HONG KONG (AP) – Hong Kong’s leader yesterday said that the city would lift flight bans on countries including Britain and the United States (US) as well as reduce quarantine time for travellers arriving in the city as coronavirus infections in its latest outbreak plateaus.
The city’s chief executive Carrie Lam announced during a press conference yesterday that a ban on flights from nine countries – Australia, Canada, France, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Britain and the US – would be lifted from April 1.
LVIV, UKRAINE (AP) – Ukrainian officials defiantly rejected a Russian demand that their forces in Mariupol lay down arms and raise white flags yesterday in exchange for safe passage out of the besieged strategic port city.
Even as Russia intensified its attempt to bombard Mariupol into surrender, its offensive in other parts of Ukraine has floundered. Western governments and analysts see the broader conflict grinding into a war of attrition, with Russia continuing to barrage cities.
In the capital Kyiv, Russian shelling devastated a shopping centre near the city centre killing at least eight people.
TUNIS (AFP) – A head-on collision between two passenger trains injured 95 people yesterday morning in the south of the Tunisian capital, emergency services said.
“The injured were taken to hospitals and there were no deaths,” civil defence spokesman Moez Triaa told AFP, adding that only one of the trains was carrying passengers.
Most of the injured were suffering from fractures and bruises, none of them life-threatening, he said.
AP – NASA’s new space telescope has gazed into the distant universe and shown perfect vision: a spiky image of a faraway star photobombed by thousands of ancient galaxies.
The image released last Wednesday from the James Webb Space Telescope is a test shot – not an official science observation – to see how its 18 hexagonal mirrors worked together for a single coordinated image taken 1.6 million kilometres away from Earth. Officials said it worked better than expected.
Last month, NASA looked at a much closer star with 18 separate images from its mirror segments.
BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese airliner with 133 people on board crashed in the southern province of Guangxi on Monday, state media has reported.
Broadcaster CCTV said the accident involving a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 and occurred near the city of Wuzhou in Teng county. Media said the crash sparked a mountainside fire. It said rescuers had been dispatched and there was no immediate word on numbers of dead and injured.
File photo of a China Eastern aircraft. PHOTO: AFP
The twin-engine, single aisle Boeing 737 is one of the world’s most popular planes for short and medium-haul flights.
It was not immediately clear which variant of 737 was involved in the accident. China Eastern operates multiple versions of the common aircraft, including the 737-800 and the 737 Max.
The 737 Max version was grounded worldwide after two fatal crashes. China’s aviation regulator cleared that plane to return to service late last year, making the country the last major market to do so.
China Eastern is one of China’s three major air carriers.
COLOMBO (AFP) – At least two people in Sri Lanka died while waiting in long queues for fuel, officials said yesterday, as widespread shortages cause misery and hardship across the island nation.
Sri Lanka is battling the worst economic crisis in its history as an independent nation, with a lack of foreign exchange to purchase vital imports shrinking the supply of essential goods.
Motorists are forced to wait hours for petrol and the government has imposed rolling blackouts as power utilities are unable to pay for enough foreign oil to meet demand.
Police said a 70-year-old man, who was standing in line to buy gasoline, collapsed and died at a filling station on the outskirts of the capital Colombo yesterday.
It was the second such death in as many days, after another elderly man collapsed in Kandy while waiting for kerosene oil to use as cooking fuel, police in the city confirmed.
Local media reports said multiple women standing in the hot sun to buy cooking gas had fainted at several locations across the island over the weekend.
Oil and liquefied petroleum gas shipments have sat idle at Colombo’s main port, with importers unable to scrape together enough foreign currency to pay for them.
The COVID-19 pandemic throttled Sri Lanka’s tourism sector – a key foreign exchange earner – and foreign worker remittances have also declined.
Authorities announced last week that the country will seek an International Monetary Fund bailout to resolve its worsening foreign debt crisis and shore up reserves. Rating agencies and foreign analysts have cast doubt on the cash-strapped nation’s ability to service its USD51 billion external debt, with USD6.9 billion due in repayments this year.
A woman walks past a closed petrol station in Colombo. PHOTO: AFP
SEOUL (AFP) – South Korea’s president-elect said yesterday he will relocate his office from the “imperial” Blue House, in a move critics charged is linked to his belief in shamanistic spiritual practices.
Yoon Suk-yeol, who won a tight election earlier this month, pledged on the campaign trail that he would move presidential business out of the Blue House – home to South Korea’s leaders since 1948.
