BEIJING — Police in central China imposed traffic curbs at the weekend to halt a viral craze in which thousands of university students borrowed shared bikes to ride overnight to the city of Kaifeng in search of breakfast. The "Night Riding Army," as some participants described it, clogged a highway on Friday, pictures posted on social media showed, a surge in turnout for a rolling flash mob that had been gathering riders for months. "Last night's 'Night Riding Army' was spectacular!" one rider posted. "Two lanes were opened, but that simply was not enough: The cycling army accounted for four!" The event was part of a trend of young Chinese traveling on the cheap - "like special forces" - and spending as little as possible at a time of scarce job prospects, when wages are under pressure. The riders traveled on a straight road more than 60 km (37 miles) long beside the Yellow River that links Zhengzhou, the largest city in Henan province, with Kaifeng, an ancient capital famed for its soup dumplings. The trend was set off in June, Chinese media said, after four women college students chronicled their ride on social media to eat dumplings in the morning. "The Night Ride to Kaifeng: Youth is priceless, enjoy it in time," was the hashtag on social media for the ride, which state broadcaster CMG said tens of thousands of students had completed by the weekend. Key to its success was a glut of shared bikes, which can be rented for as little as $1.95 a month. Pictures posted by riders showed thousands of the bikes had overrun downtown Kaifeng by Saturday. In addition to the traffic controls, the largest bike-sharing platforms, Hellobike, DiDi Bike, and Mobile, said their vehicles would lock down if ridden out of a designated zone, while media told the students to grow up. "Youthful freedom does not mean following the trend and indulging oneself," one news outlet admonished in a comment. "Kaifeng is worth arriving slowly and savoring carefully," read the headline of another. Chinese authorities have cracked down on other spontaneous gatherings. Last month, police turned out in force in the commercial hub of Shanghai to deter a repeat of 2023 Halloween celebrations in which some revelers wore costumes poking fun at issues such as the stock market, youth unemployment and tough COVID-19 curbs.

A number of Super Eagles players, including Moses Simon, Samuel Chukwueze, Amas Obasogie, Raphael Onyedika and Frank Onyeka, have arrived Ivory Coast on Monday ahead of preparation for their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Benin Republic. Also in camp in Abidjan are Bruno Onyemaechi, Gabriel Osho and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru. The Super Eagles Media […]

The post AFCON qualifier: Super Eagles stars arrive Abidjan ahead of Benin clash  first appeared on Business Hallmark.

Leading financial services provider, First City Monument Bank (FCMB), has been awarded the prestigious International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 9001:2015 certificate for Quality Management System. The Bank was presented with the certificate by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), following a comprehensive audit and evaluation exercise conducted by the Organisation. The exercise covered departments and […]

FCMB attains ISO Certification for Quality Management

In Lahore on Sunday, Chaudhry Shafay Hussain, the leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), asserted that his party has no intentions of merging with any other political group. Hussain clarified, “While seat adjustments may occur in specific constituencies with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the PML-Q is committed to maintaining its independent identity.” PML-Q’s commitment to ... Read more

The post PML-Q Affirms Independence and Tractor Symbol for Upcoming Elections appeared first on Pakistan Tribune.

Havana — A 6.8 magnitude earthquake shook eastern Cuba on Sunday, after weeks of hurricanes and blackouts that have left many on the island reeling.  The epicenter of the quake was located approximately 40 km south of Bartolomé Masó, Cuba, according to a report by the United States Geological Survey.  The rumbling was felt across the eastern stretch of Cuba, including in bigger cities like Santiago de Cuba. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.  Residents in Santiago, Cuba's second largest city, were left shaken on Sunday. Yolanda Tabío, 76, said people in the city flocked to the streets and were still nervously sitting in their doorways. She said she felt at least two aftershocks following the quake, but that among friends and family she hadn't heard of any damages.  "You had to see how everything was moving, the walls, everything," she told The Associated Press.  The earthquake comes during another tough stretch for Cuba.  On Wednesday, Category 3 Hurricane Rafael ripped through western Cuba, with strong winds knocking out power island-wide, destroying hundreds of homes and forcing evacuations of hundreds of thousands of people. Days after, much of the island was still struggling without power.  Weeks before in October, the island was also hit by a one-two punch. First, it was hit by island-wide blackouts stretching on for days, a product of the island's energy crisis. Shortly after, it was slapped by a powerful hurricane that struck the eastern part of the island and killed at least six people.  The blackouts and wider discontent among many struggling to get by has stoked small protests across the island. 

Equitable Futures Fellowship

The Quad Committee of the House of Representatives, composed of the Committees on Dangerous Drugs, Public Order and Safety, Human Rights, and Public Accounts continued its joint inquiry into the extrajudicial killings during the Duterte administration's drug war on Wednesday, November 13. 

La enseñanza bíblica en profundidad de John MacArthur lleva la verdad transformadora de la Palabra de Dios a millones de personas cada día.

