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The post Three injured, including two children, are in hospital appeared first on Ukraine Intelligence.

Luggage-laden passengers flocked to railway stations and airports in China’s megacities on Monday, heading home for holidays that health experts fear could intensify a COVID-19 outbreak that has claimed thousands of lives.

After three years of strict and suffocating anti-virus controls, China in early December abruptly abandoned its “zero COVID” policy, letting the virus run freely through its 1.4 billion population.

Authorities on Saturday said nearly 60,000 people with COVID had died in hospitals between Dec. 8 and Jan. 12, a huge increase from previous figures that had been criticised by the World Health Organisation for not reflecting the scale and severity of the outbreak.

Even those numbers most likely exclude many people dying at home, especially in rural areas with weaker medical systems, one health expert has said. Several experts forecast more than one million people in China will die from the disease this year.

Ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays, also known as the Spring Festival, which officially starts on Jan. 21, state media has been filled with stories of rural hospitals and clinics bolstering their supplies of drugs and equipment.

“The peak of COVID infection in our village has passed, but the Spring Festival is approaching and there are still left-behind villagers, especially the elderly, at risk of secondary infection,” a doctor in Shaanxi province said in an article by regional news outlet Red Star News.

“If the anti-viral and other drugs were more abundant, I would be more confident,” the doctor added.

As well as fever drugs and oxygen supplies, China’s National Health Commission has said it would equip every village clinic with pulse oximeters, fingertip devices commonly used during the pandemic to quickly check oxygen levels.

Beijing’s main rail station has been packed with passengers leaving the capital in recent days, according to Reuters witnesses.

In China’s most populous city, Shanghai, temporary night trains have been added to meet demand for travellers heading to the eastern Anhui Province, China’s official state news agency Xinhua reported.

Meanwhile, daily arrivals in the gambling hub of Macau exceeded 55,000 on Saturday, the highest daily arrivals since the pandemic began.

In Hong Kong, the government has said it would increase the number of people who can pass through designated land border control points to the mainland to 65,000 people per day from 50,000 between Jan. 18 and Jan. 21.

China’s transport ministry has said it expects more than 2 billion trips in the weeks around the holidays.

The revival of travel in China has lifted expectations of a rebound in the world’s second-largest economy, which is suffering its lowest growth rates in nearly half a century.

Those hopes helped lift Asian equity markets on Monday (.MIAPJ0000PUS), adding to gains of 4.2% last week.

China’s blue-chip index (.CSI300) was up 0.6% on Monday, while global oil prices have also been supported on expectations of a recovery in demand from the world’s top importer China.

Chinese data on economic growth, retail sales and industrial output due this week are certain to be dismal, but markets will likely look past that to how China’s reopening could bolster global growth, analysts say.

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Russia is becoming too dependent on oil revenues to support its budget as it ramps up military spending, economists said, warning that the government may have to raise taxes if prices of crude fail to meet expectations this year.

The price of Urals oil – Russia’s main export – has plunged more than 20% since early December, when Western nations led by the Group of Seven (G7) imposed a $60 price cap on Russian oil exports to restrict Moscow’s ability to finance what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Given that the 2023 federal budget is based on a projected Urals price of just over $70 a barrel, and prices are currently trading closer to $50, this could prove problematic.

As the price cap, Western sanctions and EU embargo make it harder for Russia to export oil, Moscow has relied on China and India – the world’s largest and third-largest importers, respectively – to fill the gap.

“The growing dependence of the budget on oil raises concerns,” Alfa Bank said in a note that warned a decline in revenue from gas and oil product exports “looms on the horizon.”

Analysts say that as the government increased spending by more than a quarter in 2022, in part to finance its military in Ukraine, the oil price required to balance the budget jumped from $67 to $101 a barrel.

When state-owned energy giant Gazprom’s (GAZP.MM) 1.85 trillion roubles ($27.5 billion) of dividends and one-off taxes last year are factored in, the actual price of oil needed to balance the books could be as high as $115 a barrel.

Russia’s budget hole last year totalled 3.3 trillion roubles ($49 billion), or 2.3% of gross domestic product, and may exceed 2% again in 2023 as the price cap curbs Russia’s export revenues, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said in December.

“When there is a big gap between the actual price (of oil) and the balancing price, it cannot be sustainably covered by borrowing,” said Natalia Orlova, chief economist at Alfa Bank.

“Some measures are needed to adjust fiscal policy, either by cutting spending or looking for additional revenues.”

