The New Year rings in as Asia and Europe usher out stormy 2022 - CNA

Russian President Vladimir Putin devoted his New Year's address to rallying the Russian people behind his troops.

Festivities in Moscow were muted, without the usual fireworks on Red Square.

"One should not pretend that nothing is happening - our people are dying (in Ukraine)," said 68-year-old Yelena Popova. "A holiday is being celebrated, but there must be limits." Many Muscovites said they hoped for peace in 2023.

The London Eye turned blue and yellow in solidarity with Ukraine as fireworks saw in midnight in the British capital.

The celebration, which London's mayor had branded the biggest in Europe, also referenced Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September, the red and white of England's soccer team, and the rainbow colours of the LGBTQ Pride event, which had its 50-year anniversary in 2022.

Elsewhere in the region, fireworks exploded over the Parthenon in Athens, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, where crowds gathered on the Champs-Elysees avenue to watch the French capital's first New Year fireworks since 2019.

Like many places, the Czech capital Prague was feeling the pinch economically and so did not hold a fireworks display.

"Holding celebrations did not seem appropriate," said city hall spokesman Vit Hofman.

Heavy rain and high winds meant firework shows in the Netherlands' main cities were cancelled.

But several European cities were enjoying record warmth for the time of year. In Prague, it was the warmest New Year's Eve in its 247 years of records, with temperatures reaching 17.7 Celsius (63.9 Fahrenheit).

It was also the warmest New Year's Eve recorded in France, official weather forecaster Meteo France said.

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2022-12-31 21:03:00Z
1719169110

Former pope Benedict XVI dies aged 95 - The Straits Times

VATICAN CITY - Former pope Benedict XVI has died at the age of 95, the Vatican announced on Saturday, almost a decade after he became the first pontiff to resign in six centuries.

“With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement.

The German pope emeritus, whose birth name was Joseph Ratzinger, had been living a quiet life in a former convent inside the Vatican grounds since his shock decision to step down in February 2013.

His health had been declining for a long time, but the Vatican revealed on Wednesday that his situation had worsened, while his successor Pope Francis called for Catholics worldwide to pray for him.

His death brings to an end an unprecedented situation in which two “men in white” – Benedict and Francis – had co-existed within the walls of the tiny city state.

The Vatican said his body would lie in state from Monday in St. Peter’s Basilica and his funeral will be held on the morning of Jan 5.

Pope Francis will preside over the ceremony, which will take place in the huge square in front of the basilica.

In 2005, the body of John Paul II, the last pope to die, lay in state before a funeral mass in St Peter’s Square attended by one million people, including heads of state.

Benedict had almost entirely withdrawn from public view, his health reported to be shaky and the few photographs that emerged of him exposing his frailty.

Back in 2013, he had cited his declining physical and mental health in his decision to become the first pope since 1415 to give up the job as head of the worldwide Catholic church.

Benedict was a brilliant theologian but his papacy was beset by Vatican in-fighting and a scandal over clerical sexual abuse of children that rocked the Catholic Church the world over, in which he was criticised for a lack of leadership.

The abuse scandal overshadowed his final months after a damning report for the German church in January 2022 accused him of personally failing to stop four predatory priests in the 1980s while archbishop of Munich.

He denied wrongdoing and the Vatican strongly defended his record in being the first pope to apologise for the scandals, who expressed his own “deep remorse” and met with victims.

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2022-12-31 09:55:27Z
1718337859

Former Pope Benedict dies aged 95 - CNA

VATICAN CITY: Former Pope Benedict XVI has died at the age of 95, the Vatican announced on Saturday (Dec 31), almost a decade after he became the first pontiff to resign in six centuries.

His death brings to an end an unprecedented situation in which two "men in white" - Benedict and his successor Pope Francis - had co-existed within the walls of the tiny city-state.

"With sorrow, I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9.34am in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican," Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement.

His body will be displayed from Monday morning in St Peter's Basilica, to allow the faithful to pay their respects.

Crowds visiting St Peter's on Saturday expressed sorrow at the news of his death, but also admiration.

"We are distraught," said Davide Di Tommaso, 30, from the southern Italian region of Molise, adding: "He was truly a great pope."

Tributes also began pouring in from around the world, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hailing "a formative figure of the Catholic Church, an argumentative personality and a clever theologian".

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni hailed him as a "giant of faith and reason ... a great figure in history".

The German pope emeritus, whose birth name was Joseph Ratzinger, had been living a quiet life in a former convent inside the Vatican grounds since his shock decision to step down in February 2013.

His health had been declining for a long time, but the Vatican revealed on Wednesday that his situation had worsened, while Pope Francis called for Catholics worldwide to pray for him.

In 2005, the body of John Paul II, the last pope to die, lay in state before a funeral mass in St Peter's Square attended by one million people, including heads of state.

Pope Benedict had almost entirely withdrawn from public view, his health reported to be shaky and the few photographs that emerged of him exposing his frailty.

Back in 2013, he had cited his declining physical and mental health in his decision to become the first pope since 1415 to give up the job as head of the worldwide Catholic church.

"There were moments of joy and light, but also moments that were not easy ... There were moments ... when the seas were rough and the wind blew against us and it seemed that the Lord was sleeping," Benedict told his last general audience, a gathering of more than 150,000 people.

RESIGNATION AS HEAD OF CATHOLIC CHURCH

Pope Benedict had almost entirely withdrawn from public view, his health reported to be shaky and the few photographs that emerged of him exposing his frailty.

Back in 2013, he had cited his declining physical and mental health in his decision to become the first pope since 1415 to give up the job as head of the worldwide Catholic Church.

He was a brilliant theologian but his papacy was beset by Vatican in-fighting and a scandal over clerical sexual abuse of children that rocked the Catholic Church the world over, in which he was criticised for a lack of leadership.

The abuse scandal overshadowed his final months after a damning report for the German church in January 2022 accused him of personally failing to stop four predatory priests in the 1980s while archbishop of Munich.

He denied wrongdoing and the Vatican strongly defended his record in being the first pope to apologise for the scandals, who expressed his own "deep remorse" and met with victims.

Born on April 16, 1927, in Marktl am Inn, in Bavaria, Benedict was 78 when he succeeded the long-reigning and popular John Paul II in April 2005, the first German pope of the modern era.

He later said his election felt "like the guillotine".

Unlike his successor Pope Francis, a Jesuit who delights in being among his flock, Benedict was a conservative intellectual dubbed "God's Rottweiler" in a previous post as chief doctrinal enforcer.

His papacy was dogged by controversy, from comments that angered the Muslim world to a money-laundering scandal at the Vatican bank and a personal humiliation when, in 2012, his butler leaked secret papers to the media.

Despite saying he would live "hidden from the world" after his resignation, he repeatedly intervened on key issues facing the Church through books, interviews and articles.

In January 2020, he expressed his opposition to allowing priests to marry. A year earlier, he blamed clerical abuse scandals on the 1960s sexual revolution and a collapse in faith in the West.

In an interview in March 2021, he said "there is only one pope", but acknowledged "fanatical" supporters who refused to accept his resignation.

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2022-12-31 09:52:00Z
1718337859

S'pore ready to step up border measures if needed, MOH monitoring situation as China reopens - The Straits Times

SINGAPORE – The Ministry of Health (MOH) stands ready to step up measures if necessary, and is closely monitoring the global Covid-19 situation even as China reopens its borders from Jan 8, 2023.

