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Taiwan’s president condemns California church shooting

Taiwan’s president condemns California church shooting 150 150 admin

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s president has condemned the shooting at a Taiwanese church in California by a man reportedly driven by hatred of the island, while a lawmaker from her ruling party questioned whether Chinese propaganda was a motivating factor behind the violence.

President Tsai Ing-wen’s office issued a statement Tuesday saying she condemned “any form of violence,” extended her condolences to those killed and injured and had asked the island’s chief representative in the U.S. to fly to California to provide assistance.

David Chou, 68, of Las Vegas, was expected to appear in California state court Tuesday on suspicion of murder and attempted murder. Police said he hid firebombs before Sunday’s shooting at a gathering of mostly elderly Taiwanese parishioners at the church in Orange County outside Los Angeles. One man was killed and five people wounded, the oldest 92. A federal hate crimes investigation is also ongoing.

Chou, who he said was born in China and is a U.S. citizen, apparently had a grievance with the Taiwanese community, police said. Chou was born in Taiwan in 1953, Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported, citing the head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles, Taiwan’s de-facto consulate in the city.

According to Taiwanese media, Chou had ties to a Chinese-backed organization opposed to Taiwan’s independence, although details could not immediately be confirmed.

China claims Taiwan as its own territory to be annexed by force if necessary and regularly denounces Tsai, her ruling Democratic Progressive Party and their foreign supporters in increasingly violent terms.

Tensions between China and Taiwan are at the highest in decades, with Beijing stepping up its military harassment by flying fighter jets toward the self-governing island.

In Taiwan, DPP legislator Lin Ching-yi said “ideology has become a reason for genocide” in a message on her Facebook page.

Lin said Taiwanese need to “face up to hateful speech and organizations” backed by China’s ruling Communist Party, singling out the United Front Work Department that seeks to advance China’s political agenda in Taiwan and among overseas Chinese communities.

The U.S. is Taiwan’s chief political and military ally though it doesn’t extend the island formal diplomatic ties in deference to Beijing.

Bi-khim Hsiao, Taiwan’s de-facto ambassador, on Monday tweeted that she was “shocked and saddened by the fatal shooting at the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in California.”

“I join the families of the victims and Taiwanese American communities in grief and pray for the speedy recovery of the wounded survivors,” Hsiao wrote.

Chou’s hatred toward the island, documented in hand-written notes that authorities found, appears to have begun when he felt he wasn’t treated well while living there.

A former neighbor said Chou’s life unraveled after his wife left him and his mental health had been in decline.

Chou’s family appeared to be among the roughly 1 million refugees from mainland China who moved to Taiwan at around the time of the Communist sweep to power on the mainland in 1949.

The former Japanese colony had only been handed over to Nationalist Chinese rule in 1945 at the end of World War II, and relations between mainlanders and native Taiwanese were often tense.

Separated by language and lifestyle, incidents of bullying and confrontation between the sides were frequent.

Many mainlander youth, who were concentrated in the major cities, joined violent organized crime gangs with ties to the military and Chinese secret societies, in part to defend themselves against Taiwanese rivals.

The Presbyterian Church is the most prominent of the Christian dominations in Taiwan and was closely identified with the pro-democracy movement under decades of martial law era and later with the Taiwan independence cause.

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Shanghai residents leverage Excel skills, management savvy to navigate lockdown

Shanghai residents leverage Excel skills, management savvy to navigate lockdown 150 150 admin

By Julie Zhu and Engen Tham

HONG KONG/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s worst COVID-19 outbreak has frayed nerves and stirred resentment among many residents of Shanghai but some have thrived in the face of adversity, stepping up with bright ideas and commitment to help their communities through the crisis.

Not surprisingly, many such people have used the skills they developed in their jobs to help others navigate the frightening new world of forced quarantine and lockdowns that no one dreamed of before COVID.

Li Di, a senior executive with a global bank, knew he had to help when he was admitted to the Nanhui quarantine site in April, after testing positive for COVID, and was confronted by chaos.

“There were only 120 to 150 staff to take care of 10,000 patients. The staff literally had their hands full,” said Li.

Li set up a team of more than a dozen volunteers to arrange meals, distribute various supplies and help elderly patients who were struggling with various quarantine centre requirements.

He also set up a more efficient way for people in quarantine to communicate with staff, which helped to streamline the process for the compulsory testing of the 400 people in his building, cutting the time it took from three hours to just one, to the approval of over-stretched staff.

He even helped organise halal food for Muslims.

“You have to bring in some modern management skills to make things more efficient and make life easier,” Li said.

