Shanghai aims to reopen more businesses after weeks of COVID-19 lockdown, Beijing battles on - CNA

SHANGHAI/BEIJING: Shanghai will gradually begin reopening businesses such as shopping malls and hair salons in China's financial and manufacturing hub from Monday (May 16) after weeks in strict COVID-19 lockdown, while Beijing battles a small but stubborn outbreak.

All but shut down for more than six weeks, Shanghai is tightening curbs in some areas that it hopes marks a final push in its campaign against the virus, which has infuriated and exhausted residents of China's largest and most cosmopolitan city.

Shopping malls, department stores, and supermarkets will begin resuming in-store operations and allow customers to shop in "an orderly way", while hair salons and vegetable markets will reopen with limited capacity, Vice Mayor Chen Tong told a media briefing on Sunday.

He gave no specifics on the pace or extent of such reopenings, and many residents reacted online with scepticism.

"Who are you lying to? We can't even go out of our compound. You can open up, no one can go," said a user of China's Twitter-like Weibo, whose IP showed as being from Shanghai.

During Shanghai's lockdown, residents have been mainly limited to purchasing necessities, with normal shopping on online platforms largely suspended.

And while barbers and hairdressers have been giving haircuts on the street or in open areas of housing compounds, residents recently able to leave their homes for a few hours at a time to walk or buy groceries have generally appeared more dishevelled than usual.

OUTLIER APPROACH

China's strict "dynamic zero" approach to COVID-19 has put hundreds of millions of people in dozens of cities under curbs of varying degrees in an attempt to eliminate the spread of the disease. The curbs are wreaking havoc on the world's second-largest economy even as most countries try to return to normal life despite continued infections.

New bank lending hit the lowest in nearly four and half years in April as the pandemic jolted the economy and weakened credit demand, central bank data showed on Friday.

The Asian Football Confederation said on Saturday that China had pulled out of hosting the 2023 Asian Cup finals due to the COVID-19 crisis. This followed China's cancellation or postponement of numerous international sporting events it was scheduled to hold in the second half of 2022.

The decision on the soccer tournament prompted social media speculation in China that its zero-COVID policy could persist well into next year.

China managed to keep COVID-19 at bay after it was first discovered in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019, but has struggled to contain the highly infectious Omicron variant. The head of the World Health Organization said last week China's approach not "sustainable".

But the country is widely expected to stick with its approach at least until the congress of the ruling Communist Party, which is historically in the autumn, where President Xi Jinping is poised to secure a precedent-breaking third five-year leadership term.

Case numbers in Shanghai continued to improve, with 1,369 daily symptomatic and asymptomatic infections reported, down from 1,681 a day earlier.

Importantly, the city reported no new cases outside of quarantined areas after finding one a day earlier. Consistently achieving zero cases outside quarantined areas is a key factor for officials determining when they can reopen the city.

Shanghai has achieved its zero-COVID target in more thinly populated suburban districts and started easing curbs there first, such as allowing shoppers to enter supermarkets.

But it continued to tighten restrictions in many areas over the past two weeks, especially in the city centre, curtailing deliveries and putting up more fencing.

In most of Beijing, restaurants were shut for dining-in and residents have been urged to stay or work from home. Parks and other entertainment venues have been closed, sending many people onto streets or into the gardens of their housing compounds to enjoy fine spring weather.

In the large Chaoyang district, residents were reminded by text message and in some instances by door knocks to get their daily COVID-19 test as the capital scrambles to cut infection chains. 

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2022-05-15 04:31:00Z
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Chinese Stocks Stand Out as Rare Winners in Global Equity Rout - Bloomberg

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Chinese Stocks Stand Out as Rare Winners in Global Equity Rout  BloombergView Full coverage on Google News
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2022-05-14 00:00:00Z
CAIiEJ981W-laL2z9Fzk9MvJAsgqGQgEKhAIACoHCAow4uzwCjCF3bsCMIrOrwM

Elon Musk says US$44 billion Twitter deal temporarily on hold - CNA

Elon Musk said on Friday (May 13) his US $44 billion deal for Twitter was temporarily on hold, citing pending details on spam and fake accounts.

"Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5 per cent of users," Musk said in a tweet.

Shares of the social media company fell 20 per cent in premarket trading. Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The company had earlier this month estimated that false or spam accounts represented fewer than 5 per cent of its monetisable daily active users during the first quarter.

It also said it faced several risks until the deal with Musk is closed, including whether advertisers would continue to spend on Twitter.

Musk, the world's richest man and the chief executive of Tesla, had said that one of his priorities would be to remove "spam bots" from the platform.

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2022-05-13 09:58:00Z
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Policeman tracks his cheating wife using his phone, then kills the wife's lover & himself - The Independent

Following the post-Covid situation, we discover that there have been numerous murders or attempted murders. And these murders are taking strange turns at times.

In this one, a policeman, Sean Armstead, 36, of New York, USA used a tracker on his phone to locate his cheating wife and her lover. He is accused of following his wife Alexandra Vanderheyden, 35, to a hotel accompanied by Edward Wilkins, 20, her young lover.

They were driving their own cars when the husband arrived in his vehicle. The incident happened last Sunday when the two lovers fled the hotel, with Armstead hot on their tail.

According to reports, Armstead rammed his car into the lover’s car that he has been chasing, near a road junction in the vicinity of a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant.

The young lover then exited his car and attempted to flee towards the parking lot of the restaurant, but Armstead shot him down with 16 rounds. He died from injuries to the back and head, according to the New York Post.

The horrific murder of the young lover was only the beginning for the policeman. After the killing of the young man, he reloaded his gun and shot himself, it is said. He left his wife unhurt in this terrible bloodbath.

In this love triangle, the young lover had no chance when faced with the woman’s husband armed with a gun.

According to the sources, the wife drove up to see her husband and lover both lying in a pool of blood on the pavement. She was following the husband’s car when the latter was chasing her lover.

News reports say the blood was still visible outside the restaurant on Monday morning.

“It happened outside,” a manager at Buffalo Wild Wings said. “The night manager told me she locked the doors and kept everyone inside.”

---

The post Policeman tracks cheating wife via phone. Kills the lover and himself. appeared first on The Independent News.

Man hacks wife with chopper at Beach Road, nearby strangers throw chairs, metal plates, stepladders, dustbins and more to stop assault

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2022-05-12 02:30:20Z
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Tesla stutters under tighter Shanghai lockdown; Beijing keeps hunting COVID-19 - CNA

SHANGHAI: Tesla operated its Shanghai plant well below capacity on Tuesday (May 10), showing the problems factories there face trying to ramp up output under a tightening COVID-19 lockdown, while China's capital kept up its fight with a small but stubborn outbreak.

Many of the hundreds of companies reopening factories in Shanghai in recent weeks have faced challenges getting production lines back up to speed while keeping workers on-site in a "closed loop" system.

Even if they manage to get everything right, such firms depend on suppliers facing similar challenges.

The latest sign of struggle with increasing output under COVID-19 rules came from Tesla's Shanghai plant, whose resumption three weeks ago received generous coverage in state media as an example of what can still be achieved despite restrictions.

The US automaker has halted most of its production at the plant due to problems securing parts, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.

Tesla had planned as late as last week to increase output to pre-lockdown levels by next week.

Among Tesla suppliers facing difficulties is wire harness maker Aptiv after infections were found among its employees, sources said on Monday.

Videos posted online last week showed dozens of workers at Apple and Tesla supplier Quanta overwhelming hazmat-suited security guards and vaulting over factory gates fearing being trapped inside amid COVID-19 rumours.

COVID-19 curbs in Shanghai, Beijing and dozens of other major population centres and manufacturing hubs across China are taking a heavy toll on the world's second largest economy, with significant global spillovers on trade and supply chains.

China's export growth slowed to its weakest in almost two years, data showed on Monday. Unemployment was also near two-year highs.

Uncertainty is high, with economists unable to say with any accuracy when the country will bring COVID-19 under control and what the final cost is likely to be.

