A report says McDonald’s has closed its U.S. offices for a few days as the company prepares to inform employees about layoffs. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
NEW YORK (AP) — McDonald’s has closed its U.S. offices for a few days as the company prepares to inform corporate employees about layoffs, according to a published report.
The Wall Street Journal cited an internal email from the Chicago fast-food giant saying U.S. corporate staff and some employees overseas should work from home while the company notifies people of their job status.
McDonald’s declined to comment on the report early Monday. The report said McDonald’s would inform its employees this week about staffing decisions that are part of a broad restructuring of the company announced earlier.
A sign outside a McDonald’s restaurant offers prospective workers an opportunity to get paid daily for their employment, Monday, Feb. 27, 2023, in Salem, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Though the U.S. labor market remains strong, layoffs have been mounting, mainly in the technology sector, where many companies over-hired after a pandemic boom. IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, Salesforce, Facebook parent Meta, Twitter and DoorDash have all announced layoffs in recent months.
Yet most of those job cuts are at corporate offices. There are still shortages of workers to fill service jobs, such as those at McDonald’s restaurants.
Policymakers at the Federal Reserve have forecast the unemployment rate may rise to 4.6% by the end of this year, a sizable increase historically associated with recessions.
McDonald’s has more than 150,000 employees in corporate roles and in company-owned restaurants. About 70% of those employees are based outside the United States.
Customers eat at a McDonald’s restaurant in New York, the United States, July 23, 2010. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)
The company reported its global sales rose nearly 11% in 2022, while sales in the U.S. climbed almost 6%. Total restaurant margins rose 5%. In its latest annual report, it cited difficulties in adequately staffing some of its outlets.
McDonald’s had warned employees in January that layoffs would be coming as the company tried to get more nimble, innovate more quickly and break down walls between its global markets. In a January memo to employees, McDonald’s President and CEO Chris Kempczinski said the company was evaluating roles and staffing levels in various parts of the company.
“We have historically been very decentralized in some areas where we reinvent the wheel way too often,” Kempczinski said during a January conference call with investors. “And I think the other thing I’ve seen is we haven’t been as sharp around our global priorities, and so there’s been proliferation of priorities.”
In one market, Kempczinski said he had recently discovered a list of 300 separate priorities.
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This story corrects a previous version that said McDonald’s has 150,000 corporate employees. It has 150,000 employees in corporate roles and in company-owned restaurants.
Treechada Hongyok or Poyd Treechada, a famous transgender actress who has worked in Thailand, Hong Kong and China, spoke about her marriage as a transgender person during an event, Gender Fair, organised by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security.
Poyd is recently married to Phakwa Hongyok, Oak, a businessman from an old family in Phuket.
Poyd said that the Gender Fair is an event where people should talk about how gender equality can affect mental health. She added that society has evolved in many ways and has more diversity, from ideology to the way a person dresses.
“Everyone wants to be accepted in order to be himself/herself. Only with diversity can the world survive. We need acceptance. We need to accept others who are different from us,” Poyd said.
As for her married life, she said that everything was normal, with a little adjustment. She added that it is important to be more patient and think more about the future once she has a family and is no longer just a girlfriend but a wife.
Poyd said that before marriage, her husband and she had thought about the future, but after marriage, there were surprising stories that made them rethink many plans. Poyd added that she had fun tackling these issues, however.
Asked what her secrets were to win the heart of a Chinese family, Poyd said there was nothing to win. However, she also has Chinese heritage, being from the same root, so she might understand the culture or know what to look out for. As for her husband, she said he would talk to her parents first before proposing to her. After her husband introduced her to his family, she has always experienced the warmth of the family and her husband has also experienced the warmth of her family.
Poyd added that the couple currently has no plan for the ‘next step’. They just want to live their lives and go about their duties, which they are supposed to do. She said her husband has to attend to his work while she has to be in many places, including Bangkok and abroad. She gives her full attention to the family but also works as scheduled.
“[I] must admit that there are many successful people before me, only they have not shown themselves. As a younger person, I see many people who have been successful and who have inspired me. Without the people who have struggled and dared to move forward in the society that condemns you, it’s impossible for me to be here and inspire people.”
