Tuesday, May 3, 2022

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Asian shares mixed in light ‘Golden Week’ trading

Posted: 03 May 2022 05:37 AM PDT

ASIAN shares were mixed in light of "Golden Week" trading Tuesday, May 3, 2022, with markets in China, Japan and some other countries closed for holidays.Investors are watching to see what the US Federal Reserve does as it accelerates efforts to curb inflation. The central bank is expected to raise short-term interest rates by double the usual amount when it releases its latest statement on Wednesday. It has already raised its key overnight rate once, for the first time since 2018, and Wall Street is expecting several big hikes in the coming months.That will make it more costly to borrow — for a car, a home, a credit card purchase and may weaken the economy. It also would draw investments out of stocks into other assets as their yields rise. Ultra-low interest rates helped drive stocks to unprecedented highs during the pandemic and now that process is being reversed.Central banks in many other countries are also raising rates to try to bring price increases under control.The Reserve Bank of Australia was due to decide on a rate hike. New Zealand has begun raising rates, as have some other central banks in the region apart from Japan and China, where economic recoveries have been slowed by efforts to tame recent outbreaks of coronavirus."For the session ahead, traders will be working on positioning ahead of the FOMC (Fed) and watching the RBA Meeting, where much firmer-than-expected . . . consumer price index data in Australia may have pitched the scales towards a rate hike," Anderson Alves of ActivTrades said in a commentary.Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was nearly unchanged at 7,348.40.Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.1 percent to 21,114.25 and the Kospi in South Korea rose 0.2 percent to 2,693.38. (AP)

Beijing preps Covid-19 hospital spaces, though new cases low

Posted: 02 May 2022 10:56 PM PDT

BEIJING — Beijing is preparing new hospital facilities to deal with a spike in Covid-19 cases, even though the numbers of new cases remain low.State media reported Tuesday a 1,000-bed hospital at Xiaotangshan in the northeastern suburbs built for the 2003 SARS outbreak has been refurbished in case it's needed.Unofficial reports online say thousands of beds have been prepared in a centralized quarantine center near the airport, but state media has not confirmed those preparations in what could be an attempt to avoid stoking public fears.New cases in Beijing have remained steady, with another 62 recorded on Monday, 11 of them showing no symptoms, up just slightly from about 50 per day over the weekend. Beijing has reported about 450 cases in the two-week-old outbreak.China has stuck to its strict "zero-CovidD" approach that restricts travel, mass tests entire cities and sets up sprawling temporary facilities to try to isolate every infected person. Lockdowns start with buildings and neighborhoods but become citywide if the virus is spreading widely.That has come as many other countries relax pandemic restrictions. Experts have questioned the usefulness of China's hardline policy, saying vaccines and new treatments for Covid-19 make them redundant.Beijing has ordered restaurants and gyms closed for the May Day national holiday that runs through Wednesday, while major tourist sites in the city, including the Forbidden City and the Beijing Zoo, will close their indoor exhibition halls starting Tuesday.Another three rounds of testing have been ordered for most of the city's 21 million people starting Tuesday, following a similar requirement last week. A negative test result obtained within the previous 48 hours is required to gain entry to most public spaces.Authorities in Shanghai are slowly beginning to ease lockdown restrictions that have confined most of the city's 26 million people to their apartments, housing compounds or immediate neighborhoods for close to a month.Shanghai recorded another 5,669 cases on Monday, all but 274 of them asymptomatic, along with an additional 20 deaths.Shanghai's surprisingly low death toll amid an outbreak of more than 400,000 cases has sparked questions into how such deaths are tallied.The severe lockdown conditions have led to massive disruptions from food shortages to a wider, though likely temporary impact on the national economy.China's largest city recorded a daily peak of 27,605 new cases nearly three weeks ago on April 13. (AP)