Despite some public concern about the large number of infections in China and announcements by other countries such as India, Italy and Japan of new testing requirements for all travellers from China, Singapore’s local situation has remained stable even after the XBB sub-variant wave, said MOH.

At this stage of the pandemic, the most important factor is Singapore’s population immunity.

MOH said: “We cannot completely stop infections, and indeed the virus has continued to circulate in our communities, but we can ensure that infections result in few cases of hospitalisations and severe illnesses.”

Singapore’s seven-day moving average of local Covid-19 cases is 729, the number of Covid-related hospitalisations remains below 100, and the number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care remains in the single digits, MOH said.

Paediatric and bivalent vaccines are available to strengthen the nation’s already high immunity, it added.

With new Covid-19 treatment facilities and expanded transitional care facilities also available, Singapore is in a stronger position to live with the virus, becoming more resilient with each wave, MOH stressed.

However, the ministry remains vigilant, closely watching the global situation, especially with an increase in caseloads in many countries due to the uptick in international travel and onset of winter in the Northern Hemisphere.

China, which is facing a large infection wave, is currently of particular concern.

First, there is the possible emergence of new and more dangerous variants, MOH said.

Singapore has been working with our international partners, including Gisaid, which maintains a pathogen genomics database, to monitor the variants circulating globally.

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2022-12-30 12:54:16Z
1709216377

India makes negative COVID-19 test mandatory for travellers from 5 countries from Jan 1 - CNA

NEW DELHI: India will make a negative COVID-19 test mandatory for flyers from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand from Jan 1, the health minister said on Thursday (Dec 29).

Travellers from these countries and territories would have to upload their test reports on an India government website before their departure, minister Mansukh Mandaviya wrote on Twitter.

"This is being done in view of the evolving COVID-19 situation across the world," the health ministry said in a statement, adding that the test should be taken within 72 hours of travel to India.

The new requirement for a COVID-19 test would be in addition to the random tests on 2 per cent of all international passengers arriving in India.

The High Commission of India in Singapore on Wednesday had said that travellers from Singapore do not need to undergo mandatory COVID-19 tests when they visit the country.

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2022-12-29 10:09:00Z
1715430505

COVID-19 rules for travellers from China rolled out around the world - CNA

BEIJING: Several places around the world have imposed curbs on travellers from China amid a COVID-19 surge after Beijing relaxed strict "zero-COVID" measures. They cite a lack of information from China on variants and are concerned about a wave of infections.

China has rejected criticism of its statistics and said it expects future mutations to be potentially more virulent but less severe.

Below is a list of rules for travellers from China:

United States

The US will impose mandatory COVID-19 tests on travellers from China beginning on Jan 5. All air passengers 2 and older will require a negative result from a test no more than two days before departure from China, Hong Kong or Macao. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also said Americans should also reconsider travel to China, Hong Kong and Macau.

India

The country has mandated a COVID-19 negative test report for travellers arriving from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand, the health minister said. Passengers from those countries will be put under quarantine if they showed symptoms of COVID-19 or tested positive.

Japan

Japan will require a negative COVID-19 test upon arrival for travellers from mainland China. Those who test positive will be required to quarantine for seven days. New border measures for China will go into effect at midnight on Dec 30.

The government will also limit requests from airlines to increase flights to China. Hong Kong's government has asked Japan to withdraw a restriction that requires passenger flights from the financial hub to land at four designated Japanese airports, saying the decision will affect about 60,000 passengers.

Italy

The country has ordered COVID-19 antigen swabs and virus sequencing for all travellers coming from China. Milan's main airport, Malpensa, had already started testing passengers arriving from Beijing and Shanghai.

"The measure is essential to ensure surveillance and detection of possible variants of the virus in order to protect the Italian population", minister Orazio Schillaci said, when announcing mandatory testing for passengers.

Taiwan

Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Centre said all passengers arriving on direct flights from China, as well as by boat at two offshore islands, will have to take PCR tests upon arrival.

Taiwan will test arrivals from China for COVID-19 starting Jan 1.

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2022-12-29 08:00:00Z
1709216377

China's vast countryside in rush to bolster COVID-19 defences - CNA

Hospitals and funeral homes in major cities have been under intense pressure, but the main concern over the health system's ability to cope with surging infections is focused on the countryside.

At a Shanghai pharmacy, Wang Kaiyun, 53, a cleaner in the city who comes from the neighbouring Anhui province, said she was buying medicines for her family back home.

"My husband, my son, my grandson, my mother, they are all infected," she said. "They can't get any medicine, nothing for fever or cough."

Each year, hundreds of millions of people, mostly working in factories near the southern and eastern coasts, return to the countryside for Chinese New Year, due to start on Jan 22.

The holiday travel rush is expected to last for 40 days, from Jan 7 to Feb 15, authorities said.

The state-run China Daily reported on Thursday that rural regions across China were beefing up their medical treatment capacities.

It said a hospital in a rural part of Inner Mongolia where more than 100,000 people live was seeking bidders for a 1.9 million yuan (US$272,308) contract to upgrade its wards into intensive care units.

Liancheng County Central Hospital in the eastern Fujian province was seeking tenders for ambulances and medical devices, ranging from breathing machines to electrocardiogram monitors.

In December, tenders put out by hospitals for key medical equipment were two-to-three times higher than in previous months, according to a Reuters review, suggesting hospitals across the country were scrambling to plug shortages.

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2022-12-29 07:42:00Z
1718991260

Asia's tourist hotspots prepare for boom as China relaxes COVID-19 rules - CNA

BANGKOK/SINGAPORE/SYDNEY: Asian countries are bracing for an influx of Chinese tourists as COVID-19 restrictions are dismantled, and while some are wary, operators in others are preparing packages such as hotpot buffets to cash in on the expected spike in travel.

Chinese tourists will no longer need to quarantine on return home starting Jan 8, the government announced this week, a move that spurred a surge in bookings from what was the world's largest outbound travel market in 2019.

The once US$255 billion a year in global spending by Chinese tourists ground to a virtual halt during the pandemic, leaving a gaping hole in the Asian market, where countries from Thailand to Japan had depended on China as the largest source of foreign visitors.

International flights to and from China are at just 8 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, VariFlight data shows, but carriers are looking to ramp up capacity as authorities ease COVID-driven limits on the number of flights.

"There is little doubt mainland Chinese are the spark plug for Thailand's tourism recovery," said Bill Barnett, managing director of hospitality consultancy C9 Hotelworks. "It's not a question of if it will happen, it's now just a matter of how many and how fast."

Malaysia Airlines and Vietnamese budget carrier VietJet Aviation said they hope to restore China flights to pre-pandemic levels by June 2023, while others such as Singapore Airlines and Australia's Qantas Airways declined to provide detailed targets as the situation evolves.

Chinese airlines are likely to make significant increases to capacity from the end of March, coinciding with the start of the summer scheduling season, Morningstar analyst Cheng Weng told clients in a note.

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2022-12-29 06:42:00Z
1709216377

Soaring China COVID-19 cases increase risk of new variants: Experts - CNA

VARIANT "SOUP"

Xu Wenbo, head of the virus control institute at China's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said last week that hospitals across the country would collect samples from patients and upload the sequencing information to a new national database, allowing authorities to monitor possible new strains in real-time.

