Death toll from California massacre rises to 11 as police look for motive - CNA

MONTEREY PARK, California: An 11th victim died from injuries on Monday (Jan 23) after an elderly gunman's deadly rampage at a Los Angeles-area dance hall, California police said, as authorities were still searching for a motive behind one of the state's worst mass shootings.

Police identified 72-year-old Huu Can Tran as the suspect in the massacre, which took place during a Lunar New Year celebration at Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, a dance hall popular with older patrons of Asian descent.

Tran allegedly killed 10 people on Saturday night and wounded 10 others, then travelled to another dance hall where his attack was thwarted. He later fatally shot himself.

An 11th person had died on Monday from injuries sustained during the shooting, Monterey Park Police Chief Scott Wiese told reporters. All of the deceased were between the ages of 50 and 80.

On Sunday, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said "everything is on the table" in terms of identifying the reasons for the shooting.

Officers in Hemet, about 80 miles east of Los Angeles, were assisting the county Sheriff's Department in a search of Tran's mobile home in a gated senior living community, said Alan Reyes, spokesperson for the Hemet Police Department.

Hemet police said in a statement on Monday that Tran had come to the department twice in early January alleging "past fraud, theft and poisoning allegations involving his family" dating back 10 to 20 years. Tran had said he would return with documentation regarding his claims but never did, the police statement said.

Tran had an active trucking license and had owned a company called Tran's Trucking Inc with a post office box address in Monterey Park, according to online records. He had lived in the Los Angeles area since at least the 1990s and moved to the mobile home in Hemet in 2020, address records showed. A neighbor in his gated community described him as "meek" in an interview Monday.

But Adam Hood, a longtime tenant of the alleged gunman at a property in the Los Angeles area, told Reuters he had known Tran to be an aggressive and suspicious person with few friends. Tran had liked ballroom dancing, largely his only social activity, Hood said.

Hood said Tran complained that people at the Star Ballroom studio were talking behind his back.

"He was a good dancer in my opinion," Hood said. "But he was distrustful of the people at the studio, angry and distrustful. I think he just had enough."

TRAGEDY AND A CHASE

Tran's rampage could have been worse. About 20 minutes after the shooting in Monterey Park, he entered the Lai Lai Ballroom & Studio dance club in the neighboring city of Alhambra. There, Brandon Tsay, who operates the family-run dance hall, wrestled a weapon away from the shooter before he could get a shot off.

"That moment, it was primal instinct," Tsay told the New York Times, saying that the gunman fled the scene after a 90-second struggle. "Something happened there. I don’t know what came over me."

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2023-01-23 20:37:00Z
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Mass shooter's motive elusive as Monterey Park mourns 10 dead - CNA

About 12 hours later, police officers in the city of Torrance, 32km south-west of Monterey Park, approached a white cargo van Tran was driving. As officers neared the van, they heard a single gun shot from inside when Tran killed himself.

Luna did not identify any of the victims but said the five men and five women appeared to be in their 50s, 60s and beyond. The sheriff said the pistol Tran used was likely illegal in California, where state laws ban any magazine holding more than 10 rounds.

"We want to know, we want to know how something this awful can happen," Luna told reporters.

The shooting took place around the location of a two-day Lunar New Year celebration where many downtown streets are closed for festivities that draw thousands of people from across Southern California.

As news about the shooting spread, some in the tight-knit community of Monterey Park feared it was a hate crime targeting Asians. The city has for decades been a destination for immigrants from China. Around 65 per cent of its residents are Asian, according to US Census data.

Chester Chong, chairman of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles, described the city of about 60,000 people as a quiet, peaceful, beautiful place where everybody knows each other and helps each other.

"People were calling me last night, they were scared this was a hate crime," Chong said at the scene.

The gunshots were mistaken by some for New Year fireworks, according to Tiffany Chiu, 30, who was celebrating at her parents' home near the ballroom.

"A lot of older people live here, it's usually really quiet," she said. "This is not something you expect here."

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2023-01-23 11:24:13Z
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Russian spy service says HIMARS, other weapons deployed at nuclear power stations in Ukraine - CNA

Russia's foreign intelligence service (SVR) accused Ukraine on Monday (Jan 23) of storing Western-supplied arms at nuclear power stations across the country.

