UK: 3 arrested over car explosion outside Liverpool hospital

Police officers stand near a cordon at Manchester Victoria Station, in Manchester on January 1, 2019. (AFP)
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Updated 15 November 2021
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UK: 3 arrested over car explosion outside Liverpool hospital

  • The male passenger of the car died and the driver was being treated for non life-threatening injuries, police said

LONDON: British police arrested three men under terrorism laws Sunday after a car exploded outside a hospital in Liverpool, killing one man and injuring another.
Counter-terrorism police said the three men, whose ages ranged from 21 to 29, were detained in the Kensington area of the northwest England city under the Terrorism Act.
Police also cordoned off another residential street in the city. They did not disclose details of the operation.
Police were called to reports of a blast involving a taxi at Liverpool Women’s Hospital on Sunday morning. Photos showed a vehicle in flames near the hospital’s main entrance.
Merseyside Police said in a statement that the vehicle, a taxi, “pulled up at the hospital shortly before the explosion occurred. Work is still going on to establish what has happened and could take some time before we are in a position to confirm anything.”
The male passenger of the car died and the driver was being treated for non life-threatening injuries, police said.
The explosion occurred just before 11 a.m. on Remembrance Sunday, the time people across Britain pause in memory of those killed in wars.
Police said the explosion had not been declared a terrorist attack and they were keeping an open mind about the cause, but counter-terrorism police were leading the investigation.
Britain’s interior minister, Home Secretary Priti Patel, said she was “being kept regularly updated on the awful incident.”
The Liverpool Women’s Hospital said it immediately restricted visiting access until further notice and diverted patients to other hospitals “where possible.”
Fire services said they extinguished the car fire rapidly, and a person had left the car before the fire “developed to the extent that it did.”


Pakistan says inflation likely to remain between 1.5-2 percent in April

Updated 14 min 1 sec ago
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Pakistan says inflation likely to remain between 1.5-2 percent in April

  • Pakistan’s inflation rate fell to 1.5 percent in February after central bank’s aggressive policy rate cuts
  • Exports, remittances expected to maintain upward trend in the coming months, says Finance Division

ISLAMABAD: The rate of inflation in Pakistan is likely to remain between 1.5 to 2 percent in April, the government’s Finance Division said on Thursday in its monthly economic outlook, stating that the country’s macroeconomic indicators have shown “signs of overall stabilization.”

Pakistan’s economy has improved in recent months, supported by declining inflation which fell to 1.5 percent in February. The central bank has reduced its policy rate to 12 percent after a series of cuts totaling 1,000 basis points since June 2024.

In its outlook for the month of April, the Finance Division said inflation has reduced to its “lowest level,” creating space for a more supportive monetary policy in upcoming months.

“Inflation is projected to remain between 1.5-2.0 percent in April, with a possible rise to 3.0-4.0 percent by May 2025,” the report said. 

The report said that Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation eased to 0.7 percent year-on-year in March 2025, down from 1.5 percent in February and 20.7 percent in March 2024. Month-on-month, it rose by 0.9 percent, following a 0.8 percent decline in February and a 1.7 percent increase in March 2024.

The monthly outlook report also noted that the current account registered a higher surplus, driven by remittances and export growth, while reserves improved and the exchange rate remained stable. 

“Revenue mobilization and restrained current spending have contributed to a narrower fiscal deficit and a surplus primary balance,” it said. 

The report also noted improvements in high-frequency indicators, such as rising automobile output, raw material imports and a more “accommodative monetary stance.”

“Improved weather conditions and increased water availability are likely to support higher crop yields and better farming conditions contributing to overall economic growth,” it said. 

The report also said exports and remittances are expected to maintain their upward trend in the coming months, keeping the current account within a “manageable range.”


Trump says Boeing ‘should default China’ for not taking planes

Updated 55 min 26 sec ago
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Trump says Boeing ‘should default China’ for not taking planes

  • Chinese customers started rejecting Beoing jet deliveries amid a trade war sparked by Trump
  • Boeing poised to resell rejected jets, with Air India in talks with the planemaker to take 10 Max 737s

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Thursday criticized China for backing out of a deal to buy new Boeing planes due to tariffs imposed in the rivals’ trade war.
“Boeing should default China for not taking the beautifully finished planes that China committed to purchase,” Trump wrote on social media, without giving more details.
“This is just a small example of what China has done to the USA, for years,” he added.
US aviation giant Boeing’s CEO Kelly Ortberg said Wednesday confirmed that Chinese customers had stopped taking delivery of aircraft due to the “tariff environment.”
His remarks signaled growing disruption caused by tit-for-tat levies exchanged between the world’s largest economies this month.