More than 130 Omicron sublineages have been newly detected in China over the last three months, he told journalists.

Among those were XXB and BQ.1 and their sublineages, which have been spreading in the US and parts of Europe in recent months as a swarm of subvariants has competed for dominance worldwide.

However BA.5.2 and BF.7 remain the main Omicron strains detected in China, Xu said, adding that the varying sublineages would likely circulate together.

Flahault said "a soup" of more than 500 new Omicron subvariants had been identified in recent months, although it had often been difficult to tell where each had first emerged.

"Any variants, when more transmissible than the previous dominant ones - such as BQ.1, B2.75.2, XBB, CH.1, or BF.7 - definitely represent threats, since they can cause new waves," he said.

"However, none of these known variants seems to exhibit any particular new risks of more severe symptoms to our knowledge, although that might happen with new variants in the coming future."

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2022-12-29 03:58:41Z
1718991260

No change in Singapore's Covid-19 measures for travellers from China - The Straits Times

SINGAPORE - Singapore will keep its prevailing Covid-19 rules in place for incoming travellers from China, which plans to reopen its borders from Jan 8, 2023.

Travellers who are not fully vaccinated, based on the World Health Organisation’s definition, will need to undergo pre-departure tests before they can enter the Republic, said Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH) on Wednesday in response to media queries.

Short-term visitors are also required to purchase insurance for Covid-19-related medical expenses.

The prevailing border measures and vaccination requirements for travellers and work pass holders arriving from China remain unchanged.

MOH said it is closely monitoring the international Covid-19 situation and will adjust its border health measures, should the need arise.

This comes as other countries are implementing or considering measures to test or restrict travellers from China, as the country abandons its zero-Covid policy and reopens borders.

For instance, the United States is considering new coronavirus precautions for people travelling from China. Japan, too, moved quickly, requiring negative Covid-19 test results upon arrival for visitors who have been in mainland China within a seven-day period, while those who test positive will have to quarantine for a week.

The Philippines and Italy joined the call for Covid-19 measures, including testing for inbound travellers from China. Taiwan may also adjust its measures, such as testing, as it anticipates tens of thousands of people returning from the Chinese mainland for Chinese New Year in January. While Taiwan currently does not allow mainland Chinese tourists to enter, many Taiwanese work and invest in the mainland.

These concerns come amid uncertainty over the true scale of China’s Covid-19 infections, as the lack of reliable official figures is fuelling concern that the rapid spread of the virus could lead to the emergence of new variants.

China is experiencing the world’s largest Covid-19 outbreak, raising concerns among public health officials worldwide. Almost 37 million people may have been infected with the virus on a single day last week, according to estimates from the government’s top health authority.

Holiday bookings for outbound flights from mainland China jumped 254 per cent on Tuesday morning from the day before, according to Trip.com Group data, underscoring how the country’s vast population is ready and hungry for travel.

The top five destinations that saw a spike in interest from China were Singapore, with a 600 per cent increase in bookings, followed by about 400 per cent for South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan and Thailand.

China currently imposes restrictions on outbound travel, as one needs valid reasons, such as education and business, to leave the country. 

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2022-12-28 15:40:33Z
1709216377

No change in Singapore's Covid-19 measures for travellers from China - The Straits Times

SINGAPORE - Singapore is maintaining its prevailing Covid-19 rules for incoming travellers from China as the country prepares to reopen its borders from Jan 8, 2023.

Travellers who are not fully vaccinated, based on the World Health Organisation’s definition, will need to undergo pre-departure tests, said Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH) on Wednesday in response to media queries.

Short-term visitors are also required to purchase insurance for Covid-19-related medical expenses.

At this juncture, the prevailing border measures and vaccination requirements for travellers and work pass holders arriving from China remain unchanged, MOH added.

MOH said it is closely monitoring the international Covid-19 situation and will adjust its border health measures as appropriate should the need arise.

China currently imposes restrictions on outbound travel, as one needs valid reasons, such as education and business, to leave the country.

In a snap move late on Monday, China said that from Jan 8, 2023, inbound travellers would no longer be required to quarantine upon arrival, in a further unwinding of stringent Covid-19 controls that had torpedoed its economy and sparked nationwide protests.

China will also resume issuing visas for mainland residents to travel overseas from Jan 8, 2023, loosening the country’s zero-Covid regime and ending almost three years of strict quarantine rules.

Unlike most of the world where people have transitioned to living with the pandemic, China had until recently maintained harsh restrictions and largely sealed itself off.

These strict measures heavily disrupted international tourism and business travel, further hampering the country’s battered economy.

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2022-12-28 10:43:41Z
1712969277

China Reopening Borders Leads Other Countries to Restrict Entry - Bloomberg

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1. China Reopening Borders Leads Other Countries to Restrict Entry  Bloomberg
2. US weighs new COVID-19 rules for travellers from China, US officials say  CNA
3. China's Covid-19 surge leads countries to consider entry restrictions  The Straits Times
4. Philippine Transport Chief Favors Curbs for Chinese Visitors  Bloomberg
5. China Covid pivot sparks jitters worldwide  Bangkok Post
6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2022-12-28 08:43:24Z
1712969277

Hong Kong scraps most COVID-19 rules, though masks still mandated - CNA

HONG KONG: Hong Kong will cancel its stringent COVID-19 rules from Thursday (Dec 29), city leader John Lee said, meaning that arrivals will no longer need to do mandatory PCR tests while the city's vaccine pass would also be scrapped.

All measures would be cancelled on Thursday, apart from the wearing of masks which still remains compulsory, Lee told a media briefing on Wednesday.

"The city has reached a relatively high vaccination rate which builds an anti-epidemic barrier," Lee said.

"Hong Kong has a sufficient amount of medicine to fight COVID-19, and healthcare workers have gained rich experience in facing the pandemic," he added.

Lee said his government is aiming to reopen the borders with mainland China by Jan 15 and was working with authorities over the border to ensure an orderly re-opening.

He said the authorities have been preparing for the scrapping of all restrictions.

"The time is appropriate for us to do this, having prepared for six months to do this," said Lee. "The whole society is preparing for this. We are doing all this according to our local epidemic situation."

Hong Kong's vaccine pass requirement, which was imposed in February and was a must for people to access most venues in Hong Kong, will end from Thursday. Social distancing rules such as a cap on gatherings of more than 12 people in public will also be scrapped from Thursday.

The city has for nearly three years largely followed China's lead in tackling the novel coronavirus, with both places being the last strongholds in adopting a zero-COVID policy.

The removal of the curbs are likely to result in an increase of travellers to the former British colony who have previously shunned it due to strict restrictions.

In an abrupt change of policy, China this month began dismantling the world's strictest COVID-19 regime of lockdowns and extensive testing. The country will stop requiring inbound travellers to go into quarantine from Jan 8, authorities said this week.

Restrictions on travel between Hong Kong and the mainland were imposed in early 2020. The reopening was postponed several times due to outbreaks in Hong Kong or the mainland.

International passengers arriving in Hong Kong since mid-month are no longer subject to COVID-related movement controls or barred from certain venues, the government announced in December.

Business groups, diplomats and many residents had slammed Hong Kong's COVID-19 rules, saying they threatened its competitiveness and standing as an international financial centre.

The rules have weighed on Hong Kong's economy since early 2020, speeding up an exodus of businesses, expatriates and local families that have left amid a drive by Beijing to more closely control the former British colony.

