PARIS. The French international news agency Agence France-Presse reports that on Tuesday during a rocket attack on the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, its video coordinator for Ukraine was killed.

The agency said Arman Soldin, 32, was with a group of AFP journalists traveling with Ukrainian soldiers when the group came under fire from Grad rockets. The rest of the AFP team was unharmed.

According to the agency, the attack took place in the late afternoon in the vicinity of the town of Chasov Yar near Bakhmut. Russian troops tried to capture the city for nine months, making Bakhmut the center of the longest battle of the war.

“His death is a terrible reminder of the risks and dangers journalists cover the conflict in Ukraine face every day,” said AFP chairman Fabrice Fries.

Soldin was born in Sarajevo, now the capital of Bosnia, and is a French citizen, according to AFP. He arrived in Ukraine to cover the war the day after the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, and has traveled regularly to the front lines in recent months.

AFP said it was “devastated” by Soldin’s death and “our thoughts go out to his family and loved ones.”

In May 2022, French journalist Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff, who worked in Ukraine for BFM-TV, was killed near Severodonetsk in the east.

According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 10 media workers have been killed while covering the war in Ukraine.

RSF director Christophe Deloar praised the daily courage of those who covered the war and called Soldin’s death “a tragedy for all those who defended the independence and credibility of information”.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, in a speech Tuesday evening in Washington, expressed his condolences to Soldin’s family and loved ones.

“Countless journalists are working to uncover the truth and tell the truth under extremely dangerous conditions,” Blinken said. “Today we were devastated to learn of the death of AFP video journalist Arman Soldin in eastern Ukraine.”

SHANGHAI/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – A new wave of COVID-19 is spreading across China as people return from holiday travel, reach trading floors and raise concerns about the impact on trading volume, though probably not as pronounced as previous disruptions. caused by the pandemic. .

More than half a dozen traders and banking sources told Reuters this week that they or their colleagues had recently contracted the coronavirus or had heard of colleagues testing positive.

“I think about 10% of the people around me got it again,” said a trader at a foreign bank.

COVID-19 swept through the trading floors of the capital city of Beijing and financial hub Shanghai in December, just as China was reopening its economy after three years of strict containment measures, sickness and absence from work reduced trading volume and regulators had to reschedule meetings.

Traders said they expect less impact this time around.

“There are no more quarantine cases and close contacts, so the second wave should just reduce the efficiency of trading,” said a second trader at a foreign bank.

The trader said they had close contact with a COVID-19 patient and decided to work remotely from home as some colleagues tested positive for the virus.

“The impact of the COVID shocks should get smaller and smaller. From reopening in other parts of the world, the same trend is observed,” said Tommy Xie, head of research for Greater China at OCBC Bank.

In the interbank market of China, the average daily trading volume of the US dollar/yuan slowed down only slightly. Monday’s daily trading volume was $35.9 billion, the lowest since April 18, compared to an average of $38.9 billion last month.

While the World Health Organization has declared that COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency, Chinese health authorities said this week that the number of cases has risen as travel spiked during the Labor Day five-day break to May 3rd However, the number of severe cases in hospitals has not increased significantly.

The story goes on

Transmission of the virus naturally increases as people congregate or due to increased mobility during public holidays, so infection may recover slightly in some areas, said Liu Qing, an official with the National Administration for Disease Prevention and Control.

“However, the likelihood of regional large-scale outbreaks is low, and there will be no obvious impact on medical care and social operations in the short term,” Liu said.

A third person at a foreign bank said he had recently tested positive and rested at home for a week, although their employer did not have any specific protocols.

However, at least two lenders, including a major state-owned bank, conducted rapid antigen tests after employees reported feeling unwell, people familiar with the matter said.

“Sooner or later, the second wave will come. Now I will take extra care of myself,” said a fourth trader who works for a Chinese lender.

(Reporting by Winnie Zhou and Jindong Zhang in Shanghai and Tom Westbrook in Singapore; editing by Vidya Ranganathan and Christopher Cushing)