Peter had put his life savings of about $6 million into accounts at three small banks in China's central Henan province. He says he hasn't been able to access them since April. The 45-year-old entrepreneur asked us to call him Peter for security reasons. He's from the eastern city of Wenzhou and is just one of thousands of depositors who have been fighting to recover their savings from at least six banks in rural provinces in central China. "I'm close to having a nervous breakdown. I can't sleep," Peter told CNN Business. When he tried to access his accounts online, a statement would pop up on the homepage informing him that the website was under maintenance and services would be unavailable for a while, Peter told CNN Business. Two months later, those services have not been restored. The trouble began in April, when four banks in Henan suspended cash withdrawals. In China, local banks are only permitted to obtain deposits from their home customer base, but authorities say that "third-party platforms" were used to acquire funds from depositors outside the region. In Peter's case, for example, his hometown is over 700 miles away from the banks in Henan. The national banking regulator has accused a major shareholder of the four banks of illegally attracting money from savers. "Henan New Fortune Group, a shareholder of the four village banks, has illegally absorbed the public's funds through internal and external collusion, the use of third-party platforms, and fund brokers," the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission told state-run Xinhua News Agency in May. "The police have opened a case for investigation into the matter," it added. Runs on small Chinese banks have become more frequent in recent years and some have been accused of financial improprieties or corruption. But experts worry that a much bigger financial problem could be looming, caused by fallout from a real estate crash and soaring bad debts related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
That's a drop in the ocean of China's vast banking system, but about a quarter of the industry's total assets are held by around 4,000 small lenders, which often have opaque ownership and governance structures and are more vulnerable to corruption, say experts, and the sharp economic slowdown. "The scope of the bank scandals where bank officials embezzle and steal funds from depositors is alarming, and what is exposed could only be the tip of the iceberg," said Frank Xie, a professor at University of South Carolina Aiken who studies Chinese business and the economy. "As the Chinese economy slows down further, the fiscal shortage worsens, and the debt repayments become more widespread among Chinese companies, especially in the real estate sector, bank runs could become more often and on a larger scale," he said.
according to six people who spoke with CNN and social media posts. Anyone with a red code — usually assigned to people infected with Covid or deemed by authorities to be at high risk of infection — immediately becomes persona non grata. They are banned from all public venues and transport and are often subject to weeks of government quarantine. CNN has reached out to the Zhengzhou government for comment. The Henan Provincial Health Commission told state-run news website thepaper.cn it was "investigating and verifying" the complaints from depositors who received red codes. What's behind the problem in HenanIn Henan, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission has put the blame on the private investment firm that holds large stakes in all four lenders. Last week, the Henan police said that a criminal gang headed by the investment firm's controller "has been suspected of using village banks to commit serious crimes." Police say several suspects have been arrested. The Henan New Fortune Group no longer has a website. CNN tried to reach the company for comment on the phone and by email without success. The company has made no public statements and it's believed to have been annulled. Later on Monday, the four Henan banks said they would start collecting information from customers who have been affected by the shutdown of their online transaction systems. The move was required by financial regulators, the banks added in separate statements on their website, without elaborating further.
is a 30-year old tech worker from the city of Dongguan in Guangdong province — about 1500 km (900 miles) from the banks he used in Henan. He said he has a total of 160,000 yuan (about $24,000) worth of deposits with them. "We were told by the banks that the deposit products were legal, and that they were protected by the deposit insurance scheme," he said. "We just want to get our money back." The four banks — Yuzhou Xinminsheng Village Bank, Shangcai Huimin County Bank, Zhecheng Huanghuai Community Bank, New Oriental Country Bank of Kaifeng — have not replied to requests for comment. Risky liabilitiesIn early 2021, Beijing banned banks from selling deposit products via third party online platforms, fearing that the rapid expansion of the fintech sector could increase risks in the wider financial system. The People's Bank of China called such practices "illegal financial activities." So why were small local banks in Henan apparently ignoring the ban and raising deposits from savers — like Ye, who live on the other side of the country? China's national banking and insurance regulator says third party online platforms allowed them to bypass these geographical restrictions and grow their business nationwide.
