South China Morning Post USA

Stars return for rejuvenated Venice Film Festival in spite of coronavirus restrictions

The Venice Film Festival opened in style on Wednesday with Penelope Cruz the first of many stars to grace the Lido’s red carpet, as cinephiles prepare for a spectacular line-up despite continued coronavirus restrictions.Held on the glitzy, beach-lined Lido, the world’s oldest film festival is seen as an essential springboard for the Oscars, and is set to recover the glamour lost last year when the pandemic kept celebrities away.Hollywood is back in full force, with eagerly awaited sci-fi…

US says new Chinese rule that vessels register for South China Sea access threatens freedom of navigation

The Pentagon on Wednesday appeared to dismiss Beijing’s new demand that all foreign ships entering the South China Sea must register with Chinese maritime authorities, calling it a “serious threat” to freedom of navigation and trade.“The United States remains firm that any coastal state law or regulation must not infringe upon navigation and overflight rights enjoyed by all nations under international law,” said John Supple, a Pentagon spokesman, in response to questions about China’s decree…

Amazon eyes 55,000 new tech workers in US, Japan, India, as retail and cloud businesses grow

Amazon.com Inc is planning to hire 55,000 people for corporate and technology roles globally in the coming months, Chief Executive Andy Jassy told Reuters.That’s equal to more than a third of Google’s headcount as of June 30, and close to all of Facebook’s.Jassy, in his first press interview since he ascended to Amazon’s top post in July, said the company needed more firepower to keep up with demand in retail, the cloud and advertising, among other businesses.He said the company’s new bet to…

Bali bombing suspects formally charged after ‘flawed’ two-day arraignment in Guantanamo Bay

Three men held at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre have been formally charged in connection with the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings and other plots in Southeast Asia after 18 years in US custody, with defence lawyers insisting afterwards that the long-delayed arraignment was so flawed it may have to be repeated.The men appeared on Tuesday in a secure courthouse encircled by razor wire on the US base in Cuba amid defence complaints about courtroom interpreters that caused what was supposed to…

China’s bumper harvest may cool corn-buying binge, impact progress of US trade deal

China’s record corn-buying spree – a cornerstone of its trade deal with the United States – may be running out of steam, with risks growing that imports by the top buyer will fall short of US official estimates. The domestic harvest season is looming and China is expecting a bumper crop after farmers sharply boosted corn planting this year.This is already starting to weigh on Chinese corn prices, narrowing the gap with overseas prices and hurting the attractiveness of imports, according to…

New Orleans mayor declares night curfew to prevent crime after Hurricane Ida leaves city in darkness

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell ordered a nighttime curfew on Tuesday, calling it an effort to prevent crime after Hurricane Ida devastated the power system and left the city in darkness.The curfew will go into effect from 8pm on Tuesday to 6am on Wednesday local time. The mayor also said she expects the main power company Entergy to be able to provide some electricity to the city by Wednesday evening, but stressed that does not mean a quick citywide restoration. Rather, she said, the energy…

High winds threaten to whip up flames approaching Lake Tahoe

A day after an explosive fire emptied a resort city at the southern tip of Lake Tahoe, a huge firefighting force braced for strong winds on Tuesday as residents in neighbouring Nevada were put on notice to be ready to flee.The city of South Lake Tahoe, usually bustling with summer tourists, was eerily empty and the air thick and hazy with smoke from the Caldor Fire, one of two major blazes plaguing California. On Monday, roughly 22,000 residents jammed the city’s main artery for hours after…

A defiant Joe Biden calls Afghanistan exit a ‘success’

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Nick Niedzwiadek on politico.com on August 31, 2021.A defiant President Joe Biden called the Afghanistan evacuation effort a “success” on Tuesday, in a speech that marked the end of the United States’ 20-year engagement in the country.His speech came almost exactly 24 hours after General Frank McKenzie, the head of US Central Command, announced that the last military flights out of Afghanistan had…

Angry Murray: Tennis star Andy Murray fires battle of bathroom break into orbit

Scottish tennis star Andy Murray launched a fresh rocket at his US Open conqueror Stefanos Tsitsipas on Tuesday, griping that the Greek player took longer on bathroom breaks than it took billionaire Jeff Bezos to reach outer space.The Briton was furious when Tsitsipas took a break that ran close to eight minutes during their five-set first-round clash on Monday, which he felt disrupted his game and swayed the outcome.The 2012 Flushing Meadows champion was still stewing a day later.“Fact of the…

Family vows to win freedom of US journalist imprisoned in Myanmar for 100 days

The parents and brother of an American journalist who has been detained in Myanmar for 100 days vowed on Tuesday to never stop working to secure his release.Danny Fenster, 37, is managing editor of Frontier Myanmar, an independent online news outlet based in Yangon, the Southeast Asian nation’s largest city. He was detained on May 24 while trying to board a flight to visit his family who live in the Detroit area, and is being held in Yangon’s Insein Prison.“We’re just trying to stay tough – as…