Shanghai has become the epicentre of China’s largest outbreak since the virus was first identified in the city of Wuhan in late 2019. Under China’s zero-COVID policy, everyone who tests positive, and their close contacts, must quarantine at designated sites.

Videos on social media have shown hastily arranged quarantine centres across the city, including one made of shipping containers and one at a school with no blankets or hot water.

The huge majority of Shanghai residents who have dodged COVID have not escaped the ordeal of lockdown.

People ordered to stay at home in their flats have struggled to get fresh food and other essential items as the restrictions have shut shops and exposed a huge shortage of delivery staff.

‘WORKING LIKE A TRADER’

The last thing tech-savvy banker Vera expected was to take charge of bulk-buying for her housing compound. But within days of lockdown, Vera, who works for a large U.S. house in Shanghai and asked that her family name not be used, had taken on the job, known as “tuanzhang” in Chinese.

Trapped with 1,000 neighbours at home and everyone struggling to order food, Vera saw an opportunity to improve the situation for all.

She approached neighbours through the messaging service WeChat to collect orders and then loaded them into Excel spreadsheets for bulk buying.

“I’ve been working like a trader as I have to monitor a number of screens and loads of new messages at the same time,” said Vera, who usually ends up checking orders and communicating with suppliers and delivery services late into the night.

Shirley, a mergers and acquisition banker in Shanghai, said apart from good Excel skills, a strong social network, just like in the real world of business, can be a crucial asset for getting through lockdown.

She was able to use connections she made at work to get in touch with several major suppliers including online grocery firm Missfresh and household brand China Mengniu Dairy and arrange bulk-buying.

“You really need good connections,” she said.

Sun Chuan, a Shanghai-based partner at a global law firm, helped raise donations for the elderly as part of a campaign a Peking University alumni association helped launch.

According to official data, China’s most-populous city has nearly 6 million people aged 60 or older, accounting for about 23% of the population. Many live alone and struggle with online shopping.

Sun called on friends via WeChat to join the campaign and his post quickly spread.

“At first, most donors were my friends but later many others I don’t know at all donated. I was deeply touched by their kindness,” Sun said.

Initially aiming to raise 660,000 yuan ($97,350), the campaign eventually secured nearly 870,000 yuan and provided food for a week for more than 4,000 older people in Shanghai.

($1 = 6.7796 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Julie Zhu in Hong Kong and Engen Tham in Shanghai; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee, Robert Birsel)

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Russian troops pushed to within 3-4 km of Russian border near Kharkiv- U.S. official

Russian troops pushed to within 3-4 km of Russian border near Kharkiv- U.S. official 150 150 admin

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Ukrainian forces have pushed back Russian troops near the country’s second-largest city of Kharkiv to within 3 to 4 kilometers (1.9-2.5 miles) of the Russian border, a senior U.S. defense official said on Monday.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart)

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Sweden launches NATO bid, seeks to overcome Turkish objections

Sweden launches NATO bid, seeks to overcome Turkish objections 150 150 admin

By Johan Ahlander and Simon Johnson

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Sweden’s government has formally decided to apply for NATO membership, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Monday, setting it on the road toward ending military non-alignment that lasted throughout the Cold War.

Sweden’s governing Social Democrats dropped their 73-year opposition to joining NATO on Sunday and are hoping for a quick accession, following Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.

“We are leaving one era behind us and entering a new one,” Andersson told a news conference. She said the application could be handed in on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday and would be synchronised with Finland, which has also confirmed it would apply to join the military alliance.

“NATO will strengthen Sweden, Sweden will strengthen NATO,” she said.

The decision to abandon the military non-alignment that has been a central tenet of Swedish national identity for two centuries marks a sea change in public perception in the Nordic region following Russia’s attack on its neighbour.

However, she said Sweden did not want permanent NATO military bases or nuclear weapons on its territory if its membership was approved.

There is broad backing in parliament for an application, though the government does not need its approval to go ahead. Andersson said she hoped for a quick accession process but that it could take up to a year to get approval from the parliaments of the 30 NATO member states. Andersson warned that Sweden would be particularly vulnerable during that period.

Sweden has received assurances of support from the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany among others but not any legally binding guarantees of military aid.

In a joint statement on Monday, Nordic neighbours Denmark, Norway and Iceland also pledged support.

“Finland and Sweden’s security is a matter of common concern to us all. Should Finland or Sweden be victim of aggression on their territory before obtaining NATO membership, we will assist Finland and Sweden by all means necessary,” they said in a statement.

One obstacle has already emerged even before the applications have landed at NATO’s Brussels headquarters.

Turkey surprised its NATO allies by saying it would not view applications by Finland and Sweden positively, mainly citing their history of hosting members of Kurdish militant groups.