"The central government regulators seem to be incapable of enforcing those regulations aimed at preventing this kind of bank run from occurring," said Frank Xie, the Chinese economy expert. He added that corruption was "rampant" at local levels of financial institutions. "Perpetrators such as the person stealing millions from the depositors often get shielded by accomplices in governments and in the upper-level management of the banks," Xie said. "The core problem is that China's financial system simply expanded far too fast relative to the size of the economy over the previous decade," said Logan Wright, director of China markets research at Rhodium Group.
means borrowers struggle to repay the banks, it becomes difficult for them to deliver the returns they offered savers. "The funding structure of liabilities in many of China's mostly smaller and regional banks is most likely still vulnerable to deposit runs, lender caution, and deteriorating economic performance and rising unemployment," said George Magnus, an associate at the China Centre at Oxford University and former chief economist at UBS. Deteriorating financial healthThe Henan crisis arrived at a time when public confidence in China's banking system was already waning. In the past decade, Beijing has been clamping down on "shadow banking" activities — which means unregulated, off-the-book lending by financial institutions — on worries that most of the funds had been diverted to property developers and local government infrastructure projects, leading to a rapid run-up in debt and growing financial risks. In 2019, China seized control of Baoshang Bank, based in Inner Mongolia, citing serious credit risks posed by the lender. It was the first bank seizure in China in more than 20 years and the lender was declared bankrupt.
decade," Wright said. Making matters worse, "the ongoing slowdowns in the economy during the Covid-19 pandemic have further exposed financial institutions to new credit risks as well," Wright added. Spillover effects Investors are closely watching the government's investigation into the Henan bank run. Analysts are gauging possible spillover effects to other banks. "The economy is a key reason why affected banks might be experiencing difficulties, and it is quite possible that other banks will be affected, perhaps even larger banks, given that the fate of the property market and real estate prices hang in the balance," said Magnus from Oxford University. The Chinese economy has been struggling with the country's zero-Covid policy. Many cities have been placed under full or partial lockdowns since March, wreaking havoc on activity. Analysts are worried that the economy could contract in the second quarter.
Evergrande — one of the country's biggest developers — is undergoing a huge restructuring after it defaulted on its debts late last year. Analysts have long feared Evergrande's collapse could have ripple effects across the property industry and spill over to the financial system.
Property loans accounts for nearly 30% of outstanding loans with China's financial institutions. Analysts aren't yet worrying about a financial crisis — because the PBOC is likely to ensure that larger and systemically more important banks are protected. But the discontent triggered by the bank runs could be a major concern for the government. When Covid health codes of depositors turned red early last week, derailing a planned protest in Zhengzhou, it sparked a massive outcry on social media. "Now (the authorities) can stop you from petitioning by directly putting digital shackles on you, aka giving you red codes," said one comment on Weibo, China's Twitter-like platform. Dozens of depositors were taken into a quarantine hotel guarded by police and local officials, before being sent away on trains bound for their hometowns the next day; others were "quarantined" at several other locations in the city, including a college campus, according to the witnesses and online posts. "Many people lost their lifetime savings because of this and [if] more incidences like this takes place, and [if] a bank run is met with a government crackdown, social unrest will be the only end result," Xie said. - CNN
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June 27 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set to open higher on Monday and extend gains from the previous week after a slide in commodity prices allayed concerns about an overly aggressive Federal Reserve that is seeking to tame inflation.
All three key indexes posted solid gains last week, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) rising 7.5% as investors bet the retreat in oil prices from the three-month highs hit in June could ease inflationary pressures and push the Federal Reserve to moderate its aggressive policy tightening. "I think there is an overwhelming feeling that inflation may be coming down and the Fed may not have to be as aggressive as anticipated moving forward," said Thomas Hayes, managing member at Great Hill Capital LLC in New York. "As early as a week ago, unequivocally, everyone did feel that 75 basis points was guaranteed. I think now those probabilities have come down a little bit and it's kind of an open story." The U.S. central bank has rapidly raised interest rates to rein in 40-year-high inflation, stoking fears its actions could tip the world's largest economy into a recession. After the benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX) index earlier this month recorded a 20% drop from its January closing peak to confirm a bear market, investors have been trying to gauge when the market might hit its bottom. "The rebound in markets is a reminder of the merits of staying invested in line with a long-term plan. But volatility is likely to remain elevated until we see strong evidence that inflation is moderating, recession risks are receding, and geopolitical threats are declining," Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management wrote in a client note. Haefele added that the main driver of the markets in the second half of 2022 will be investor perceptions of whether we are headed for stagflation, reflation, a soft-landing, or a slump. Shares across the board gained in premarket trading on Monday, with tech-focused growth stocks including Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), Netflix Inc (NFLX.O), Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) and Apple Inc (AAPL.O) up between 0.5% and 1.5%. At 08:25 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 79 points, or 0.25%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 14.5 points, or 0.37%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 58.25 points, or 0.48%. Shares of Robinhood Markets (HOOD.O) rose 2.4% after media reports said Goldman Sachs upgraded the retail broker's stock to "neutral" from "sell". Goldman Sachs, however, cut rating on Coinbase Global Inc (COIN.O) to "sell" from "buy", according to media reports, sending shares of the cryptocurrency exchange lower by 5.7%. - Reuters LAS VEGAS, N.M. -- Dangerous, gusty winds were expected to continue Monday across northeast New Mexico, complicating the fight against wildfires that threaten thousands of homes in mountainous rural communities.
