Author: Press Room

SOUTHEAST ASIA OPEN With the big Chinese New Year holidays late this month, the mainland is also set to open the border with its special administrative region of Hong Kong on Sunday, for the first time in three years. Ferry services between the city and the gambling hub of Macau will resume on the same day. Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways said on Thursday it would more than double flights to mainland China. Flights to and from China remain at a tiny fraction of pre-COVID levels. The WHO has warned that the holiday, which starts on Jan 21 and usually…

After three days and 11 votes, the House of Representatives has still not elected a new speaker for the 118th Congress. This delay has caused some Democrats to doubt whether Republicans who are in disagreement will come to terms anytime soon.”I’m never getting sworn in am I?” Rep-elect Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, tweeted Thursday afternoon, as members were anticipating another round of votes. Peltola won office in Nov. when she defeated former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.The House of Representatives held three votes on Tuesday, three votes on Wednesday and five votes on Thursday, but each failed to have a…

The UK government is planning to introduce a new law forcing workers in key public sectors such as ambulance services to maintain a basic level of service during strike action or risk dismissal. In a statement on Thursday, the government said it would introduce a bill in parliament in the coming weeks to set minimum safety levels for fire, ambulance and rail services. The new law, which would force a certain percentage of workers to keep coming to work on strike days, could also affect nurses, teachers and immigration officers. Workers who strike after they have been told to report…

A leftist rebel group in Colombia, the National Liberation Army (ELN), says it is not part of a ceasefire with the government that had been announced by the president. On New Year’s Eve, President Gustavo Petro made a bold pronouncement on Twitter: Five of the country’s illegal armed groups had agreed to a six-month ceasefire. “Total peace will be a reality,” Petro wrote, echoing his promises to bring the country’s decades-long armed conflict to an end. But on Tuesday, the ELN issued a statement refuting claims that it had agreed to the ceasefire. “The ELN Dialogue Delegation has not discussed…

London CNN  —  Inflation in Europe continued to decline in December as energy prices rose at a slower pace. Prices across the 19 countries that used the euro in 2022 increased at an annual rate of 9.2% in December, the European Union’s statistical office said Friday. In November, prices rose 10.1%. Annual inflation in the euro area reached a record high of 10.6% in October. The pullback in headline inflation is a positive development for households and businesses that have been battered by high costs. But prices in many sectors of the economy are still rising at an uncomfortable clip,…

The bitcoin price has remained flat in the past 24 hours, sticking to its $16,796 from yesterday while the wider market teeters downwards slightly. Its current price marks a 1% increase in a week, although the world’s first cryptocurrency is down by 1.5% in a month and by 75% compared to its all-time high of $69,044, set back in November 2021.Despite the ongoing stagnation, more than a few figures within the cryptocurrency industry have been predicitng that bitcoin will enjoy significant gains this year, with some going even so far as to set a target of $250,000. However, other experts…

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Annual inflation across the eurozone fell back to the single-digit territory and stood at 9.2% at the end of December, according to a flash estimate released by Eurostat on Friday morning.Inflation started easing in November but still stood at 10.1%.It comes as gas prices, one of the main drivers behind last year’s record-breaking inflation, returned to pre-war levels amid unusually warm weather.Although the news can be seen as a positive development, the eurozone’s inflation rate represents almost five times the 2% target set by the European Central Bank.The majority of member states that use the euro as currency saw inflation…

BEIJING: An LGBT activist who was detained last month after some of China’s biggest protests in years was released on bail this week, their mother said, but 11 more demonstrators remain in custody. Yang Zijing, 25, was released from police detention in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou on Tuesday (Jan 3), mother Gao Xiusheng told AFP, declining to add further details for fear of retribution. Long-simmering public discontent over Beijing’s harsh COVID-19 controls erupted in nationwide demonstrations in late November on a scale unseen in decades. The measures were abruptly abandoned soon afterwards. An overseas activist nicknamed Rio also told…

CNN  —  Kevin McCarthy is locked in a fight for his political future as the California Republican attempts to win the votes he needs to become speaker of the US House of Representatives in what has now become the longest contest in 164 years. McCarthy suffered a string of defeats on Thursday as the House took round after round of failed votes. The longer the fight drags on, the more dire it becomes for McCarthy as it risks further defections and a loss of confidence in the GOP leader. House Republicans are scheduled to hold a conference call Friday morning,…