Israel lashes out at Russia over Lavrov's Nazism remarks

Posted: 02 May 2022 10:45 PM PDT

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel on Monday lashed out at Russia over "unforgivable" comments by its foreign minister about Nazism and antisemitism — including claims that Adolf Hitler was Jewish. Israel, which summoned the Russian ambassador in response, said the remarks blamed Jews for their own murder in the Holocaust.It was a steep decline in the ties between the two countries at a time when Israel has sought to stake out a cautious position between Russia and Ukraine and remain in Russia's good stead for its security needs in the Middle East.Asked in an interview with an Italian news channel about Russian claims that it invaded Ukraine to "denazify" the country, Sergey Lavrov said that Ukraine could still have Nazi elements even if some figures, including the country's president, were Jewish."So when they say 'How can Nazification exist if we're Jewish?' In my opinion, Hitler also had Jewish origins, so it doesn't mean absolutely anything. For some time we have heard from the Jewish people that the biggest antisemites were Jewish," he said, speaking to the station in Russian, dubbed over by an Italian translation.In some of the harshest remarks since the start of the war in Ukraine, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called Lavrov's statement "unforgivable and scandalous and a horrible historical error.""The Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust," said Lapid, the son of a Holocaust survivor. "The lowest level of racism against Jews is to blame Jews themselves for antisemitism."Later, Lapid said Israel makes "every effort" to have good relations with Russia. "But there's a limit and this limit has been crossed this time. The government of Russia needs to apologize to us and to the Jewish people," he said.An Israeli official confirmed late Monday that Russia's ambassador, Anatoly Viktorov, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a diplomatic matter, said that Israel "stated its position" and that the sides agreed not to elaborate.Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who has been more measured in his criticism of Russia's invasion, also condemned Lavrov's comments."His words are untrue and their intentions are wrong," he said. "Using the Holocaust of the Jewish people as a political tool must cease immediately."Israel's Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem called the remarks "absurd, delusional, dangerous and deserving of condemnation.""Lavrov is propagating the inversion of the Holocaust — turning the victims into the criminals on the basis of promoting a completely unfounded claim that Hitler was of Jewish descent," it said in a statement."Equally serious is calling the Ukrainians in general, and President (Volodymyr) Zelenskyy in particular, Nazis. This, among other things, is a complete distortion of the history and an affront to the victims of Nazism."In Germany, government spokesman Steffen Hebstreit said the Russian government's "propaganda" efforts weren't worthy of comment, calling them "absurd."Nazism has featured prominently in Russia's war aims and narrative as it fights in Ukraine. In his bid to legitimize the war to Russian citizens, President Vladimir Putin has portrayed the battle as a struggle against Nazis in Ukraine, even though the country has a democratically elected government and a Jewish president whose relatives were killed in the Holocaust.Ukraine also condemned Lavrov's remarks."By trying to rewrite history, Moscow is simply looking for arguments to justify the mass murders of Ukrainians," Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Lavrov's remarks exposed the "deeply-rooted antisemitism of the Russian elites."World War II, in which the Soviet Union lost an estimated 27 million people and helped defeat Nazi Germany, is a linchpin of Russia's national identity. Repeatedly reaching for the historical narrative that places Russia as a savior against evil forces has helped the Kremlin rally Russians around the war.Israel gained independence in the wake of the Holocaust and has served as a refuge for the world's Jews. Over 70 years later, the Holocaust remains central to its national ethos and it has positioned itself at the center of global efforts to remember the Holocaust and combat antisemitism. Israel is home to a shrinking population of 165,000 Holocaust survivors, most in their 80s and 90s, and last week the country marked its annual Holocaust memorial day.But those aims sometimes clash with its other national interests. Russia has a military presence in neighboring Syria, and Israel, which carries out frequent strikes on enemy targets in the country, relies on Russia for security coordination to prevent their forces from coming into conflict with one another. That has forced Israel to tread lightly in its criticism of the war in Ukraine.While it has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine and expressed support for its people, Israel has been measured in its criticism of Russia. It has not joined international sanctions against Russia or provided military aid to Ukraine.That paved the way for Bennett to be able to try to mediate between the sides, an effort which appears to have stalled as Israel deals with its own internal unrest.The Holocaust and the constant manipulation of its history during the conflict has sparked outrage in Israel before.In a speech to Israeli legislators in March, Zelenskyy compared Russia's invasion of his country to the actions of Nazi Germany, accusing Putin of trying to carry out a "final solution" against Ukraine. The comparisons drew an angry condemnation from Yad Vashem, which said Zelenskyy was trivializing the Holocaust. (AP)

