Author: National Tone

Taipei, Taiwan – Preparing for the Lunar New Year is a busy time for people like Ms Lin, a 58-year-old who works near Taipei’s historic Longshan Temple. Many Taiwanese – and people of Chinese descent throughout the world – get their hair cut, buy new clothes, clean out the house, prepare for a family feast or travel back home in the run-up to the festival, which this year falls on Sunday. But many also find time to visit their local temple to pray to gods and ancestors and ward off anything untoward lurking in the year ahead. This is where…

Read More

Carolina Hurricanes forward Max Pacioretty exited Thursday’s game against the Minnesota Wild late in the third period with a right leg injury. The winger went down with 19.3 seconds left in the 5-2 win against the Wild on a non-contact injury. Pacioretty was skating with the puck near the goal and the boards when he pulled up and grabbed at the back of his lower right leg. Pacioretty left Carolina’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Jan. 12 with a lower-body injury that was, according to the team, not related to his previous Achilles injury. He remained out of…

Read More

Jakarta, Indonesia – Five-year-old Shena has been in hospital since September. Her eyes move slowly when her mother calls her name but she is otherwise almost completely unresponsive. Her mother, Desi Permata Sari, says Shena’s problems started when she fell ill with a fever. Concerned, she took her daughter to the emergency department of a Jakarta hospital. Doctors conducted blood tests and sent them home with paracetamol syrup. “I gave her the medicine for two days, then she threw up and also said that she couldn’t urinate. I initially thought she might be dehydrated,” Desi said. “She was a healthy,…

Read More

Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky left Thursday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens during the first period with an apparent lower-body injury. Bobrovsky slid from post to post while attempting to make a stretch save and went off the ice at the next whistle just over two minutes into the contest. .acf-block-preview .instagram-twitter-container width: 340px; margin: 0 auto; Backup netminder Alex Lyon entered the game in relief. Panthers forward Eric Staal also left the contest, sustaining an upper-body after taking a hit from Canadiens’ defenceman Mike Matheson. The 38-year-old will not return to the game. .acf-block-preview .instagram-twitter-container width: 340px; margin: 0…

Read More

Luis Fernando Camacho is being held on ‘terrorism’ charges related to a 2019 political crisis that ousted ex-President Evo Morales.A Bolivian judge has ruled that Luis Fernando Camacho, a prominent right-wing politician and governor of the South American country’s largest department, will remain in detention as he awaits trial on charges of “terrorism”. The ruling from Judge Rosmery Lourdes Pabon upholds a previous decision, made by a different judge in late December. It called for the Santa Cruz governor to be held for four months in pre-trial detention after prosecutors suggested he could be a flight risk or obstruct the…

Read More

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met US national security adviser Jake Sullivan for the highest level of in-person talks between the two allies since Israel inaugurated its most far-right, religiously conservative government in history last month. Sullivan’s visit on Thursday came amid unease in Washington about Netanyahu’s policies and several members of his ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox governing coalition, which is already taking a hard line against the Palestinians and is expected to ramp up settlement construction in the occupied West Bank. Settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are regarded as illegal under international law and by much of the international community.…

Read More

Ottawa Senators forward Mathieu Joseph said he was made a healthy scratch before Wednesday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins because of the “consequences” of a “mistake” he made. “I did a mistake and I was ready to assume the consequences of it,” Joseph told The Athletic’s Ian Mendes on Thursday. “This (is) on me, and it’s my responsibility. I know I can do better and I will.” .acf-block-preview .instagram-twitter-container width: 340px; margin: 0 auto; Senators head coach D.J. Smith confirmed on Thursday that Joseph was scratched for a “non-hockey reason.” Joseph and Smith wanted to keep the full details of…

Read More

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, pointing to another month of solid job growth and continued labour market tightness despite efforts by the Federal Reserve to cool demand for workers. The weekly jobless claims report from the US Department of Labor on Thursday likely does not change expectations that the United States central bank will further scale back the size of its interest rate increases next month. It did, however, pour cold water on financial market hopes that the Fed would pause its fastest rate hiking cycle since the 1980s, which had…

Read More

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has promised reforms, including limiting his own power and strengthening parliament’s after anti-government riots a year ago.Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has dissolved the lower house of parliament and called snap elections on March 19. The announcement on Thursday came a year after protests against rising fuel prices escalated into anti-government riots that killed 238 people. The president’s press service announced Tokayev’s decree and published a message from him, saying he hopes the snap elections “will give new impetus to the modernisation” of the natural resource-rich country. Tokayev had said he would dissolve the chamber, called the Majjlis and…

Read More

Former NHLer Rick Tocchet wouldn’t tip his hand when asked about whether he’s in line to be the next coach of the Vancouver Canucks. “Listen, I haven’t signed any contracts,” Tocchet said on TNT’s intermission report on Wednesday. “I’ve known Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin for a number of years and I have talked to them. I’ve talked to them for years about everything.” The three-time Stanley Cup champion has been mentioned as one of the leading candidates to replace current Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau. The Canucks are faltering this season, with an 18-23-3 record, good for 12th in…

Read More