Other News

US consumers remain resilient even as prices rise

by John Biers with Heather Scott in Washington © Agence France-Presse New York, UNITED STATES (AFP) — US consumers continued to increase spending in April, remaining resilient in the face of accelerating inflation, but retail giant Walmart still saw a big hit to its bottom line due to rising costs, according to reports released Tuesday. Home Depot, however, benefitted from the ongoing spending spree, reporting higher profits and a better outlook for the year. The […]

Japan to trial group tours in move to ease Covid border rules

  Japan will trial small group tours with travellers from the US, Australia, Thailand and Singapore from this month, the government said on Tuesday, as it experiments with easing strict Covid border rules. The country’s borders have been closed to almost all arrivals since the spring of 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Authorities only recently began allowing some students and business visitors to enter. There are no plans to lift border restrictions fully, […]

US shooter embraced racist ‘replacement’ theory online

by Paul HANDLEY The teenager charged with shooting dead 10 African Americans at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York followed an insidious racist creed gaining ground among white Americans that minorities are taking over society. The 18-year-old suspect Payton Gendron took explicit inspiration from the white supremacist gunman who murdered 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2019. The Christchurch killer had warned in a manifesto of a “Great Replacement” of white […]

Mideast sandstorms snarl traffic, close schools, harm health

  by Haitham EL-TABEI with AFP correspondents in the Middle East Sandstorms across the Middle East have delayed flights, closed schools and hospitalised thousands — a phenomenon experts say could worsen as climate change warps regional weather patterns. Saudi Arabia on Tuesday became the latest country blanketed with dust that slowed traffic and made iconic towers in the capital difficult to see from more than a few hundred metres (yards) away. Electronic signs along Riyadh’s […]

Shanghai says ‘zero-Covid’ achieved but millions still in lockdown

Shanghai on Tuesday declared it had achieved “zero-Covid” across all its districts, sparking derision on social media as millions in China’s biggest city remained under lockdown. Confronted with its worst outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic, China — the last major economy still closed off to the world — put the city of 25 million under heavy restrictions in early April. The government’s insistence on squashing the Omicron-variant-driven outbreak prompted rare protests and angry scuffles […]

China’s zero-Covid policy to hit Asia aviation recovery: IATA

China’s zero-Covid policy will hold back a full air travel recovery in the Asia-Pacific region, a top airline industry group warned Tuesday, adding to calls for Beijing to ease its hardline stance. The world’s second-biggest economy is seeking to stamp out the coronavirus entirely, with rapid lockdowns and mass testing, and the measures have hammered both domestic and international air travel. The aviation sector’s recovery in Asia was already relatively slow, and Willie Walsh, the […]

UN warns of ‘dire consequences’ of N. Korea Covid response

The United Nations voiced alarm Tuesday at the human rights implications of North Korea’s response to the massive coronavirus outbreak in the country. Leader Kim Jong Un has ordered nationwide lockdowns to try and slow the spread of the disease through the country’s unvaccinated population, and deployed the military after what he has called a botched response to the outbreak. “The latest restrictions, which include putting people under strict isolation and imposing further travel restrictions, […]

Putin says Europe’s oil sanctions are ‘economic suicide’

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said the oil sector was undergoing a “tectonic change”, but claimed Europe would be committing “economic suicide” with its sanctions on Moscow over Ukraine. By seeking to phase out Russian energy supplies, Europe will only hurt itself, Putin said, urging state officials to use “ill-thought-out” moves by the West to the country’s advantage. He told an energy meeting that Europe would see higher energy prices and higher inflation as […]

Man attacked US church over ‘hatred of Taiwan’: probe

A man who padlocked a church and opened fire on its Taiwanese-American congregation, killing one person and injuring five others, was motivated by hatred of the island and its people, US investigators said Monday. David Chou jammed the doors shut using chains and superglue as dozens of parishioners enjoyed a post-service banquet at the church in Laguna Woods, near Los Angeles. The 68-year-old, an American citizen, also hid bags containing Molotov cocktails and spare ammunition […]

Frontal system affecting extreme N. Luzon: PAGASA

Western section of Northern, Central Luzon also affected by southwesterly surface windflow (Eagle News) — The frontal system is affecting extreme Northern Luzon. According to the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, the southwesterly surface windflow is also affecting the western section of Northern and Central Luzon. As a result, PAGASA said Batanes, Babuyan Islands, and Ilocos Norte will have cloudy skies with rains. Flash floods or landslides due to moderate to at times […]

Dozens hurt in clashes at Palestinian funeral in Jerusalem

  Jerusalem, Undefined (AFP) — More than 70 Palestinians were wounded in overnight clashes with Israeli forces at a Jerusalem funeral, Palestinian medics said Tuesday, in unrest that police said included “violent riots” which threatened officers’ lives. The unrest unfolded as Palestinians were burying Walid al-Sharif, 23, who died on Saturday of wounds suffered during clashes last month at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound. The Palestinian Red Crescent said the injuries occurred “during clashes with […]

‘Dancing, not war’: Signs of normality in Ukraine’s shattered Kharkiv

by Patrick Fort © Agence France-Presse Kharkiv, UKRAINE (AFP) — Three women plant flowers on a roundabout in central Kharkiv, while not far away men fill sandbags for a defensive barrier on the north of the city, the side closest to Russia. It is a stark illustration of how people in the war-battered city in the north east are attempting to recapture some essence of normal life, even though Russian aggression lurks not far away. […]