The region's largest city — Las Vegas, New Mexico, home to 13,000 people — was largely safe from danger after firefighters mostly stopped a blaze there from moving east. But the northern and southern flanks of the wildfire proved trickier to contain as wind gusts topped 50 mph (80 kph). “It’s been a challenging day. The winds have picked up; they haven’t let up,” fire spokesperson Todd Abel said Sunday night. A so-called “red flag warning” that indicates high fire danger due to heat, low humidity and fast winds will remain in place through Monday night, nearly four days after it began. More than 1,600 firefighters were out Sunday battling the two major blazes burning northeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Together they covered 275 square miles (some 710 square kilometers), an area more than twice the size of Philadelphia. Firefighters had contained nearly half of the blazes by Sunday night. Still, the threat was far from over with the National Interagency Fire Center saying early Sunday that more than 20,000 structures remained threatened by the fire, which has destroyed about 300 residences over the past two weeks. Fast winds are in many ways firefighters’ worst nightmare, especially in conditions as hot and dry as those the crews have been battling in the Southwest since early April. In addition to fanning and spreading the flames, these winds keep air tankers and light planes grounded. That left them unable to drop water directly on the fire or lay down retardant ahead of its path to allow bulldozers and ground crews to dig firebreaks in places where there are no highways or roads to help stop the progression. In extreme conditions, like the ones in New Mexico, even the helicopters that can typically get up in the air — at least during the early morning hours before winds start to pick up in the afternoon — are grounded. That prevents them from gathering intelligence about overnight developments. Aircraft were able to fly early Sunday but were grounded by the afternoon. “It’s not good, obviously; it takes away a tool in our toolbox, but we’re not stopping,” said fire spokesperson Ryan Berlin. Officials were concerned about winds that had whipped up more flames on the northern edge of the fire near some very small communities of several hundred people. Gusts had driven fire down into a canyon, making it difficult to get to, said Dave Bales, the incident commander. He and other officials strongly urged people to be ready to evacuate or to leave immediately if they’ve been told to do so. Should the fire overwhelm a community, heavy smoke and congested roads could make it hard for people to flee and for firefighters to access the area, he said. “It is so thick you can’t see, you can’t drive, you can’t see the engine ahead of you,” Bales said. Those towns sit along a state highway that runs from Las Vegas, New Mexico, up to Taos, a popular place for skiing and other outdoor recreation. Taos, however, was not threatened, but people in some parts of the larger Taos County have been told to prepare for possible evacuations. In the small community of Las Vegas, some residents began returning on Saturday and some local businesses reopened. Containment lines established by bulldozers as well as the direction of the wind helped keep the community safe over the weekend. But some fire officials warned people to remain aware of evacuation orders because conditions could change quickly. “Just because the winds are coming from one direction doesn’t mean they can’t change direction, so it’s better to be prepared and have residents ready to go,” said Wendy Mason with the New Mexico Forestry Division. Nationwide, close to 2,000 square miles (5,180 square kilometers) have burned so far this year, with 2018 being the last time this much fire had been reported at this point, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. And predictions for the rest of the spring do not bode well for the West, where long-term drought and warmer temperatures brought on by climate change have combined to worsen the threat of wildfire. ——-- Ronayne reported from Sacramento, California. Associated Press reporter Scott Sonner contributed from Reno, Nevada. - ABC News Madison, Wisconsin — Sarah Shulze, a runner on the University of Wisconsin's track and cross country teams, has died. She was 21.
