opening of The Red Pearl, which essentially involved feeding everyone for a week, for free. Soon after things started to return to normal, though, a change purse with an estimated $1,000 disappeared. And again, the community rallied."Not only has Jenny continued to keep us fed with her delicious food after she lost her home and everything in the CZU fire this past summer, she was just robbed of $1,000 in cash," customer Mark Maslowski wrote in a new GoFundMe campaign. "I'm calling on all of those in to pitch in and donate a little something to help."The campaign raised $6,890, and the "love story" about Wu and Boulder Creek got picked up by NBC Bay Area.In the months since, business has boomed at The Red Pearl, with customers going out of their way to patronize it as often as possible. They certainly enjoy the Singapore rice noodles, the apricot almond chicken and the vegan egg rolls (which recently won an award from a local newspaper), but the truth is they come for Wu, and they stay for her."Jenny exudes kindness, compassion and goes out of her way to make others happy," says customer Dawn Smith. "Her food is amazing, and Boulder Creek would just not be the same without Jenny Wu and the Red Pearl."
'It warmed my heart': How a tiny California town rallied to save its Chinese restaurant
Share
Updated: 5:10 PM EDT Apr 13, 2021
By Ashley Harrell/SF Gate
Ashley Harrell
SOURCE: Ashley Harrell
Share
Updated: 5:10 PM EDT Apr 13, 2021
By Ashley Harrell/SF Gate
Jenny Wu is trying to give me a lot of stuff for free. She's the owner of The Red Pearl, a beloved Chinese restaurant in downtown Boulder Creek, the gateway to what's left of Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Wu lost her house in the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex fires and temporarily shuttered her restaurant due to the fires and pandemic, and recently her business was robbed. But here she is, shoving extra egg rolls in with my order, and dashing across the restaurant to the refrigerator, insisting I take a soda, or how about two? No charge.It's not just me she does this for. Wu simply loves to feed people, to give more than she gets. She's been running her restaurant like this, treating everyone who comes in like family, for the last 16 years. And her unconditional love for Boulder Creek has, in these difficult times, proven mutual. In Wu's time of need, the 5,000-person mountain town has come to her rescue, and it’s a story that’ll warm the iciest of hearts. The story begins with Wu's journey to Boulder Creek, but finding out about her history is a bit of a challenge. She’s modest, intensely private and prefers not to speak about her own life. But over the course of a few visits to Boulder Creek and conversations on Facebook, she opened up.Wu was raised in China's Sichuan province, she tells me, where much of her large family still lives. One uncle lives in Los Angeles, though, and after Wu finished college at Yibin University, she traveled to California with a dream of opening a restaurant here. To learn the business she worked in Chinese restaurants in LA and Santa Cruz, and eventually she and a friend, a chef named Ren He, became business partners. Related video below: Cincinnati Asian restaurant receives $2,200 donation after disturbing calls and harassmentWhen He and Wu learned that the town of Boulder Creek had no Chinese restaurant in 2006, they opened The Red Pearl in a space downtown on Central Avenue. Although many residents were thrilled to have a Chinese place in the town, a strange thing began to happen: negative posts about the restaurant started popping up on a local news forum and phony orders started coming in.A resident named Chuck Winser did some sleuthing, and eventually connected the posts with a competing Chinese restaurant in Felton, a few towns over. The owner was organizing a campaign to hold on to its customers in Boulder Creek, says Winser, and "once the owner got identified and called out, the harassment ended."Wu was grateful and awarded Winser a generous gift certificate. To express her gratitude to the town, she also started including extra items in customers' orders at no charge. They appreciated the gesture, and they also liked not having to drive 15 minutes to Felton for Chinese meals. Whenever customers showed up at The Red Pearl, Wu always greeted them personally with her sweet smile. Longtime resident and local tree feller Bruce Baker enjoyed picking up his food at The Red Pearl, he says, because Wu always remembered his name and seemed to be giving him special treatment. Then he realized, "she treats everybody special. She remembers everybody's name," he says. "I noticed that many folks were coming in just to say hi to Jenny."Baker also noticed that if someone wanted to eat but didn’t have money, Wu fed them anyway. When regular customers got sick, Wu brought them free food and vitamins. On holidays, anyone who showed up for a meal got it for free.Flash forward to early 2020. Wu was visiting family in Sichuan province when word of the pandemic first surfaced. She was forced to quarantine for two weeks in China, and nearly got stuck there, she says, because China Southern Airlines canceled her flight home. The restaurant had to close, and Wu was so worried she could barely