a senior Hong Kong officials have resigned Carrie Lam’s government is embarrassed as it tries to elevate its relationship with Beijing after attending a karaoke birthday party in violation of the city’s strict “coronavirus” guidelines.

Despite the new Omicron outbreak in the city, Hong Kong’s interior minister, Caspar Tsui, joined 14 other senior officials at the party, including police and immigration chiefs and pro-Beijing lawmakers.

The party news came days after new lawmakers elected in Beijing’s “patriots-only” reform of the political system held their first meeting, but some were unable to attend as the celebrations were quarantined. The reforms eliminated nearly all pro-democracy opposition candidates from the legislature.

at the same time, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Yesterday, senior civil servant Sue Gray published a long-awaited and highly criticised report on party culture at the heart of the UK government, rejecting calls to resign.

Gray’s report, which was heavily rewritten before publication at the request of the Metropolitan Police, criticized the most serious allegations of breaching Covid lockdown measures. But even in watered-down form, the report harshly criticized No. 10 and the Cabinet Office for “failures in leadership and judgment”.this is ours Schedule UK Government social gatherings held during Covid.

what was your reaction Caspar Tsui resigns? And calling for Boris Johnson to step down? share your thoughts [email protected]. Thank you for reading FirstFT Asia. — Emily

Five more stories in the news

1. The U.S. plans to sanction Putin’s inner circle U.S. targets sanctions Vladimir Putin’s inner circle And its relationship with the West, as Washington expands the list of economic penalties it and European allies will impose if Russia invades Ukraine.

• More Russia-Ukraine conflict news: Russia launches savage attack on US for ‘inciting hysteria’ Potential invasion of Ukraine Washington has repeatedly warned Vladimir Putin to prepare for an attack.

2. Sony buys video game maker Bungie for $3.6 billion in a wave of consolidation Taking the gaming world by storm This month, the PlayStation owner has acquired the company behind it halo Franchise. The deal comes less than two weeks after Xbox maker Microsoft agreed to buy video game developer Activision Blizzard for $75 billion.

3. Former BNP Paribas banker wins £2m bonus for sexism In one of the largest rulings by the UK Employment Tribunal, Stacey McCann She will receive £2m in compensation after being paid significantly less than her male colleagues during her four-year tenure at BNP Paribas’ London office.

4. Thailand’s Axis plans to impose a 15% cryptocurrency tax The Southeast Asian country has already scrapped the implementation 15% withholding tax on crypto trading after facing opposition from traders in one of the region’s largest digital currency markets.

• Related Reading: Cryptocurrency prices fluctuated sharply “Unstable” A senior International Monetary Fund official warned about capital flows in emerging markets.

5. After the Olympic construction boom, Chinese ski centers are heavily in debt Chongli County, one of the three major hubs Beijing Winter Olympicsis facing serious financial problems after a debt-fueled investment frenzy in preparation for the Olympics.

coronavirus digest

• This Bachelor’s degree. 2 branches of the Omicron variant Yes more contagious It evades the immune protection afforded by vaccines more than the original version, according to a Danish study.

• almost half we Covid-19 hospitalisations this winter could have been avoided if matched with vaccination coverage in major European countries. FT analysis found.

• Spotify Content advisory warning being added to podcasts discussing Covid-19 as a streaming service Respond to backlash Against its popular host Joe Rogan.

• Winners keep coming exist the company’s America’s Responding to a supply chain crisis after a wave of capacity spending and support for weaker suppliers.

• View: Covid has revealed the limits of states in controlling or understanding powerful natural forces, Ruchir Sharma wrote.

future days

lunar New Year HKEx closed Chinese New Year holiday. It reopened on Friday. Chinese tech stocks rose in a brief session yesterday.

Reserve Bank of Australia The central bank will hold its monthly meeting, in which hawkish tone Expected in the case of soaring inflation.

Indian Union Budget The country’s federal budget is scheduled to be released today, a day later 2021-2022 Economic Survey released. (Economic Times)

income Alphabet, ExxonMobil, General Motors, Lundin Energy, Starbucks, Tele2 and UPS will reported earnings.

what are we still reading

Automation has an unequal cost When humans compete with machines, wages fall and jobs disappear. But in recent decades, something in that relationship has begun to break down. U.S. GDP growth has slowed and inequality has risen. Rana Foroohar discusses why.

Air Taxi: Fantasy or Realistic Promise? Flying cars have made huge strides in the past year, with a group of startups raising more than twice as much money as in the past decade, promising to build “Urban Air Mobility” a reality. But will the boom disappear?

You are viewing a snapshot of an interactive graph. This is most likely due to offline or disabled JavaScript in the browser.

Nestlé’s move to clean up chocolate trade The food company plans to triple its cocoa sustainability funding and make direct payments to African cocoa farmers to eliminate child labor in its supply chain. Gillian Tett writes in our article that there are at least three key points that the wider – non-chocolate – business world should be aware of. Ethical Money Newsletter. register here.

Pakistani startup hopes to break menstrual taboo Many women in Pakistan know nothing about their period. The social media-based project Aurat Raaj did not see menstruation as something shameful, but spread the message: Menstruation is a health care problem.

The paradox that leads professionals to temptation The more professional a manager is, the more likely they are to accept a gift or bribe, Andrew Hill thinksWorse yet, noble professionals may be more prone to unconscious bias against gift givers because they are sure they know how to ignore their rhetoric.

Fashion

Whether it’s outdoor swimming, running or kickboxing – the FT fashion team shares their tried-and-true sportswear tips The Best Cold Weather Workout Gear.