Shulze's family announced on April 15 that she had died two days earlier, and gave the cause of death. "Sarah took her own life," the family said. "Balancing athletics, academics and the demands of everyday life overwhelmed her in a single, desperate moment. Like you, we are shocked and grief stricken while holding on tightly to all that Sarah was. "Above all other things, Sarah was a power for good in the world. Her deep compassion was evident in her devotion to her sisters Abbey and Ella, the love her parents felt from her every single day, and the extra care she took in moments shared with her grandparents and cousins." Wisconsin officials put out a statement Friday that referenced the family's announcement. "Sarah was a beloved daughter, sister, granddaughter, friend, teammate and Badger student-athlete," Wisconsin officials said in a statement. "We extend our deepest sympathies and sincere condolences to Sarah's family, friends and Badger teammates during this extraordinarily difficult time. Our primary focus is the support of the Shulze family and our student-athletes." Shulze was a junior from Oak Park, California. She competed in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track, and earned academic all-Big Ten honors in 2020 and 2021 for cross country and in 2021 for track. Family members said she had been an intern at the Wisconsin legislature and volunteered as a poll worker during the 2020 presidential election. They said those experiences "helped develop her deep love for politics, social causes and women's rights." Shulze's relatives said they would soon announce a foundation "that will be established to continue to support the causes most important to Sarah." If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or suicidal crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). For more information about mental health care resources and support, The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. ET, at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or email [email protected]. - CBS News Two young people were killed and at least eight others were injured when gunfire tore through a party at a short-term rental property in Pittsburgh early Sunday morning, police said.
More than 200 people, many of them underage, were inside the Airbnb rental when the shooting occurred around 12:30 a.m., Pittsburgh police said. A police release initially said nine people had been injured, but authorities later revised the number. At least one of the gunshot victims was as young as 14 years old, Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert said Sunday during a press conference. He did not identify the two deceased victims, who were both male. No arrests were immediately reported, but Schubert said “it is our top priority to find out who did this and get them off the street.” Schubert said police believe there were multiple shooters. “It’s heartbreaking; here we are at Easter and we have multiple families, two that won’t see a loved one. ... How can you even have a holiday when your child was involved in something traumatic like this?" he said. The tragedy was one of three high-profile shootings that marred the Easter weekend. At least nine people were injured in a shooting at a club in Hampton County, South Carolina, and 14 people were hurt when gunfire erupted at a crowded Columbia, South Carolina, mall, sending shoppers scrambling for safety. The spate of violence also comes just a few days after an attack on a Brooklyn subway train, which left more than two dozen people injured. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Sunday's shooting was the fourth in less than 30 hours. In early April, Schubert released a statement addressing the "recent spate of violent crimes" in Pittsburgh. "In a matter of five days, there have been three shootings that have taken the lives of three young people, aggravated assaults, multiple shots fired, and now, two children, two young boys, have suffered critical stabbing injuries," he wrote on April 1. In Pittsburgh, as many as 50 rounds were fired inside the property, and shell casings from rifles and pistols were found at the scene, police said. Some partygoers apparently jumped out the windows to flee the gunfire, suffering broken bones and lacerations when they fell. Several more shots were fired outside the home, police said, and officials were processing evidence at as many as eight separate crime scenes that stretched across several blocks. George Stevens said he was outside a bar next door to the rental property smoking a cigarette when he heard what he thought were fireworks, then saw kids fleeing. Stevens told The Associated Press that he let three girls hide in his vehicle and call their parents as bullets flew by. He said he saw someone inside the rental property holding a gun as children ran screaming and crying in every direction away from the building. “It happened so quick,” he said. “It was just crazy. Kids were running everywhere.” Airbnb spokesperson Ben Breit confirmed the house was rented through the company. He said the booker, who would have had to be 18 or older per Airbnb rules, has received a lifetime ban. Breit’s statement said the party was thrown without the knowledge of the host, whose listing banned parties and advertised an overnight noise curfew. Mitchell Wilston, 30, told The Associated Press that he and his wife saw a line outside the rented property and cars parked the wrong way along the street as they left their home Saturday evening. “It was so obvious that there was going to be a problem – there was a line of 14-year-old kids trying to get into this place,” he said. Sunday morning, Wilston found his wife’s white car smeared with blood. “It’s extremely, extremely disconcerting to see the way the bullets were fired were perpendicular to our house,” he said. Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey released a statement following the shooting Sunday. "At least 10 gunshot victims, two lives lost, and hundreds of lives forever changed, because we have yet to pass meaningful legislation to lessen the amount of guns in our streets or provide the much-needed resources to communities desperately in need. The time is now for us to move with a sense of urgency to bring justice to the victims and peace to our city," he wrote in the statement. Pittsburgh was the site of one of the nation's most horrific mass shootings in recent years. In 2018, a gunman burst into a synagogue shouting "All Jews must die" before killing 11 worshippers and wounding six others. The shooting at the Jewish Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood during a baby-naming ceremony shocked the nation. Sunday's shooting occurred in Pittsburgh's East Allegheny neighborhood, also known as Deutschtown, on the city's North Side. Contributing: The Associated Press - USA Today At least three people were killed in a shooting and a subsequent chase by police officers Saturday at a beachside restaurant in Mexico's Pacific coast resort of Acapulco. The prosecutor's office in Guerrero state, where Acapulco is located, said two gunmen approached and killed two men at a beachside restaurant. Police then chased the attackers down the beach as they were "escaping towards the sea," officials said. Police killed one of the suspects and seriously wounded the other. Video posted on social media and YouTube showed people running down the beach as gunshots rang out. Others appeared to take cover behind tables or chairs. The prosecutor's office posted two images from the scene, including a photo that appears to show officers giving chase on the beach as sunbathers watch the dramatic scene unfold next to the water.
