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Deranged man pushes Asian woman to death in front of an oncoming subway

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Deranged man pushes Asian woman to death in front of an oncoming subway

At 9:53 a.m., a man walked into a transit precinct on Canal Street and declared that he “pushed a woman in front of a train,” Wilcox said.

The suspect, identified by police as Simon Martial, 61, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, police said.

Martial has no known address, according to law enforcement sources.

Martial, who has a gray beard and was wearing a black hooded jacket, stuck his tongue out at photographers as he was being led into the Midtown South precinct on West 35th Street.

“He is crazy, talking gibberish,” said a law enforcement source.

Later, Martial yelled “Go f—k yourself” at reporters as police escorted him out of the precinct. 

Martial copped to the attack when asked if he had killed Go, and claimed he was “God.”

“Yeah because I’m God. Yes I did. I’m God, I can do it,” Martial shouted, adding “she stole my f—ing jacket, that’s why,” when asked about his motive.

According to NYPOST, a deranged homeless man allegedly shoved an Asian woman to her death in front of an oncoming subway train Saturday morning in Times Square, police said.

The horrifying episode unfolded at 9:40 a.m. just nine minutes after the man was caught on video on the platform at the Times Square station at West 42nd Street and Broadway, police said.

Michelle Alyssa Go, 40, was waiting on the southbound platform when she was shoved onto the train tracks and struck by an R train, police said.

“This incident was unprovoked and the victim does not appear to have any interaction with the subject,” Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said in a late afternoon press briefing in the station.

Embattled Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who has taken heat for being too soft on crime, would not comment on potential charges at the press briefing.

When asked if New Yorkers had to be worried about the suspect being released immediately from jail, he said no.

The NYPD said its hate crimes task force was reviewing the incident but it wasn’t being officially investigated as a hate crime. 

Martial has a criminal record with at least three arrests going back to 1998, when he was busted for robbery, with the latest coming in October 2019 for criminal possession of a controlled substance. He served two years in state prison for attempted robbery and was released in August 2021, state records show.

He was accused of entering a man’s car at Sixth Avenue and Waverly Place on Aug. 9, 2017, simulating a weapon and saying, “I have a gun. Give me your cash!,” according to sources.

The terrified driver fled.

Martial also had three run-ins with police as an emotionally disturbed person, sources said.

A woman who identified herself as Martial’s sister, Josette, said he has a history of mental illness.

“He’s been on medication for over 20 years and in and out of mental hospitals in New York,” the woman said. 

She said her brother, who is originally from Haiti,  once managed a parking lot in the Big Apple “making good money.”

Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa said he’s seen the suspect “many times” ranting in the subway.

“He will have a conversation and then all of a sudden he will have a psychotic disorder,” Sliwa said. “Again, an Asian gets pushed in front of a train. How many times does this have to happen? Asians are being attacked every which way.”

Wai Wah Chin, charter president of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York, called the incident “horrifying.”

“It’s a horrible attack on yet another one of our citizens. This has to stop,” she said. “We have to make the streets and subways safe for all of our citizens, especially our Asian women.”

Michael Alcazar, a retired NYPD detective, called the homeless and emotionally disturbed population in the subway system former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “gift” to his successor — who has pledged to clean up the subways.

“Why do taxpayers and law-abiding citizens have to put up with the crime and homeless people who dwell in the subway cars?’ said Alcazar, a professor at John Jay College.

“This is the worst I’ve ever seen transit look in decades.”

Mayor Eric Adams, a former transit cop, visited the Times Square station around noon but did not speak to the press.

Adams — who has vowed to make the troubled system safer — said at the press briefing that “we are not going to lose focus on safety in the subway system” and that he had rolled out his plan to do so.

One thousand additional officers were working in transit and some had been assigned to the Times Square station, according to Assistant NYPD Chief Kathleen O’Reilly.

“We had a robust plan for this station today. We had six officers assigned to it. There were two officers on the southbound platform to the southern end when this incident occurred,” O’Reilly said.

“Unfortunately these incidents do occur. They’re rare but this one is very harrowing and disturbing,” she said.

But terrified straphangers said the mayor has “a lot of work to do” to make the Big Apple safe again.

“It could have been me, it’s scary,” said Roxana Jones, 44, a home aide who lives in Brooklyn and was at the station Saturday afternoon.

The attacked appeared to be random and unprovoked.
The attack appeared to be random.

Ariana Shaghaghi, 24, who works in fashion and lives in Manhattan, said she tries to be extra cautious on subway platforms and stand away from the tracks.

“I just think something needs to change because it’s getting worse,” Shaghaghi said.

“They tried with the COVID to clean the subways, but I feel that with the homelessness it’s gotten worse. We need to do something about it soon, it’s just terrible.”

The shoving was the second one on the same Times Square platform in a little more than two months.

