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Shanghai imposes lockdown as officials struggle to contain Covid outbreak

Published

3 years ago

March 28, 2022

Shanghai imposes lockdown as officials struggle to contain Covid outbreak

Shanghai pushed forward with a stringent lockdown on Monday that can divide China’s largest metropolis into two zones, as authorities struggled to stem report coronavirus instances within the nation’s most vital monetary centre.

The federal government will shut down public transport this week because it conducts mass testing throughout Pudong, town’s monetary district, positioned east of the Huangpu river. Related restrictions will apply from April 1 to the district of Puxi, west of the river.

The measures, which marked the primary time authorities in Shanghai have imposed a lockdown that confined residents to their houses, sparked panic-buying throughout town as buyers rushed to top off on greens.

The outbreak in mainland China’s most worldwide monetary centre is proving a giant check for the nation’s wider technique to comprise coronavirus. Authorities have instituted extreme restrictions on different cities to eradicate outbreaks, though just lately there had been indicators that the strategy was being tempered.

President Xi Jinping this month emphasised the necessity to “minimise the impression” of the virus on the nation’s financial system after southern tech hub Shenzhen was locked down. In Shanghai, authorities had indicated {that a} full-scale lockdown was not essential a couple of weeks in the past, though buildings with constructive instances had been usually sealed off.

Some factories in China have arrange remoted “bubble” techniques, an strategy similar to the closed system employed for the Winter Olympics in February, which allowed workers to work throughout lockdowns so long as they didn’t go away the premises.

Shanghai, with a inhabitants of 26mn, recorded simply 50 symptomatic instances on Sunday, in accordance with official information, however notched a report 3,450 asymptomatic instances, in contrast with 5,134 asymptomatic instances throughout the remainder of mainland China.

Over the weekend, the Shanghai World Expo and Exhibition Centre, an unlimited constructing within the Pudong district that hosted the Shanghai World Expo in 2010, was opened as a quarantine centre for gentle and asymptomatic instances.

The town’s response to the outbreak contrasts with that taken in Hong Kong, which has recorded greater than 1mn instances over the previous two months after being largely freed from infections for nearly two years. Plans for mass testing within the territory, which additionally sparked panic shopping for, have been downplayed just lately given the sheer scale of infections.

China’s inventory market began the week decrease following information of the lockdowns in Shanghai, with the nation’s benchmark CSI 300 index falling as a lot as 2 per cent on Monday morning as merchants weighed the implications for the nation’s broader technique.

“Within the close to time period, China will persist with its zero-tolerance strategy,” mentioned Bruce Pang, head of analysis at China Renaissance. He added that whereas provide chain shocks had been minimal, the outbreaks would most likely weigh on financial progress as Chinese language shoppers grappled with better uncertainty.

Pang mentioned that official statements, together with from the newest assembly of the Chinese language Communist celebration’s politburo, “suggest any adjustment [to containment strategies] will include the precondition of eliminating an infection”.

Further reporting by Wang Xueqiao in Shanghai

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Brussels orders X to hand over documents on algorithm

Published

1 hour ago

January 17, 2025

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Brussels orders X to hand over documents on algorithm

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Brussels has ordered Elon Musk to fully disclose recent changes made to recommendations on X, stepping up an investigation into the role of the social media platform in European politics.

The expanded probe by the European Commission, announced on Friday, requires X to hand over internal documents regarding its recommendation algorithm. The Commission also issued a “retention order” for all relevant documents relating to how the algorithm could be amended in future.

In addition, the EU regulator requested access to information on how the social media network moderates and amplifies content.

The move follows complaints from German politicians that X’s algorithm is promoting content by the far right ahead of the country’s February 23 elections. Musk has come out in favour of the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, arguing that it will save Germany.

When asked if the expanded probe was a response to a controversial interview Musk conducted last week with AfD co-leader Alice Weidel, a Commission spokesperson said the new request “helps us monitor systems around all these events taking place”.

However, he said it was “completely independent of any political considerations or any specific events”.

“We are committed to ensuring that every platform operating in the EU respects our legislation, which aims to make the online environment fair, safe, and democratic for all European citizens,” said Henna Virkkunen, the Commission’s digital chief.

