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Evacuation efforts continue in Kherson, but city provided with heat, water services

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Evacuation efforts and humanitarian help deliveries proceed in the town of Kherson. 84% of consumers are related to warmth and water supply services, but the scenario across the location is a lot more challenging.

The suitable assertion was built by Deputy Head of the Workplace of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Tymoshenko at a briefing, an Ukrinform correspondent stories.

According to Tymoshenko, Kherson been given the first cell concrete bomb shelter, and it was put in in the downtown location. In the around potential, a couple of more cell bomb shelters will be shipped to the city.

Evacuation initiatives continue. More than the past four days, 327 civilians have been evacuated, such as 42 children and 9 men and women with lowered mobility.

Drinking water offer providers have been primarily restored throughout the town. In the Kherson area, the situation is extra demanding, and only 25% of settlements are now furnished with water expert services, Tymoshenko additional.

A reminder that, on November 11, 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine liberated the town of Kherson from Russian occupiers. Even so, Russian troops are constantly shelling the metropolis and the Kherson location.

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More Than $8 Million Has Been Donated to Damar Hamlin’s Fundraiser for Children

NEW YORK — Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin plans to support young people through education and sports with the $8.6 million in GoFundMe donations that unexpectedly poured into his toy drive fundraiser after he suffered a cardiac arrest in the middle of a game last week.

He will also use proceeds from the sale of new T-shirts, emblazoned with “Did We Win?” along with his hands in the shape of a heart, to raise money for the trauma center in Cincinnati that treated him. Hamlin, who live-tweeted through his team’s victory over New England on Sunday, tweeted Tuesday that he has returned to Buffalo but is still in the hospital being evaluated.

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Read More: What We Know So Far About Damar Hamlin’s Condition

The 24-year-old has teamed with The Giving Back Fund, a nonprofit that helps athletes and celebrities manage their charitable giving, to host the “The Chasing M’s Foundation” Charitable Fund. GoFundMe representatives told The Associated Press the crowdfunding platform will soon transfer the donations that have come in since Hamlin’s injury Jan. 2 to the new fund. Chasing M’s is Hamlin’s apparel company.

Hamlin and his family “are humbled by the tremendous support that has been shown as he recovers,” according to his marketing representative, Jordon Rooney. “They are incredibly grateful for the continued prayers and outpouring of concern that has been exhibited by people all over the world,” Rooney wrote in an email, adding that they plan to communicate with donors over time. The new fund is now soliciting donations online and via text.

“We are working as a team to facilitate the transfer as soon as practical,” said the Giving Back Fund. It plans to disclose the final total of all donations, which include support from star quarterbacks Tom Brady and Russell Wilson. As a fiscal sponsor for the donations, The Giving Back Fund is compensated for collecting the funds. The University of Cincinnati Medical Center did not respond to a request for comment.

Hamlin’s injury and recovery have created a boomerang of solidarity within the football community with fans donating, players honoring him and Hamlin tweeting appreciation back at all of them.

Read More: A Mom Whose Son Died on the Football Field Feels Familiar Grief Watching Damar Hamlin

The largest public donation to Hamlin’s GoFundMe as of Tuesday was $33,333 from the Staten Island, New York-based ADCO Electrical Corp. Owner Gina Addeo didn’t want to give an interview, but the donation itself shows support — repeating Hamlin’s jersey number five times.

Similarly, Carl Fochler decided on a donation of $25,003 on behalf of the sustainable laundry company Sheets Laundry Club he co-owns. He stayed up late the night of Hamlin’s injury waiting for an update on his health. The next morning, he logged on looking for news and saw a link to a video of Hamlin talking about his fundraising for kids.

“I just knew right then it’s something we had to do,” he said, after talking with his business partner.

Fochler said he was born in Buffalo and adopted at six weeks old, adding another reason, besides being a die-hard Bills fan, to donate to Hamlin’s work to give children hope.

“I know how lucky or unlucky you can be. Paths can change quickly,” Fochler said.