With President Vladimir Putin expected to seek a historic fifth term in an election due in 2024 and regional votes taking place later this year, spending cuts are out of the question, she added.

Last year’s budget, which was heavily skewed towards defence spending, has raised the risk of a higher tax burden in the medium term, Renaissance Capital economists said.

Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Sazanov hinted at the possibility of another tax hike in December, suggesting that the government would continue to look at areas of tax potential in 2023.

It is not clear which sectors would face tax rises and to what extent the burden would fall on the population. VAT rates, profit taxes and income tax would not be changed, Sazanov said, but other industries may face a higher tax bill.

“Detailed, substantive analysis allows us to still find resource sectors where high margins are formed and where it is possible to increase the fiscal burden without harming the operational and investment activities of companies,” he said.

The finance ministry was not immediately available to comment.

The government has already sharply increased the tax burden on the oil and gas industry for 2023-2025, the biggest such rises in its history, as Russia’s 10-month military operations in Ukraine grind on. The measures are expected to net an additional 3.6 trillion roubles for the Russian budget over three years.

However, a Reuters budget analysis shows Moscow will spend a combined 9.4 trillion roubles ($140 billion) on defence and security this year alone – nearly a third of the budget – meaning less money for health, education and research.

The conflict in Ukraine and ensuing barrage of Western sanctions have upended some sectors of Russia’s economy, cutting its biggest banks from the SWIFT financial network, curbing its access to technology and restricting its ability to export oil.

While the government and central bank have acknowledged “difficulties”, Moscow says its economy is resilient and that sanctions have boomeranged against the West by driving up inflation and energy prices.

($1 = 67.3500 roubles)

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When Li’s 83-year-old father with diabetes started coughing and complaining of body aches last month, the Beijing resident became anxious about finding a treatment for COVID-19 in case his parent had caught the virus sweeping the city.

He heard at that time that Pfizer’s (PFE.N) anti-viral drug Paxlovid was an effective treatment, but patients could only get it prescribed if they were admitted to hospital, and only if the drug was in stock.

The first hospital they visited conducted a CT scan that showed his lungs were infected, but turned them away, saying no beds were available, said Li, who only gave his surname due to sensitivity over how authorities might view his account.

After two more days of frantic calls to families and friends, a contact finally found them a space at another hospital, but it took a further antigen test and second CT scan before it agreed to prescribe the drug.

With his father admitted to an intensive care unit, Li was worried that it had taken too long to get effective treatment.

“I’m not sure if Paxlovid can help him. I think it’s because when he got the medicine he already had the virus for a week,” Li told Reuters on Jan.12.

“Now we can do little but pray.”

His father died the same day.

Li’s experience, local media reports and online posts bear testimony to the difficulties faced obtaining Paxlovid in China through official channels.

Paxlovid – a combination of two anti viral drugs – is one of the few foreign oral treatments approved by Beijing and a clinical trial has found it to have reduced hospitalisations in high-risk patients by around 90%.

Having been approved in February last year, Paxlovid was scarcely used in China until December when the government started lifting its strict containment policy, and wave of COVID infections began to build.

Chinese authorities have acknowledged that supplies of Paxlovid are still insufficient to meet demand, even as Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said last week that thousands of courses of the treatment were shipped to the country last year and in the past couple of weeks millions more were shipped.

“Pfizer is actively collaborating with Chinese authorities and all stakeholders to secure an adequate supply of Paxlovid in China. We remain committed to fulfilling the COVID-19 treatment needs of Chinese patients and partnering with the Chinese government,” the company said in a statement.

Racing to defend against a rising death toll, China has also approved Merck & Co’s (MRK.N) COVID antiviral drug and is reviewing a treatment developed by Japan’s Shionogi (4507.T).

Paxlovid is covered by state insurance — albeit temporarily until the end of March — meaning patients in theory would only need to pay 198 yuan ($29), a tenth of its usual price.

But China doesn’t provide data on how many treatment courses are supplied and where it can be purchased, forcing most patients to rely on media reports, word-of-mouth or even importing through unauthorised channels in the grey market.

Those who do manage to find a supplier often end up paying exorbitant prices, as demand has shot up amid a giant wave of COVID-19 infections.

The official Guangzhou Daily reported that patients at the United Family Healthcare hospital in Guangdong were paying 6,000 yuan ($891) for health checks before being allowed to get Paxlovid priced at 2,300 yuan at the hospital.

The hospital did not immediately reply to a Reuters’ request for comment.