People walk under a canopy of cherry blossoms Sunday, April 2, 2023, in Kamakura, near Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)
Japan will end the current border control measures on travelers from overseas on May 8 in line with its decision to categorize COVID-19 as a common disease the same day, the government said Monday, in a major shift toward normalizing social and economic activities.
The government will simultaneously start a new genomic surveillance program, under which entrants with symptoms such as fever are tested voluntarily, with the aim of detecting new infectious diseases.
Currently, all entrants are required to present certification of three COVID-19 doses or a negative coronavirus test taken within 72 hours of departure.
The end of the COVID-19 border controls, first introduced in February 2020 and considered by some the most stringent among the Group of Seven industrialized nations, is expected to help revive inbound tourism to Japan, where spending by foreign visitors in 2021 plunged to a fraction of the record 4.8 trillion yen ($36 billion) in 2019.
In November 2021, Japan tightened border controls by barring the entry of nonresident foreigners and requiring returning Japanese nationals and foreign residents to quarantine at designated facilities as the country began seeing cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Initially implemented for a month, the control measures were later extended, sparking protests from foreign exchange students and business people. The country started gradually easing the daily entry cap in March 2022 before completely lifting it in October of that year.
Travelers arriving at five major airports — Narita, Haneda, Chubu, Kansai and Fukuoka — will be subject to the new framework, which is set to start when the legal status of COVID-19 is downgraded to the same category as seasonal influenza early next month.
It takes about a few weeks for genomic test takers to get the results, according to government officials.
Ahead of the across-the-board lifting of border control measures, Japan will ease those on all arrivals from mainland China from Wednesday and give them the option of entering the country by presenting proof of being inoculated with three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Visitors view seasonal cherry blossoms from a pedestrian bridge in the Roppongi district, Friday, March 31, 2023, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Currently, visitors from mainland China must present proof of a negative coronavirus test taken 72 hours or less before departure.
“We have decided to alter the tentative measures currently in place in light of the infection status at home and abroad, as well as border control steps taken by other Group of Seven nations,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said in a news conference, adding the government will continue its sample testing for arrivals from mainland China at airports.
In late December, Japan introduced blanket COVID-19 testing for all arrivals from mainland China amid an explosion in infections in the country after Beijing drastically relaxed its stringent “zero-COVID” policy that had involved lockdowns and quarantines.
In early January, it further tightened border controls for visitors from the region by requiring proof of a negative test.
In March, however, the Japanese government ended the blanket testing for such visitors but started random testing at airports after finding that the number of those testing positive for COVID-19 had dropped.
While Koh Samui is gaining popularity during the Incoming Songkran Festival, tourists are having problems with transportation as many flights are fully booked. The president of the Koh Samui Tourism Association has been in talks with Bangkok Airways and Samui Airport to increase the number of flights to meet tourist demand.
With tourism in Thailand recovering, Koh Samui in Surat Thani province, one of the world’s most popular holiday destinations, has seen a sharp increase in tourist numbers since Christmas and until this April. Most travelers come from Europe, Singapore and China, crowding the airport and ferry port. This helps entrepreneurs: hotel operators, restaurant owners and travel agencies earn more revenue.
Tourism Association of Koh Samui president Ratchaporn Poolsawadee said the booking rate during Songkran has increased by 70 to 80 per cent, while some hotels are already fully booked. The association has also been supporting and promoting various activities on the island during the long holiday season to increase tourist spending.
However, Ratchaporn stressed that tourists face some obstacles as there are not enough flights to get to the island, leading to an increasing number of room cancellations and hurting the economy.
The association has tried to solve the problem by talking to the airline to ask for more flights and promoting alternative travel options for tourists by using Surat Thani airport and taking a ferry to the island.
Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) has release the ranking of the top world universities by subjects on 22 March 2023. KMUTNB are listed among the top universities of Thailand in three subjects as follows:
Natural Science – Mathematics: the top 451-500 universities of the world and the top 2 universities of Thailand
Engineering- Chemical: the top 401-420 universities of the world and the top 5 universities of Thailand
Engineering- Mechanical, Aeronautical & Manufacturing: the top 451-500 universities of the world and the top 3 universities of Thailand
This achievement reflects the dedication of the university’s researchers, staff and students, who work ceaselessly to promote the university’s excellences in Science, Technology and Innovation.
DeeMoney, Thailand’s leading FinTech firm, an international money transfer service as a Neo-bank, has introduced a new management structure and appointed new management comprising highly experienced experts in different fields.
