CL The first Hongkonger reached the space station this morning, and the city has been turning that over quietly since the news came through. Someone who grew up under this sky is now looking back down at this harbor from orbit, and there is something in that inversion worth holding for a moment. Not every story needs to be about something larger.-- CL

MB The intelligence director resigns on a Sunday morning while the Pentagon circulates Iran strike options; the sequence tells you something about which voices are being cleared from the room before any decision gets made. Washington has spent years insisting its China policy is clear, while Taiwan watches a hundred Chinese ships and a frozen arms deal and draws its own conclusions.-- MB