Li Keqiang, former premier of China, dead after heart attack - South China Morning Post

Chinese media outlets are attributing their reports to CCTV or the state news agency Xinhua, which made the announcement shortly after 8am.

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Former Chinese premier Li Keqiang dies of heart attack

Former Chinese premier Li Keqiang dies of heart attack

The Yan’an Elevated Road connecting the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport with the city centre was blocked from Friday morning, prompting speculation that some top state officials were flying into Shanghai.

At the foreign affairs ministry press conference on Friday afternoon, spokeswoman Mao Ning said “we expressed our condolences”, when asked by reporters for comment on Li’s death. Mao also asked journalists to pay attention to official obituaries and funeral announcements.

As of 9am on Friday, the hashtag about Li’s death had been read nearly 700 million times on social media platform Weibo. On the posts about Li, Weibo’s “like” button turned into a daisy about half an hour later.

Comments are severely restricted under the posts of media outlets, with only a tiny number displayed. But among the reposts, most online commenters are expressing their shock and condolences.

Multiple videos of Li are circulating on social media, including his remarks during a press conference at last year’s National People’s Congress, when he said that China’s opening-up policy would not change “just as the course of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers will not be reversed”.

After becoming premier in 2013, he consistently pushed the private economy, foreign investment and simplified government procedures.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) shakes hands with former premier Li Keqiang during the fourth plenary session of the National People’s Congress at the Great Hall in March, which marked Li’s retirement after serving two five-year terms. Photo: Reuters

Under President Xi Jinping, a large amount of decision-making power over economic affairs, previously under the State Council, has been absorbed by party organs under Xi’s push to tighten the Communist Party’s control in all areas.

A long article complaining about China’s business environment posted online in 2015 by Wu Hai, who went on to found Mei KTV, attracted the attention of Li, who invited him to speak at a seminar at Zhongnanhai, the leadership compound.

The outspoken entrepreneur wept on Friday as he recalled the late premier in a phone interview with the South China Morning Post.

“He really did his best and everything he could for this country, for China’s economy, especially for the business environment,” Wu said. “I hope what he did for the country can be continued.”

Whatever happened to Likonomics? Premier Li Keqiang heads for the exit

James Zimmerman, former chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, responded to the news shortly after 9.30am, describing it as “sad” and recalled his meetings with the former premier, starting when Li was vice-premier in 2008.

At that time, Li was leading a conference to encourage and promote development and investment in the region after an earthquake, amid fears the disaster would damage business confidence.

“Li was viewed as a pragmatic leader and encouraged economic reform,” Zimmerman said, adding that Li was considered “less ideological” than others in the leadership but his voice was later sidelined.

“His passing is a significant loss to the moderate voices in the party leadership,” he added, in an email to the Post.

Li stepped down in March – despite not reaching the retirement age set for his level – along with Wang Yang, former chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China’s top political advisory body.

At the time, a Xinhua article on the selection of top cadres said the decision by some senior officials to voluntarily stand aside for younger people showed “broad-mindedness and high moral integrity”, without mentioning anyone by name.

The parliamentary meeting in March – also known as the “two sessions” – was Li’s last public appearance. He delivered his last government work report at the opening ceremony of the National People’s Congress.

According to videos circulating on social media, Li was seen visiting the Mogao Caves, a World Heritage site in the northwestern province of Gansu, at the end of August, but there were no official reports mentioning the tour.

Li is survived by his wife Cheng Hong, a professor of English literature at Beijing’s Capital University of Economics and Business, who has had several collections of essays or translations published. The couple has one daughter, according to official media reports.

Li’s brother, Li Keming, was once a senior official at China Tobacco, which oversees the country’s tobacco industry and is responsible for producing and selling cigarettes. Li Keming also once headed a State Council agency that supervises large state-owned enterprises.

Additional reporting by Ann Cao

More to follow …

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2023-10-27 07:46:23Z
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'I couldn't breathe': Seoul crowd crush survivor writes to heal - CNA

WRITING TO HEAL

Kim walked for hours to get home, in a state of shock.

"I couldn't sleep for two days. As if obsessed with something, I couldn't turn off the news on TV. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, I only drank water and kept watching the news."

Kim, a writer, struggled with feelings of survivor's guilt, and eventually her therapist suggested that writing about her feelings might allow her to process what had happened.

At first, she shared her writing only in private forums online, where she received overwhelmingly positive feedback, including from others who said it had helped them with their own Itaewon-linked trauma.

After one of her posts went viral, local newspapers asked her to write for them, which she eventually agreed to - but the reaction from the general public was overwhelmingly negative.