La enseñanza bíblica en profundidad de John MacArthur lleva la verdad transformadora de la Palabra de Dios a millones de personas cada día.

La enseñanza bíblica en profundidad de John MacArthur lleva la verdad transformadora de la Palabra de Dios a millones de personas cada día.

La enseñanza bíblica en profundidad de John MacArthur lleva la verdad transformadora de la Palabra de Dios a millones de personas cada día.

La enseñanza bíblica en profundidad de John MacArthur lleva la verdad transformadora de la Palabra de Dios a millones de personas cada día.

La enseñanza bíblica en profundidad de John MacArthur lleva la verdad transformadora de la Palabra de Dios a millones de personas cada día.

La enseñanza bíblica en profundidad de John MacArthur lleva la verdad transformadora de la Palabra de Dios a millones de personas cada día.

La enseñanza bíblica en profundidad de John MacArthur lleva la verdad transformadora de la Palabra de Dios a millones de personas cada día.

La enseñanza bíblica en profundidad de John MacArthur lleva la verdad transformadora de la Palabra de Dios a millones de personas cada día.

La enseñanza bíblica en profundidad de John MacArthur lleva la verdad transformadora de la Palabra de Dios a millones de personas cada día.

La enseñanza bíblica en profundidad de John MacArthur lleva la verdad transformadora de la Palabra de Dios a millones de personas cada día.

La enseñanza bíblica en profundidad de John MacArthur lleva la verdad transformadora de la Palabra de Dios a millones de personas cada día.

DOHA, Qatar — A top Qatari official involved in the country's World Cup organization has put the number of worker deaths for the tournament "between 400 and 500" for the first time, a drastically higher number than any other previously offered by Doha. The comment by Hassan al-Thawadi, the secretary-general of Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, appeared to come off the cuff during an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan. It also threatened to reinvigorate criticism by human rights groups over the toll of hosting the Middle East's first World Cup for the migrant labor that built over $200 billion worth of stadiums, metro lines and new infrastructure needed for the tournament. The Supreme Committee and Qatar's government did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. In the interview, portions of which Morgan posted online, the British journalist asks al-Thawadi: "What is the honest, realistic total do you think of migrant workers who died from — as a result of work they're doing for the World Cup in totality?" "The estimate is around 400, between 400 and 500," al-Thawadi responds. "I don't have the exact number. That's something that's been discussed." But that figure hasn't been discussed publicly by Qatari officials previously. Reports from the Supreme Committee dating from 2014 through the end of 2021 only include the number of deaths of workers involved in building and refurbishing the stadiums now hosting the World Cup. Those released figures put the total number of deaths at 40. They include 37 from what the Qataris describe as nonwork incidents such as heart attacks and three from workplace incidents. One report also separately lists a worker death from the coronavirus amid the pandemic. Al-Thawadi pointed to those figures when discussing work just on stadiums in the interview, right before offering the "between 400 to 500" death toll for all the infrastructure for the tournament. Since FIFA awarded the tournament to Qatar in 2010, the country has taken some steps to overhaul the country's employment practices. That includes eliminating its so-called kafala employment system, which tied workers to their employers, who had say over whether they could leave their jobs or even the country. Qatar also has adopted a minimum monthly wage of 1,000 Qatari riyals ($275) for workers and required food and housing allowances for employees not receiving those benefits directly from their employers. It also has updated its worker safety rules to prevent deaths. "One death is a death too many. Plain and simple," al-Thawadi adds in the interview. Activists have called on Doha to do more, particularly when it comes to ensuring workers receive their salaries on time and are protected from abusive employers. Al-Thawadi's comment also renews questions on the veracity of both government and private business reporting on worker injuries and deaths across the Gulf Arab states, whose skyscrapers have been built by laborers from South Asia nations like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Mustafa Qadri, the executive director of Equidem Research, a labor consultancy that has published reports on the toll of the construction on migrant laborers, said he was surprised by al-Thawadi's remark. "For him now to come and say there is hundreds, it's shocking," he told The Associated Press. "They have no idea what's going on."  

