World News

Marium, an orphaned dugong cared for by biologists in southern Thailand, had what it takes to win over the Internet. Few could resist pictures and videos of the button-eyed mammal being fed sea grass and bottled milk and even being cuddled by her caregivers, all while seeming to wear a satisfied smile.

It may be strange for tourists to land in Hong Kong to find throngs of impassioned protesters. They might wonder: What do they expect me to do about the Chinese government?

Tourists come from all over the world to see the elegantly industrious city-state.

"It is like a cauldron," Jan Morris wrote in her book Hong Kong, "seething, hissing, hooting, arguing, enmeshed in a labyrinth of tunnels and overpasses, with those skyscrapers erupting everywhere into view, with those ferries churning and hovercraft splashing and great jets flying in."

President Trump may have been joking about wanting to buy Greenland, if he said it, but officials there want him to know: The island isn't for sale.

Aaja Chemnitz Larsen, a Greenlandic politician, told Here & Now that she was "not surprised" by media reports that the U.S. president was interested in purchasing the massive, ice-covered island.

"It sounds a little bit like a joke because Greenland is not for sale," she said.

One of the biggest fears of the fresh fruit industry just came true.

A fungal disease that has been destroying banana plantations in Asia has arrived in Latin America.

"For me, the worst moment was [seeing] the first pictures," says Fernando Alexander García-Bastidas, a banana researcher at the Dutch company Keygene, who carried out tests confirming what had happened.

You're at brunch with your friends on Sunday morning and after stuffing yourself with pancakes and mimosas, your server comes up to you and says, "Is this going to be on one check or — "

"Separate!" you all proclaim, barely taking a breath to pause from your conversation.

And why would you? It's pretty customary to pay for your own meal, or to go Dutch.

But it wasn't always the norm to split the check when going out with friends. In fact, in early English society, it was seen as selfish to invite someone out to eat and not pay for their meal.

The CEO of Cathay Pacific Airways, Hong Kong's flagship carrier, stepped down Friday, following a chaotic week that began with thousands of pro-democracy protesters overwhelming Hong Kong International Airport.

CEO Rupert Hogg led Cathay Pacific Group for three years, but on Friday, the company announced he was leaving.

"These have been challenging weeks for the airline," Hogg said, adding that he took responsibility as the leader of the company.

North Korea rejected further peace talks with Seoul on Friday on the same day it launched at least two projectiles — the sixth such test in a month, according to South Korea's military.

The statement from North Korea followed a speech on Thursday by South Korean President Moon Jae-in marking the 74th anniversary of Korean independence. In it, Moon vowed reunification of the Korean peninsula by 2045 — a subject that Pyongyang views as provocative.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed his government's recent constitutional reform that stripped Kashmir of its statehood in a speech Thursday to mark India's Independence Day. He said the change will bring prosperity and equality to the area.

"It is our duty to fulfill the hopes and wishes of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. It is our responsibility to give their dreams new wings," he said at the Red Fort in New Delhi.

Updated at 2:10 p.m. ET

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has banned two Democratic U.S. congresswomen from visiting the country and the Palestinian territories this weekend, according to a government official.

Israeli radio reported that in an interview, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said the country would bar entry to "those who reject our right to exist in the world."

On a sultry recent afternoon, throngs of people in Hong Kong's North Point district lined King's Road, waiting tensely for black-clad young protesters to march through. In the mostly male crowd, many wore T-shirts with Chinese national flag stickers, identifying them as coming from China's Fujian province, several hundred miles northeast of Hong Kong.

A banner over the road bore the message "Please do not interfere with our liberties, please go back," making it clear that the protesters were not welcome in this neighborhood.