New US tariffs have reached 145 percent on many Chinese products, while Beijing has responded with fresh 125 percent duties on imports from the United States.
The tariff blitz — which Trump says is retaliation for unfair trade practices, as well as a bid to restore US manufacturing prowess — has rattled markets and raised fears of a global recession.
Beijing on Thursday threw cold water on Trump’s apparent optimism about a US-China deal to lower tariffs, saying that suggestions of ongoing talks were “groundless.”
Trump told reporters on Wednesday that his country would have a “fair deal with China,” adding when asked if Washington was talking to Beijing that “everything’s active.”

Industry sources said the comments were seen as a signal to Beijing and Washington that the tariff conflict between the world’s two largest economies risked damage as Chinese airlines scramble for capacity and Boeing is left with a new stockpile.
Washington had previously signalled openness to de-escalating the trade war, stating earlier this week that high tariffs between the US and China were not sustainable.
Boeing is one of the largest US exporters and historically sent a quarter of its planes to China, though the share of Chinese airlines in its order backlog now stands at 10 percent after European rival Airbus increased market share.
Airbus has been in on-off negotiations for at least a year to try to grab a huge order of up to 500 jets, though China usually treads carefully over all major purchase decisions at times of geopolitical uncertainty, industry sources said.
Airbus said it never comments on commercial discussions that may or may not be happening.
Potential alternative markets for Boeing jets include India, Latin America and Southeast Asia but discussions have barely begun because of their complexity and uncertainty over who might blink in the tariff standoff, industry sources said.
Reselling

Amid the delivery standoff, Boeing said it is looking to resell potentially dozens of planes locked out of China by tariffs.
The move to prevent a repeat of the costly build-up of undelivered jets seen during past safety and trade crises comes as the planemaker seeks to prevent tensions undercutting its efforts to save cash and pay down debts.
Boeing took the rare step of publicly flagging the potential aircraft sale during an analyst call on Wednesday, saying there would be no shortage of buyers in a tight jet market.
“Customers are calling, asking for additional airplanes,” CFO Brian West said. Such negotiations are usually kept tightly under wraps.

Two sources, who declined to be named as the discussions are private, said Air India was seeking around 10 narrowbody planes from Boeing for its budget carrier Air India Express, which has a fleet of more than 100 aircraft.
Air India, Air India Express and Boeing did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“Air India is very interested ... if the deal goes through, the planes are expected to be added to the fleet by end of the year,” the first person said, adding the talks were in early stages.
Air India Express has previously taken white tail aircraft — or jets manufactured for one customer but acquired by another.
A third source familiar with talks between Air India and Boeing said any difference in jet configuration between its fleet and the incoming planes meant for Chinese customers may be factored into price negotiations.
The move could be a boost to Air India’s expansion plans as the group’s growth has been constrained by a lack of new aircraft.
Last month, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said the airline was a “victim of circumstance,” referring to delivery delays plaguing Boeing and Airbus.

Complex negotiations
However, experts warned that carrying out the threat to divert jets to other buyers would not involve a simple switch.
Finding new customers after planes have been built “can be a costly endeavour,” industry publication Leeham News said.
Experts say many components, such as cabins, are picked by airlines and switching configurations could cost millions of dollars. Doing so may also create a tangle of contractual commitments and need the co-operation of the original buyer.
For its part, China has urged Washington to abandon the tariffs but its airlines are seen as hungry for new planes to meet demand and stay within domestic aircraft age restrictions.
“This will be extremely complicated. Everyone is flexing muscle but nobody completely has the upper hand,” said a senior aircraft finance industry source who requested anonymity.
Boeing’s public stand follows a threat from tariffs to the aerospace industry’s decade-old duty-free trading status. Senior industry officials say, however, there is no clear evidence of a reported official Chinese government ban on US jets.
The move to repatriate and re-market jets stands in contrast to a build-up seen during an almost five-year import freeze on 737 MAX jets into China and previous trade tensions.
“We’re not going to continue to build aircraft for customers who will not take them,” Ortberg told analysts.
Two jets ferried to China in March for delivery to Xiamen Airlines returned to Boeing in Seattle in the past week.
A third 737 MAX flew from Boeing’s Zhoushan completion center near Shanghai to the US territory of Guam on Thursday, Flightradar24 data showed. Guam is one of the stops Boeing delivery flights make on the journey across the Pacific.
The third plane was initially built for Air China , according to Aviation Flights Group. The flag carrier did not respond to a request for comment.
Boeing had planned to deliver around 50 new planes to China over the rest of this year, West said. It is studying options for re-marketing 41 that are already built or in production.

