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After a weekend of confrontations between officials and demonstrators, video from two sites in Shanghai and Beijing showed a heavy security presence. Here’s the latest on the situation.

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are Georgia’s fastest-growing ethnic group, according to the 2020 US Census.

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are Georgia’s fastest-growing ethnic group, according to the 2020 US Census.

Dozens of protesters gathered in Hong Kong in solidarity with anti-lockdown demonstrations in mainland China. The protest was held to commemorate the 10 people who died in a fire in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang region, and show solidarity with the protests that took place over the weekend in cities across China against stringent Covid-19 measures.
Hong Kong police warned some protesters for violating a ban on gatherings of groups of 12 or more people and cordoned off the area to record protesters' identities. They were then allowed to leave

Harsh coronavirus controls have prompted an extraordinary outpouring of discontent across the country

The extraordinary outbreak of unrest that spread through China is of a kind that for decades. Protests are , given the limited means for people to express their views, but are usually local incidents based on specific grievances. While there have been larger individual protests in the recent past, these have rapidly sprung up across major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan and Chengdu, and now Hong Kong. They have taken place in prestigious universities too.
They challenge a zero-Covid policy that comes from the very top. And though many protesters are cautious or silent – holding up to express their dissent – some have called for human rights, press freedom and even the departure of Xi Jinping and the Communist party, only weeks after Mr Xi and thus indefinite leadership. Such calls were an incredible act of defiance given the country’s increasingly tight political control.

The regulator seems to think it will be able to spot trouble in time to avoid more costs being piled on to consumers
In the end, , but the very fact it contemplated doing so should serve as a reminder, in case anybody had forgotten during the mild autumn, that the supply crisis hasn’t gone away, that prices are volatile and that all parts of the energy system may be about to be severely tested again.
At the retail end of the energy market, remember, about 29 suppliers went bust between mid-2021 and early 2022, dumping £2.6bn of costs on to consumers even before we count the possible £6.5bn whack from . So you’d think Ofgem, a regulator that admits its pre-crisis approach to suppliers “led to low financial barriers to entry and light regulation of financial risks”, would opt for an abundance of caution in .

Immigration minister confirms 50 cases of diphtheria linked to Manston asylum accommodation. This live blog is closed
A House of Lords committee has delivered of the measures in the autumn statement for adult social care.
Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, announced by 2024-25. But, in an open letter to Hunt and Steve Barclay, the health secretary, the Lords adult social care committee chair, Lady Andrews, said that this was less than the £7bn that Hunt himself said adult social care needed when he was chair of the Commons health committee.
Increasing funding through council tax is a regressive solution, which will not allow for a properly and sustainably funded system. It does not translate as ring-fenced investment dedicated to adult social care. It is likely to create further inequalities from one locality to the next. In short, it is not a long-term plan for funding.
Equally regressive is the government’s decision to delay the long overdue cap on care costs and extension to the means test. Although this is intended to unlock more funding for local authorities and provide them with breathing space, it also reflects the lack of a coherent strategy across adult social care. Delaying one policy to support another will ultimately compound problems; and it certainly does not allow for any priority to be given to choice, control and equality in the provision of adult social care.
I suspect you may have identified a ninth [MP], although it hasn’t been announced, with my colleague, Matt Hancock.

The economic outlook for China is not good however its leaders respond to anti-lockdown protests
For much of the world there has been hope for some time that the worst economic shocks from the Covid pandemic are in the rearview mirror. In China, however, there are important reminders that risks to the world economy still remain.
Three years since the virus first spread, against the Beijing government’s strict zero-Covid policies have reignited concerns in financial markets over the economic costs of the pandemic. Global oil prices have , while the Chinese yuan and stock markets across Asia have taken a hammering.

Lawmakers announced Monday they have formally created the Georgia Legislative Asian American Pacific Islander Caucus. The bipartisan caucus will be made up of members from Georgia's House and Senate ...

From Xinjiang to Shanghai and Beijing, protests are creating a rare sense of unity that Xi Jinping cannot afford to allow
China’s heavy-handed was intended to save lives. Now, it’s having devastating consequences. Last week, a fire , including children, in a tower block in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. As ever in China, official numbers are unreliable, and the true number of casualties may be much higher. It’s clear that the citizens now blame the tragedy on the lockdown, despite the claims of local officials that fire escapes in the building were not locked. Horrific videos of the fire show emergency services attempting in vain to douse the flames from beyond a roadblock, while victims scream from the windows pleading for somebody to open the doors of their apartments.
For once, the suffering of Xinjiang’s people seems to have evoked widespread empathy among China’s wider populace. When Uyghur demonstrations in Urumqi were crushed by police and security services in 2009, it evoked little sympathy from China’s ethnic Han majority. Instead, the demonstrations precipitated a wave of ethnic violence, accompanied by calls across the Chinese internet for severe punishment for the demonstrators. Similarly, the intense crackdown on Uyghur society that has been going on since 2017 – involving mass incarcerations, and the destruction of communities – was largely dismissed by the rest of the Chinese populace as a necessary measure to control a defiant and restive minority.
Dr James McMurray is a research associate in anthropology and a member of the Asia Centre at the University of Sussex

Barriers erected on street where demonstrations have been held against rigid coronavirus policies
Chinese police have launched a show of force across the country in an effort to head off further protests against the government’s rigid zero-Covid policies and tackle what have become the most extraordinary acts of civil disobedience in the country for decades.
Dozens of police cars lined the streets around a central Beijing subway station and patrolled surrounding blocks on Monday evening, while uniformed and plain-clothed officers stood guard at station exits and stopped passersby for questioning. Hours after the scheduled start of a protest organised via encrypted messaging apps there were few apparent participants.

WTO’s trade goods barometer has fallen below trend as demand weakens
The “unprecedented waves of protest in China” have caused ripples of unease across financial markets, explains Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Worries are mounting about the repercussions for the world’s second-largest economy, she explains:
As demonstrations spread across the country from Beijing to Xinjiang and Shanghai, reflecting rising anger about the zero-Covid policy, a sustained recovery in demand across the vast country appears even further away.
This has piled fresh downwards pressure on the oil price, with Brent Crude dropping to $81 a barrel, the lowest level since early January.
We’re really looking at the government response to what’s happening ... the government response is so unpredictable, and of course that just means derisking.