Anna Isaacson, the NFL’s senior vice president of social responsibility, was watching the donations roll in, even as Hamlin’s health remained the priority. She began reaching out to “make sure that we all surrounded Damar and his family with the resources to really take on this massive project, which is going to be millions of dollars worth of contributions back to youth in the community.”

The league’s Player Health & Safety team is already reviewing their practices and policies following Hamlin’s injuries, which Isaacson said was part of their responsibility.

Read More: Where Football Goes From Here

“People are watching our games and we have fans all over the country. And with that comes a responsibility to give back and to use these moments, often tough moments in time, and challenges to impact our society for the better,” she said.

Fochler hopes the Bills make it to the Super Bowl, a dream for him and many fans. Asked how he was making sense of a moment with so many emotions mixed together – of watching a terrible injury and then the rebound of generosity, he said Damar had already made sense of it for him.

Pointing to a tweet where Hamlin wrote that he’d rather be running out of the tunnel at the start of the game with his teammates but, he said instead, “God Using Me In A Different Way Today.”

“When he wakes up and gets back to being Damar, and sees over $8 million,” Fochler said, “he’s got a lot of planning to do and it’s just going to be good vibes everywhere.”

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U.S. judge rules Apple Watch infringed Masimo“s pulse oximeter patent

2023-01-11T03:59:07Z

An Apple Store employee shows the new Series 5 Apple Watch during the preview of the redesigned and reimagined Apple Fifth Avenue store in New York, U.S., September 19, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

A U.S. judge ruled that Apple (AAPL.O) had infringed on one of Masimo Corp’s (MASI.O) pulse oximeter patents by importing and selling certain Apple Watches with light-based pulse oximetry functionality and components, Masimo said on Tuesday.

The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) will now consider whether to implement an import ban on these Apple Watches, the medical device maker said.

“We respectfully disagree with today’s decision, and look forward to a full review by the Commission,” Apple said in a statement.


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Uniqlo owner gives Japan Inc a jolt with 40% wage hike

2023-01-11T04:00:21Z

Fast Retailing’s fashion chain Uniqlo, at a shopping complex in Beijing, China May 24, 2020. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo

Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing Co Ltd (9983.T) on Wednesday said it would raise wages by as much as 40%, focusing on its home market of Japan, where salaries have been under downward pressure for years.

The move by the casual clothing giant may serve as a wake-up call for Japan Inc ahead of annual spring labour negotiations. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has repeatedly called for companies to increase wages that have budged little in decades, after years of deflation and cost-cutting.

Uniqlo’s ability to meet Japanese consumers’ zealous demand for both relatively high quality and low prices has made it known for its “cosupa” – cost performance – turning the maker of 2,990 yen ($23) fleece jackets and 3,990 yen selvedge jeans into a global retailer and making founder Tadashi Yanai Japan’s richest man.

The company, which operates over 3,500 clothing stores worldwide, said its remuneration system would be revised from March, and that levels in Japan would be significantly raised.

Overall personnel costs in Japan would rise about 15% from the previous year, taking into account an hourly wage hike for part-time workers that year, with the expense absorbed by productivity improvement, a company spokesperson said.

Fast Retailing is due to post first-quarter earnings on Thursday. It reported record profit for the year through to August, as growth in North America and Europe compensated for a slump in its largest overseas market, China, which had been slowed by pandemic containment measures. read more

The company’s share price rose 1.4% in Tokyo morning trade, versus a 1% advance in the benchmark Nikkei (.N225) index.

($1 = 132.4400 yen)

($1 = 132.5300 yen)

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“Fabelmans,“ “Banshees“ win top awards Hollywood embraces Golden Globes

2023-01-11T04:23:07Z

Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” and dark comedy “The Banshees of Inisherin” landed the top movie awards at the Golden Globes on Tuesday as Hollywood returned to a show that had been knocked off television by scandal.

“The Fabelmans,” a coming-of-age story based on Spielberg’s teen years, was named best movie drama at the star-studded ceremony. “Banshees of Inisherin,” the story of feuding friends on an Irish island, won best movie musical or comedy.