The former prosecutor has accused the hilltop headquarters of fostering an “imperial” presidency and undermining communication with the public.
He is not the first to try to relocate. Outgoing President Moon Jae-in also pledged to move out “to eradicate the authoritarian presidential culture” but faced security and logistical hurdles.
Those hurdles remain – the move has raised concerns for its reported cost of around KRW50 billion (USD41 million), and because roads in crowded Seoul would have to be closed every day during the presidential commute.
South Korea’s president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol talks about his planned relocation of the presidential office. PHOTO: AFP
Yoon’s critics have said his desire to move is tied to his belief in feng shui, a traditional practice which stresses the importance of harmony between humans and nature.
The former prosecutor has been dogged by accusations of ties to a shaman, which he has denied.
The Blue House has long been rumoured to foster bad luck for its residents, given the impeachment, corruption trials and imprisonment that have befallen South Korean presidents.
At a press conference yesterday, Yoon said he will start to work from the Defence Ministry compound after his inauguration on May 10.
“It’s a difficult task, but it’s a decision I made for the future of the country,” Yoon told reporters.
Yoon said the Defence Ministry compound was equipped with the necessary national security facilities and would minimise inconvenience compared to other possible new offices.
Addressing the concerns around the move, he said his decision was aimed at making the president more accessible and approachable.
“If I move into the Blue House compound, I think it will be harder to be free from the imperial power that is symbolic of the Blue House,” he said.
The Blue House will be fully open to the public starting May 10, he added.
Perched in the mountains of northern Seoul and named for its azure roof, the grounds around the Blue House were home to royalty as well as the colonial governor-general during Japan’s annexation of Korea.
It then became home to South Korea’s president in 1948.
PARIS (AFP) – Thousands of people in several French cities marched on Saturday to protest racism and police brutality.
In Paris, protesters paraded through the city centre behind a banner condemning “state crimes”. Other demonstrators carried “Black Lives Matter” banners. Several people spoke at the rally to tell the stories of members of their families who had died at the hands of
the police.
Interior Ministry figures put the turnout out at 2,100, but the march organisers estimated 8,000-10,000.
The interior ministry said another 11 protests took place elsewhere in France, saying the total turnout for these protests was 1,400.
Other protests took place in Bordeaux and Toulouse in the southwest, and Lyon in
the southeast.
Saturday’s demonstration comes two days ahead of International Day for the Elimination of Racism.
It is held on March 21 to mark the day, in 1960, that police in apartheid South Africa opened fire on a peaceful demonstration, killing 69 people.
Protestors attend a protest against racism organised by associations, unions and parties in Paris. PHOTO: AFP
UPI – An inflatable water park that emcompasses 138,451 square feet in the United Arab Emirates was declared the largest of its kind by Guinness World Records.
The Aqua Fun water park in Dubai was officially dubbed the world’s largest water park by Guinness World Records during celebrations surrounding Expo 2020, which runs until March 30 in Dubai.
The park’s inflatables are currently arranged to spell out “I (heart) Expo 2020.”
The park, founded by local entrepreneur Ahmed Ben Chaibah, first opened in 2016, and has since tripled in size, Guinness World Records said.
The water park features about 100 obstacles and can accommodate about 500 people at one time.
Visitors at the Aqua Fun water park in Dubai. PHOTO: UPI
In spite of the expected car price hikes due to a shortage of chips, Proton Brunei is offering a deal for its customers with the festive season around the corner.
Pad Motors Sdn Bhd Managing Partner Hambali bin Pehin Orang Kaya Shahbandar Dato Seri Paduka Haji Mohd Salleh announced the outlook earlier this month.
“Since then, many have rushed in their bookings to snatch the bargains,” he said.
Senior Marketing Manager Ibnu Sharul bin Dato Seri Laila Jasa Haji Ismail yesterday shared with the Bulletin on how customers can take advantage of the situation.
“As we are holding on to the old prices, for now, there are enough units for customers to enjoy the current prices on all Proton cars,” he said.
PAD Motors is rolling out its units at the current price for customers up until early April.
“Purchases made from now until March 31 will also be tagged with a promotion of three months of free installments and a two-month hire purchase deferment deal.
“Any purchases from now until the end of the month, customers will only start paying for the hire purchase instalments by August,” Ibnu Sharul added.
He also shared that the Proton X70 Premium models are discounted over the promotional campaign with BND2,500 less to pay from its lump sum.
People walk past a Proton showroom. PHOTO: BERNAMA