The appointment is a big move for DeeMoney and is aimed to strengthen its leadership, enabling the company to effectively achieve its business goals. The new structure and management will play an important role in advancing Thai FinTech firms to meet international standards as earlier announced by DeeMoney’s Co-Founder and CEO, Aswin Phlaphongphanich.
DeeMoney’s management is currently led by Aswin and Ms. Rasmegh Srisethi, Co-Founder and Managing Director. Adding to the team of executives is, Mr. Robin Clart was recently appointed as the company’s Chief Technology Officer. With over 15 years in technology and finance and previously led Omise as a CTO, Mr. Robin played a key role in overseeing the development and implementation of the company’s technology and product strategy and was instrumental in implementing an “API first” approach which was a significant factor in Omise’s growth and success. Mr. Robin is responsible for building and strengthening DeeMoney’s technology team, enabling creative technology design, and ensuring a highly secure and reliable platform.
Joining the team as the Chief Operations Officer is Mr. Eustace Lobo. A well-recognized and in-the-known, with more than 25 years in telecommunications, payments and international remittance covering business development, sales, operations and grassroots marketing in key markets like India and the US. At Western Union, Eustace was instrumental in driving double-digit year-on-year growth for the US to South Asia corridor by growing the ethnic agent network coverage and by implementing community-specific marketing initiatives. Mr. Eustace oversees DeeMoney’s operations to ensure a seamless transaction experience for customers.
To cement the brand and corporate reputation, Mr. Tanit Ruttjananthana was appointed as the Chief Marketing Officer to drive DeeMoney brand growth. With over 20 years of experience in this field, Mr. Tanit specializes in marketing, branding, business development and customer experience in various businesses stretching from; finance, banking, fintech, and other business segments, such as dtac, KTC, KBank and JKN. His in-depth understanding of consumer behavior and insight will steer DeeMoney toward a better customer journey, and effectively connect innovations, technology and customer demand within the company’s products and services.
The Chief Sales Officer, Mr. Pakorn Manoromphatrasan, is dedicated to promoting new products and services for the benefit of clients, reducing costs, improving profitability, and increasing efficiency. He has extensive sales and distribution management experience, especially in the financial and telecommunications sectors at dtac and several start-ups. His aim is Sales team development and in-depth assessment of both B2B and B2C customers.
In a business where technology is a key driver, human resourcing is crucial. Adding to the team also is Ms. Wandee Phongpreepream as the Chief People Officer. Her highly cultivated experience in various fields such as Nike, SSP in Minor Group and startup like T&B Media Global, Tree Roots Entertainment Group, etc. will support DeeMoney in recruiting and developing a great talent pool that will become the key drivers behind the success stories. Ms. Wandee will apply her knowledge and experiences from those blue-chip brands to drive effective human resource development for DeeMoney.
Joining DeeMoney as the Head of Business Strategy & Market Intelligence, Ms. Jatupron Pimngern is a veteran of the Fintech industry. Specializing in products and services positioning that directly addresses customer requirements and the creation of a sustainable and prosperous business model, Ms. Jatupron has been a key player in the success of many banks, financial institutions and technology providers, such as Mastercard and Unicorn startups like Ascend Money Co., Ltd. (TrueMoney) and KBank. A frequent speaker at prestigious international events, namely Asia Leadership Conference. She is also an Executive Committee Member of the Thai E-Payment Trade Association (TEPA) We are certain that she will embark on an eventful journey as DeeMoney’s strategic lead.
The final addition is, Ms. Tharissara Ariyavorakul as the Head of Compliance, ensuring full compliance with startup-related laws and regulations, such as KYC and Customer Due Diligence (KYC/CDD), transaction monitoring, personal data protection, fraud protection and Risk Management. Also other related measures of regulators such as the Bank of Thailand and the Anti-Money Laundering Office, etc. Ms. Tharissara also has a great deal of experience in financial services companies, payment, wallet and digital technology such as LianLian Pay.