The awards are likely to give both movies a boost on the road to the Academy Awards in March.

Celebrities and broadcaster NBC abandoned the 2022 Globes because of ethical lapses at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the group that hands out the awards.

A larger, more diverse membership and other changes by the HFPA persuaded many of the biggest movie and TV stars to support this year’s ceremony, which provides publicity for winners and nominees and often boosts their chances at the Oscars.

The show unfolded largely as it had in years past, except for a biting monologue from comedian and host Jerrod Carmichael who opened the show joking, “I’m here because I’m black.”

“One day you’re making mint tea at home. The next day you’re invited to be the Black face of an embattled white organization,” he said at the ceremony, which was broadcast live on Comcast Corp’s (CMCSA.O) NBC network and streamed on Peacock.

Roughly 200 journalists and others from the international film industry voted on this year’s Globes. Among those voters, nearly 52% are racially and ethnically diverse, including 10% who are Black, according to the HFPA.

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Golden Globes fashion: Stars return for soggy carpet

NEW YORK (AP) — The stars were back Tuesday for the Golden Globes’ return to television, walking a soggy grayish carpet in relatively predictable looks — with a few notable exceptions.

A look at fashion from the 80th Golden Globes:

WORM NO MORE

Heidi Klum, not long after her Halloween worm appearance, showed up in a sky-high silver sparkler with a feathery embellishment over one shoulder as the crowd was treated to a reprieve from rain that has plagued Southern California.

Also in silver? Angela Bassett, along with Jessica Chastain in a sparkly body hugger done in a checkerboard and starburst design.

THE MEN

There were lots of black suits and tuxedoes. Eddie Redmayne showed up in brown with a huge silk flower on one lapel, courtesy of Valentino. Another standout: Colman Domingo in a black tux with sparkly jewel embellishment.

Elvis, also known as Austin Butler, entered the building in a traditional black tux, while Andrew Garfield went for orange with an open collar on a black shirt underneath.

Donald Glover was practically in PJs. His comfy robe shirt and relaxed trousers were white. His tux jacket was black. The look was Saint Laurent.

“I just want to be comfortable,” he said.

METALLICS

Sheryl Lee Ralph of “Abbott Elementary” in jewel-tone blue with chunky embellishment led the train parade in her high-neck look. It was by Aliétte. Viola Davis also opted for a jewel-tone, body-skimming blue.

Chloe Flower, who will perform a song during the show, went for a longer train in a white, lightly embellished number.

Niecy Nash-Betts wore a lovely deep purple gown with chunky sparkle, paired with a large-shouldered overcoat. Both were done by Dolce & Gabbana.

There was a healthy showing of golds, too, including an adorable 19-year-old Bailey Bass from “Avatar: The Way of Water” in a long look with a delicate pattern.

Michelle Williams wore an ethereal, ivory one-shoulder look trimmed in gold. Her ruffly look included a high-side slit.

The women kept their jewels to a minimum.

THE COLOR

A pregnant Abby Elliott went for burnt orange with all-around sequins from Pamella Roland. Her sparkler had long blouson sleeves and a high neck.

Jenny Slate was in emerald green from Rodarte. She told E! of her slip dress with a large flower at the neck that she was aiming for “a woman who’s about to turn into a magical plant.”

Among the standout looks was E! host Laverne Cox in a sexy goddess gown in blue and silver, her hair in a curly Old Hollywood bob. Her look was vintage John Galliano.

Billy Porter walked in a crimson tuxedo gown by Christian Siriano and high chunky heeled blinged-out silver boots.

Anya Taylor-Joy went for a sunny yellow two-piece look with a tiny bandeau top. Margot Robbie was dressed in pale pink Chanel adorned with beads and feathers, while Lily James went old school Hollywood in 50 meters of red fabric. Her look was custom Versace, a column dress with exaggerated hips and a strapless top that crossed at the waist.

