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FILE PHOTO: Pro-democracy activist Alexandra Wong greets people as a prison van arrives outside West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts building before a hearing on the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, suspected of violating relevant offences, in Hong Kong, China September 10, 2021. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu HONG KONG — The Hong Kong government on Friday criticized Washington for its “safe haven” scheme for Hong Kongers to stay and work in the United States amid Beijing’s crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in the Chinese territory. In August, U.S. President Joe Biden announced a temporary safe haven scheme for Hong Kong residents, allowing what could be thousands of people to extend their stay in response to the crackdown. Biden cited “compelling foreign policy reasons” for the plan given China’s continued “assault on Hong Kong’s autonomy”. Details of the scheme were released on Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security, helping …

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While our world leaders continue to tackle a host of global challenges, the role our education systems can play in ensuring a more sustainable future is also becoming increasingly apparent. New Zealand is keenly aware of this, and has made strides to ensure our local and international students are equipped with the knowledge and skills to address the global challenges of today and tomorrow. New Zealand’s “future focus” education system is centered around developing graduates with skills desired by future employers, empowering them to address global challenges. This focus is matched by the students themselves. The current motivators for students when selecting an education, and ultimately a career, are very different from what they were five years ago. The QS Environmental Concerns Survey 2019 saw that 79 percent of international students looking to study in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, or Canada are more likely to choose a degree if the content taught them about …

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FILE PHOTO: A BMW i4 of the German luxury carmaker is seen during the company’s annual news conference in Munich, Germany, March 21, 2018. REUTERS/Michael Dalder BERLIN — B MW will stop making internal combustion engines at its main plant in Munich by 2024, its head of production said on Friday at a conference marking the start of production of its electric i4 model. The ICE engines currently made in Munich will be produced in BMW’s factories in Austria and the UK in the future, production chief Milan Nedeljkovic said, though cars using the engines will still be assembled at the Munich plant. Still, by 2023 at least half the vehicles produced in Munich would be electrified – either battery electric or plug-in hybrid, the company said. BMW has set itself a target for at least 50% of new global car sales to be electric by 2030, and CEO Oliver Zipse said at a conference last week the company would be ready with an all-electric offering if any market banned ICEs by then. The …

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Written by: Vaughn Alviar A new lifestyle awaits in Cagayan De Oro City (CDO) as leading developer Alveo Land steps in with Bayview Heights, a refreshing address that privileges future residents with nurturing home possibilities. Alveo Land, a subsidiary of Ayala Land, introduces a vibrant neighborhood with groundbreaking living solutions and masterplanned developments that build on the Ayala brand legacy, which boasts of over 57 growth centers and 30 estates nationwide. Bayview Heights | CDO. CLUBHOUSE ARTIST’S PERSPECTIVE Bayview Heights, in particular, is a pioneering, 34-ha hillside development that rewards dwellers with  spectacular views of preserved natural landscapes in the area. Armed with foresight and passion, Alveo Land builds Bayview Heights by maximizing the advantages of the city. CDO is known as the gateway to the Northern Mindanao Region, the ninth-largest contributor to the Philippine economy in 2019. It is also the fourth and newest metropolitan …

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Populism ruled during the first five years of the Duterte administration. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, exacerbated by national officials’ mismanagement of the government response to the unprecedented health crisis, has unraveled the populist rhetoric that once made Rodrigo Duterte invincible. The continuing lockdowns and the confusing ECQ-MECQ-GCQ-ECQ cycle of quarantine restrictions that have been in place since March 2020 have led to widespread exhaustion and suffering among the populace. President Duterte now has less than nine months remaining in his term. The administration’s politics of appearance has been outed as just that—all about appearances. The superficiality of this populist strategy, which in the early days was used to persecute critics and defend erring officials, has been exposed. The health crisis is now compounded by pressing public concerns that warrant our utmost attention. Gut economic concerns have persistently been on top of the minds of Filipinos. …