ROME — A chipper-sounding Pope Francis was discharged Saturday from the Rome hospital where he was treated for bronchitis, quipping to journalists before being driven away that he's “still alive.” Francis, 86, was hospitalized at Gemelli Polyclinic on Wednesday following his weekly public audience in St. Peter's Square after reportedly experiencing breathing difficulties. The pontiff received antibiotics administered intravenously during his stay, the Vatican said. In a sign of his improved health, the Vatican released details of Francis' Holy Week schedule. It said he would preside at this weekend's Palm Sunday Mass and at Easter Mass on April 9, both held in St. Peter's Square and expected to draw tens of thousands of faithful. A Vatican cardinal will be at the altar to celebrate both Masses, a recent practice due to the pontiff having a troublesome knee issue. But Francis is scheduled to celebrate Holy Thursday Mass, which this year will be held in a juvenile prison in Rome. Still unclear was whether he would attend the late-night, torch-lit Way of the Cross procession at Rome's Colosseum to mark Good Friday. Before departing Gemelli Polyclinic late Saturday morning, Francis comforted a Rome couple whose 5-year-old daughter died Friday night at the Catholic hospital. Outside, Serena Subania, mother of Angelica, sobbed as she pressed her head into the chest of the pope, who held her close and whispered words of comfort. Francis seemed eager to linger with well-wishers. When a boy showed him his arm cast, the pope made a gesture as if to ask, “Do you have a pen?” Three papal aides whipped out theirs. Francis took one of the pens and added his signature to the child's already well-autographed cast. Asked how he felt now, Francis joked, “Still alive, you know.” He gave a thumbs-up sign. Francis exited the hospital from a side entrance, but his car stopped in front of the main entrance, where a gaggle of journalists waited. He opened the car door himself and got out from the front passenger seat. Francis had a cane ready to lean on. After chatting, he got back into the white Fiat 500 car that drove him away from Gemelli Polyclinic. But instead of heading straight home, his motorcade sped right past Vatican City and went to St. Mary Major Basilica, a Rome landmark that is one of his favorites. There, startled tourists rushed to snap photos of him as he sat in a wheelchair, which he has used often to navigate longer distances in recent years due to a chronic knee problem. When he emerged after praying, residents and tourists in the street called out repeatedly, “Long live the pope!” and clapped. Francis spent 10 days at the same hospital in July 2021 following intestinal surgery for a bowel narrowing, After his release back then, he also stopped to offer prayers of thanksgiving at St. Mary Major Basilica, which is home to an icon depicting the Virgin Mary. He also visits the church upon returning from trips abroad. Before leaving the hospital Saturday, Francis, while chatting with journalists, praised medical workers, saying they "show great tenderness." “We sick are capricious. I much admire the people who work in hospitals,” he said. Francis also said he read journalists' accounts of his illness, including in a Rome daily newspaper, and pronounced them well done. Francis stopped to talk to reporters again before he was driven into the Vatican through a gate of the tiny walled city-state, where he lives at a Holy See hotel. Speaking through an open car window, he said: “Happy Easter to all, and pray for me.'' Then, indicating he was eager to resume his routine, he said, “Forward, thanks.” In response to a shouted question from a reporter, who asked if the pope would visit Hungary at the end of April as scheduled, Francis answered, “Yes.” On yet another stop, he got out of his car to distribute chocolate Easter eggs to the police officers who drove the motorcycles at the head of his motorcade. Given his strained voice, it was unclear if the pope would read the homily at the Palm Sunday service or deliver the usually lengthy “Urbi et Orbi” [Latin for to the city and to the world] address, a review of the globe's conflicts, at the end of Easter Mass. He told reporters that after Palm Sunday Mass, he would keep his weekly appointment to greet and bless the public in St. Peter's Square. As a young man in his native Argentina, Francis had part of a lung removed, leaving him particularly vulnerable to any respiratory illness.

The Egyptian Armed Forces' removal of President Morsi has created a number of challenges related to democracy, political stability and the role of Islam.

Decades of Western military intervention and training have stoked the fires of sectarianism and warfare in Iraq and the broader region.

With ISIS continuing to terrorize and control broad swaths of the country, and with international intervention now underway, Iraq also faces a potential political crisis.

Sectarian warfare in Iraq and a brutal regime in Syria have led to a level of violence and chaos that is extreme even by the Middle East's standards.

The Great Mosque, in all its majestic grandeur, is less enticing if you're an American woman who somehow finds herself inside it.

Netsky said he thinks the Yiddish theater music in the archive files is particularly valuable because it was maligned by the classical composers as shund (trash) and neglected.

The Battle of al-Qadisiyyah was a crucial victory for Arab Muslim forces of the Rashidun Caliphate over the Sasanian Empire.

Cat’s fast language acquisition process differs from how dogs learn words, often requiring training and rewards. However, cats form associations through subtle behaviors, such as gaze.

The current conflict in the Middle East will leave a lasting environmental impact, prompting calls for urgent restoration and cross-border cooperation.

Maltese judge quashes extradition to the US of Daniel Meli, ordering that his case be reheard by the magistrates’ court 

Meanwhile, honest, hardworking people will have to console themselves with Bartolo’s 'sorry'. It’s the new quality standard, it seems

Christian Tiambo has always wished to uplift local farmers’ communities through cutting-edge science. As climate change wreaked havoc on local agriculture, Tiambo, a livestock scientist at the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH) and at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), focused on conserving and developing livestock that could withstand environmental stress. Genomics, […]

As a result of its policies and actions in response to the 7 October attack, the Israeli government has not only alienated its allies and acquired adversaries but also found itself isolated diplomatically. The consequences of those developments and realignments have occurred across countries, organizations and groups worldwide.   Situation The Israeli government’s actions in […]