Jenna Ortega also went for the crisscross look in a breezy, pleated copper color. It was Gucci paired with necklaces by Tiffany & Co.

SPECIAL COLLAB

Sepideh Moafi, an Iranian American actress, wore a black sequined look with special touches. She worked on the look with Iranian designer Amir Taghi and the Haus of Milad.

“The dress has many stories,” she told The Associated Press, “but the most important of which is this flower, which represents a blooming new Iran during this revolution.”

She was referring to a monthslong wave of protests in Iran challenging the country’s ruling theocracy.

THOSE IN BLACK

Jennifer Coolidge, Quinta Brunson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Natasha Lyonne. There was a healthy display of black looks.

Emma D’Arcy also wore black, a trouser and skirt tuxedo combo, finished with indigo gloves. They wore heavy dark makeup with a single blue tear streak under one eye.

“It wasn’t sustainable,” D’Arcy, who is nonbinary, told E! of being forced to present as a woman in the industry.

___

For more coverage of the Golden Globes and Hollywood’s awards season, visit https://apnews.com/hub/awards-season.

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Yiddish film offers authentic recreation of shtetl life before it was destroyed

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A new film called SHTTL takes a dramatically different approach to telling the Holocaust story: It depicts the Eastern European Jewish world on the day before it disappeared.

Why did writer-director Ady Walter leave the “e” out of the word “shtetl” in the title? Inspired by an experimental French novel in which that letter never appeared, Walter interpreted this as an absence that left a hollow — an empty space — in much the same way the Nazis did by eradicating the great European Jewish civilization in its midst.

“In order to pay proper respect to the victims, the movie should not only be about death, but more importantly about how they lived,” film producer Jean Charles Levy said.

The marketplace, shul and houses all seem authentic

Unlike the majority of films about Jewish life of an earlier era, all the dialogue in SHTTL is in the languages that would actually have been used by the characters: Yiddish and Ukrainian. The filmmakers did a stunning job of recreating the shtetl itself. The marketplace, shul and the houses all seem authentic. The actors look like ordinary people, not like actors. And the shtetl community is portrayed not as a cartoonishly monolithic stereotype, but as it really was: riven by factional conflicts between Hasidim, Zionists, socialists, assimilationists and other political movements and trends that were popular at the time.

We’re in an imaginary Galician shtetl. It’s June 22, 1941, two years since the Soviets invaded after signing their pact with the Nazis. Mendele, a young man who left the shtetl two years before to become a film director in Kiev, returns to get his beloved out before she’s married off to an unworthy Hasid. But he remains conflicted: Though his life moved to Kiev, Mendele has left his heart back home.

The larger situation is equally conflicted. While the Soviets in the shtetl work to destroy their Jewish souls, the Nazis wait across the border to implement much darker plans.

Astonishingly, the entire film is done in one single take

Many Yiddish films have been made in the hundred-odd years since the birth of Yiddish cinema, but this is the most ambitious production, utilizing a very broad scope. Instead of filming it as a series of intercut close-ups — the television-influenced style that’s been the norm since the 1960s — Walter wanted something different. Although he had never directed a fiction film before, he decided to use the far more difficult single-shot style in which there’s no cutting at all. It’s all done in a single take. This style, pioneered by Alfred Hitchcock in his psychological crime thriller Rope (1948), has been used often lately, most notably in Sam Mendes’ war film 1917. Its advantage is that the actors always appear much more physically connected to their environment. This serves SHTTL’s purpose perfectly, as the movie is as much about its milieu as it is about its characters.

Walter also uses color conceptually, and to great effect. The movie alternates between black-and-white and color, but instead of the cliched use of color for the present and black-and-white for the past, here it’s the present that’s depicted in black-and-white while Mendele’s memories, with one exception, appear in color. This is Mendele’s story, and the color tells us something about his sympathies, and about how polarized — how black-and-white — his world has become since his childhood.