Authorities said two 9mm pistols were seized in the area. The shooting comes just days after the severed heads of six men were reportedly discovered on top of a Volkswagen in the town of Chilapa de Alvarez, which is also in Guerrero state. Beachside shootings have occurred before in Acapulco, which has been plagued by gang violence since 2006. In November, police said gunmen pulled up in a boat and shot a man to death on a popular beach in Acapulco. The attackers then apparently fled in the boat. On Mexico's Caribbean coast, there was a Nov. 4 shootout on a beach in Puerto Morelos south of Cancun, involving a squad of armed men who left two alleged drug dealers dead. That daytime bloodshed sent tourists scrambling for cover at two large hotels where local drug gangs were apparently competing for drug sales. Across the country, more than 340,000 people have been killed in a wave of bloodshed since the government deployed the army to fight drug cartels in 2006. Earlier this month, 20 people were killed at a venue used to host cockfights in the town of Las Tinajas, Michoacan state in Mexico. An American mother was among the victims. On Thursday, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador accused popular TV shows of glamorizing the violent drug trade. He told reporters the shows feature "gangs of drug traffickers, with actors, men, beautiful women, property, the latest cars, jewelry, designer clothes, power." But they ignore "the destruction in particular of young people. And we are talking about thousands of deaths. In the United States, it's a serious problem," he added, referring to victims of drug overdoses. Lopez Obrador took office in 2018 championing a "hugs not bullets" strategy to tackle violent crime at its roots by fighting poverty and inequality with social programs, rather than with the army. He has asked the U.S. to invest in regional economic development instead of sending helicopter gunships and other weapons to take on drug traffickers. Agence France-Presse contributed to this report. - CNN BEIJING — The second "black box" from a China Eastern Boeing 737-800 was found Sunday, raising hopes that it might shed light on why the passenger plane nosedived into a remote mountainous area in southern China last week, killing all 132 people on board. Firefighters taking part in the search found the flight data recorder on a mountain slope about 40 meters (130 feet) from the point of impact and 1.5 meters (5 feet) underground, state media said. Experts confirmed it was the second black box. The impact of the crash created a 20-meter- (65-foot-) deep pit in the side of the mountain and scattered debris widely. Searchers had been looking for the data recorder after finding the cockpit voice recorder four days ago. The two black boxes should help investigators determine what caused the plane to plummet from 29,000 feet (8,800 meters) about one hour into the flight and shortly before it would have begun its descent. The remote setting and rainy and muddy conditions have complicated the search for the black boxes and wreckage. Images posted by CGTN, the international arm of CCTV, showed an official holding an orange cylindrical object on site with the words "FLIGHT RECORDER" and "DO NOT OPEN" written on it. It appeared slightly dented but intact. The search was paused Sunday afternoon for a three-minute moment of silence for the 123 passengers and nine crew members. Emergency workers took off their helmets and police and soldiers their caps. Standing in groups in formation, they bowed their heads as sirens blared. Flight MU5735 crashed Monday en route from the city of Kunming in southeastern China to Guangzhou, a major city and export manufacturing hub near Hong Kong. An air traffic controller tried to contact the pilots several times after seeing the plane's altitude drop sharply but got no reply, officials have said. The cockpit voice recorder, also an orange cylinder, was found two days later on Wednesday. It has been sent to a Beijing lab for examination and analysis, and the flight data recorder was also being sent to the Chinese capital for decoding.