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2022-12-28 06:16:00Z
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As China lifts COVID-19 curbs, people should refrain from traveling unless 'absolutely necessary': Expert - CNA

He noted that there is already an uptick in vaccine tourism observed, with people travelling from China to Macau to get vaccinations that are unavailable in the mainland.

“As quarantine restrictions ease, I’m sure there will be people traveling elsewhere to try to get western mRNA vaccines,” he said.

Dr Hsu said a key step would be vaccinating as many people within China, including getting booster jabs to the elderly and vulnerable groups.

CHINA COPING WITH CASES

China's national health commission has stopped publishing daily COVID-19 data, and also narrowed its definition for reporting COVID-19 deaths, counting only those from COVID-caused pneumonia or respiratory failure.

Despite the lack of such data, Dr Hsu said there will still be reports on how the hospitals in the country are coping. Currently, the hospitals are overwhelmed.

“This has happened everywhere around the world, including in Singapore. You may remember during our Delta wave, there was an issue with the bed crunch as well,” he noted.

“China is trying to ramp up the number of hospital beds available, not just within hospitals, but in outside facilities. And there will be a need to triage patients based on how critical their illness condition is, in terms of who gets the bed space and who gets the ICU.”

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2022-12-27 10:51:00Z
1691474472

Taiwan to extend mandatory military service to one year, citing China threat - CNA

Conscripts will undergo more intense training, including shooting exercises, combat instruction used by US forces, and operating more powerful weapons including Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and anti-tank missiles, Tsai said.

Tsai's security team, including high-level officials from the defence ministry and the National Security Council, have been reviewing Taiwan's military system since 2020, an official briefed on the matter told Reuters.

"As long as Taiwan is strong enough, it will be the home of democracy and freedom all over the world, and it will not become a battlefield," Tsai told a news conference announcing the decision, which she described as "incredibly difficult".

The current military system, including training reservists, is inefficient and insufficient to cope with China's rising military threat, especially if it launched a rapid attack on the island, Tsai added.

"Taiwan wants to tell the world that between democracy and dictatorship, we firmly believe in democracy. Between war and peace, we insist on peace. Let us show the courage and determination to protect our homeland and defend democracy."

Taiwan has complained of delayed US arms deliveries this year, including of Stingers, but Tsai said the situation was improving after discussions with the United States.

The de facto US embassy in Taiwan welcomed the announcement on conscription reform.

"The United States' commitment to Taiwan and steps Taiwan takes to enhance its self-defence capabilities contribute to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the region," the American Institute in Taiwan said.

Mandatory service used to be deeply unpopular in Taiwan - once a brutal military dictatorship that has since morphed into a progressive democracy.

Its previous government had reduced compulsory military service from one year to four months with the aim of creating a mainly volunteer force.

But recent polling showed more than three-quarters of the Taiwanese public now believes that is too short.

The military has also struggled to recruit and retain full-time personnel because of low financial incentives.

Tsai described the extension as "an extremely difficult decision ... to ensure the democratic way of life for our future generations".

CHINA A 'MAJOR CONCERN'

Taiwan's government says only the Taiwanese people can decide their future.

"China's various unilateral behaviours have become a major concern for regional security," said an official who took part in the high-level security discussion.

Conscripts would be tasked with guarding key infrastructure, enabling regular forces to respond more swiftly in the event of any attempt by China to invade, the defence ministry said at the same press conference.

Chieh Chung, researcher at the National Policy Foundation, a Taipei-based think tank, estimated that the extension could add an extra 60,000 to 70,000 manpower annually to the current 165,000-strong professional force in 2027 and beyond.

Even after the extension, however, the period of service will still be shorter than the 18 months mandated in South Korea, which faces a hostile and nuclear-armed North Korea.

Tsai is overseeing a broad modernisation programme, championing the idea of "asymmetric warfare" to make the island's forces more mobile, agile and harder to attack.

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2022-12-27 08:35:00Z
1702217768

Planning a trip to China? Here's what you need to know ahead of Jan 8 border reopening - CNA

China will soon ease its COVID-19 entry rules, after nearly three years of strict pandemic border restrictions.

On Monday (Dec 26), the country’s National Health Commission (NHC) announced that from Jan 8, 2023, COVID-19 will be downgraded from Class A - its top tier of infectious diseases - to Class B, a class that also includes HIV, viral hepatitis and H7N9 bird flu. This means that quarantine will no longer be enforced.

If you’re planning a trip to China, here’s what you need to know.

NEW ENTRY RULES

Under the new rules, which will take effect from Jan 8, travellers will no longer be subjected to quarantine requirements. However, they will need to take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test 48 hours pre-flight in order to enter the country.

Currently, all passengers arriving in China have to undergo mandatory centralised quarantine, a requirement that has been in place since March 2020.

However, the length of time has been progressively reduced, from three weeks originally to just five days at present.

It is the latest in a series of restrictions to be lifted as Beijing loosens its zero-COVID regime. Earlier this month, the Chinese government abruptly dropped mandatory testing and lockdowns.

It comes after nationwide protests last month, with the strict zero-COVID policy - now entering its fourth year - being blamed for upending ordinary life, travel and employment and dealing a harsh blow to the economy.

SHORTER LOCKDOWNS, HOME QUARANTINE

While China has since moved away from imposing sweeping lockdowns in whole neighbourhoods or cities, current guidelines stipulate that local authorities may still lock down buildings in the event that a positive case is detected.

However, snap lockdowns must be applied to more precisely identified areas, including specific buildings, units, and floors.

They must also be lifted if no new cases are found for five consecutive days.

In addition, the new guidelines also ban the blocking of fire exits and doors by officials, after 10 people died in a blaze in a sealed building in northwest China's Urumqi, sparking nationwide protests.

People infected with COVID-19 but with mild or no symptoms can now isolate at home rather than in state-managed facilities.

FEWER PCR TESTS, MASS TESTING

Many cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, have removed the negative test requirements to enter public spaces such as bars, restaurants, museums and other establishments. However, PCR tests are still required in high risk areas such as healthcare, educational, and certain other institutions.

Earlier this month, Beijing and Shenzhen also declared that negative COVID-19 test results will no longer be required to ride public transport.

Mass testing is also no longer conducted in areas that are not considered “high risk”, which refers to places that have positive cases.

Since Dec 7, those travelling between regions in China are no longer required to undergo PCR tests and health code checks.

FLIGHT OPTIONS

Restrictions on international flights, such as the "Five-One" policy - a rule under which an airline can keep only one flight per week to travel to and out of China - will also be lifted but in-flight mask wearing will still be required

From Dec 30, Singapore Airlines (SIA) will reinstate its passenger service to Beijing, operating fortnightly every other Friday.

This comes nearly three years after flight services between Singapore and Beijing were suspended on March 28, 2020.

Checks by CNA on Tuesday showed that the cost of an economy ticket from Singapore to Beijing this Friday with the return flight next Tuesday was around S$4,160.

According to SIA’s flight calendar, prices for economy flights between Singapore and Beijing show a slight drop after Jan 8.

A ticket for a round trip that leaves for Beijing on Jan 13 and returns to Singapore on Jan 17 costs around S$3,335.

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2022-12-27 06:23:00Z
1709216377

Malaysia transport minister Loke tells Batik Air to apologise, take responsibility for flight delay - CNA

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke has called on the management of low-cost airline Batik Air Malaysia to apologise to passengers after they were allegedly left stranded overnight at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Their flight to Kuching, Sarawak was delayed for about seven hours on Thursday (Dec 22) night.