 


Ryu, Liu share Chevron Championship lead as defending champion Korda struggles

Updated 25 April 2025
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Ryu, Liu share Chevron Championship lead as defending champion Korda struggles

  • The round was suspended late as a storm approached The Club at Carlton Woods, with 24 players unable to finish
  • Among those unable to complete the round were Lexi Thompson, who retired from full-time tour golf last year, and LPGA rookie Ingrid Lindblad of Sweden, who won last week in Los Angeles in her third start as an LPGA Tour member

THE WOODLANDS, Texas: Haeran Ryu and Yan Liu each shot bogey-free 7-under 65 to share the lead during the suspended first round of the Chevron Championship as top-ranked Nelly Korda struggled to a 77 on Thursday in her title defense.

The round was suspended late as a storm approached The Club at Carlton Woods, with 24 players unable to finish.

Korda won the event last year for the last of her five straight LPGA Tour victories and had hoped to rediscover that dominant form in the season’s first major. Instead, she made bogeys on four straight holes and was 4-over par after six holes.

Korda added two more bogeys on the back nine and was 12 shots behind the leaders and needing a big second round simply to make the cut.

Ryu of South Korea and Liu of China had no such problems.

Ryu birdied five of her first 10 holes to move in front and made her seventh birdie on her closing hole, the ninth.

Liu got going on her back nine with four birdies in a five-hole stretch. She, too, made a closing birdie to tie Ryu.

Hya Joo Kim was a shot behind the two leaders heading to her final hole, but took bogey on the 18th to finish with a 67.

The group at 68 included Ariya Jutanugarn, Hye-Jin Choi, Carlotta Ciganda, Manon De Roey and Brooke Matthews. Lucy Li also was 4-under par through 14 when play was suspended,

Among those unable to complete the round were Lexi Thompson, who retired from full-time tour golf last year, and LPGA rookie Ingrid Lindblad of Sweden, who won last week in Los Angeles in her third start as an LPGA Tour member.

Thompson was at 1-over par with her final hole, the ninth, remaining. Lindblad was at 2-over par with her last hole, the 18th, to play. Lindblad had a triple-bogey 7 on the par-4 14th.

Ryu, with two career LPGA Tour victories, changed putters midway through last week’s tournament in Los Angeles, liked how it felt and continued with it in Texas.

Ryu said she was more comfortable on the greens. She often opened the face with her former putter, Ryu explained, and was happy to make several tricky putts in her round. “It’s really good for me,” she said.

Liu, seeking her first LPGA Tour win, was not happy with her performance off the tee in Los Angeles last week and worked to get it corrected. “This week, I fixed my driver, so it feels very solid,” she said.

Little was solid for Korda, who began her season with a pair of top 10 finishes, but has not been as crisp as a year ago when she won seven events and was the Rolex Player of the Year.

When Korda walked off the 18th green following her round, she told a small group of media that she was headed back to work.

“I’m going to go and practice and see where it takes me,” she said.

Korda is seeking her third career major.


Rulings coming fast and furious in lawsuits over Trump’s policies on immigration, elections and DEI

Updated 25 April 2025
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Rulings coming fast and furious in lawsuits over Trump’s policies on immigration, elections and DEI

  • The legal disputes playing out across the country are far from over though as administration attorneys are pushing back