President Tayyip Erdogan called the Scandinavian countries “guesthouses for terrorist organisations”.

Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist said on Monday that Sweden would start diplomatic discussions with Turkey to try to overcome Ankara’s objections to its plan to join NATO.

“We will send a group of diplomats to hold discussions and have a dialogue with Turkey so we can see how this can be resolved and what this is really about,” Hultqvist told public service broadcaster SVT.

Turkey has said it wanted the Nordic countries to halt support for Kurdish militants on their territory, and to lift bans on sales of some weapons to Turkey.

Turkish state media said separately that Sweden and Finland had rejected requests for the repatriation of 33 people that Turkey alleges have links to groups it deems terrorists.

Sweden’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

NATO and the United States said they were confident Turkey would not hold up membership of Finland and Sweden.

Diplomats said Erdogan would be under pressure to yield as Finland and Sweden would greatly strengthen NATO in the Baltic Sea.

“I’m confident that we will be able to address the concerns that Turkey has expressed in a way that doesn’t delay the membership,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Sunday.

(Reporting by Johan Ahlander and Simon Johnson; Additional reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen in Istanbul; Editing by Nick Macfie, Jonathan Oatis and Grant McCool)

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Russian shelling kills 10 civilians in Ukraine’s Sievierodonetsk – regional governor

Russian shelling kills 10 civilians in Ukraine’s Sievierodonetsk – regional governor 150 150 admin

KYIV (Reuters) – At least 10 civilians were killed by Russian shelling of the city of Sievierodonetsk in eastern Ukraine on Monday, regional governor Serhiy Gaidai said.

Gaidai, the governor of the Luhansk region, had said earlier on Monday that heavy shelling had caused fires in residential areas.

(Reporting by Natalia Zinets, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

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Lebanon vote brings blow for Hezbollah allies in preliminary results

Lebanon vote brings blow for Hezbollah allies in preliminary results 150 150 admin

By Laila Bassam, Timour Azhari and Maya Gebeily

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Iran-backed Hezbollah has been dealt a blow in Lebanon’s parliamentary election with preliminary results showing losses for some of its oldest allies and the Saudi-aligned Lebanese Forces party saying it had gained seats.

With votes still being counted, the final make-up of the 128-member parliament has yet to emerge. The heavily armed Shi’ite Muslim group Hezbollah and its allies won a majority of 71 seats when Lebanon last voted in 2018.

The current election is the first since Lebanon’s devastating economic meltdown blamed by the World Bank on ruling politicians after a huge port explosion in 2020 that shattered Beirut.

One of the most startling upsets saw Hezbollah-allied Druze politician Talal Arslan, scion of one of Lebanon’s oldest political dynasties who was first elected in 1992, lose his seat to Mark Daou, a newcomer running on a reform agenda, according to the latter’s campaign manager and a Hezbollah official.

Initial results also indicated wins for at least five other independents who have campaigned on a platform of reform and bringing to account politicians blamed for steering Lebanon into the worst crisis since its 1975-90 civil war.

Whether Hezbollah and its allies can cling on to a majority hinges on results not yet finalised, including those in Sunni Muslim seats contested by allies and opponents of the Shi’ite movement.

Gains reported by the Lebanese Forces (LF), which is vehemently opposed to Hezbollah, mean it would overtake the Hezbollah-allied Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) as the biggest Christian party in parliament.

The LF won at least 20 seats, up from 15 in 2018, said the head of its press office, Antoinette Geagea.

The FPM had won up to 16 seats, down from 18 in 2018, Sayed Younes, the head of its electoral machine, told Reuters.

The FPM has been the biggest Christian party in parliament since its founder, President Michel Aoun, returned from exile in 2005 in France. Aoun and LF leader Samir Geagea were civil war adversaries.

The LF, established as a militia during Lebanon’s 15-year civil war, has repeatedly called for Hezbollah to give up its arsenal.

“A NEW BEGINNING”

An opposition candidate also made a breakthrough in an area of southern Lebanon dominated by Hezbollah.

Elias Jradi, an eye doctor, won an Orthodox Christian seat previously held by Assaad Hardan of the Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party, a close Hezbollah ally and MP since 1992, two Hezbollah officials said.

“It’s a new beginning for the south and for Lebanon as a whole,” Jradi told Reuters.

Nadim Houry, executive director of Arab Reform Initiative, said the results of 14 or 15 seats would determine the majority.

“You are going to have two blocs opposed to each other – on the one hand Hezbollah and its allies, and on the other the Lebanese Forces and its allies, and in the middle these new voices that will enter,” he said.