Health data firm Airfinity estimated in December that China would need 49 million courses of the COVID treatment over the next five months, with over 22 million needed in January alone.

The Pfizer drug can be also purchased for 2,170 yuan with prescription via online platforms, but it typically sells out within seconds.

Several other people described to Reuters how they turned to the grey market to purchase Paxlovid. Some were looking to treat sick relatives, while others wanted it just in case.

Chen Jun, a resident of China’s southern Hainan Province, said he bought Paxlovid from a supplier introduced by a business partner, who said the medicine was coming from Hong Kong.

Chen paid 20,000 yuan ($2,972) on Jan. 2 for two boxes for his elderly parents, who suffer from cancer, and he said that some people had paid double that price.

“You’ll think it cheap once your family members are in need, because anything is better than going to a hospital now,” he said. “I know people who paid 20,000 yuan for one box of the medicine.”

Another buyer who gave his name as Ray said he managed to get two boxes from the United States, where supplies are still ample and a doctor’s prescription can be obtained after an online consultation.

“It’s very straightforward, they don’t ask questions,” he said. Having made the online purchase, he then asked a friend there to help courier it to China.

An analyst at a Chinese securities house, who requested anonymity because of sensitivities over the subject, said his boss went to Hong Kong to stock up on Paxlovid to gift clients as it was more valued than a popular, expensive liquor.

“It is a better gift than Moutai.”

($1 = 6.7072 Chinese yuan renminbi)

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Russia and Belarus will begin joint air force drills on Monday, which have triggered fears in Kyiv and the West that Moscow could use its ally to launch a new ground offensive in Ukraine.

* Belarus said its air force drills with Russia that start on Monday are defensive in nature to prepare for possible combat missions, but the move comes as concerns grow that Moscow is pushing Minsk to join the war in Ukraine.

* Ukraine has continuously warned of possible attacks from Belarus, but the Kremlin has denied that it has been pressuring Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to take a more active role in the conflict in Ukraine. Minsk has said it will not enter the war.

* Ukraine saw little hope of pulling any more survivors from the rubble of an apartment block in the city of Dnipro on Sunday, a day after the building was hit during a major Russian missile attack, with dozens of people expected to have died.

* Thirty people have been confirmed dead so far in destroyed Dnipro apartment block, according to the regional governor’s adviser, Natalia Babachenko. Between 30 to 40 people could still be trapped under debris, she said.

* The chances are “minimal” of finding more survivors in the wreckage, the city’s mayor told Reuters in an interview.

* Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had launched a wave of missile strikes against Ukrainian military and infrastructure sites on Saturday. It did not mention Dnipro as a specific target.

* Ukrainian forces are fighting to retain control of Soledar in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said on Sunday, contradicting Russian claims that Moscow’s forces had captured the small town.

* Russian President Vladimir Putin said the special military operation – Russia’s term for the war – was showing a positive trend.

* Reuters could not verify the accounts.

* Britain will send 14 of its Challenger 2 main battle tanks and artillery support to Ukraine, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office said on Saturday, disregarding criticism from the Russian Embassy.

* Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Saturday the G7 summit he will host in May should demonstrate a strong will to uphold the international order and rule of law after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Rescuers resumed searching on Monday in Nepal for four people still missing after the Himalayan nation’s deadliest plane crash in 30 years, officials said.

Rescuers had recovered 68 bodies out of the 72 people onboard the ATR 72 aircraft operated by Yeti Airlines that crashed in the tourist city of Pokhara minutes before landing on Sunday in clear weather.

The plane, on a scheduled flight from Kathmandu to Pokhara, gateway to scenic Annapurna mountain range, was carrying 57 Nepalis, five Indians, four Russians, two South Koreans, and one person each from Argentina, Ireland, Australia and France.

Pokhara police official Ajay K.C. said the search-and-rescue operation, which stopped because of darkness on Sunday, had resumed.

“We will take out the five bodies from the gorge and search for the remaining four that are still missing,” he told Reuters.

The other 63 bodies had been sent to a hospital, he said.

Rescuers were also searching for the black boxes – a cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder – as they looked for survivors, said Jagannath Niroula, a spokesperson for Nepal’s civil aviation authority.

Nepal has declared a day of national mourning on Monday and set up a panel to investigate the disaster and suggest measures to avoid such incidents in future.

Authorities said bodies will be handed over to families after identification and examination.