"Growth in China is likely to remain hostage to the course of the pandemic for most of the year," analysts at Fathom Consulting said in a note.

Chinese stocks were just off two-year lows, and the yuan traded near 18-month lows on Tuesday.

Shanghai, a vital centre for commerce, finance and manufacturing for China and beyond with a population of 25 million, was enduring its sixth week of a city-wide lockdown.

The prolonged, ruthlessly-enforced isolation increasingly jars with an outside world which is gradually returning to its pre-COVID way of life, even if cases spread.

China has threatened actions against critics of its "dynamic-zero COVID" policy, which it says aims to "put life first" and prevent the millions of deaths caused by the virus around the globe.

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2022-05-10 07:47:00Z
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US lobby fears 'exodus' of foreign staff in China due to COVID-19 measures - CNA

SHENZHEN: American businesses are struggling to persuade overseas staff to join them in China due to the country's strict COVID-19 control measures and ongoing lockdowns, the American Chamber of Commerce in China said on Monday (May 9).

In a survey of 121 members, 49 per cent said foreign workers are either significantly less likely to - or are refusing to - move to China because of COVID-related policies, with 82 per cent singling out uncertainty over how long quarantine and lockdown times will last as the main reason.

"We are bracing for a mass exodus of foreign talent this summer, with fewer employees overseas willing to take up open positions here in China," said chamber chairman Colm Rafferty.

International flights into China remain extremely limited and subject to short-notice cancellations, with passengers needing approval from overseas Chinese embassies before boarding, and most arrivals requiring three weeks of quarantine.

"We understand China choosing to prioritise health and safety above all else, but the current measures are throttling US business confidence in China," Rafferty said.

Overseas business groups continue to chafe against the COVID-19 controls that have seen most of the 25 million population of Shanghai in lockdown for over a month, with curbs also tightening in the capital Beijing.

The survey found that 51 per cent of respondents have either delayed or decreased investments as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, with 58 per cent having decreased their revenue projections for the year.

Last week a European Chamber of Commerce in China survey found that almost a quarter of respondents were considering moving current or planned investments out of China, more than double the number at the start of the year.

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2022-05-09 09:26:00Z
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Xi warms up China's economy, but COVID-19 narrows options - CNA

DEVIL IN THE DETAIL

Analysts are waiting for details of the delivery behind sweeping promises of support from Beijing's policymakers.

China's tech firms have been under the state's microscope on concerns over data misuse and monopoly.

But shares of major tech firms soared as the government called for "healthy development" of the sector and shifted its language on completing its "rectification".

It is unclear if that signals an end to a punishing round of regulatory scrutiny.

Markets also cheered on as the government announced support for real estate and an infrastructure push to buoy economic and social development.

But China "does not have much room for further infrastructure building, (or) government borrowing on the local level", said Dan Wang, chief economist at Hang Seng Bank China.

"In reality, there's not much room to grow."

While it harks back to Beijing's four trillion yuan (US$600 billion at today's rates) stimulus package after the 2008 financial crisis - which included massive infrastructure investment - Zhaopeng Xing of ANZ Research said "we doubt the authorities will carry it forward at the cost of rising debts".

FADING CONFIDENCE

China's State Council has also said it would give cash handouts to jobless migrant workers and urged stronger support for small firms harried by lockdowns and shrivelling consumer demand.

But re-inflating the economy is a big task made more complicated by each new level of virus control, experts say.

"Those easing measures, even on a large scale, may not achieve their intended impact due to lockdowns and logistics disruptions," Nomura added in its note.

A path of regular mass testing - which China appears to be embarking on - may also come with a hefty bill.

It would cost between 0.9 per cent and 2.3 per cent of GDP for a regular testing mandate to expand across China, according to Nomura.

With the economy flagging, an effective bounce could be given by lowering the interest rate, while authorities could also turn up the spending to drive the infrastructure push.

But optimism is fading five months into a year already defined by the battle with the pandemic, with business activity collapsing and consumers afraid of what is to come.

"People had high hopes for this year," Wang said.

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2022-05-08 06:49:04Z
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