Search teams have been combing the site outside the city of Wuzhou for days with shovels and other hand tools. Construction excavators have been brought in to remove earth and clear wider passageways to the site, and pumps are being used to drain collected water from the rain. Officials said monitors have been installed to detect possible landslides from the rain and search activity that could endanger the workers. Officials announced late Saturday that there were no survivors. DNA analysis has confirmed the identities of 120 of the people on board, they said. Searchers have found ID and bank cards belonging to the victims. The Boeing Co. said in a statement that a Boeing technical team is supporting the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and the Civil Aviation Administration of China, which will lead the investigation into the crash. China Eastern, one of China's four major airlines, and its subsidiaries have grounded all of their Boeing 737-800s, a total of 223 aircraft. The carrier said the grounding was a precaution, not a sign of any problem with the planes. This photo shows a charter fishing boat, right, operated Enchanter Fishing Charters, at the Mangonui Wharf in Mangonui, New Zealand, Monday, March 21, 2022. Multiple people were confirmed dead and a few people missing after a boat operated by Enchanter Fishing Charters sank in stormy weather off the New Zealand coast, police said on Monday. Several people were rescued after the boat carrying 10 people got into trouble and set off a distress signal on Sunday night off North Cape on the northern coast, triggering a major search and rescue operation. (David Fisher/New Zealand Herald via AP) WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- Rescuers on Monday were continuing to search for one person still missing a day after a chartered fishing boat carrying 10 people sank in a storm off the New Zealand coast. A helicopter rescued five people from the sea, and four bodies have been recovered.
The 17-meter (56-foot) boat got into trouble and its emergency beacon was activated at 8 p.m. Sunday off North Cape on the northern coast. A helicopter became the first search and rescue vehicle to reach the remote location at 11:40 p.m., said Nick Burt, spokesman for Maritime NZ’s Rescue Coordination Center. “The weather really hampered the response from the aircraft. There was thunderstorms, dangerous flying conditions, so that was the earliest we could get to the scene," Burt said. The boat was confirmed sunk at 2:30 a.m., he said. Weather conditions were more favorable for the search Monday, with a navy patrol boat coordinating, helicopters in the air and ground crews scouring the shoreline, Burt said. Two bodies in the water were recovered by helicopter on Monday morning, and another two were recovered by search vessels, police said. The five people rescued by helicopter were admitted to Kaitaia Hospital and later discharged. Luis Fernandes, a meteorologist with New Zealand’s weather agency MetService, said gale-force winds had whipped up rough seas around North Cape at the time the alarm was raised. But conditions eased in the area later in the night as the search began and the storm system moved south, he said. The fishing boat had left the northern port of Mangonui on Thursday, the Stuff news website reported. On board were the captain, a crew member and eight passengers from Auckland, New Zealand’s most populous city, Stuff said. The captain was among with survivors, the website said. No one else has been identified. - ABC News Police believe that one man is responsible for a recent string of shootings targeting people experiencing homelessness in New York City and Washington, D.C. The suspect is believed to have carried out five shootings, two of them fatal, in the month of March, police said.
"Given the similarity in the modus operandi of the perpetrator, common circumstances involved in each shooting, circumstances of the victims and recovered evidence, the New York City Police Department (NYPD), the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPD) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) will jointly investigate these offenses," the NYPD and MPD announced Sunday in a joint statement. The first three shootings took place in Washington, D.C., over the course of the last two weeks. A man who who was sleeping on the street was shot in the early morning of March 3. He was taken to the hospital and treated for injuries that were not life threatening, police said. A similar incident happened again on March 8, and again, the victim's injures were not life threatening. At around 3 a.m. the following day, a MPD officer noticed a tent fire. After the fire was extinguished, the remains of another victim were found and an autopsy revealed the cause of death to be multiple gunshot and stab wounds, police said. Two more victims were shot Saturday in New York City. The first, a 38-year-old man, was shot in the arm at around 4:30 a.m. The second victim was discovered around 5 p.m. after police responded to a call about a person suffering from gunshot wounds to the head and neck. That victim was pronounced dead at the scene police said, adding that witnesses in the area said they had heard gunshots about 11 hours earlier. "Our homeless population is one of our most vulnerable and an individual praying on them as they sleep is an exceptionally heinous crime," NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said in a statement Sunday. "We will use every tool, every technique and every partner to bring the killer to justice." Another person experiencing homelessness was found dead in New York City on Sunday, CBS New York reports, but it is unclear at this time if that death is related to the five shootings. Police released images of the suspect taken from surveillance video and encouraged anybody who could identify him to contact MPD or the NYPD. Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser and New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Sunday asked "everyone in our cities to look at the images of the suspect and report any information, however small, that may be useful." "As our law enforcement agencies work quickly with federal partners to locate the suspect, we are also calling on unsheltered residents to seek shelter," the mayors said in a joint statement. "Again, it is heartbreaking and tragic to know that in addition to all the dangers that unsheltered residents face, we now have a cold-blooded killer on the loose, but we are certain that we will get the suspect off the street and into police custody." - CBS News Russia's military said it would cease fire and open humanitarian corridors in several Ukrainian cities Monday – yet continued to pound residential areas of battered cities with rocket attacks. A third round of talks were planned for Monday after two previous negotiations proved fruitless. Russia is demanding that Ukraine halt its military activity, change its Constitution to include neutrality so it can't join the EU or NATO, recognize Crimea as Russian territory and recognize independence of the separatist regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday. Russia had promised a cease-fire to allow safe passage for evacuees from the capital of Kyiv, the southern port city of Mariupol, and the cities of Kharkiv and Sumy. Some of the evacuation routes, however, would funnel civilians toward Russia or its ally Belarus, a plan that Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk called unacceptable. U.K. Europe Minister James Cleverly agreed, saying that "evacuation routes into the arms of the country that is currently destroying yours is nonsense,” Ukraine Defense Secretary Aleksey Danilov said Russia "violates the agreements reached, blocks the opening of green corridors, does not allow humanitarian supplies –but at the same time tries to create a false picture of a 'joyful meeting' of the occupiers by local residents." Latest developments: ►President Joe Biden will discusses the latest developments in a secure video teleconference today with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. ►The International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said he is "extremely concerned" that Russian forces are beginning to assert authority over operation of Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant, Ukraine’s largest, that they seized last week. ►The death toll of the conflict has been difficult to measure. The U.N. human rights office said at least 364 civilians have been confirmed killed since the Feb. 24 invasion, but the true number is probably much higher. ►Netflix said Sunday that it’s suspending service in Russia, joining the growing list of companies shunning the country. Earlier in the day, TikTok and American Express said they would suspend operations in the country, which followed announcements by Visa and Mastercard Saturday. TikTok also said it will start labeling content from accounts used by state-controlled media. Quick links: GET UKRAINE UPDATES:We'll email you the latest news once a day VISUALS:Mapping and tracking Russia's invasion of Ukraine Biden to confer with France, Germany and England on UkraineBiden, who will confer via video teleconference Monday with the leaders of France, Germany and England, has worked for weeks in close consultation with European allies over how to respond to Russia’s aggression. Macron, pressing ahead with diplomatic efforts to end the war, spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday, their fourth conversation since Russian forces attacked Ukraine on Feb. 24. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will go to Paris on Tuesday to hear from Macron, who holds the European Union's rotating presidency. Russian and Ukrainian officials planned to meet Monday for a third attempt at negotiations. While Russia announced it would cease fire and open humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to leave Ukraine, it has continued to attack some Ukrainian cities. – Maureen Groppe EU official warns refugee total could reach 5 millionThe number of refugees who have fled Ukraine surpassed 1.7 million on Monday, and an EU official warned the number would likely reach 5 million. More than 1 million have crossed the border into Poland, according to the U.N. refugee agency. EU foreign affairs policy chief Josep Borrell called on mobilizing “all the resources” of the bloc of 27 nations to help countries welcoming the refugee. "If they continue to bomb Ukrainian cities in an indiscriminate manner, we can expect 5 million migrants," EU foreign affairs policy chief Josep Borrell said. "Not migrants, we can't call them migrants. These are exiled people." 36 hours with a team building a field hospital in UkraineUSA TODAY spent 36 hours with a team of overseas nurses, engineers and logistics personnel invited by Ukraine's authorities to build a field hospital for emergency and specialized trauma care in Lviv. It is being established to serve an expected wave of people – military and civilian – impacted by Russia's assault on Ukraine as Moscow counters resistance to its invasion with more firepower. The location of the planned hospital is on the fringes of Lviv in western Ukraine – identified as a potential capital if Kyiv falls to the Kremlin. "I've set up hospitals in war zones, and we've deliberately marked ones that have been bombed and we've left them unmarked and gotten bombed," said Ken Isaacs, the American who is leading the effort to construct the hospital. "When an airplane wants to bomb you, they bomb you." Read more here. – Kim