World’s largest triceratops fossil, Big John, to go under the hammer at Paris auction house

The fossilised remains of Big John, the largest triceratops dinosaur ever discovered by palaeontologists, will be sold by a Paris auction house in late September, and could fetch up to €1.5 million (US$1.77 million).Big John roamed the lands of modern-day South Dakota in the United States more than 66 million years ago. Palaeontologists unearthed the first piece of bone in 2014 and eventually found 60 per cent of his skeleton, including a near-complete skull.The Drouot auction house estimated…

Short-lived Jeopardy! host ousted as producer of quiz show after sexism row

Jeopardy! executive producer Mike Richards, who stepped down as host after just nine days following a sexism row, has been removed from the long-running US television quiz show entirely, its studio said on Tuesday.Richards had been named to replace Alex Trebek, who died of cancer last year, but his tenure in the presenting slot was cut short by controversy over past employment discrimination lawsuits and the emergence this month of disparaging comments he made involving multiple women.Sony…

Hurricane Ida: 2 dead in Mississippi highway collapse; Louisiana man feared killed by alligator in floodwaters

Two people were killed and at least 10 others injured when their vehicles plunged into a deep hole where a US highway collapsed after Hurricane Ida blew through Mississippi.Torrential rain may have caused the highway collapse, and the drivers may not have seen that the roadway in front of them had disappeared Monday night, Mississippi Highway Patrol Cp. Cal Robertson said.“Some of these cars are stacked on top of each other,” he said. Seven vehicles were involved, including a motorcycle. A…

Qatar is the key player in post-US Afghanistan. Can it be a bridge from the Taliban to the world?

Qatar has played a central role in the evacuation of Afghans after the Taliban takeover.An estimated 40 per cent of the more than 110,000 evacuees flown out from Kabul by the United States and its allies over the past few weeks have passed through Qatar’s Al-Udeid airbase before flying on to third countries, including Germany.Qatar itself airlifted 1,500 people on the request of international organisations and secured safe passage to the airport for 3,000 people, with the Qatari ambassador…

Cougar that was kept as illegal pet removed from New York flat

An 80-pound cougar was removed from a New York City flat where she was being kept illegally as a pet, animal welfare officials said on Monday.The owner of the 11-month-old female cougar surrendered the animal on Thursday, Kelly Donithan, director of animal disaster response for the Humane Society of the United States, said in a news release.The cougar, nicknamed Sasha, spent the weekend at the Bronx Zoo receiving veterinary care and is now headed to the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in…

Afghanistan: Last US forces leave Kabul in chaotic airlift after almost 20 years

The United States on Monday said it had completed the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan in a chaotic airlift nearly 20 years after it invaded the country in response to the September 11 attacks on America.More than 122,000 people have been flown out of Kabul since August 14, the day before the Taliban – which harboured the al-Qaeda militant group blamed for the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington – regained control of the country.Having failed to anticipate the Taliban would prevail…

Donald Trump to head to Iowa with an eye on 2024

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Meredith McGraw on politico.com on August 30, 2021.Former President Donald Trump plans to hold a rally in the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa as he continues to tease a third run for the White House.Details for Trump’s trip are still being worked out, but it comes on the heels of visits to the state by other high profile Republicans also eyeing a run for president. This summer, a steady parade…

Canada tax agency reveals secret study linking home prices to millionaire migration, five years after freedom-of-information request

Canada’s tax agency has released details of a secret investigation by its auditors linking millionaire migration and suspected tax cheating to high home prices in Vancouver, now one of the world’s most unaffordable cities, after taking five years to fulfil a freedom-of-information request to hand over the material.The response to the South China Morning Post’s request, lodged on August 30, 2016, arrived by mail this August 17, a delay that a freedom-of-information expert called a “tragedy” and …

Hurricane Ida kills two while flooding traps residents in state of Louisiana

Rescuers set out in hundreds of boats and helicopters to reach people trapped by floodwaters Monday, and utility repair crews rushed in, after a furious Hurricane Ida swamped the Louisiana coast and ravaged the electrical grid in the sticky, late-summer heat.People living amid the maze of rivers and bayous along the state’s Gulf coast retreated desperately to their attics or roofs and posted their addresses on social media with instructions for search-and-rescue teams on where to find them.More…

First man to accuse R. Kelly of sexual abuse testifies at New York court

R. Kelly asked a teenage boy what he “was willing to do for music” before sexually abusing him, according to the first male to speak out against the singer accused of sex crimes.Louis, using a pseudonym, told the Brooklyn federal courtroom he was 17 when Kelly slipped him his phone number while the teenager was working the night shift at a McDonald’s drive-through in suburban Chicago, near the R&B artist’s home.After he and his parents attended a party at Kelly’s home, the singer told him …

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