The performances are, with several minor exceptions, very solid, but the standout is veteran actor Saul Rubinek. Rubinek’s elderly rabbi, though hampered by some anachronistic dialogue, is spot-on. He has just enough authority to serve as the leader of the community, yet also a distinct gentleness that we associate with elderly Hasidic rabbis. Look at how Rubinek uses pauses within his speech when calming an angry crowd. Beautiful.

Despite its authenticity, some moments feel out of place

SHTTL is a remarkable movie. But it’s flawed, too.

The Yiddish, for example, is a mixed bag. Although the dialogue is well written, the actors’ ability to deliver it runs the gamut from authentic Yiddish speech to awkward phonetics. But perhaps that’s nitpicking; had the movie been made in English, it would have felt phony and generic.

A few moments do feel anachronistic, though. There’s an obligatory scene of shtetl feminism that could have been lifted from Barbra Streisand’s Yentl. There’s a discussion of film-as-an-art-form in one scene that feels extremely unlikely for that period. And the idea that the callow Mendele has become a film director in an era when the cheapest movie was still a major commercial undertaking is not at all convincing. Why couldn’t he have gone off to write literature or join the theater, which was much more common for young Jews raised in the shtetl? Also, women are shown attending Friday night services, which is almost unheard of in Hasidic circles both then and now, but was apparently necessary for plot purposes.

Still, what little most Americans know about Jewish life in Eastern Europe comes from Fiddler on the Roof — and even in the moments where it pushes the envelope, SHTTL seems far more authentic than the popular American musical.

The film might also have benefitted from a different opening. There is no real exposition, so we don’t really know who the protagonists are or what they want until later in the film. Instead of getting emotionally drawn into the story, we spend much of the first half-hour trying to figure that out.

The set was supposed to be turned into a museum

That being said, this incredibly impressive production does get so much right. Surprisingly, it was filmed in Ukraine, with a Ukrainian crew, and supported by the Ukrainian State Film Agency, despite Ukraine’s appalling history of antisemitism. But as we know, that’s not the Ukraine of today, which the Pew organization has found to be one of the least antisemitic countries in Europe (and even the least antisemitic in Eastern Europe). After all, a Jewish man won the presidency there in a landslide.

The film was shot 37 miles outside of Kiev. Art director Ivan Levchenko’s superb set — including its beautiful and unique wooden synagogue, which was actually consecrated for use — was to have been converted into a museum commemorating Ukraine’s Jewish past.

Unfortunately, this won’t happen now. The Russian invasion destroyed the shtetl set, the area has seen heavy fighting, and the land has been mined.

But one thing the war can’t destroy is the thousand-year-old Jewish history rooted in the soil of Eastern Europe. By depicting an average day in a Jewish town, SHTTL opens a unique window into that world.

 

The post Yiddish film offers authentic recreation of shtetl life before it was destroyed appeared first on The Forward.

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U.S. seeks Canadian help to ease crowding at U.S.-Mexico border

2023-01-11T03:44:17Z

U.S. President Joe Biden attends a joint news conference with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, at the conclusion of the North American Leaders’ Summit in Mexico City, Mexico, January 10, 2023. REUTERS/Henry Romero

The United States is looking to Canada to help cope with the growing number of migrants at the United States’ border with Mexico, a State Department spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

A possible trilateral agreement with Canada, the United States and Mexico was on the table as the three countries met in Mexico for the North American Leaders’ Summit, spokewsoman Kristina Rosales told Reuters.

The agreement would help thousands immigrate through legal channels, without having to put their lives at risk at the hands of human traffickers, Rosales said.

“Canada has its own specific programs for refuge and migration,” Rosales said, telling Reuters ahead of the trilateral talks that the countries would discuss Canada’s involvement.

No such agreement was made public immediately after the talks between U.S. President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador ended on Tuesday.

U.S. authorities detained 2.2 million migrants at the border with Mexico in fiscal year 2022, a record not seen since World War II.

Rosales also said the United States is considering including more nationalities to enter the country by air while expelling those crossing over land under an order known as Title 42.

The order, launched in October for Venezuelans, was expanded to Cuban, Nicaraguan and Haitian migrants last week.