Hjelmgaard and Jessica Koscielniak Russia snubs UN court hearings in case brought by UkraineRussia has snubbed a hearing at the United Nations’ top court into a legal bid by Kyiv to halt Moscow’s devastating invasion of Ukraine. A row of seats reserved for Russian lawyers at the International Court of Justice was empty Monday morning as the hearing opened. The court’s president, American judge Joan E. Donoghue, said Russia’s ambassador to the Netherlands informed judges that “his government did not intend to participate in the oral proceedings.” The hearing went ahead without the Russian delegation. The International Court of Justice is opening two days of hearings at its headquarters, the Peace Palace, into Ukraine's request for its judges to order Russia to halt its invasion. Ukraine is scheduled to present its arguments Monday morning and Russia has the opportunity to respond on Tuesday. A decision is expected on the request within days, though that does not mean Russia would abide by any order the court might issue. Blinken travels to Baltic statesBlinken has begun a trip to the three Baltic states that are increasingly on edge as Russia presses ahead with its invasion of Ukraine. The former Soviet republics of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are all members of NATO and Blinken aims to reassure them of the alliance’s protection. Since the invasion of Ukraine last month, NATO has moved quickly to boost its troop presence in its eastern flank allies. Blinken’s Baltic tour opened Monday in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, where support for Ukraine’s resistance to the invasion government is palpable with signs of solidarity with Ukrainians in many businesses and on public buildings and buses. New Zealand will rush through a new law to sanction Russia. New Zealand's government said Monday that it plans to rush through a new law that will allow it to impose economic sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Unlike many countries that have already introduced sanctions, New Zealand's existing laws don't allow it to apply meaningful measures unless they're part of a broader United Nations effort. Because Russia has U.N. Security Council veto power, that has left New Zealand hamstrung. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the new legislation would allow it to target people, companies and assets connected to those in Russia associated with the invasion, including oligarchs. It would allow New Zealand to freeze assets and stop superyachts or planes from arriving. The bill will be specific only to the Ukraine invasion but could allow New Zealand to impose sanctions on countries seen to be helping Russia, such as Belarus. Australian missiles on the ground in UkraineAustralia’s prime minister has described Russia and China’s closer relationship as opportunistic rather than strategic. Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday labeled the alliance an “Arc of Autocracy” and said Russia and China would prefer a new world order to the one that has been in place since World War II. Morrison has criticized Beijing’s failure to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s expansion of trade in Russian wheat while other countries are imposing sanctions. Australia last week promised Ukraine $50 million in missiles, ammunition and other military hardware to fight Russian invaders. Morrison said on Monday: “Our missiles are on the ground now.” Oil prices rise as Rep. Pelosi urges banning imported Russian oilThe price of oil surpassed $10 a barrel as shares fell sharply Monday. Brent crude oil surged more than 12% during the day in Asia, while benchmark U.S. crude gained about $10 at more than $125 a barrel. The effects of rising gas prices have been mounting across the world and in the U.S., where the national average price for gas has topped $4 a gallon for the first time in over a decade. U.S. futures also fell, and the contract for the benchmark S&P 500 was down 1.6% and that for the Dow industrials fell 1.3%. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said Sunday evening that Congress is exploring “strong legislation” that would ban the import of Russian oil and energy products into the U.S. If passed, the legislation would almost certainly affect oil and gas prices worldwide. Russia doesn't export much oil to the United States, but it's just enough that the threat of banning its crude from American shores is driving gas prices and leaving some regions – notably the West Coast – facing the prospect of less crude to process at refineries and making costs even higher at the pump, experts say. – Celina Tebor and Craig Harris OIL FROM RUSSIA:How much oil does the US buy from Russia? Not much, but gas prices are rising amid Ukraine invasion GAS PRICES ARE RISING:What can Biden do to lower costs at the pump amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine? Biden administration requests $10B in support for Ukraine The Biden administration has requested $10 billion in humanitarian, military and economic support for Ukraine, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced Sunday. Biden has strongly affirmed that he will not send U.S. troops to fight in Ukraine, but the funds, which will be part of the federal government’s omnibus funding legislation, will likely provide military equipment and support U.S. allies who are supplying airplanes to Ukraine, a news release from Pelosi said. She also said the U.S. House of Representatives is exploring “strong legislation” that would ban the import of Russian oil and energy products into the U.S., repeal normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus and take the first step in denying Russia access to the World Trade Organization. - USA Today
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