The new and highly experienced management team will join forces and power through their cultivated skills and expertise to advance DeeMoney as Thailand’s No.1 FinTech firm for domestic and international money transfer with Better Rates, Faster and Easier as a top-of-the-game service provider in the industry.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Pheu Thai party's top politician and youngest daughter of exiled former deposed Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra, arrives for the registration of constituency candidates competing in upcoming general election, at the Thailand-Japan Youth Center stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, April 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
BANGKOK (AP) — Hundreds of would-be lawmakers in Thailand on Monday began the official registration process for the upcoming general election, a vote that will pit supporters of an exiled prime minister against the conservative political establishment and its allies in the military.
Dressed in T-shirts and jackets in their party colors, and backed by groups of noisy supporters, the political hopefuls pushed their way past a throng of journalists to cram into a Bangkok stadium and complete the paperwork to qualify for the May 14 election.
Underscoring the political tensions, four protesters under the watchful eyes of two dozen police officers held up signs demanding changes to Article 112 of the constitution, which carries harsh penalties for defaming the country’s monarch.
Supporters of various political parties hold placards as constituency candidates arrive for their registration for the upcoming general election, at the Thailand-Japan Youth Center stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, April 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Calls for reform of the law have increased in recent years but remain a major taboo in a country where the royal family has traditionally been seen as untouchable.
Prayuth Chan-ocha, the incumbent prime minister, recently joined a new party, the United Thai Nation Party, and needs its slate of candidates to perform strongly to bolster his bid to recapture the top spot. He first became prime minister in 2014 when as the army commander he led a coup that ousted the elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra.
Thai Prime Minister and United Thai Nation Party candidate Prayut Chan-O-Cha. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Her brother Thaksin Shinawatra, a billionaire populist, was ousted as prime minister in an earlier coup in 2006. He remains in self-exile to avoid serving time for a criminal conviction he says was politically motivated.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thaksin’s daughter, and her Pheu Thai Party have a huge lead, according to opinion polls. But Thailand’s electoral system means contenders have to win by a wide margin to be sure of forming the government and claiming the prime minister’s position.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Pheu Thai party. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
“I believe the strong point of Pheu Thai is the party itself, not me. The party popularity is ahead of myself,” Paetongtarn said. “I believe the people choose the party because of our policy. That’s our strong point.”
Polls show the leader of the Move Forward Party, Pita Limjaroenrat, leading Paetongtarn in the capital, Bangkok. The party has a progressive agenda that’s popular with younger voters. But its politics alienate it from mainstream conservative Thai policies, lessening its chances of joining a governing coalition.
Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Completing the roster of heavyweights was Prawit Wongsuwan, who served as deputy prime minister under Prayuth. He now heads Palang Pracharath, the largest party in the outgoing governing coalition. He’s seen as a formidable political operator, though both he and his party appear to be extremely unpopular with voters, according to recent opinion polls.
Deputy Prime Minister and Palang Pracharat Party leader Prawit Wongsuwan. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Up for grabs are 400 directly elected seats while a further 100 seats are decided by proportional representation.
The prime minister’s position is chosen in the weeks following the polls through a combined vote of the lower house and the 250-strong appointed Senate. The inclusion of the Senate is seen by many as controversial because, though nominally independent, its members have a record of voting as a bloc in favor of a conservative agenda.
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JERRY HARMER Associated Press reported from Bangkok.
The U.S. Navy's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz departs a naval base in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, April 2, 2023. (Cha Geun-ho/Yonhap via AP)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The South Korean, U.S. and Japanese navies began their first anti-submarine drills in six months on Monday to boost their coordination against increasing North Korean missile threats, South Korea’s military said.
The two-day drills come as North Korea’s recent unveiling of a type of battlefield nuclear warhead prompted worries the country may conduct first nuclear test since 2017.
The maritime exercises in international waters off South Korea’s southern island of Jeju involved the nuclear-powered USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and naval destroyers from South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The training was arranged to improve the three countries’ capacities to respond to underwater security threats posed by North Korea’s advancing submarine-launched ballistic missiles and other assets, the statement said. It said the three countries were to detect and track unmanned South Korean and U.S. underwater vehicles posing as enemy submarines and other assets.
Submarine-launched missiles by North Korea are serious security threats to the United States and its allies because it’s harder to spot such launches in advance. In recent year, the North has been testing sophisticated underwater-launched ballistic missiles and pushing to build bigger submarines including a nuclear-powered one.