Encounters of Venezuelans at the border dropped about 90% in December, and similar drops are expected for other migrants in the program.

“If we see that we have to increase the number of those eligible for humanitarian parole per month and include other nationalities, we will consider it,” Rosales added.

Mexico’s Lopez Obrador said Tuesday the nation “celebrated” the U.S. decision to award humanitarian parole and that he believed “that this plan will be extended to benefit other countries.”

The United States has in recent months seen a significant increase in migrants reaching the country by sea from Caribbean countries such as Cuba and Haiti. Rosales said those who arrived in the United States by sea “unfortunately will not be able to qualify” for humanitarian parole.

Rosales added that the U.S. government is seeking to broaden legal methods of immigrating and sway potential migrants from paying human traffickers.

“We want to broaden the legal channels so that people can apply directly from their cell phones,” Rosales said.

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China defends its retaliation against South Korea, Japan COVID curbs

2023-01-11T03:49:22Z

Chinese state media defended on Wednesday the retaliatory measures against South Korea and Japan over their COVID-19 travel curbs as “reasonable”, while Chinese tourists decried Seoul’s “insulting” treatment on social media.

China re-opened its borders on Sunday after three years of isolation under the world’s strictest regime of COVID restrictions, which Beijing abruptly began dismantling in early December after historic protests.

With the virus spreading unchecked among China’s 1.4 billion people after the policy U-turn, some foreign governments have raised concerns about the scale and impact of the outbreak, with the World Health Organization saying deaths are underreported.

In a first, China’s health authorities – which have been reporting five or fewer deaths a day over the past month, numbers that are inconsistent with the long queues seen at funeral homes – did not report COVID fatalities data on Tuesday.

China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the country’s National Health Commission did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

South Korea, Japan, the United States and more than a dozen other countries imposed at the start of the year requirements for pre-departure negative test results from visitors from China.

In response, the Chinese embassies in Seoul and Tokyo said on Tuesday they had suspended issuing short-term visas for travellers to China, with the foreign ministry slamming the testing requirements as “discriminatory.”

China requires negative test results from visitors from all countries.

State-run nationalist tabloid Global Times defended Beijing’s retaliation as a “direct and reasonable response to protect its own legitimate interests, particularly after some countries are continuing hyping up China’s epidemic situation by putting travel restrictions for political manipulation.”

South Korean foreign minister Park Jin has said the country’s decision was based on scientific evidence. Japan lodged a protest to China over its suspending the issuance of visas for Japanese citizens.

Chinese social media anger mainly targeted South Korea, whose border measures are the strictest among the countries that announced new rules.

Travellers from China must get another test upon arrival, with those who are positive sent to a designated quarantine facility for seven days at their own cost. Flights can only land at Incheon International Airport.

Videos circulating online showed special lanes coordinated by soldiers in uniform for arrivals from China at the airport, with travellers given yellow lanyards with QR codes for processing test results.

One user of China’s Twitter-like Weibo said singling out Chinese travellers was “insulting” and akin to “people treated as criminals and paraded on the streets.”

Global Times reserved a separate article for South Korea, saying the measures made Chinese people suspicious that Seoul was putting up a “political show.”

“Seoul should not be surprised by China’s countermeasures,” it said in the article, which also criticised “very poor” quarantine conditions.

The tensions hurt share prices of South Korean companies with heavy exposure to China, including cosmetics makers LG H&H (051900.KS) and Amorepacific (090430.KS).

Annual spending by Chinese tourists abroad reached $250 billion before the pandemic, with South Korea and Japan among the top shopping destinations.

China has repeatedly dismissed criticism of its strict COVID restrictions since early 2020, as well as of their sudden dismantling, which has overwhelmed hospitals and crematoria across the country and left pharmacies understocked.

Although international health experts have predicted at least one million COVID-related deaths this year, China has reported just over 5,000 since the pandemic began, a fraction of what much less populous countries have reported as they reopened.

China says it has been transparent with its data.