Mr Loke was responding to a complaint by one of the affected passengers who had posted a video about his ordeal on Twitter.

Responding to Mr Firdaus Jailan on the social media site, Mr Loke said that he has since contacted the management of the airline, tagging @malindoair in his tweet. Batik Air Malaysia was previously known as Malindo Air until April this year.

“(The management) will reach out to all affected passengers to apologise and take responsibility (for the incident),” Mr Loke wrote on Monday night.

Mr Firdaus had taken to social media to air his grievances following the significant flight delay and had asked Mr Loke “to do something” about the airline operator.

Mr Firdaus alleged that the airline had treated its passengers “poorly” and had not prepared them for the situation, even after he had asked ground staff members if there were going to be multiple delays that evening.

“The flight was supposed to depart at 11.30pm. When I arrived at (the check-in counter), the staff member informed me the flight would be delayed to 2am. When they told me that … they reassured me that that was going to be the only delay,” Mr Firdaus said.

He then alleged that the flight was rescheduled to 6.35am on the airport departure board, with no indication that it was the previously delayed service.

“There’s not one staff member that can be seen here,” Mr Firdaus said as he pans his camera to show passengers sleeping on the benches near the departure gate.

As of Tuesday, Mr Firdaus’ video has received more than one million views on Twitter and more than 1,300 likes.

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2022-12-27 06:12:00Z
1716563612

Chinese make travel plans as COVID-19 rules ease further - CNA

NEAR-TERM PAIN

While the world's second-largest economy is expected to see a sharp rebound later next year, once the initial shockwave of infections fades, it is in for a rough ride in the coming weeks and months as workers increasingly fall ill.

Many shops in Shanghai, Beijing and elsewhere have been forced to close in recent days with staff unable to come to work, while some factories have already sent many of their workers on leave for the late January Chinese New Year holidays.

"The concern of a temporary supply chain distortion remains as the labour force is impacted by infections," JPMorgan analysts said in a note, adding that their tracking of subway traffic in 29 Chinese cities showed that many people were restricting their movements as the virus spreads.

Data on Tuesday showed industrial profits fell 3.6 per cent in January to November from a year earlier, versus a 3.0 per cent drop for January-October, reflecting the toll of the anti-virus curbs in place last month, including in major manufacturing regions.

The lifting of travel restrictions is positive for the US$17 trillion economy, but strong caveats apply.

"International travel ... will likely surge, yet it may take many more months before volumes return to the pre-pandemic level," said Dan Wang, chief economist at Hang Seng Bank China.

"COVID is still spreading in most parts of China, greatly disrupting the normal work schedule. Loss in productivity is significant and inflationary pressures in the coming months could be acute as the sudden spike in demand will outpace the recovery in supply."

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2022-12-27 04:19:00Z
1709216377

'Blizzard of the century' leaves nearly 50 dead across US - The Straits Times

NEW YORK - Emergency crews in New York were scrambling on Monday to rescue marooned residents from what authorities called the “blizzard of the century”, a relentless storm that has left at least 28 dead in the state and is causing US Christmas travel chaos.

Blizzard conditions continue to prevail in parts of the US north-east, the stubborn remnants of a massive sprawl of extreme weather that gripped the country over several days, causing widespread power outages, travel delays and at least 47 deaths across nine states.

In New York state, authorities have described ferocious conditions, particularly in Buffalo, with hours-long whiteouts, bodies being discovered in vehicles and under snow banks, and emergency personnel going “car to car” searching for more motorists – alive or dead.

The perfect storm of fierce snow squalls, howling wind and sub-zero temperatures forced the cancellation of more than 15,000 US flights in recent days, including at least 2,600 on Monday, according to tracking site Flightaware.com.

Buffalo – a city in Erie County that is no stranger to foul winter weather – is the epicentre of the crisis, buried under staggering amounts of snow.

“Certainly it is the blizzard of the century,” Governor Kathy Hochul told reporters, adding it was “way too early to say this is at its completion.”

Ms Hochul said some western New York towns got walloped with “30 to 40 inches (0.75 to 1 metre) of snow overnight.”

Later Monday, Ms Hochul spoke with President Joe Biden, who offered “the full force of the federal government” to support New York state, and said he and First Lady Jill Biden were praying for those who lost loved ones in the storm, according to a White House statement.

The National Weather Service forecast up to 14 more inches on Monday in addition to the several feet that have already left the city buried in snow, with officials struggling to get emergency services back online.

Erie County executive Mark Poloncarz told a press briefing he was “heartbroken” to report the blizzard-related death toll had climbed to 25 county-wide.

Mr Poloncarz said Erie’s death toll will likely surpass that of Buffalo’s infamous blizzard of 1977, when nearly 30 people died.

“We do expect that there will be more” deaths from the ongoing storm, he added.

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2022-12-26 22:48:13Z
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China to scrap COVID-19 quarantine for overseas arrivals from Jan 8 - CNA

BEIJING: China will scrap quarantine measures for overseas arrivals starting Jan 8, health authorities announced Monday (Dec 27), after nearly three years of strict pandemic border restrictions.

The National Health Commission (NHC) announced the downgraded containment measures for COVID-19 in an online notice, adding that travellers would only need a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test taken 48 hours pre-flight to enter China.

The announcement is the latest move by Beijing to loosen its zero-COVID regime, after it abruptly dropped mandatory testing and lockdowns earlier this month.

"According to the national health quarantine law, infectious disease quarantine measures will no longer be taken against inbound travellers and goods," the National Health Commission said.

"People must take a PCR test in the 48 hours before arriving in China," the notice said, adding that restrictions limiting the number of international flights will also be abolished.

The measures will take effect from Jan 8, when COVID-19 will be downgraded from the top tier of infectious diseases, Class A, to a second tier Class B, the NHC said in a separate notice Monday.

Unlike most of the rest of the world where people have transitioned to living with the pandemic, China had until recently maintained harsh restrictions and largely sealed itself off.

Since March 2020, all passengers arriving in the country had to undergo at least two weeks of mandatory centralised quarantine, later increased to three weeks.

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2022-12-26 15:34:00Z
CBMieGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vYXNpYS9jb3ZpZC0xOS1jaGluYS1zY3JhcC1xdWFyYW50aW5lLWphbi04LW92ZXJzZWFzLWFycml2YWxzLXRyYXZlbGxlcnMtcGNyLXRlc3QtMzE2ODYyMdIBAA

'The ICU is full': Medical staff on frontline of China's COVID-19 fight say hospitals are overwhelmed - CNA

In the past month, Bernstein went from never having treated a COVID-19 patient to seeing dozens a day.

"The biggest challenge, honestly, is I think we were just unprepared for this," he said.

Sonia Jutard-Bourreau, 48, chief medical officer at the private Raffles Hospital in Beijing, said patient numbers are five to six times their normal levels, and patients' average age has shot up by about 40 years to over 70 in the space of a week.

"It's always the same profile," she said. "That is most of the patients have not been vaccinated."

The patients and their relatives visit Raffles because local hospitals are "overwhelmed", she said, and because they wish to buy Paxlovid, the Pfizer-made COVID-19 treatment, which many places, including Raffles, are running low on.