The U.S. Navy’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz departs a naval base in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, April 2, 2023. (Cha Geun-ho/Yonhap via AP)
Last month, North Korea performed a barrage of missile tests in response to the earlier South Korea-U.S. bilateral military drills. The weapons tested included a nuclear-capable underwater drone and a submarine-launched cruise missile, which suggest North Korea is trying to diversify its kinds of underwater weapons.
Photographs in North Korea’s state media last week showed about 10 capsule-shaped, red-tipped warheads called “Hwasan (volcano)-31” with different serial numbers. A poster on a nearby wall listed eight kinds of short-range weapons that can carry the “Hwasan-31” warhead. The previous test flights of those weapons show they are capable of striking key targets in South Korea, including U.S. military bases there.
Some observers say the warhead’s unveiling may be a prelude to a nuclear test as North Korea’s last two tests in 2016 and 2017 followed the disclosures of other warheads. If it does conduct a nuclear test, it would be its seventh detonation overall and the first since September 2017.
Foreign experts debate whether North Korea has functioning nuclear-armed missiles. But South Korea’s defense minister, Lee Jong-Sup, recently said the North’s technology to build miniaturized warheads to be mounted on advanced short-range missiles was believed to have made considerable progress.
North Korea could carry out new missile tests in response to the South Korea-U.S.-Japan drills because it views such training as a security threat. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called recent South Korea-U.S. exercises “reckless military provocations” that disregarded North Korea’s “patience and warning.”
In remarks carried in the Defense Ministry statement, Rear Adm. Kim Inho, chief of the South Korean forces involved in the trilateral drills, said “We’ll decisively respond to and neutralize any type of provocation by North Korea.”
In addition to anti-submarine drills, the three countries will practice humanitarian search-and-rescue operations, including saving people who fall into the water and treating emergency patients. It would be the three countries’ first such training in seven years, the Defense Ministry statement said.
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HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press reported from Seoul.
World-renowned Japanese musician and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, also the keyboardist of the legendary electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra, known as YMO, has died, his office said Sunday. He was 71.
Sakamoto revealed in June 2022 that he had been battling stage IV cancer. The Tokyo native also starred in the 1983 war film “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence,” and won an Oscar and Grammy for scoring the 1987 movie “The Last Emperor.”
A funeral for Sakamoto, who died last Tuesday, was already held with only close relatives in attendance, the office said. The exact cause of death was not immediately known.
With his interest in environmental and peace issues, Sakamoto had been actively involved in the anti-nuclear power movement in recent years in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster triggered by a killer earthquake and tsunami.
The son of Kazuki Sakamoto, a renowned editor at the publishing house Kawade Shobo Shinsha, Sakamoto began studying music writing at the age of 10 and was fascinated by the Beatles and Debussy.
As a high school student in the late 1960s, he participated in student demonstrations. Later, in an interview, he revealed that this experience “was at the core of who I am.”
In 1978, Sakamoto formed YMO with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi. Their futuristic techno-pop music, making full use of synthesizers, was in sync with the times in the late 1970s, when the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and the arcade game “Space Invaders” became hits.
In January, Takahashi, the drummer of YMO, died of aspiration pneumonia.
File photo taken in July 2010 in Yokohama shows Ryuichi Sakamoto (C) with Yellow Magic Orchestra bandmates Yukihiro Takahashi (L) and Haruomi Hosono. (Kyodo)
Dressed in clothing resembling Mao suits, the trio’s performances were well received in the United States and Europe, and their music, such as “Technopolis” and “Rydeen,” from an album released in 1979, became popular in Japan following their success overseas. YMO’s hit tunes also include “Kimi ni Mune Kyun” (my heart beats for you), a single released in 1983.
Having obtained a master’s degree from the Graduate School of the Tokyo University of the Arts, Sakamoto was known for his theoretical views and vast knowledge of classical and folk music, earning him the nickname “Professor.”
He scored more than 30 films, including Nagisa Oshima’s “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence,” in which he also played the role of a Japanese commander of a prison camp, “The Last Emperor” and “The Sheltering Sky,” both directed by Bernardo Bertolucci in 1987 and 1990, respectively.
File photo shows the team that created the film “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” in Paris on May 11, 1983: (from L) producer Jack Thomas, musical composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, star David Bowie and director Nagisa Oshima. (AP/Kyodo)
The musician also led More Trees, a Tokyo-based forest conservation group established in 2007.