“This is a clear loss for the FPM. They maintain a bloc but they lost a lot of seats and the biggest beneficiary is the Lebanese Forces. Samir Geagea has emerged as the new Christian strongman.”

The next parliament must nominate a prime minister to form a cabinet, in a process that can take months. Any delay would hold up reforms to tackle the crisis and unlock support from the International Monetary Fund and donor nations.

(Reporting by Timour Azhari, Laila Bassam, Maya Gebeily and Lina Najem; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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New Zealand to help pay for cleaner cars to reduce emissions

New Zealand to help pay for cleaner cars to reduce emissions 150 150 admin

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s government said Monday it will help pay for lower-income families to scrap their old gas guzzlers and replace them with cleaner hybrid or electric cars as part of a sweeping plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The government said it plans to spend 569 million New Zealand dollars ($357 million) on the trial program as part of a larger plan that includes subsidies for businesses to reduce emissions, a switch to an entirely green bus fleet by 2035 and curbside food-waste collection for most homes by the end of the decade.

“This is a landmark day in our transition to a low emissions future,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a statement. “We’ve all seen the recent reports on sea level rise and its impact right here in New Zealand. We cannot leave the issue of climate change until it’s too late to fix.”

The plan represents a step toward the pledges the nation made under the 2016 Paris Agreement on climate change and New Zealand’s stated goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Ardern, who was scheduled to launch the plan but cancelled after testing positive for COVID-19 late last week, said every community and sector had a role to play and that reducing reliance on fossil fuels would help shield households from volatile price hikes.

The plan also sets a target of reducing total car travel by 20% over the next 13 years by offering better transportation options in cities as well as improved options for cyclists and walkers.

The programs will be paid for from a 4.5 billion New Zealand dollar ($2.8 billion) climate emergency response fund. Officials said that over time, money collected from polluters would pay for the programs rather than taxes from households.

But the plan remained short on some details, including for the gas guzzler replacement plan which the government said would be finalized over the coming months.

And some critics said it continued to give an easy ride to the nation’s huge agriculture industry, which creates about half of the nation’s total greenhouse gas emissions but is also vital to the economy as the nation’s biggest export earner.

“Some of the policies announced, like the cash-for-clunkers system, are proven to be dogs and have been tried and failed overseas,” said David Seymour, leader of the libertarian ACT Party.

Seymour said consumers should be able to choose how they reduce emissions through the market-based emissions trading scheme.

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S.Korea says it will spare no effort to help North Korea amid COVID outbreak

S.Korea says it will spare no effort to help North Korea amid COVID outbreak 150 150 admin

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Monday the country will spare no effort to help North Korea, as the isolated nation battles a COVID-19 outbreak, and reiterated he will remain open for humanitarian aid.

“If North Korea responds (to our support), we will spare no medicines including COVID-19 vaccines, medical equipment and health personnel,” said Yoon in a speech at the plenary session of the National Assembly.

Separately in the speech, Yoon also said he will discuss with U.S. President Joe Biden ways to strengthen cooperation on the global supply chain through the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. Biden is scheduled to visit the country this week.

(Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tests positive for COVID

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tests positive for COVID 150 150 admin

(Reuters) -New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tested positive for COVID-19 with moderate symptoms, her office said in a statement on Saturday.

She will not be in Parliament for the government’s Emissions Reduction Plan on Monday and the coming Budget on Thursday.

“Travel arrangements for her trade mission to the United States are unaffected at this stage,” the statement added.

Ardern had been symptomatic since Friday evening, returning a weak positive at night and a clear positive on Saturday morning on a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT), the statement said.

At this stage her symptoms are moderate and she has been in isolation since May 8 when her partner Clarke Gayford tested positive, it said.

Due to the positive RAT, Ardern will be required to isolate until the morning of May 21, and undertake what duties she can remotely this week.

Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson will address media in her place on Monday.

“This is a milestone week for the Government and I’m gutted I can’t be there for it,” Ardern said in the statement.

“Our emissions reduction plan sets the path to achieve our carbon zero goal and the budget addresses the long-term future and security of New Zealand’s health system.

“But as I said earlier in the week isolating with COVID-19 is a very kiwi experience this year and my family is no different.”

(Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler and Himani Sarkar)

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New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tests positive for COVID-19

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tests positive for COVID-19 150 150 admin

(Reuters) – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tested positive for COVID-19 with moderate symptoms, her office said in a statement on Saturday.

She will not be in Parliament this week for the government’s Emissions Reduction Plan on Monday and the coming Budget on Thursday.

“Travel arrangements for her trade mission to the United States are unaffected at this stage”, the statement added.

(Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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