"When it was released to the public, I did not receive comfort from the reactions I received. Personally it was good as a way to release my feelings and it was helpful in relieving my depression," she said.

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2023-10-27 08:01:00Z
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China's Former Premier Li Keqiang Dies of Heart Attack at 68 - Bloomberg

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1. China's Former Premier Li Keqiang Dies of Heart Attack at 68  Bloomberg
2. China's ex-Premier Li Keqiang dies at 68  CNA
3. China's former premier Li Keqiang dies of heart attack at age 68  The Straits Times
4. Li Keqiang: The Late Chinese Premier With Unrealized Ambitions  Bloomberg
5. China's former premier Li Keqiang has died: Report  CNA
6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2023-10-27 03:42:28Z
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Hunt for 'armed and dangerous' US gunman who killed 18 - CNA

LEWISTON, United States: Hundreds of police in the US state of Maine hunted on Thursday (Oct 26) for a fugitive gunman who killed 18 people at a bowling alley and a bar, as President Joe Biden mourned "yet another senseless and tragic mass shooting".

The rampage in the small northeastern town of Lewiston also left 13 people wounded, three critically, in the deadliest shooting this year in America.

A wide area around Lewiston was locked down during the tense search as authorities erected roadblocks, ordered schools and businesses closed, and told residents to stay indoors.

Governor Janet Mills said the suspect was "considered armed and dangerous, and police advise that Maine people should not approach him under any circumstances".

"This attack strikes at the very heart of who we are and the values we hold dear," Mills told a press conference. "This is a dark day for Maine."

Police named the suspect as 40-year-old Robert Card - seen in surveillance footage pointing a semi-automatic rifle as he walked into the Sparetime Recreation bowling alley.

Police converged on the home of Card's father in nearby Bowdoin early Thursday evening, closing off roads.

One longtime neighbour, Dave Letarte, said news of the shooting "floored me".

"I would have never expected that from him," he told AFP of the younger Card.

Joseph Walker, a manager at the Schemengees Bar & Grille, was among those killed the night before, his father Leroy Walker told NBC News.

Walker said his family was "suffering and dying in a nightmare we don't understand".

"We were up all night. We didn't know where to go, who to turn to," he said.

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2023-10-26 15:54:00Z
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Israel mounts new raid into Gaza, hints there may be several 'invasions' - CNA

GAZA HEALTH MINISTRY URGES PEOPLE TO EXAMINE ITS DEATH TOLL

Israeli army radio said the military had overnight staged its biggest incursion into northern Gaza in the current war against Hamas, which Israel has vowed to eliminate.

The military later released video on X showing armoured vehicles crossing the highly fortified barrier from Israel and blowing up buildings "in preparation for the next stages of combat".

"Tanks and infantry struck numerous terrorist cells, infrastructure and anti-tank missile launch posts," it said.

Palestinians in Gaza said Israeli air strikes had pounded the territory again overnight and people living in central Gaza, near the Bureij refugee camp and east of Qarara village, reported intensive tank shelling all night.

Hamas did not comment directly on the Israeli report but said its armed wing had struck an Israeli helicopter east of Bureij. The Israeli military said it was "not aware of this".

Israel has carried out weeks of intense bombardment of the densely populated Strip following the Oct 7 Hamas attack on Israeli communities, which it says killed some 1,400 people.

Gaza's health ministry said on Thursday (Oct 26) that 7,028 Palestinians had been killed in the air strikes, including 2,913 children.

"Behind every announced number, there is a known human being with a name and an identity," ministry spokesman Dr Ashraf al-Qidra said. He urged those who doubted its figures to examine its methodology.

Reuters has not been able to independently verify the death toll on either side.

In Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, an Israeli air strike hit a house, killing a mother, her three daughters and a baby boy, whose father held his body in hospital.

"Did he kill? Did he wound someone? Did he capture someone? They were innocent children inside their house," he said.

The director of the Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, Nahed Abu Taaema, said the bodies of 77 people killed in air strikes had been brought in overnight, most of them women and children, Hamas's Al-Aqsa radio station reported.

Many Palestinians are sheltering in Khan Younis's hospitals, schools, homes and existing refugee camps and on the street after Israel warned them to leave their homes in the north.

Israel did not respond directly to the report but said its forces had struck a Hamas missile launch post in the Khan Younis area that was next to a mosque and kindergarten.

It was not clear if both sides were referring to the same incident.