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration was handed a rapid-fire series of court losses Wednesday night and Thursday in lawsuits filed over its policies on immigration, elections and its crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in schools.
But the legal disputes playing out across the country are far from over, and administration attorneys pushed back, asking the federal appellate courts and the US Supreme Court to overturn some of the unfavorable decisions.
Here’s a look at the latest developments in some of the more than 170 lawsuits filed over President Donald Trump’s executive orders.
DEI
Judges blocked the administration from enforcing its diversity, equity and inclusion crackdown in education in at least two lawsuits Thursday. The decisions came ahead of a Friday deadline that the Education Department set for states to sign a form certifying they would not use “illegal DEI practices.”
A federal judge in New Hampshire blocked a series of directives from the Education Department, including a memo ordering an end to any practice that differentiates people based on their race, and another asking for assurances that schools don’t use DEI practices deemed discriminatory.
Judges in Maryland and Washington, D.C., also halted portions of the department’s anti-DEI efforts.
Elections
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from immediately enacting certain changes to how federal elections are run, including adding a proof-of-citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form. Still, the judge allowed other parts of Trump’s sweeping executive order on US elections — including a directive to tighten mail ballot deadlines — to go forward for now.
US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington sided with voting rights groups and Democrats, saying that the Constitution gives the power to regulate federal elections to states and Congress — not the president. She noted federal lawmakers are currently working on their own legislation to require proof of citizenship to vote.
Immigration
The Trump administration is appealing a judge’s order barring it from deporting people from Colorado under a rarely used 1798 law.
Attorneys for the administration filed the appeal in the 10th US Circuit Court, arguing that Denver-based US District Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney lacks jurisdiction and that it is legally sound to invoke the Alien Enemies Act against the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
In another case out of Maryland, the Trump administration was ordered to facilitate the return of a man who was deported to El Salvador last month despite having a pending asylum application. US District Judge Stephanie Gallagher in Maryland said the government violated a 2019 settlement agreement when it deported the 20-year-old man, a Venezuelan native identified only as Cristian in court papers. Gallagher cited another federal judge’s order for the government to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who had been living in Maryland and was accidentally deported the same day as Cristian.
In a Texas lawsuit, a court document from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official was unsealed, revealing that migrants subject to removal under the Alien Enemies Act are only getting about 12 hours to decide if they want to contest their planned deportation to a prison in El Salvador. Earlier this week, government attorneys in a different Alien Enemies Act lawsuit told a judge in Colorado that migrants were being given 24 hours to make the decision.
The American Civil Liberties Union says the time period violates a Supreme Court order that allowed the Trump administration to continue deportations but required the government give detainees a “reasonable time” to argue to a judge that they should not be removed.
Yet another federal judge based in San Francisco barred the Trump administration from denying federal funds to “sanctuary” cities that limit immigration cooperation.
US Judge William Orrick said the temporary ban is appropriate because the executive orders are unconstitutional, just like they were in 2017 when Trump announced a similar order. Orrick said the administration can’t freeze any federal funds in San Francisco and more than a dozen other municipalities until the lawsuit brought by those cities is resolved.
Transgender rights
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow enforcement of a ban on transgender people in the military, while lawsuits over the ban move forward in court. The high court filing follows a brief order from a federal appeals court that kept in place a court order blocking the policy nationwide.
Trump signed an executive order a week into his term that claims the sexual identity of transgender service members “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life” and is harmful to military readiness. In response, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a policy that presumptively disqualifies transgender people from military service.
But in March, US District Court Judge Benjamin Settle in Tacoma, Washington, ruled for several long-serving transgender military members who say the ban is insulting and discrimin


Bologna book final with Milan after cruising past Empoli in Coppa Italia

Updated 25 April 2025
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Bologna book final with Milan after cruising past Empoli in Coppa Italia

  • Bologna will play in the Coppa Italia final for the first time since their victory in 1974
  • Italiano: We dedicate this final to the people of Bologna, who support us tremendously

BOLOGNA, Italy: Bologna eased into the Coppa Italia final following a 2–1 victory over Empoli at home on Thursday, which handed them a resounding 5–1 aggregate win as they set up a showdown with AC Milan.

Bologna strolled into their Coppa Italia semifinal second leg with a comfortable cushion, with Empoli facing an uphill task of overturning a three-goal deficit.

Giovanni Fabbian compounded Empoli’s misery after just seven minutes when the unmarked midfielder headed in a cross to extend Bologna’s aggregate advantage.

While the visitors may have felt their Coppa Italia run was already over, they still responded in the 33rd minute as Ola Solbakken’s angled drive was parried by Federico Ravaglia into the path of Viktor Kovalenko, who slotted in the rebound.

Both sides used the closing stages to express themselves more freely, playing with flair and imagination, but it was Thijs Dallinga who met a cross to head in another Bologna goal four minutes from time, sealing the win.

First final in 51 years

Bologna will play in the Coppa Italia final for the first time since their victory in 1974.

“It was a goal, the dream of this city and the club: we have honored this competition from the start, and when you reach the final stretch, everyone wants to go all the way,” Bologna manager Vincenzo Italiano told Mediaset.

“We dedicate this final to the people of Bologna, who support us tremendously.”

Bologna will face Milan at the Stadio Olimpico on May 14.

“That would upset Milan, but we hope to play a great match, arriving in top condition,” Italiano added.

“Our self-esteem is already sky-high, and we know we’re facing a team of champions, but we’ll try to use our strengths. We can’t wait to get to Rome, and we hope to have those 30,000 fans at the Olimpico.”