"They want the medicine like a replacement of the vaccine, but the medicine does not replace the vaccine," Jutard-Bourreau said, adding that there are strict criteria for when her team can prescribe it.

Jutard-Bourreau, who like Bernstein has been working in China for around a decade, fears that the worst of this wave in Beijing has not arrived yet.

Elsewhere in China, medical staff told Reuters that resources are already stretched to the breaking point in some cases, as COVID-19 and sickness levels amongst staff have been particularly high.

One nurse based in the western city of Xian said 45 of 51 nurses in her department and all staff in the emergency department have caught the virus in recent weeks.

"There are so many positive cases among my colleagues," said the 22-year-old nurse, surnamed Wang. "Almost all the doctors are down with it."

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2022-12-26 08:42:25Z
1691474472

Savage US blizzard leaves 31 dead, causes power outages, travel snarls - The Straits Times

NEW YORK - A relentless winter storm brought Christmas Day danger and misery to millions of Americans Sunday as intense snow and frigid cold gripped parts of the eastern United States, with weather-related deaths rising to at least 31.

“It is (like) going to a warzone, and the vehicles along the sides of the roads are shocking,” said New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a native of Buffalo, where 2.4m snow drifts and power outages have made for life-threatening conditions.

Mrs Hochul told reporters on Sunday evening that residents were still in the throes of a “very dangerous life-threatening situation” and warned anyone in the area to remain indoors.

A crisis situation was unfolding in Buffalo, in western New York, where a blizzard has left the city marooned, with emergency services unable to reach high impact areas.

More than 200,000 people across several eastern states woke up without power on Christmas morning and many more had their holiday travel plans upended, although the five-day-long storm featuring blizzard conditions and ferocious winds showed signs of easing.

The extreme weather sent wind chill temperatures in all 48 contiguous US states below freezing over the weekend, stranded holiday travellers with thousands of flights canceled and trapped residents in ice- and snow-encrusted homes.

At least 31 weather-related deaths have been confirmed across eight states, with some US media reporting as many as 30 storm-linked fatalities in total, including four in Colorado who likely died of exposure and at least 12 in New York state with officials warning the number would likely rise.

While large swathes of the country have begun shovelling out from the massive storm and temperatures in some locations were returning to seasonal normality, Buffalo remained in the grips of “a major disaster”, a senior official said Sunday.

Officials described historically dangerous conditions in the snow-prone Buffalo region, with hours-long whiteouts and bodies discovered in vehicles and under snow banks as emergency workers struggled to search for those in need of rescue.

The city’s international airport remains closed until Tuesday and a driving ban remained in effect for all of Erie County, where the lake-side metropolis is located.

“We now have what’ll be talked about not just today but for generations (as) the blizzard of ‘22,” Mrs Hochul said, adding that the brutality had surpassed the region’s prior landmark snowstorm of 1977 in “intensity, the longevity, the ferocity of the winds”.

Due to frozen electric substations, some residents were not expected to regain power until Tuesday, with one frozen substation reportedly buried under 18 feet of snow, a senior county official said.

Governor Hochul deployed some 200 National Guard members to help with rescues in and around Buffalo.

“It is extreme, it is dangerous and deadly,” she told CNN, noting that even National Guard units were getting trapped and requiring rescue.

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2022-12-25 19:30:08Z
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Zhejiang province in China has 1 million daily COVID-19 cases, expected to double - CNA

"MOST DANGEROUS WEEKS"

"China is entering the most dangerous weeks of the pandemic," said a research note from Capital Economics. "The authorities are making almost no efforts now to slow the spread of infections and, with the migration ahead of Lunar New Year getting started, any parts of the country not currently in a major COVID-19 wave will be soon."

The cities of Qingdao and Dongguan have each estimated tens of thousands of daily COVID-19 infections recently, much higher than the national daily toll without asymptomatic cases.

The country's healthcare system has been under enormous strain, with staff being asked to work while sick and even retired medical workers in rural communities being rehired to help grass-root efforts, according to state media.

Bolstering the urgency is the approach of the Lunar New Year in January, when huge numbers of people return home.

Visits to Zhejiang fever clinics hit 408,400 a day - 14 times normal levels - in the past week, a Zhejiang official told a news conference.

Daily requests to the emergency centre in Zhejiang's capital, Hangzhou, have recently more than tripled on average from last year's level, state television reported on Sunday, citing a Hangzhou health official.

The eastern city of Suzhou said late on Saturday its emergency line received a record 7,233 calls on Thursday.

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2022-12-25 09:42:00Z
CBMiamh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vYXNpYS9jaGluYS16aGVqaWFuZy0xLW1pbGxpb24tZGFpbHktY292aWQtMTktY2FzZXMtZXhwZWN0ZWQtZG91YmxlLTMxNjc0NTbSAQA

China's National Health Commission to stop publishing daily COVID-19 figures - CNA

The United States has also reported COVID-19 cases less frequently, changing from daily to weekly updates, citing needs to reduce the reporting burden on local areas.

"China is entering the most dangerous weeks of the pandemic," said a research note from Capital Economics. "The authorities are making almost no efforts now to slow the spread of infections and, with the migration ahead of Lunar New Year getting started, any parts of the country not currently in a major COVID wave will be soon."

After years of enforcing stern rules, President Xi Jinping’s abandonment of his signature zero-COVID policy now puts a spotlight on the country's exit plan as Hong Kong plans to re-open China’s border.

"YOU DIDN'T COUNT ME"

China's abrupt easing of restrictions, including the dismantling of widespread mass testing, had confused its citizens and stoked frustrations as cases soared while official numbers remained incomplete.

"You didn't count me when I was positive for COVID and you didn't know when I turned negative. The statistics and reality are too far apart," wrote a user of China's Twitter-like platform after the NHC halted its daily case reporting, adding there has been no need to publish them for quite a while.

The cities of Qingdao and Dongguan have each estimated tens of thousands of daily COVID-19 infections recently, much higher than the national daily toll without asymptomatic cases.

Several models and reports in recent days have forecast as many as 2 million COVID-19 deaths as the virus spreads to rural sections of the country, threatening to hit the most vulnerable elderly population and the unvaccinated.

The country's healthcare system has been under enormous strain, with staff being asked to work while sick and even retired medical workers in rural communities being rehired to help grass-root efforts, according to state media.

Bolstering the urgency is the approach of the Lunar New Year in January, when huge numbers of people return home.

Daily requests to the emergency centre in the eastern city of Hangzhou have recently more than tripled on average from last year's level, state television reported on Sunday, citing a Hangzhou health official.

Suzhou, also in the east, said late on Saturday its emergency line received a record 7,233 calls on Thursday.

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2022-12-25 02:31:00Z
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Public voting for ST's Singaporean of the Year award begins, open till Jan 7 - The Straits Times

National table tennis player Feng Tianwei, 36, moved Singaporeans with her performance at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in August, pulling through with a win in the women’s singles final.

The win was a big one for her – she overcame an opponent 10 years her junior and the victory came even as she faced health issues. She had had heart palpitations after taking a third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine in January, and as a result was forced to halt her practice and halve her training load when she resumed training.

READ MORE HERE

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About the award

Over the years, the award has been given to outstanding Singaporeans in various fields.

Last year, it went to Mr Sakthibalan Balathandautham, who donated part of his liver to a one-year-old child after he came across a plea online from a young couple.

