Hong Kong warns WSJ of 'incitement' in editorial

Hong Kong's government has warned the Wall Street Journal it may have broken the law by publishing an editorial that said casting blank ballots was one of the "last ways" for residents to voice dissent. The warning letter, which the US media outlet published yesterday, comes as China's ruling Communist Party transforms the business hub into something more closely resembling the authoritarian mainland. Erick Tsang, Hong Kong's Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, took exception to an editorial the Journal ran last week titled: "Hong Kong Says Vote -- or Else". The editorial previewed the city's upcoming legislature election slated for this month that reduces Hong Kong's already limited democratic opportunities.

Scholz names Germany's first gender-equal cabinet

Olaf Scholz, due to be elected this week to succeed Angela Merkel as German chancellor, yesterday named the country's first gender-balanced cabinet, with women taking key security portfolios. Scholz, a Social Democrat (SPD), unveiled his party's line-up for the first government led by the centre-left in 16 years, with outspoken pandemic expert Karl Lauterbach tapped as health minister. "Equality is important to me and that is why of 16 ministers there will be eight men and eight women," said Scholz, who describes himself as a "feminist". After the Greens, partners in the incoming coalition government, named their co-leader Annalena Baerbock as foreign minister, the SPD's Christine Lambrecht, until now justice minister, will take on the defence brief.

US Congressman condemned for Christmas guns photo

A US congressman is under fire for posting a picture of his family smiling and holding guns in front of a Christmas tree days after a deadly school shooting rocked the country. Thomas Massie, a representative for the staunchly Republican state of Kentucky, posted the photo of himself and six members of his family, each grinning and gripping a gun, on Saturday with the words "Merry Christmas! ps. Santa, please bring ammo." The post triggered a swift outcry, with parents of school shooting victims and fellow lawmakers accusing Massie of insensitivity days after a teenager shot dead four fellow high school students in Oxford, Michigan. "Disgraceful," wrote John Yarmuth, a Democratic congressman from Kentucky, saying such messages from pro-gun Republicans "openly rub the murder of children in our faces like they scored a touchdown."