sleep. She called the airline each day and waited for hours on hold while trying to rebook herself, and finally made it back to California.The restaurant was unable to open for several weeks, Wu says. Then in August, fire tore through the Santa Cruz Mountains, devastating the area and burning Wu’s house to the ground. She lost all of her belongings, including family photos, jewelry and jade from her parents and other artifacts she brought from China. She lost a recipe book from her grandmother, and an erhu, a two-stringed ancient instrument that she played.The restaurant closed again for a month and a half while Wu regrouped. She had to deal with insurance and find new lodgings, but she didn’t have to do it alone. When members of the community learned what had happened, they sprang into action to help Wu."Jenny has lost her home in the Santa Cruz mountains due to the fire," customer Meggan Stringent wrote for a GoFundMe campaign. "Now is our chance to show her our appreciation and help her rebuild … We love you, Jenny."That campaign raised $16,470. A second one brought in $2,235. Customers who preferred to make a donation in person showed up to the restaurant and handed Wu hundreds of dollars in cash. Charlie Brown, the owner of a local moving and hauling company, helped Wu find a new house and filled it with complimentary furniture. Another customer, Valerie White, helped take care of Wu's dog Ginger and her cats Mao and Mi."It warmed my heart," Wu says of the efforts.When she was ready, Wu held a pre-opening of The Red Pearl, which essentially involved feeding everyone for a week, for free. Soon after things started to return to normal, though, a change purse with an estimated $1,000 disappeared. And again, the community rallied."Not only has Jenny continued to keep us fed with her delicious food after she lost her home and everything in the CZU fire this past summer, she was just robbed of $1,000 in cash," customer Mark Maslowski wrote in a new GoFundMe campaign. "I'm calling on all of those in to pitch in and donate a little something to help."The campaign raised $6,890, and the "love story" about Wu and Boulder Creek got picked up by NBC Bay Area.In the months since, business has boomed at The Red Pearl, with customers going out of their way to patronize it as often as possible. They certainly enjoy the Singapore rice noodles, the apricot almond chicken and the vegan egg rolls (which recently won an award from a local newspaper), but the truth is they come for Wu, and they stay for her."Jenny exudes kindness, compassion and goes out of her way to make others happy," says customer Dawn Smith. "Her food is amazing, and Boulder Creek would just not be the same without Jenny Wu and the Red Pearl."
GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks slip from record highs before U.S. bank earnings
The dollar slipped on Monday and a gauge of global equity markets slid from record highs last week as investors wait to see whether an expected jump in U.S. earnings will justify stock prices already trading at very high premiums.
[Full text] Silencing of Long Non-Coding RNA HOTAIR Alleviates Epithelial–Me
Silencing of Long Non-Coding RNA HOTAIR Alleviates Epithelial–Mesenchymal Transition in Pancreatic Cancer via the Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Pathway
TikTok's 38-year-old founder emerges from turmoil with a growing fortune
For all the obstacles it has faced over the past year, TikTok’s owner ByteDance has kept growing. Now its founder, 38-year-old Zhang Yiming, is among the world’s richest people - a distinction that lately has carried increased risks in China.
With Afghan pullout, Biden aims to reset global agenda
Biden watched three presidents fail to end a war he saw as distracting from bigger threats like China and Russia. Now he’s pulling the plug.
Forensics and ship logs solve a 200-year mystery about where the first kiwi specimen was collected
Māori treasure kiwi feathers for weaving cloaks for high-ranking people. But the bird's first description by European scientists is quite recent, based on a specimen that arrived in London in 1812.
Apollo Bay restaurants gutted by fire as about 20 people forced to evacuate motel
A number of restaurants have been gutted by fire in Apollo Bay, Victoria.
Highlights of China's Supreme Court's new Interpretation on punitive damages in IP cases | Hogan Lovells

The new Interpretation provides flesh to the bare bones of the provisions on punitive damages contained in China’s specific IP laws, which largely omit details on their specific...
More Than a Threat: China Collects Americans' DNA

More Than a Threat: China Collects Americans’ DNA
Commentary
In the past few years, the United States has come to the realization and consensus that China, with its ambition to achieve global domination and its complete disregard for ethics and humanity, has become the number one threat to the United States and the rest of the free world.
Espionage by China has long been a known threat, and each day the world learns a little bit more about the extensive reach of China’s information theft in many territories. The most recent discovery is that China has been openly and discreetly collecting America’s health care data, notably the DNA of the American people.
