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Hong Kong

HONG Kong police arrested the chief editor and four executives of the Apple Daily newspaper this week, raiding its newsroom for a second time in the latest blow to the tabloid.

The paper and its jailed owner Jimmy Lai have been a thorn in Beijing’s side with unapologetic support for the pro-democracy movement and scathing criticism of China’s authoritarian leaders.

The public was also warned not to share the articles to avoid breaching security law, Reuters reported.

Police said the raid was sparked by articles Apple Daily had published “appealing for sanctions” against Hong Kong and China’s leaders. | AFP

JAPAN said it would make a vaccine passport available from next month for Japanese travellers, as governments around the world experiment with ways to relaunch tourism and business.

“We are preparing to issue a certificate of vaccination for those who need one... when they visit foreign countries,” top government spokesman Katsunobu Kato told reporters this week, adding that the paper-based certificate would be issued from sometime next month. | AFP

UAE

SOME members of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family are participating in a trial administering China’s Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine to children aged 3-17, the emirate’s media office said.

The trial will monitor the immune response of 900 children “in preparation to vaccinate children in the near future”, Abu Dhabi Media Office said in a Twitter post this week.

The UAE in May approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for emergency use in children aged 12-15.

Dubai, the second-largest member of the UAE federation, started inoculating that age group this month. | Reuters