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by Holmes CHAN Hong Kong has emerged a more unequal city, its freedoms curtailed and international shine dulled after five years with Carrie Lam at the helm, analysts say, as her turbulent leadership draws to an end. Lam, Hong Kong’s first woman leader, took office promising to heal divisions and tackle livelihood issues, especially a housing crisis. Her term was instead dominated by massive democracy protests and Beijing’s subsequent crackdown, as well as a zero-Covid […]
Millions of people in Beijing returned to work Thursday, many remotely, with scores of subway stations shut after a national holiday muted by the coronavirus curbs. Chinese authorities have pressed on with their zero-Covid policy involving lockdowns and mass testing as they battle the biggest outbreak since the early days of the pandemic, with entire neighbourhoods in the capital sealed over handfuls of infections. Beijing reported 50 local virus cases on Thursday, a day […]
by Anne BEADE, with Emeline Burckel in London Agence France Presse VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — OPEC+ members meeting on Thursday are expected to agree a marginal increase in oil production, bolstered by risks to demand amid coronavirus restrictions in China. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also added to supply concerns, which have increased with Europe’s announced moves on a potential Russian oil embargo. Prices soared on Wednesday, with Brent North Sea crude closing above […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — A woman was pulled out alive Tuesday from the rubble of a building that collapsed four days ago in central China, state media said, calling the rescue a “miracle”. The commercial building in Changsha city, Hunan province — which housed apartments, a hotel and a cinema — caved in on Friday, sparking a massive rescue effort with hundreds of emergency responders. State broadcaster CCTV showed footage of a person wrapped in […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — |Rescuers pulled a pair of survivors from a collapsed building in central China on Sunday, state media reported, two days into a search-and-rescue operation for dozens feared missing. The building in Changsha city, Hunan province — which housed a hotel, apartments and a cinema — caved in Friday afternoon, leaving a gaping hole in the dense streetscape. City officials on Saturday said five survivors had been pulled out of […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Ukraine’s foreign minister has asked China to provide security guarantees for Kyiv, in a lengthy interview containing some of the most direct criticisms of Moscow recently published by Beijing’s state media. Western powers and Ukraine have repeatedly urged China to condemn Russia’s invasion as it tries to maintain a supposedly neutral stance, with the United States threatening consequences if Beijing provides military or economic support to Moscow. “Ukraine is currently […]
The Chinese megacity of Guangzhou cancelled hundreds of flights Thursday and launched mass testing of 5.6 million people after one suspected Covid case, as the battle to contain the coronavirus sweeps across the country. China is facing its worst outbreak since the peak of the first wave in early 2020, with eastern Shanghai recording dozens of daily deaths and the capital Beijing sealing off whole neighbourhoods where handfuls of cases have been detected. Under its […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China’s Xi Jinping has called for an “all-out” campaign to build infrastructure, according to state media, marking the latest attempt by leaders to boost growth in the Covid-battered economy. Despite struggling to defeat the country’s worst outbreak in two years, the leadership is digging in its heels with a strict zero-Covid policy that involves lockdowns in the biggest cities and mass testing. But the measures have snarled supply chains and hammered […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — China is “very likely” to put troops in the Solomon Islands after signing a contentious security deal with the Pacific nation, Australia’s home affairs minister said Wednesday. The deal was announced by Beijing last Tuesday, just weeks after a draft version leaked on social media and sparked concern it could open the door to a Chinese military presence in the South Pacific. Asked how realistic it was that China would […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Two years into the pandemic, China’s resurgent Covid-19 outbreak has revived questions about how the country counts deaths from the virus, with persistently low fatalities despite rising cases. Shanghai, China’s largest city, has logged 190 deaths among more than 520,000 infections in nearly two months — a fraction of the rate in outbreaks fuelled by the Omicron variant in other parts of the world. The figures have been trumpeted by […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Beijing on Tuesday launched mass coronavirus testing for nearly all its 21 million residents, as fears grew that the Chinese capital may be placed under a strict lockdown like Shanghai. China is trying to contain a wave of infections in Shanghai — its biggest city — which has been almost entirely locked down for weeks and reported 52 new Covid deaths on Tuesday. Beijing authorities have ordered people in 12 central […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — World oil prices sank more than five percent Monday on fears that China’s worsening Covid outbreak could slam demand from the major energy consumer. Europe’s benchmark contract Brent North Sea crude fell as low as $101.20 per barrel and US WTI oil dropped to $96.85. China is struggling to get a grip on a renewed Covid outbreak that has forced Shanghai — the country’s biggest city — into lockdown […]