Sakamoto, who began spending most of his time in New York in the early 1990s, went public with his throat cancer diagnosis in 2014 and his rectal cancer diagnosis in 2021. Cancer later spread to his lungs, requiring him to undergo surgeries in October and December 2021.
Sakamoto discussed in detail his cancer diagnosis and how he had been coping with it in an article titled “Living with Cancer,” published by the literary magazine “Shincho” in June 2022.
The article was the first installment in a series of articles titled “How Many More Times Will I See the Full Moon?” that the musician authored in the monthly magazine, dealing mainly with his musical activities and his views on life and death.
In a statement he released on the launch of the series, he said, “Since I have made it this far in life, I hope to be able to make music until my last moment, like Bach and Debussy, who I adore.”
Sakamoto was one of the few Japanese celebrities in the entertainment industry willing to make political statements, including saying following the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001 that the situation surrounding the attacks was “created by the hegemonic nation of the United States.”
After the magnitude-9.0 quake and ensuing tsunami devastated northeastern Japan in 2011, he became music director of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra, formed by children affected by the disasters.
File photo shows Ryuichi Sakamoto (4th from L) posing with members of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra as its music director on March 31, 2019 in Tokyo. (Kyodo)
In March 2022, while battling stage IV cancer, Sakamoto took part in the orchestra’s concert in Tokyo, in which a new symphony he composed, titled “Ima Jikan ga Katamui te” (now the time is tilting), was performed.
The symphony ends with the sound of bells, and he explained to the audience from the stage that earthquakes and wars share the same prayer for the repose of souls who were killed.
The concert was held amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and he noted that the symphony has some similarities to Ukraine’s national anthem, adding, “It is up to each one of you to decide whether the sound of the bells (at the end of the symphony) sounds like a requiem or hope.”
Singer-songwriter Akiko Yano is his former wife, and musician Miu Sakamoto is his daughte
Russian investigators work at the site of an explosion at a cafe in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, April 2, 2023. (AP Photo)
AP – An explosion tore through a cafe in Russia’s second-largest city Sunday, killing a prominent military blogger who had supported the fighting in Ukraine and was speaking at a patriotic discussion event.
Russian news reports said blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was killed in the explosion at the Street Food Bar No. 1 cafe in St. Petersburg. Twenty-five people were wounded, and 19 of them were hospitalized, according to the regional governor, Alexander Beglov.
Vladlen Tatarsky
Russia media and military bloggers said Tatarsky was meeting with members of the public and that a woman presented him with a box containing a statuette that apparently exploded. A patriotic Russian group that organized the event said it had taken security precautions, but added that “regrettably, they proved insufficient.”
The reports did not mention any claim of responsibility. The Interior Ministry said everyone at the cafe at the time of the blast was being “checked for involvement.”
Since the fighting in Ukraine began on Feb. 24, 2022, various fires, explosions and apparent assassinations have occurred in Russia without any clear connection to the conflict.
Russian police officers stand at the side of an explosion at a cafe in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, April 2, 2023. (AP Photo)
Tatarsky had filed regular reports from Ukraine. Tatarsky is the pen name for Maxim Fomin who had accumulated more than 560,000 followers on his Telegram messaging app channel. He was known for his blustery pronouncements and ardent pro-war rhetoric.
After the Kremlin’s annexation of four regions of Ukraine last year, Tatarsky posted a video in which he vowed: “That’s it. We’ll defeat everybody, kill everybody, rob everybody we need to. It will all be the way we like it. God be with you.”
Many countries have condemned the annexation as illegal.
Russian Emergency Situations Ministry stand at the side of an explosion at a cafe in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, April 2, 2023. (AP Photo)
A top Ukrainian government official speculated that internal Russian opposition to the Kremlin’s invasion was behind the blast.
“Spiders are eating each other in a jar,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote in English on Twitter. “Question of when domestic terrorism would become an instrument of internal political fight was a matter of time.”
Last August, Darya Dugina, a 29-year-old commentator with a nationalist Russian TV channel, died when a remotely controlled explosive device planted in her SUV blew up as she was driving on the outskirts of Moscow. She and her father — a philosopher, writer and political theorist — strongly supported Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to send troops into Ukraine.
Russian authorities blamed Ukraine for the attack, but Kyiv denied involvement.