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FILE PHOTO: A woman sits near a poster of Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, during an event marking Resistance and Liberation Day, in Khiam, near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, May 25, 2021. REUTERS/Aziz Taher/File Photo BEIRUT — The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Friday warned Israel against drilling for oil and gas in the disputed maritime border area between the two countries until the issue is resolved, and said the Iran-backed group would take action if it did so. “If the enemy thinks they can act as they please before reaching a solution to this issue they are wrong,” Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech. Lebanon’s cabinet had raised the question to the United Nations permanent representative and others in the international community after Israel granted U.S. oilfield services group Halliburton an offshore drilling contract in the Mediterranean, asking to clarify whether the drilling would take place in disputed areas. …

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People lay flowers and candles near a crime scene in the Hammarby Sjostad district in Stockholm on October 22, 2021 after e Swedish rap artist Einar, officially named Nils Kurt Erik Einar Gronberg, was shot dead late on October 21. – Swedish rapper Einar, who won awards and topped charts in the Scandinavian country, was shot and killed late on October 21 in Stockholm, police and media said as police hunted for suspects. (Photo by Christine Olsson / TT NEWS AGENCY / AFP) / Sweden OUT Stockholm, Sweden — Award-winning Swedish rapper Einar, who has topped the country’s charts, was shot and killed in Stockholm, police and media said Friday as police hunted for suspects. The 19-year-old Einar, who raps in Swedish, was the most streamed artist on Spotify in Sweden in 2019. He was shot several times outside an apartment building shortly before 11 pm (2100 GMT) on Thursday. Ambulance personnel administered first aid but he died at the scene, Stockholm police spokeswoman Towe Hagg told …

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FILE PHOTO: A girl wearing a protective face mask and the headband of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) looks on during a rally to show solidarity with hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner Maher Al-Akhras, who is held by Israel, in Gaza City October 12, 2020. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem TEL AVIV — Israel on Friday designated six Palestinian civil society groups as terrorist organizations and accused them of funnelling donor aid to militants, a move that drew criticism from the United Nations and human rights watchdogs. Israel’s defense ministry said the groups had ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP), a left-wing faction with an armed wing that has carried out deadly attacks against Israelis. The groups include Palestinian human rights organisations Addameer and Al-Haq, which document alleged rights violations by both Israel and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank. “(The) declared organizations …

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FILE PHOTO: Members of Amhara special forces stand guard on the Ethiopia-Eritrean border near the town of Humera, Ethiopia July 1, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer ADDIS ABABA — An Ethiopian government airstrike on the capital of the northern Tigray region on Friday forced a U.N. aid flight to abort a landing there, the United Nations said. In the neighboring Amhara region, people were fleeing intensified fighting. Humanitarian sources and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which controls the area, said a university in the regional capital Mekelle was hit by the airstrike. Government spokesman Legesse Tulu said a former military base occupied by TPLF fighters was targeted, and he denied the university was hit. Reuters was not able to independently confirm either account. TPLF-controlled Tigrai TV reported that 11 civilians were wounded in the airstrike. It was at least the fourth day this week that Mekelle had been attacked. The United Nations suspended all flights to …

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SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO – OCTOBER 22: The set of the movie “Rust” at Bonanza Creek Ranch where a fatal shooting occurred on the set on October 22, 2021, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Director of Photography Halyna Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza was injured on set while filming the movie “Rust” at Bonanza Creek Ranch near Santa Fe, New Mexico on October 21, 2021. The film’s star and producer Alec Baldwin discharged a prop firearm that hit Hutchins and Souza. Sam Wasson/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by Sam Wasson / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP) La Courneuve, France — A French weapons expert, who has supplied guns to Keanu Reeves and taught Robert de Niro how to shoot, on Friday said he was shaken by the tragic accident on Alec Baldwin’s movie. In a highly secure storeroom in Seine-Saint-Denis, north of Paris, Christophe Maratier displays hundreds of weapons — from Kalashnikovs to First World War machine guns to the latest automatic guns. As a gunsmith to the …

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