It provided no evidence and Reuters was unable to verify the claims.

In a statement, the SVR said US-supplied HIMARS rocket launchers, air defence systems and artillery ammunition had been delivered to the Rivne nuclear power station in the northwest of Ukraine.

"The Ukrainian armed forces are storing weapons and ammunition provided by the West on the territory of nuclear power plants," it said, adding that an arms shipment to the Rivne power station had taken place in the last week of December.

Ukraine's many nuclear power stations have been the focus of attention since the start of the conflict.

Russian forces seized the defunct Chornobyl nuclear power plant less than 48 hours after troops invaded, and also captured the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant - the largest in Europe - early in the war.

Both Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of shelling Zaporizhzhia and Ukraine says Russia is using the site as a de facto weapons depot.

The United Nations nuclear watchdog has expressed grave concerns over attacks near the plant, warning of the risk of a nuclear disaster.

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2023-01-23 07:41:35Z
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Suspect in Lunar New Year mass shooting is dead: Los Angeles police - CNA

A CLOSE-KNIT COMMUNITY

Residents stood gazing at the many blocks sealed off with police tape on Sunday in Monterey Park. Chester Chong, chairman of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles, described the city of about 60,000 people as a quiet, peaceful, beautiful place where everybody knows each other and helps each other.

About 11km from downtown Los Angeles, the city has for decades been a destination for immigrants from China. Around 65 per cent of its residents are Asian, according to US Census data, and the city is known for its many Chinese restaurants and groceries.

"People were calling me last night, they were scared this was a hate crime," Chong said at the scene.

The Star Ballroom Dance Studio opened in 1990, and its website features many photographs of past Lunar New Year celebrations showing patrons smiling and dancing in party clothes in its large, brightly lit ballroom.

Most of its patrons are middle-aged or elderly, though children also attend youth dance classes, according to a teacher at the studio who asked to not be named.

"Those are normal working people," the teacher said. "Some are retired and just looking for an exercise or social interaction."

A flyer posted on the website advertised Saturday night's new year party, running from 7.30pm to 12.30am Sunday.

The gunshots were mistaken by some for new year fireworks, according to Tiffany Chiu, 30, who was celebrating at her parents' home near the ballroom.

"A lot of older people live here, it's usually really quiet," she said. "This is not something you expect here."

President Joe Biden condemned the killings in a written statement and said he had directed his Homeland Security adviser to mobilise federal support to local authorities.

The attack in Monterey Park was the deadliest since May 2022, when a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at a school in Uvalde, Texas. The deadliest shooting in California history was in 1984 when a gunman killed 21 people at a McDonald's restaurant in San Ysidro, near San Diego.

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2023-01-23 03:34:35Z
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China Covid-19, Coronavirus and Vaccine News: January 22, 2023 - Bloomberg

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1. China Covid-19, Coronavirus and Vaccine News: January 22, 2023  Bloomberg
2. China prays for health in Chinese New Year as Covid-19 death toll rises  The Straits Times
3. China sees thousands of deaths after ‘80 per cent of citizens catch Covid’  South China Morning Post
4. China says COVID-19 outbreak has infected 80% of population  CNA
5. Expert rules out Covid rebound in China  Bangkok Post
6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2023-01-22 23:24:56Z
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Next New Zealand PM slams 'abhorrent' treatment of outgoing leader Ardern - CNA

New Zealand's incoming prime minister Chris Hipkins criticised the "abhorrent" treatment endured by Jacinda Ardern and vowed on Sunday (Jan 22) to shield his own family, three days after her shock resignation.

Hours after being unanimously endorsed by Labour Party members of parliament (MPs) as the party's leader and the nation's next prime minister, Hipkins attacked the personal abuse suffered by Ardern during her more than five years in the top job.

Ardern sparked a national debate about the pressures she faced when she revealed on Thursday that she was stepping down just nine months before October 14 general elections, saying she no longer had "enough in the tank".

Politicians and other public figures have lined up to criticise the "vitriol" Ardern was subjected to as prime minister, notably on social media, although she did not mention it herself.