In 2020, front-line workers were collectively named Singaporean of the Year, for their hard work in the fight against Covid-19.

The Singaporean of the Year will get a trophy and $20,000, presented by UBS, which has supported the award since its inauguration. Other individuals or groups chosen as finalists by the panel of judges will receive $5,000 each.

The top award recipient will also receive a five-night stay at any of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels’ global properties and a three-night stay at Raffles Hotel Singapore. Other finalists will get a three-night stay at any of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels’ global properties.

Singapore Airlines is sponsoring a pair of business class tickets for the Singaporean of the Year, and a pair of economy class tickets for the other finalists.

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2022-12-24 21:00:00Z
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'The Serpent' serial killer Charles Sobhraj returns to France - CNA

PARIS: Charles Sobhraj, a convicted killer who police believe killed more than 20 western backpackers on the "hippie trail" through Asia in the 1970s and 1980s, returned to France on Saturday (Dec 24) after nearly two decades behind bars in Nepal.

Nepal's Supreme Court ordered the release of Sobhraj, known as the "bikini killer" in Thailand, and "The Serpent" for his evasion of police, on Wednesday citing his advanced age and health.

A French national who was born to an Indian father and Vietnamese mother, Sobhraj, 78, landed at Paris' main international airport shortly after 7am and was escorted off the plane by police for identity checks.

"He is well, he is a free man," Sobhraj's lawyer Isabelle Coutant-Peyre told Reuters. Asked what his next steps would be, she said: "He will file a legal complaint against Nepal because the whole case against him was fabricated."

Sobhraj had been held in a high-security prison in Nepal since 2003, when he was arrested on charges of murdering American backpacker Connie Jo Bronzich in 1975. He was later found guilty of killing Bronzich's Canadian friend, Laurent Carriere, and had served 19 years out of a 20-year sentence.

But he was suspected of more murders, including in Thailand, where police say he killed six women in the 1970s, some of whom turned up dead on a beach near the resort of Pattaya.

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2022-12-24 11:01:55Z
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China's Qingdao city seeing half a million COVID-19 cases a day: Official - CNA

BEIJIING: Half a million people in a single Chinese city are being infected with COVID-19 every day, a senior health official has said, in a rare and quickly censored acknowledgement that the country's wave of infections is not being reflected in official statistics.

China this month has rapidly dismantled key pillars of its zero-COVID strategy, doing away with snap lockdowns, lengthy quarantines and travel curbs in a jarring reversal of its hallmark containment strategy.

Cities across the country have struggled to cope as surging infections have emptied pharmacy shelves, filled hospital wards and appeared to cause backlogs at crematoriums and funeral homes.

But the end of strict testing mandates has made caseloads virtually impossible to track, while authorities have narrowed the medical definition of a COVID-19 death in a move experts have said will suppress the number of fatalities attributable to the virus.

A news outlet operated by the ruling Communist Party in Qingdao on Friday (Dec 23) reported the municipal health chief as saying that the eastern city was seeing "between 490,000 and 530,000" new COVID-19 cases a day.

The coastal city of around 10 million people was "in a period of rapid transmission ahead of an approaching peak", Bo Tao reportedly said, adding that the infection rate would accelerate by another 10 per cent over the weekend.

The report was shared by several other news outlets but appeared to have been edited by Saturday morning to remove the case figures.

China's National Health Commission said on Saturday that 4,103 new domestic infections were recorded nationwide the previous day, with no new deaths.

In Shandong, the province where Qingdao is located, authorities officially logged just 31 new domestic cases.

China's government keeps a tight leash on the country's media, with legions of online censors on hand to scrub out content deemed politically sensitive.

Most government-run publications have downplayed the severity of the country's exit wave, instead depicting the policy reversal as logical and controlled.

But some outlets have hinted at shortages of medicine and hospitals under strain, though estimates of actual case numbers remain rare.

The government of eastern Jiangxi province said in a Friday social media post that 80 per cent of its population - equivalent to around 36 million people - would be infected by March.

More than 18,000 COVID-19 patients had been admitted to major medical institutions in the province in the two weeks up to Thursday, including nearly 500 severe cases but no deaths, the statement said.

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2022-12-24 05:32:00Z
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Attack on Kurds in Paris revives trauma of unresolved murders - CNA

The victims' families have long pointed the finger at Turkey for masterminding the deaths of the three women, who were shot in the head and neck, and at France for failing to investigate properly.

"You aren't protecting us. We're being killed!" a young man shouted at police at the scene on Friday as he wept in the street.

RACIST VIOLENCE?

Despite the suspicions in the community, there appears to be no evidence that Friday's shooting had political motives or was linked to Turkey.

French authorities have been extremely cautious about suggesting a motive, with early suspicions being racism.

The suspected gunman is a 69-year-old French retired train driver with a history of violence against foreigners.

In December last year, he was charged with attacking migrants living in tents in eastern Paris with a sword, injuring at least two of them.

The man "was clearly targeting foreigners", Interior Minister Darmanin told reporters, while adding it was "not certain" that he was aiming to kill "Kurds in particular".

"We don't yet know his exact motives," he said.

KURDISH ACTIVISM

Some demonstrators could be heard chanting slogans on Friday in support of the PKK, a Kurdish organisation designated as terrorist by Ankara, the European Union and others.

The PKK has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, initially in support of an independent Kurdish state and latterly for greater Kurdish autonomy within Turkey.

Often described as the world's largest people without a state, the Kurds are a Muslim ethnic group spread across Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran.

Turkey launches regular military operations against the PKK as well as Kurdish groups it accuses of being allies in neighbouring Syria and Iraq.

The Kurdish Democratic Council of France, an umbrella Kurdish group headquartered in the cultural centre targeted on Friday, also pointed the finger at Turkey on Friday.

"For us there is no doubt that it is a terror attack which has occurred just before the 10th anniversary of the triple murders of three Kurdish activists in Paris," senior member Agit Polat told AFP.

The group called for a vigil on Friday evening.

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2022-12-23 21:57:39Z
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Twists and turns of Asia's 'Serpent' serial killer Charles Sobhraj - CNA

1944: BORN IN ASIA

Sobhraj is born in Saigon on Apr 6, 1944, to an Indian father and a Vietnamese mother who later remarries a Frenchman.

In 1963, he embarks on a life as an international crook, which will take him to Greece, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In 1970, he moves to India, where he is arrested a year later for a jewellery heist. He flees while out on bail and goes to Greece, where he also manages to escape after being arrested.

1975: "BIKINI KILLER"

He arrives in Bangkok in 1975 with his Canadian girlfriend and an Indian associate.

He hangs out with tourists, passing himself off as a trader in precious stones.

In October, the body of a young woman is found on a Thai beach in Pattaya, wearing a bikini. Other victims follow, beaten, strangled or burned to death.

Sobhraj, who will become known as the "bikini killer" allegedly uses his victims' passports for mysterious trips linked to trade in precious stones and drugs.

Under a cloud of suspicion, he flees to India.

1976: ARRESTED IN INDIA

In July 1976, he is arrested in India after trying to drug a group of more than 20 French tourists in a New Delhi hotel.

He is also accused of the murder of another French tourist, Luc Salomon, who had been poisoned in a Mumbai hotel.

In May 1982, he is handed a life sentence by an Indian court for the 1976 murder of Israeli tourist Alan Jacob, but is acquitted on appeal a year later for lack of evidence.

He remains in prison for his other crimes.