More Than a Threat: China Collects Americans’ DNA
Commentary
In the past few years, the United States has come to the realization and consensus that China, with its ambition to achieve global domination and its complete disregard for ethics and humanity, has become the number one threat to the United States and the rest of the free world.
Espionage by China has long been a known threat, and each day the world learns a little bit more about the extensive reach of China’s information theft in many territories. The most recent discovery is that China has been openly and discreetly collecting America’s health care data, notably the DNA of the American people.
With Afghan Decision, Biden Seeks to Focus U.S. on New Challenges

With Afghan Decision, Biden Seeks to Focus U.S. on New Challenges
The president’s choice to set a firm date for a full withdrawal reflected a belief that the priorities of 2021 require moving on from policies set in 2001.
In setting a firm timetable for withdrawal, President Biden signaled that he wanted the United States to focus on new priorities like fighting poverty and racial inequities.Credit...Pete Marovich for The New York Times
April 13, 2021, 7:27 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON — President Biden’s decision to pull all American troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 was rooted in his belief that there is no room for continuing 20 years of failed efforts to remake that country, especially at a moment when he wants the United States focused on a transformational economic and social agenda at home and other fast-evolving threats from abroad.
With Afghan Decision, Biden Seeks to Focus U.S. on New Challenges
The president’s choice to set a firm date for a full withdrawal reflected a belief that the priorities of 2021 require moving on from policies set in 2001.
In setting a firm timetable for withdrawal, President Biden signaled that he wanted the United States to focus on new priorities like fighting poverty and racial inequities.Credit...Pete Marovich for The New York Times
April 13, 2021, 7:27 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON — President Biden’s decision to pull all American troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 was rooted in his belief that there is no room for continuing 20 years of failed efforts to remake that country, especially at a moment when he wants the United States focused on a transformational economic and social agenda at home and other fast-evolving threats from abroad.
Top Tory blasts Boris Johnson's failure to hit back at China's attacks on MPs
A TOP Tory has unleashed a blistering attack on Boris Johnson’s failure to hit back at Communist China’s attacks on British MPs.Tom Tugendhat –
Premia Partners announces listing of Hong Kong's first USD high yield bond ETF and in collaboration with BOCHK Asset Management Limited globally
Premia Partners announces listing of Hong Kong's first USD high yield bond ETF and in collaboration with BOCHK Asset Management Limited globally
14 aprile 2021 | 00.00
the first ETF for long duration Chinese government bonds
HONG KONG, April 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Premia Partners, a leading ETF provider in Hong Kong, announces today listing of two China bond ETFs at HKEx.
These physically replicated ETFs offer cost-efficient, unique and convenient access to the sweet spots in offshore China USD bond and onshoreChina government bond (CGB) markets.
*As of April 14
th 2021
"We are delighted to launch these unique ETFs that offer attractive risk-adjusted returns in this low yield environment," said Rebecca Chua, Managing Partner of Premia Partners. "Now without opening onshore China bond accounts, investors can conveniently access long duration CGBs onshore and high yield USD China bonds offshore through HKEx, and without stamp duty, withholding or capital gains tax."
Premia Partners announces listing of Hong Kong's first USD high yield bond ETF and in collaboration with BOCHK Asset Management Limited globally
14 aprile 2021 | 00.00
the first ETF for long duration Chinese government bonds
HONG KONG, April 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Premia Partners, a leading ETF provider in Hong Kong, announces today listing of two China bond ETFs at HKEx.
These physically replicated ETFs offer cost-efficient, unique and convenient access to the sweet spots in offshore China USD bond and onshoreChina government bond (CGB) markets.
*As of April 14
th 2021
"We are delighted to launch these unique ETFs that offer attractive risk-adjusted returns in this low yield environment," said Rebecca Chua, Managing Partner of Premia Partners. "Now without opening onshore China bond accounts, investors can conveniently access long duration CGBs onshore and high yield USD China bonds offshore through HKEx, and without stamp duty, withholding or capital gains tax."
Ghana star Wakaso opens up on leaving Jiangsu Suning for Shenzhen
Ghana international Mubarak Wakaso has revealed the bankruptcy of his former club Jiangsu Suning forced him to move to Shenzhen FC.
Gmail safer than parliament's system, spies told Tom Tugendhat | News

A senior MP has claimed that spies at GCHQ told him parliament’s email system was less secure than Google’s gmail service as he warned that China was attacking the UK’s democracy.Tom Tugendhat
China warns US to stop 'playing with fire' on Taiwan