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2023-10-26 13:52:00Z
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EU leaders to debate call for 'humanitarian pause' in Gaza - CNA

Germany, wary of urging a more definitive halt that could tie Israel's hands, has mooted calls for humanitarian "windows" or "pauses" in the plural.

"Letters, commas, language matter, and that's how you find agreements," said a senior EU official.

But diplomats from some EU nations warn that delays over finding the right words as the death toll mounts are hitting the bloc's global standing and leaving it flailing in the face of developments.

UKRAINE OVERSHADOWED

The eruption of violence in the Middle East has sparked fears the West could get distracted from Russia's war on Ukraine 20 months into the invasion.

The fresh crisis comes at a moment when turmoil in the US Congress has already raised questions about the sustainability of Washington's military aid.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed on Tuesday that "support will in no way be impacted by the fact that we of course since the horrible morning hours of Oct 7 have focused on Israel and the Middle East".

Chief among EU measures meant to reassure Kyiv is a plan - earlier estimated at €20 billion (US$21.09 billion) over four years - for a defence fund for Ukraine as part of broader Western security commitments.

Diplomats say progress has been held up by Hungary, Russia's closest ally in the bloc, and leaders are set to task the bloc's foreign policy chief to report back on the issue in December.

There will also be calls to impose new sanctions on Moscow that could include banning Russian diamond imports once the G7 agrees on a way of tracing them.

In addition, a plan for using the revenues from frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine will be discussed.

Looming over the discussion on Ukraine will be the country's next steps in its push to join the EU.

The bloc's executive arm is to give an assessment on Nov 8 on whether to open formal accession talks with Kyiv.

Then it will be up to EU leaders to decide whether to adopt any recommendations by the end of the year.

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2023-10-26 03:11:00Z
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Police hunt for man linked to major mass shootings in US city of Lewiston, Maine - The Straits Times

LEWISTON, Maine - Hundreds of police searched the city of Lewiston and surrounding areas of Maine state for a man sought in connection with mass shootings at a bar and a bowling alley, as news outlets reported a death toll ranging from 16 to 22, with dozens more wounded.

Officials said there were multiple casualties but declined to provide figures.

State and local police identified Robert R. Card, 40, as a person of interest in the case after previously posting on Facebook photographs of a man wielding what appeared to be a semi-automatic rifle.

The pictures from one of Wednesday’s crime scenes showed a bearded man in a brown hoodie and jeans, holding the weapon in the firing position.

“We have literally hundreds of police officers working around the state of Maine to investigate this case to locate Mr Card, who is a person of interest,” Maine Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck told a news conference.

Several media reported that a Maine law enforcement bulletin identified Card as a trained firearms instructor and member of the US Army reserve who recently reported that he had mental health issues, including hearing voices. It also said he threatened to shoot up a National Guard base.

“Card was also reported to have been committed to mental health facility for two weeks during summer 2023 and subsequently released,” said the notice from the Maine Information & Analysis Centre.

Reuters could not authenticate the bulletin. The Associated Press reported it was circulated to law enforcement officials.

The bar and the bowling alley are about 6.5km apart in Lewiston, a former textile hub and town of 38,000 people in Androscoggin County about 56km north of Maine’s largest city, Portland.

Media reports picked up by Reuters earlier said there was a third shooting site at a Walmart distribution centre, but Walmart later issued a statement to local media saying no shooting occurred on their property.

The Central Maine Medical Centre in Lewiston issued a statement saying it was “reacting to a mass casualty, mass shooter event” and coordinating with area hospitals to take patients.

President Joe Biden has been briefed and will continue to receive updates, a US official said in Washington.

Mr Biden spoke by phone individually to Maine Governor Janet Mills, Senators Angus King and Susan Collins, and Congressman Jared Golden about the shooting in Lewiston and offered full federal support in the wake of the attack, the White House said.

If the death toll of 22 is confirmed, the massacre would be the deadliest in the United States since at least August 2019, when a gunman opened fire on shoppers at an El Paso Walmart with an AK-47 rifle, killing 23 in a shooting that prosecutors branded an anti-Hispanic hate crime, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

The 22 fatalities would also be on par with the number of homicides that normally occur in Maine in any given year. The number of annual homicides in the state has fluctuated between 16 and 29 since 2012, according to Maine State Police.

The number of US shootings in which four or more people were shot has surged since the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2020, with 647 occurring in 2022 and 679 projected to occur in 2023, based on trends as of July, according to data from the archive.

The deadliest US mass shooting on record is the massacre of 58 people by a gunman firing on a Las Vegas country music festival from a high-rise hotel perch in 2017. REUTERS

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2023-10-26 02:03:00Z
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