World

BEIJING: Millions of travellers criss-crossed China as the Labour Day holiday got underway on Saturday (May 1), packing out tourist sites, thronging restaurants and visiting family as the vast country edges towards life after COVID-19. The world's second largest economy is expecting about 265 million journeys by road, train or boat during the five-day holiday, a transport ministry official said this week - numbers last seen in 2019 before the coronavirus struck. A large crowd of people wearing face masks visit the promenade on the Bund along the Huangpu River during a holiday on May Day, or International Workers' Day, in Shanghai on May 1, 2020. (Photo: AFP/Hector Retamal) Hundreds of day trippers packed out the walkway along the top of the Great Wall at Badaling, about 60km from ...

Since Myanmar’s military seized control of the government from the National League for Democracy (NLD), hundreds of people have been killed by security forces during anti-coup protests. NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi was also detained on spurious charges together with other democratically elected leaders. In addition, the modest democratic progress the country made during the period of awkward coexistence between the NLD and the military over the last decade appears to have been completely wiped out. The instinctive response of the U.S. toward the humanitarian crisis — based on its foreign policy DNA — is to slap on sanctions. The Biden administration, which places particular importance on human rights, has swiftly adopted such sanctions against the country’s military leaders, including th...

NEW DELHI: Indians struggled to register online for a mass vaccination drive set to begin at the weekend as the country's toll from the coronavirus shot past 200,000 on Wednesday (Apr 28), worsened by shortages of hospital beds and medical oxygen. The second wave of infections has seen at least 300,000 people test positive each day for the past week, overwhelming health facilities and crematoriums and prompting an increasingly urgent response from allies overseas sending equipment. The last 24 hours brought 360,960 new cases for the world's largest single-day total, taking India's tally of infections to nearly 18 million. It was also the deadliest day so far, with 3,293 fatalities carrying the toll to 201,187. Experts believe the official tally vastly underestimates the actual toll ...

MANCHESTER, England -Europe's leading clubs were meeting on Friday to thrash out their position on reforms and the financial structure of UEFA's Champions League as fan groups criticised them for "crisis profiteering" in supporting plans to expand the competition to 36 teams. The European Club Association (ECA) was holding a board meeting, with UEFA's Clubs Competitions Committee due to meet later. UEFA's ruling executive committee meets on Monday ahead of Tuesday's congress where president Aleksander Ceferin hopes to have his plans voted through. The ECA has been supportive of UEFA's plans to expand the Champions League from 32 to 36 teams and change the group stage to a single-table format with 10 games instead of the current six. However the top clubs have made a late push for g...

BEIJING: A record fine, public penitence from a tech giant and a "who's who" of digital firms warned to "rectify" their ambitions within a month - state regulators are showing no one is bigger than Beijing in Xi Jinping's China. E-commerce titan Alibaba absorbed the massive US$2.78 billion penalty from China's market watchdog last Saturday, after a months-long investigation found it had been abusing its dominant market position. Analysts say the chastening was part of Beijing's plan to force a diet on tech giants - from Alibaba to Tencent to Baidu - who have grown fat on the data and personal finances of the Chinese public. After being hit with China's biggest ever corporate fine - the equivalent of four percent of annual sales - Alibaba said it would "fully comply" and drop an excl...

The slate of candidates vying to succeed Angela Merkel is now clear — and so is the unenviable pile of global problems the eventual winner will inherit. Merkel’s impending departure after some 16 years as German chancellor brings into play not simply the direction of Europe’s biggest economy, but the balance of power on the continent. With the world increasingly defined by a great power rivalry reminiscent of the 19th century, the winner of September’s federal election will face international demands from the get-go. The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden is already seeking a clear line from Berlin on issues from China and Russia to the tussle for control of key technologies. Germany is faced with questions of how closely to cleave to Washington as the European Union tries to car...

Two years after opening his garment factory in Myanmar, Li Dongliang is on the verge of closing down and laying off his 800 remaining workers. Business had been struggling because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but after a Feb. 1 coup that sparked mass protests and a deadly crackdown, during which his factory was set alight amid a surge of anti-Chinese sentiment, orders stopped. His story is emblematic of the perilous situation facing a sector critical to Myanmar's economy, which accounts for a third of its exports and employs 700,000 low-income workers, according to U.N. data. "We would have no choice but to give up on Myanmar if there are no new orders in the next few months," said Li, adding he has been operating at about 20% capacity, surviving only on orders placed before the coup, and ...

BEIRUT: Protesters burned tyres and blocked roads in Beirut on Tuesday as the Lebanese currency crashed past a new milestone. Market dealers said the Lebanese pound was trading at around 15,000 to the dollar, having lost a third of its value in the last two week to stand at barely a 10th of what it was worth in late 2019, when Lebanon's economic and financial crisis erupted. Banks have blocked access to dollar deposits, and poverty is spreading - but fractious politicians have yet to launch a rescue plan that could unlock foreign aid. "Let them wake up now. Please have mercy on us, we're begging you!" said one protester, Hussein Makieh. "Look at us, we're starving. We're dying. The middle class is gone. There's 3% of the country, the thieves, living off it." Parliamentary committee...

Protesters in Myanmar clapped together on Monday (Apr 5) in the latest show of dissent against the military junta, as a regional bloc prepared for talks on the crisis that has killed nearly 600 people. Clapping began in various parts of the main city Yangon at 5pm (6.30pm, Singapore time) in response to a call by protest organisers, residents said. The gesture would honour "Ethnic Armed Organisations and Gen Z defence youths from Myanmar including Yangon who are fighting in the revolution ... on behalf of us," Ei Thinzar Maung, a protest leader, wrote on Facebook. Despite the killing of at least 564 people by the security forces since the Feb 1 coup, protesters have been coming out every day, often in small groups in small towns, to voice opposition to the overthrow of an elected go...

Struggling tour operator Air Transat is in talks with the federal government on aid but may not reach a deal by an April debt deadline, a source close to the situation said, putting pressure on Quebec to ride to the rescue of another troubled aerospace brand in the province. OTTAWA/MONTREAL: Struggling tour operator Air Transat is in talks with the federal government on aid but may not reach a deal by an April debt deadline, a source close to the situation said, putting pressure on Quebec to ride to the rescue of another troubled aerospace brand in the province. Air Canada dropped its merger plans with Transat on Friday, saying European regulators had signaled it was unlikely to pass antitrust concerns. Canada’s largest carrier first bid for Transat in 2019 and discounted its offer ...