Nearly 350 people have died since 2000 in plane or helicopter crashes in Nepal – home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Everest – where sudden weather changes can make for hazardous conditions.

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House Republican Jim Banks has excitedly announced a new group he has formed. And Banks appears really happy about it. The question is: should the American people be? I don’t think so. This caucus will be called the “antiwoke caucus.” I kid you not.

Banks says he and the other members of this very important caucus will “combat institutionalized wokeness.” He also says he will regularly host meetings on the topic of wokeness, with the goal being to better understand “the long tentacles of the wokeness regime.” Tentacles?

This statement caused the writer of this piece (me) to break out into uncontrollable giggles, which arrived, I suspect, as a result of the realization I had that the GOP isn’t really as bad as I’ve described them — they’re far, far worse. The GOP IS ADRIFT ON DENIAL.

Not the beautiful that flows into the Mediterranean sea. No, not that. I’m speaking of denial — a complete lack of awareness as to reality and what reality encompasses.

In the world of politics, the reality is that to win power; one needs votes. And to get those votes, one needs voters. The GOP seems well and determined to turn off almost ALL their potential voters except the ultra-far right. Now I can hear you saying but they won the house. They did, indeed.

But not by much. And if anything, the GOP has gone FURTHER into the waters of denial. They’re on a raft right now of utter non-acceptation and nonsense. The GOP will kick off the 2024 election in worse shape than the 2022 midterms. It’s true. It’s only January, and they have successfully made themselves look like the fools they are.

Ridiculous abortion bills that go nowhere. And now this. The GOP ran on the promise of helping the American people. OK, we always knew they were lying, but their voters didn’t know. And this stupid, stupid move will turn off more people. The GOP is playing to its alt-right base. But there simply aren’t enough of them.

And in this process, they’re managing to turn off everybody else. So let Banks form this ridiculous committee that won’t ever accomplish anything and will further make the GOP look like idiots. I think I feel another attack of the giggles coming on.

The post These House Republicans are even further gone than we thought appeared first on Palmer Report.

Bilal Buler and K. Y. Cheng/Getty Images

• A team of engineers and designers built what may be Afghanistan’s first sports car.
• The car’s power relies on a modded 2000 Toyota Corolla engine, according to a Tolo News report.
• The Taliban’s spokesperson shared a video of the car, called Mada 9, doing donuts in the snow.

Afghanistan recently unveiled what may be its first sports car and Taliban officials are recognizing the achievement.

On Sunday, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s official spokesperson, shared a video on Twitter of the car doing donuts in the snow. He said the car was an honor for the country, according to The Telegraph.

—Zabihullah (..ذبـــــیح الله م ) (@Zabehulah_M33) January 15, 2023

The vehicle, named Mada 9, was built over five years by a company named Entop with a team of 30 engineers and designers from the Afghanistan Technical Vocational Institute, according to a report by Tolo News, a local Afghanistan news channel. 

The head of the school, Ghulam Haidar Shahamat, told the outlet that the engine is “powerful enough” to allow the driver to increase the speed. But, he noted, the engine is from a 2000 Toyota Corolla.

“The main purpose is to install an electric engine in it,” he added.

It’s unclear what the car’s specifications are or how fast it can go. There are no videos of the car moving at high speeds or making difficult maneuvers outside of the video shared by the Taliban’s spokesperson.

Mohammad Riza Ahmadi, the designer of Mada 9, told Tolo News that he hopes the car will be a beacon for the embattled country.

“This car will be an ambassador and will drive across Afghanistan and convey the value of knowledge to the people,” he said.

One promotional video of the car starts with a shot of the desert floor, strewn with bullets, before it closes in on a disheveled man. After he steps across a pathway of bullets, the man walks up to a covered vehicle to finally unveil the Mada 9.

A post shared by ENTOP (@entopco)

Afghanistan’s economy has collapsed since the Taliban’s takeover of the country in August 2021. According to the U.S. Insitute of Peace, the country’s economy has shrunk 20 to 30 percent within a year under the regime’s control.

More than a million Afghans fled the country between October 2021 and January 2022, The New York Times reported, citing migration researchers.

In January 2022, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sounded the alarm to nations about the dire state of the country.

“Six months after the takeover by the Taliban, Afghanistan is hanging by a thread,” he said. “For Afghans, daily life has become a frozen hell.”

Ahmadi, the car designer, told Tolo News that the car has received offers but is not for sale. The Mada 9 will be showcased across Afghanistan and perhaps be exhibited internationally, he said.