X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This is a developing story

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A huge fire broke out at one of the world's largest battery storage plants

Published

2 hours ago

January 17, 2025

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A huge fire broke out at one of the world's largest battery storage plants

A fire broke out at California’s Moss Landing Power Plant on Thursday.
The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office urged residents near the plant to evacuate.
40% of the battery plant has burned, according to a Sheriff’s Office spokesperson.

A major fire has broken out at one of the world’s largest battery storage plants, located in California.

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office said the North County Fire Protection District was responding to a fire at the Moss Landing Power Plant in an X post on Thursday.

Out of an “abundance” of caution, it urged residents in nearby areas to close windows and doors, shut off air systems until further notice, and avoid the area so that emergency vehicles could respond.

A few hours later, it issued evacuation orders for areas of the plant and shut down parts of California’s Highway 1.

A Monterey County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson told KSBW 8 that 40% of the battery plant had burned.

A law enforcement spokesperson told CNN that efforts were being made to limit the fire, and the incident was not related to the wildfires in the Los Angeles area.

They said the fire broke out at about 3 p.m. local time, and that evacuation orders were issued at 6:30 p.m. due to concerns about hazardous materials and potential chemical spills.

Over 2,000 individuals were instructed to evacuate, they added.

Neither Vistra Energy, the plant’s owner, nor the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office specified the cause of the fire, and they didn’t respond to Business Insider requests for comments made outside working hours.

Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church told KSBW-TV that this was the “worst-case scenario” and a “very severe” situation. But he said he didn’t expect the fire to spread beyond the concrete building it was enclosed in.

Even so, “there’s no way to sugarcoat it,” he added. “This is a disaster.”

The National Weather Service San Francisco Bay Area said heat signature could be seen in satellite imagery.

Jenny Lyon, a spokesperson for Vistra Energy, told Politico that the cause of the fire has yet to be identified but that an inquiry would begin once it’s extinguished.

In a press release announcing the plant’s expansion in 2023, Texas-based Vistra Energy said it was one of the world’s largest battery storage plants.

It’s not the first time the facility has experienced fires, power outages, or technical issues. In 2015, a transmission tower at the power plant collapsed, resulting in a significant power outage.

A failing heat detector also caused damage to the battery complex in 2021, and in 2022 a fire broke out at a nearby Pacific Gas & Electric-owned battery plant.

North Monterey County Unified School District said all of the county’s schools and offices would be closed on Friday due to the fire.

Thursday’s fire comes as wildfires across Los Angeles area have ravaged over 40,000 acres and killed at least 25 people.

AccuWeather has put the total estimated cost of the LA wildfires at $250 and $275 billion.

This is a developing story. Please check for updates.

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Stick-Wielding Man Kills 2 Homeless People in Miami and Injures 2 Others

Published

8 hours ago

January 17, 2025

Press Room

Stick-Wielding Man Kills 2 Homeless People in Miami and Injures 2 Others

A man with a stick attacked four homeless people in downtown Miami early Thursday morning, killing two and injuring two others in what the police called a horrible “display of unprovoked violence.”

The man was seen attacking the people with a stick at 6 a.m., the Miami Police Department said in a statement. The police responded soon after calls came in and saw a man who matched the description that had been given. He ran off but was arrested after a brief foot chase, the police said.

Two of the homeless people died at the scene of the attack. The two people who were injured were taken to a nearby trauma center for treatment, the police said. Their conditions were not available.

The authorities did not immediately release the name of the man who was arrested, who is in his 30s. They said that they would disclose his identity and the charges he faces once the charges had been confirmed. The motive for the attack was not immediately clear, the police said.

The suspect does not have an arrest history in Miami, but he has had “minor criminal run-ins with the police” in New York, Manuel A. Morales, the chief of police for the Miami Police Department, said at a news conference on Thursday. The man’s place of residence was not immediately clear.

“This is a horrible incident,” Chief Morales said.

The Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust, the county’s leading homeless outreach group, said in a statement that it was grieving the “senseless loss of these lives.” and thanked the police for their swift response.