"The way Jacinda has been treated, particularly by some segments of our society - and they are a small minority - has been utterly abhorrent," Hipkins said.

"It does not represent who we are as a country," said the 44-year-old, who is also New Zealand's education and police minister.

Men have a responsibility to call out such treatment and say "it's not ok", he said.

The future prime minister, best known for leading a national crackdown on COVID-19 for nearly two years, said he understood that putting himself forward as leader meant he was "public property".

"But my family aren't," he told reporters.

Hipkins said he wanted his six-year-old son and four-year-old daughter to grow up with a "typical Kiwi kid life", adding that his amicable separation from his wife was his own business.

"I have seen the enormous scrutiny and pressure placed on Jacinda and her family and so my response will be to keep my family completely out of the spotlight," he said.

"HUMBLING"

Ardern said she had been exhausted after leading New Zealand through the COVID-19 pandemic, its deadliest terror attack - the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings - and a volcanic eruption that same year.

"I am human. We give as much as we can for as long as we can and then it's time," the 42-year-old said.

Hipkins said he would be sworn in as the nation's 41st prime minister by the governor general on Wednesday after Ardern formally steps down.

New Zealand under his leadership will switch its focus from COVID-19 to bolstering the economy, Hipkins said.

The cost of living, rising inflation and workforce shortages have been blamed in part for Labour's decline in the polls since 2020, now surpassed by the centre-right National Party opposition.

"COVID-19 and the global pandemic created a health crisis. Now, it's created an economic one and that's where my government's focus will be," Hipkins said.

The incoming New Zealand leader promised to tackle rising crime levels, too.

"We know we've got more work to do when it comes to re-engaging young people, to tackle the underlying causes of criminal offending."

Hipkins also announced the country will have its first deputy prime minister of Pacific Islander descent, Carmel Sepuloni.

The 46-year-old Sepuloni entered parliament in 2008 and has been New Zealand's minister for social development since 2017.

Sepuloni said her father, of Samoan and Tongan heritage, arrived in New Zealand in 1964 to work on the railways.

That his daughter would become deputy prime minister of New Zealand "is very hard to comprehend", she said.

"I want to acknowledge the significance of this for our Pacific community."

About eight per cent of New Zealand's 5.1 million population identifies as Pasifika - a New Zealander of Pacific Islander descent.

Grant Robertson, deputy prime minister under Ardern, is expected to remain as finance minister.

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2023-01-22 11:30:57Z
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Chinese pray for health in new year as COVID-19 death toll rises - CNA

BEIJING: China rang in the Chinese New Year on Sunday (Jan 22) with its people praying for health after three years of stress and financial hardship under the pandemic, as officials reported almost 13,000 new deaths caused by the virus between Jan 13 and 19.

Queues stretched for about 1km outside the iconic Lama temple in Beijing, which had been repeatedly shut before COVID-19 restrictions ended in early December, with thousands of people waiting for their turn to pray for their loved ones.

One Beijing resident said she wished the year of the rabbit will bring "health to everyone".

"I think this wave of the pandemic is gone," said the 57-year-old, who only gave her last name, Fang. "I didn’t get the virus, but my husband and everyone in my family did. I still think it's important to protect ourselves."

Earlier, officials reported almost 13,000 deaths related to COVID in hospitals between Jan 13 and 19, adding to the nearly 60,000 in the month or so before that. Chinese health experts say the wave of infections across the country has already peaked.

The death toll update, from China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, comes amid doubts over Beijing's data transparency and remains extremely low by global standards.

Hospitals and funeral homes have been overwhelmed since China abandoned the world's strictest regime of COVID controls and mass testing on Dec 7 in an abrupt policy U-turn, which followed historic protests against the curbs.

The death count reported by Chinese authorities excludes those who died at home, and some doctors have said they are discouraged from putting COVID-19 on death certificates.

China on Jan 14 reported nearly 60,000 COVID-related deaths in hospitals between Dec 8 and Jan 12, a huge increase from the 5,000-plus deaths reported previously over the entire pandemic period.

Spending by funeral homes on items from body bags to cremation ovens has risen in many provinces, documents show, one of several indications of COVID-19's deadly impact in China.

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2023-01-22 05:39:00Z
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