1980: THAILAND DEMANDS EXTRADITION

In late 1985, India agrees to Thailand's request to extradite Sobhraj for the murders of a Turkish tourist and a young American woman, Teresa Knowlton.

He risks the death penalty there.

He then escapes from jail in New Delhi in March 1986 by feeding drug-laced sweets to his guards.

He is recaptured three weeks later in a Goa restaurant.

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2022-12-23 18:48:32Z
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'Epic' winter storm wallops US, leaving 1.5 million without power - CNA

The biting cold is an immediate concern for some 1.5 million electricity customers, mainly in the US south and east, who were without power, according to tracker poweroutage.us.

Transportation departments in North and South Dakota, Oklahoma, Iowa and elsewhere reported near-zero visibility whiteouts, ice-covered roads and blizzard conditions, and strongly urged residents to stay home.

At least two traffic fatalities were reported in Oklahoma Thursday, Andy Beshear, governor of Kentucky, confirmed three in his state.

"This is an epic, statewide hazard," New York Governor Kathy Hochul said at a press briefing.

"The roads are going to be like an ice skating rink and your tires cannot handle this."

AIR TRAVEL CHAOS

In El Paso, Texas, desperate migrants who had crossed from Mexico huddled for warmth in churches, schools and a civic center, Rosa Falcon, a school teacher and volunteer told AFP.

But some still chose to stay outside in -9 degrees Celsius temperatures because they feared attention from immigration authorities, she added.

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2022-12-23 15:54:00Z
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Charles 'The Serpent' Sobhraj: Serial killer and conman - CNA

KATHAMANDU: Notorious French serial killer Charles Sobhraj, the titular "Serpent" of the hit Netflix drama series, was responsible for a string of murders throughout Asia.

The charismatic conman, 78, was for nearly two decades serving a life sentence for killing two tourists in Kathmandu in the 1970s, before Nepal's top court ordered his release on Wednesday (Dec 22).

After a troubled childhood and several prison terms in France for petty crimes, he began travelling the world in the early 1970s, befriending and robbing young backpackers as he made his way along the drug-fuelled Hippie Trail from Europe to Southeast Asia.

He eventually arrived in Thailand, where he was implicated in his first murder, that of a young American woman whose body was found on a beach in Pattaya in 1975.

"He was cultured, courteous," said Nadine Gires, who befriended Sobhraj when he moved into her Bangkok apartment building that year.

But she soon began to fear her fast-talking neighbour, who masqueraded as a gemstone trader to lure cash-strapped travellers before drugging, robbing and killing them.

"Many people were getting sick in his home," she told AFP last year. "He was not only a swindler, a seducer, a robber of tourists, but an evil murderer."

Sobhraj - a French citizen of Vietnamese and Indian parentage, who spoke several languages - was linked to more than 20 killings in total.

His victims were strangled, beaten or burned, and he often used the passports of his male victims to travel to his next destination.

Sobhraj's sobriquet, "The Serpent", came from his ability to assume other identities in order to evade justice.

His exploits were dramatised in a TV series by the same name, a BBC and Netflix joint production that was watched by millions around the world.

"CRIMINAL HERO"

The law caught up with Sobhraj in 1976 in India, where was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

From his jail cell, Sobhraj sold his story to a publishing house and was interviewed by Australian journalist Julie Clarke, recounting the murders in chilling detail and holding nothing back.

"He despised backpackers, he saw them as poor young drug addicts," Clarke told AFP in 2021.

"He considered himself a criminal hero."

Sobhraj ultimately spent 21 years in jail with a brief 22-day break in 1986, when he managed to slip out of his cell after feeding the guards cakes, cookies and grapes laced with sleeping pills.

He was caught in a restaurant in the Indian coastal state of Goa, where he had reportedly been riding around on a pink motorbike in outlandish disguises.

Later, he would claim the escape was a well-crafted plan to have his sentence extended to avoid extradition to Thailand, where he was wanted for multiple murders and could have faced the death penalty.

The two countries' extradition treaty expired in 1995 and he was released two years later.

"SIR CHARLES" BEHIND BARS

By then in his fifties, Sobhraj retired to Paris, where he led a mostly quiet life - though if journalists came knocking, he would charge thousands of dollars for an interview about his notorious years in Asia.

He resurfaced in 2003 in Nepal, where he was spotted in Kathmandu's tourist district and arrested a few days later in an all-night casino.

A court there handed him a life sentence the following year for killing US tourist Connie Jo Bronzich in 1975. Her body was found with multiple stab wounds and having been severely burned.

It took Nepal's glacial legal system another decade to also sentence Sobhraj for the murder of her Canadian travelling companion, Laurent Carriere, whose passport he had used to escape Nepal after killing the pair.

In prison, Sobhraj reportedly lived in relative comfort, provided with a foam pillow, mineral water and meals from a Kathmandu restaurant.

He had also managed to extract similar perks from jail officials in India, earning him the nickname "Sir Charles" among other inmates.

In 2008, Sobhraj married Nihita Biswas - 44 years his junior and the daughter of his Nepalese lawyer - in a secret prison ceremony.

On the back of the notoriety brought by the wedding, Biswas starred in India's hugely popular version of the television show "Big Brother" in 2011.

Sobhraj has at least one daughter from a previous relationship who lives in France.

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2022-12-23 09:39:34Z
1709484071

Morgues overwhelmed: why China’s new Covid crisis is all of its own making - South China Morning Post

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1. Morgues overwhelmed: why China’s new Covid crisis is all of its own making  South China Morning Post
2. Shanghai hospital warns of "tragic battle" as COVID cases surge across China  CNA
3. Shanghai hospital readies for 'tragic battle' with Covid-19  The Straits Times
4. Inside an overcrowded Beijing hospital struggling with Covid surge in China  South China Morning Post
5. Shanghai hospital warns of 'tragic battle' as COVID-19 spreads  CNA
6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2022-12-23 04:00:18Z
1704760220

Elderly COVID-19 patients fill hospital beds in China's Chongqing - CNA

CHONGQING: Attached to a breathing tube under a pile of blankets, an old man racked with COVID-19 lay groaning on a stretcher in the emergency department of a hospital in central China on Thursday (Dec 22).

In Chongqing, and across the country, the virus is surging. Authorities say the number of cases is impossible to keep track of after the abrupt abandonment of years of mass testing, lockdowns and travel restrictions.

A paramedic at Chongqing Medical University First Affiliated Hospital who confirmed the old man was a COVID-19 patient said he had picked up more than 10 people a day, 80 to 90 per cent of whom were infected with coronavirus.

"Most of them are elderly people," he said.

"A lot of hospital staff are positive as well, but we have no choice but to carry on working."

The old man waited half an hour to be treated, while in a nearby treatment room, AFP saw six other people in sick beds, surrounded by harried doctors and relatives.

They too were mostly elderly, and when asked if they were all COVID-19 patients, a doctor said: "Basically."

Five were strapped to respirators and had obvious breathing difficulties.

Millions of elderly across China are still not fully vaccinated, raising concerns that the virus will kill the country's most vulnerable citizens in huge numbers.

But under new government guidelines, many of those deaths would not be blamed on COVID-19.

Previously, people who died of an illness while infected with the virus were counted as a COVID-19 death, but now only those who directly die of respiratory failure caused by the virus will be counted.

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2022-12-22 09:32:00Z
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