US official: Russia plans to annex parts of eastern Ukraine

Posted: 02 May 2022 10:29 PM PDT

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine — A senior U.S. official warned that Russia plans to annex large portions of eastern Ukraine later this month, and the Mariupol steel mill that has become the city's last stronghold of resistance came under renewed assault a day after the first evacuation of civilians from the plant.Michael Carpenter, U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said Monday that the U.S. believes the Kremlin also plans to recognize the southern city of Kherson as an independent republic. Neither move would be recognized by the United States or its allies, he said.Carpenter cited information that Russia is planning to hold sham referendums in the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics that would "try to add a veneer of democratic or electoral legitimacy" and attach the entities to Russia. He also said there were signs that Russia would engineer an independence vote in Kherson.He noted that mayors and local legislators there have been abducted, that internet and cellphone service has been severed and that a Russian school curriculum is soon to be imposed. Ukraine's government has said Russia also has introduced the ruble as currency there.In bombed-out Mariupol, more than 100 people — including elderly women and mothers with small children — left the rubble-strewn Azovstal steelworks on Sunday and set out in buses and ambulances for the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia, about 140 miles (230 kilometers) to the northwest, according to authorities and video released by the two sides.Mariupol Deputy Mayor Sergei Orlov told the BBC that the evacuees were making slow progress. Authorities gave no explanation for the delay.At least some of the civilians were apparently taken to a village controlled by Russia-backed separatists. The Russian military said some chose to stay in separatist areas, while dozens left for Ukrainian-held territory.In the past, Ukraine has accused Moscow's troops of taking civilians against their will to Russia or Russian-controlled areas. The Kremlin has denied it.The Russian bombardment of the sprawling plant by air, tank and ship picked up again after the partial evacuation, Ukraine's Azov Battalion, which is helping to defend the mill, said on the Telegram messaging app.Orlov said high-level negotiations were underway among Ukraine, Russia and international organizations on evacuating more people.The steel-plant evacuation, if successful, would represent rare progress in easing the human cost of the almost 10-week war, which has caused particular suffering in Mariupol. Previous attempts to open safe corridors out of the southern port city and other places have broken down, with Ukrainian officials accusing Russian forces of shooting and shelling along agreed-on evacuation routes.Before the weekend evacuation, overseen by the United Nations and the Red Cross, about 1,000 civilians were believed to be in the plant along with an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian defenders. Russia has demanded that the fighters surrender; they have refused.As many as 100,000 people overall may still be in Mariupol, which had a prewar population of more than 400,000. Russian forces have pounded much of the city into rubble, trapping civilians with little food, water, heat or medicine.Some Mariupol residents got out of the city on their own, often in damaged private cars.As sunset approached, Mariupol resident Yaroslav Dmytryshyn rattled up to a reception center in Zaporizhzhia in a car with a back seat full of youngsters and two signs taped to the back window: "Children" and "Little ones.""I can't believe we survived," he said, looking worn but in good spirits after two days on the road."There is no Mariupol whatsoever,'' he said. "Someone needs to rebuild it, and it will take millions of tons of gold." He said they lived just across the railroad tracks from the steel plant. "Ruined," he said. "The factory is gone completely."Anastasiia Dembytska, who took advantage of the cease-fire to leave with her daughter, nephew and dog, said she could see the steelworks from her window, when she dared to look out."We could see the rockets flying" and clouds of smoke over the plant, she said.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Greek state television that remaining civilians in the steel plant were afraid to board buses because they feared they would be taken to Russia. He said he had been assured by the U.N. that they would be allowed to go to areas his government controls.More than 1 million people, including nearly 200,000 children, have been taken from Ukraine to Russia since the Russian invasion began, Russia's Defense Ministry said Monday, according to TASS.Defense Ministry official Mikhail Mizintsev said that number included 11,550 people, including 1,847 children, in the previous 24 hours, "without the participation of the Ukrainian authorities."He said those civilians "were evacuated to the territory of the Russian Federation from the dangerous regions of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics," and other parts of Ukraine, according to the report. No details were provided.Also Monday, Zelenskyy said that at least 220 Ukrainian children have been killed by the Russian army since the war began, and 1,570 educational institutions have been destroyed or damaged.Thwarted in his bid to seize Kyiv, the capital, Russian President Vladimir Putin has shifted his focus to the Donbas, Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland, where Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014.Russia said it struck dozens of military targets in the region, including concentrations of troops and weapons and an ammunition depot near Chervone in the Zaporizhzhia region, west of the Donbas.Ukrainian and Western officials say Moscow's troops are raining fire indiscriminately, taking a heavy toll on civilians while making only slow progress.The governor of the Odesa region along the Black Sea Coast, Maksym Marchenko, said on Telegram that a Russian missile strike Monday on an Odesa infrastructure target caused deaths and injuries. He gave no details. Zelenskyy said the attack destroyed a dormitory and killed a 14-year-old boy.Ukraine said Russia also struck a strategic road and rail bridge west of Odesa. The bridge was heavily damaged in previous Russian strikes, and its destruction would cut a supply route for weapons and other cargo from neighboring Romania.The attack on Odessa came eight years to the day after deadly clashes between Ukrainian government supporters and protesters calling for autonomy in the country's east. The government supporters in 2014 firebombed a trade union building containing pro-autonomy demonstrators, killing over 40 people.Ukraine claimed to have destroyed two small Russian patrol boats in the Black Sea.Mariupol, which lies in the Donbas, is key to Russia's campaign in the east. Its capture would deprive Ukraine of a vital port, allow Russia to establish a land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014, and free up troops for fighting elsewhere. (AP)

Man pleads guilty in crewmember killing on LA-bound ship

Posted: 02 May 2022 06:27 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES -- A crewman who stabbed to death his supervisor on a container ship heading to Los Angeles pleaded guilty Monday to a federal charge that carries a potential life sentence, prosecutors said.Michael Dequito Monegro, 43, of the Philippines, entered a plea to committing an act of violence against someone aboard a ship that is likely to endanger the vessel's safe navigation, according to the US Attorney's Office. He is scheduled to be sentenced in September.Monegro was working on the MSC Ravenna on a two-week run from Shanghai to Los Angeles in September 2020 when he stabbed the man as the vessel was about 92 miles (148 kilometers) off the Southern California coast, according to his plea agreement.Monegro attacked his supervisor in a hallway outside a locker room, prosecutors said.The two men struggled and fell down. Monegro got on top of his victim, stabbed him, pulled a second knife from his supervisor's coveralls and attacked him with both knives despite other crewmembers trying to stop him, including throwing a trash can at him, prosecutors said."Monegro admitted that he only stopped stabbing the victim when he became too tired to continue," a statement from the US Attorney's Office said.The ship's captain, chief mate and chief engineer arrived and the captain finally convinced Monegro to get off the victim, who died on the ship, the statement said.It didn't indicate a motive for the attack or name the victim.Monegro was arrested a week later when the ship docked at the Port of Los Angeles. (AP)
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