President Xi Jinping has arrived in Uzbekistan on the latest leg of his overseas visit, where he will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit and meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to discuss the war in Ukraine and other "international and regional topics". President Xi was earlier in Kazakhstan for a state visit. He hailed strong ties between China and the Kazakhs, saying the countries had established a permanent comprehensive strategic partnership to the benefit of both peoples. Priscilla Ng reports:

A medical expert says the government should not give people from the mainland and Macau vaccine passes if they have not been jabbed or do not have a medical exemption. The issue came to light after an unvaccinated visitor from the mainland claimed to have obtained a temporary vaccine pass at a post office here. Health authorities later clarified that the two-jab requirement was only for locals and overseas visitors, but not for people coming from the mainland, Macau and Taiwan. But infectious diseases expert, Joseph Tsang, says the vaccine rule should be applied equally to everyone. Maggie Ho reports:

Hong Kong's daily Covid-19 caseload appears to have stabilised, with health authorities reporting an additional 7,500 cases. But as Kelly Yu reports, officials stopped short of declaring infections have peaked:

Research by two local universities has found that Covid antibody levels in people who have been vaccinated and infected with the BA.2 strain of Omicron is higher than those who have been triple-jabbed but never caught Covid. Levels of geometric mean antibody titres (GMT) in the first group were measured at 36.9, while those with three BioNtech shots were 20.7. The level fell to 5.4 for those fully-inoculated with Sinovac. 104 people were recruited by the Chinese University and the University of Hong Kong to take part in the joint study. An HKU researcher, Professor Leo Poon, explained the findings to Timmy Sung:

The cake shop chain, Crostini, has closed its shops for good, citing the pandemic. In a social media post, the company said the business environment in Hong Kong had been bad over the past two years and it had no choice but to immediately close down. As Kelly Yu reports, the Consumer Council has received complaints about Crostini's closure:

The Department of Justice has been granted a request to challenge the not-guilty verdict of a woman who allegedly refused to present her ID card to the police during a protest in 2019. As Maggie Ho reports, a High Court judge says a magistrate erred in her earlier ruling:

A project has been launched to preserve and restore coral in Hong Kong using the world’s first 3D coral reef tile printer. Sino Group is working on the initiative through its Hong Kong Innovation Foundation, together with Ocean Park and a start-up, called archiREEF. Vanessa Cheng reports:

Co-founder of archiREEF, David Baker, says the planned artificial reef for Deep Water Bay could boost eco-tourism in the area. He told Samantha Butler that the site was chosen, partly because of its proximity to Ocean Park, where visitors to the theme park and its hotels could snorkel at the new reef and take part in restoration efforts:

Global stock markets took a beating on Wednesday, with high US inflation data and the prospect of more interest rate hikes dampening investor sentiment. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index shed 2.5 percent. It is expected to start the Thursday trading day another 17 points lower at 18,830. Daniel So, a strategist from CMB International, told Damon Pang that concerns about the mainland economy contributed to the weak sentiment:

Seven companies have submitted bids for six new casino licences on offer in Macau. Malaysia's GMM Limited is the only firm that does not have a licence right now. Kelly Yu reports:

Mainland authorities say they will release pork from the country's central reserves this week to maintain price stability. The cost of the meat has skyrocketed in recent months due to a reduction in breeding, as Violet Wong reports:

Ukraine's president has paid a surprise visit to Izyum after the city was recaptured from Russian forces. Volodymyr Zelensky thanked troops for their efforts, saying truth was on the side of his nation. In recent days, Ukraine's army has reclaimed swathes of occupied territory, forcing Russian troops to retreat. Paul Rogers, professor of Peace Studies at Bradford University in the UK, was asked by Annemarie Evans if President Zelensky's claims of regaining so much territory was true: