QUICK HITS

1 Illegal to insult song: Hong Kong’s legislature approved a contentious bill Thursday that makes it illegal to insult the Chinese national anthem. The legislation was approved after pro-democracy opposition lawmakers tried to disrupt the vote. It passed with 41 lawmakers voting for it and just one voting against. Most of the prodemocracy lawmakers boycotted the vote out of protest.

2 Bracing for surge: Doctors at hospitals in Pakistan are bracing for a surge of COVID-19 patients as the country’s total number of confirmed coronavirus cases surpassed the number in neighboring China. Parkistan’s confirmed cases jumped to 85,264 on Thursday after officials reported 4,688 new infections during the previous 24 hours and 82 deaths, a single-day record for virus-related fatalities.

3 New law proposal: South Korea said Thursday it planned to push new laws to ban activists from flying anti-Pyongyang leaflets over the border after North Korea threatened to end an inter-Korean military agreement reached in 2018 to reduce tensions if Seoul fails to prevent the protests.

4 Stone pardon? President Donald Trump strongly hinted Thursday on Twitter at a pardon of friend and longtime political adviser Roger Stone, who has been ordered to report to prison later this month. Trump said Stone was the “victim of a corrupt and illegal Witch Hunt” and should “sleep well at night.”

5 39 hurt in knife attack: A knifewielding security guard went on a rampage at an elementary school in southeastern China on Thursday, leaving at least 39 people injured, officials said. The attack left 37 students slightly wounded and two adults with serious injuries.