World

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A father of four. A best friend with a positive personality. A vivacious partygoer. The six people who were killed during a mass shooting in California’s capital city were remembered by their friends and family Monday as police worked to piece together what happened. Dozens of rapid-fire gunshots rang out early Sunday in the crowded streets of Sacramento, leaving three women and three men dead and another 12 people wounded. On Monday morning, small memorials with candles, balloons and flowers had been placed near the crime scene. Investigators were searching for at least two shooters who were responsible for the violence on the outskirts of the city’s main entertainment district that occurred as bars and nightclubs were closing. Sacramento police said Monday tha

Nearly a decade ago, while researching the catastrophic environmental damage brought about by plastic waste, Joe Lu set out to fix one scourge in particular: the to-go coffee cup. Some five billion of them get tossed into Canadian trash bins every year, clogging landfills and contributing in no small part to the global accumulation of waste. They masquerade as benign paper cups, seemingly ephemeral, but are covered in a thin plastic lining that takes two decades to fully decompose. Lu, a mechanical engineer from Shanghai, wanted to find an alternative. The cup he came up with — the ButterflyCup — is made entirely from biodegradable paper: no plastic coating, no plastic lid. It’s now being used at fast-food restaurants in Europe and East Asia. Most recently, it was adopted by A&W Canada,

Authorities plan for future crises, looking to new markets and value-added products Ukrainian and Russian tourists stage an anti-war protest in front of the Royal Phuket Marina Hotel on Feb 28. (Photo: Achadthaya Chuenniran) Thai tourism faces another obstacle on its path to recovery as the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict is starting to impact this year's market. Russia was the top source market for tourists in Phuket during the early stages of the reopening. As of March 7, Russia had plunged to fourth place with 2,763 tourists. At least 6,000 Russian and Ukrainian tourists are stranded in Thailand because of the abrupt pause of international flights, which has made it difficult for them to return home. Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, the Tourism Authority of Thailand's (TAT) deputy gover...

BRUSSELS (AP) — China on Friday renewed its criticism of Western sanctions against Russia, as top European Union officials sought assurances from Beijing that it would not help Moscow circumvent the economic measures imposed in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Chinese Foreign Ministry also laid blame for the war in Ukraine at least partially on the United States for pushing to expand the NATO military alliance closer to Russia’s borders. Twenty-one of the EU’s 27 countries are also NATO member states. At a virtual summit, European Council President Charles Michel, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell sought signs from Chinese President and Communist Party leader Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang that Beijing would help to end th

Lawyers and refugee settlement agencies from coast to coast are gearing up for the massive endeavour to help Ukrainians fleeing the war in their homeland to settle in Canada. “It’s definitely going to be a big exercise and it will likely have an impact on the already long processing times, but we a have got to do what we got to do to help Ukrainians fleeing the war,” said Toronto immigration lawyer David Garson. “Unlike Afghanistan, we are seeing this war in real time, and Canadians have a lot of empathy for the Ukrainian people caught in this horrendous refugee crisis,” Garson told New Canadian Media. He, like other lawyers who are prepared to offer their services pro-bono to help the refugees, are calling on Ottawa to quickly establish a process to get them to Canada. Garson is sugge

How to survive in a binary world Xi Jinping, China's president, left, and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, are seen on screen via video conference at an EU-China summit at the EU Council headquarters in Brussels, Belgium on Friday. The EU warned China of 'major reputational damage' over the Russia-Ukraine war. (Photo: Bloomberg) Like it or not, we are today living in a bifurcated world as never seen before. In the past, the so-called divided world was half real and half imagined, with no clearly defined red line. That gave a lot of room for diplomatic manoeuvring to all countries not wanting to be caught in an unfriendly situation. Today, this room is becoming smaller and more toxic. The Russia-Ukraine war has pushed the schism between the US/Europe, its allie...

Govt bars use of cryptocurrencies as method of payment The Securities and Exchange Commission will ban cyptocurriencies from being used for payment of goods and services. (Bangkok Post photo) The government will bar the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment for goods and services, saying the wider use of digital assets threatens the nation’s financial system and economy. Business operators -- including crypto exchanges -- must not provide such payment services, and are barred from acting in a manner that promotes the use of digital assets to pay for goods or services, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a statement on Wednesday. However, the new regulation won’t affect trading or investments in digital assets, the agency said. While the restrictions on use of digital

Was it just another Joe Biden “gaffe” when the U.S. leader blurted about Vladimir Putin, “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power!” The New York Times said he “ad-libbed” it. Maybe there should be an aide standing by with an official script so Biden can bellow “Line!” the way actors do when they blank onstage. Retractions and restatements followed. In their favour is that if you were going to kill Putin, you’d probably not say so. But U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken went too far in stating that the U.S. doesn’t “have a strategy of regime change in Russia,” then adding “or anywhere else.” Who doesn’t know the U.S. openly sought regime change in Venezuela (backing Juan Guaido), Libya (ending in Moammar Gadhafi’s murder), Iraq (hanging Saddam Hussein), or Afghanistan (ousting

A boy smiles as he is selling roses to worshippers at Wat Bovoranives Vihara. (Bangkok Post file photo) Thailand ranked 61st in the annual World Happiness Index but is the third happiest country in Southeast Asia, according to the World Happiness Report 2022. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the report, which uses global survey data to analyse how people evaluate their lives in 146 countries. Its researchers hope the information can help countries craft policies aimed at achieving happier societies. For the fifth year in a row, Finland takes the top spot as the happiest country in the world. Ranked second is Denmark, followed by Iceland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway, Israel and New Zealand. Looking at Southeast Asia, Singapore leads the pack, ranked ...

Bimstec's time to shine has come From the tales of Lord Rama to the wisdom of Lord Buddha, the South Asian and Southeast Asian regions are not only historically intertwined, but also founded on a shared cultural heritage. Perhaps this shared history alone was enough to convince four nations under the Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation (Bist-Ec) arrangement to come together to pen the Bangkok Declaration on June 6, 1997, to promote economic development, social progress and regional cooperation. But in reality, the Bimstec framework (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), a later iteration that welcomed Nepal, Myanmar and Bhutan, has been an organisation in name only throughout its existence. For 25 years, it has suffere...