State media said the COVID wave was already past its peak in the provinces of Henan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Sichuan and Hainan, as well as in the large cities of Beijing and Chongqing – home to more than 500 million people combined.

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Patients receive IV drip treatment at a hospital, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at a village in Tonglu county, Zhejiang province, China January 9, 2023. REUTERS/Staff

Patients receive IV drip treatment at a hospital, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at a village in Tonglu county, Zhejiang province, China January 9, 2023. REUTERS/Staff
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Peru“s top prosecutor launches inquiry into president, ministers after deadly protests

2023-01-10T16:16:31Z

LIMA (Reuters) -Peru’s top prosecutor’s office on Tuesday said it has launched an inquiry into new President Dina Boluarte and members of her cabinet over violent clashes that have seen at least 40 killed and hundreds injured since early December.

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FILE PHOTO: Demonstrators clash with security forces during a protest demanding early elections and the release of jailed former President Pedro Castillo, near the Juliaca airport, in Juliaca, Peru January 9, 2023. REUTERS/Hugo Courotto NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

The new government, however, won a vote of confidence in Congress by a wide margin on Tuesday evening. A loss would have triggered a cabinet reshuffle and the resignation of Prime Minister Alberto Otarola.

The inquiry comes after 17 civilians were killed in the country’s southern Puno region on Monday – the most lethal day of protests since former President Pedro Castillo was ousted and detained last month. The violence continued on Tuesday with a police officer dying after his car was torched.

The attorney general’s office said it was investigating Boluarte, Otarola, Defense Minister Jorge Chavez and Interior Minister Victor Rojas on charges of “genocide, qualified homicide and serious injuries.”

Human rights groups have accused authorities of using firearms on protesters and dropping smoke bombs from helicopters. The army says protesters have used weapons and homemade explosives.

The attorney general’s office also said it would investigate former Prime Minister Pedro Angulo and former Interior Minister Cesar Cervantes, both of whom served under Boluarte for just a few weeks, for their involvement in handling the protests.

The president’s and ministers’ offices did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The ouster of Castillo, which came after he illegally attempted to dissolve Congress, has ignited a wave of protests across the country. Protesters are demanding the resignation of Boluarte, the dissolution of Congress, changes to the constitution and Castillo’s release.

The vote of confidence, a constitutional requirement after a new prime minister takes office, passed with 73 votes in favor, 43 against and 6 abstentions.

Otarola has blamed organized attackers financed by “dark” money for those killed on Monday. Another 68 civilians and 75 police officers were reported injured.

Otarola also announced a three-day overnight curfew in Puno, aimed at quelling the violence. Footage from local media showed looting of Puno businesses on Monday night, while the airport in the region’s city of Juliaca remained shut on Tuesday after 9,000 people were said to have attempted to invade the premises.

Peru’s ombudsman office on Tuesday urged peaceful protests as well as for prosecutors to fully investigate the deaths.

The office noted the “extreme violence” of the policeman’s death, claiming he was tortured before he died. The officer, identified as Jose Luis Soncco, had died in a torched vehicle after what senior police commander Raul Alfaro called an “ambush” by a mob in Juliaca.

“They burned him alive,” said Alfaro.

The ombudsman’s office also condemned an arson attack on a Puno congressman’s residence in the city of Ilave with family members still inside and called on authorities to respect international norms with regard to the use of force.

Castillo tweeted on Tuesday that those killed for “defending the country from the coup dictatorship” will never be forgotten.

He has been ordered to remain in pre-trial detention while he is investigated for fomenting rebellion, a charge he denies. The former rural teacher who served less than two years of his five-year term before his removal says he remains Peru’s lawful president.

Castillo ally Evo Morales, the former Bolivian president who was banned from entering Peru Monday, has also called for an end to what he says is the “genocide of our indigenous brothers.”

Later this week, an Inter-American Commission on Human Rights mission will visit Peru to assess the situation. The United Nations has meanwhile urged respect for human rights and offered to mediate the crisis.