On Nov. 12, a mugger pushed a woman — who is also Asian — onto the tracks. She was rescued by good Samaritans before a train came.

Through Dec. 12, 2021, straphangers had been pushed onto the tracks 27 times, up from 25 during the same period in 2020, according to the NYPD.

PBA president Patrick Lynch said the latest incident “underscores our current crisis.”

“The city should absolutely provide help and services — real services — for those who need it. But those who are a danger to themselves and others cannot be allowed to remain in the subways and on the streets. We know there are common-sense solutions on the table — we need to get them up and running ASAP,” Lynch said.

South Korean president Moon Jae-in visits UAE, showcasing deep ties

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South Korean president Moon Jae-in visits UAE, showcasing deep ties

The nations have strengthened their defense cooperation over the past decade, with South Korean elite special forces even traveling to the UAE to train Emirati troops in an unprecedented years-long deployment for the Asian country.

Meanwhile, the UAE has hosted hundreds of North Korean laborers in past years who provide a key revenue stream for Pyongyang. But under pressure to enforce U.S.-led sanctions over North Korea’s nuclear program, Abu Dhabi has recently moved to choke off the network and stopped renewing North Korean work visas.

On a trip to the United Arab Emirates, the president of South Korea on Sunday reportedly reached a preliminary multibillion-dollar deal to sell Seoul’s surface-to-air missiles to Abu Dhabi and pledged deeper cooperation with the Gulf Arab federation, according to AP.

After South Korean President Moon Jae-in met Emirati Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in Dubai, the countries signed a memorandum of understanding for the UAE’s purchase of a South Korean mid-range missile defense system valued at some $3.5 billion, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.

There were no further details on the deal announced during the visit nor immediate comment from the UAE. But during Dubai’s weeklong aviation trade show last November, the Emirati Ministry of Defense tweeted it planned to acquire South Korea’s M-SAM, an advanced air defense system designed to intercept missiles at altitudes below 40 kilometers (25 miles), saying it would “constitute a qualitative addition to the capabilities of the national air defense.”

Sheikh Mohammed posted photos of the meeting and said the UAE seeks “a comprehensive strategic economic partnership” with South Korea, one of the world’s top crude importers and financiers of energy projects.

From Dubai’s Expo 2020, where South Korea boasts a sprawling pavilion to showcase the country’s high-tech and cultural achievements, President Moon praised the world’s fair and pledged the countries will “transcend generations and national borders to build back together and leap forward together.”

President Moon landed in the regional financial hub of Dubai on Saturday, and was greeted by UAE Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei. The oil and gas-dependent South Korea imports fossil fuels from the Persian Gulf, including from oil-rich Abu Dhabi, to power its energy-intensive economy, dominated by manufacturing industries from cars to petrochemicals.

The UAE represents 8% of Seoul’s oil imports, according to 2019 data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Not only does Seoul buy Emirati oil, but South Korean firms have participated in the development of Emirati oil fields to boost the Asian country’s self sufficiency and, significantly, have built the UAE’s Barakah nuclear power plant — the first on the Arabian Peninsula.

The group of four reactors at Barakah in Abu Dhabi’s far western desert, which marked the Korea Electric Power Corporation’s first international deal, are gradually coming online. As the UAE seeks to decrease its reliance on fossil fuels and diversify away from oil, it plans to draw a quarter of its electricity from the $20 billion reactors.

During the South Korean trade minister’s trip to the UAE late last year, the countries also began negotiations on a new bilateral trade deal, including agreements to develop sources of clean power. On Monday, Moon met with an Emirati business delegation about clean-burning hydrogen fuel, his press office said.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company has sharpened its focus on hydrogen in recent months, building facilities to produce large volumes of the fuel and shipping so-called blue ammonia to Japan.

“Carbon neutrality is obviously a difficult process, but if the two nations promote the hydrogen industry through solidarity and cooperation, they will have new opportunities,” Yonhap news agency quoted Moon as telling a business forum in Dubai, adding that Seoul has helped the UAE develop a hydrogen-powered public transport system.

A different South Korean export took center stage later Sunday at Expo, as a string of star K-pop bands including Psy and Stray Kids performed catchy songs with dynamic dance moves for the crowd of frenetic fans who braved the rain to wait in line for hours since the morning. Hundreds of teenagers crammed up against each other and danced, even as virus cases skyrocket in the UAE.

Before singing his classic 2012 hit “Gangnam Style,” Park Jae-sang of Psy announced that he’d release a new song this year for the first time in four years.

“I can promise that to Dubai,” he said.

The crowd went wild. An ebullient President Moon in attendance joined the applause.

Only “selected” spectators will be permitted at Beijing Olympics

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Only “selected” spectators will be permitted at Beijing Olympics

“Given the difficult and complicated work of controlling the epidemic, and to protect the health and safety of those involved with the Games, the original plan of offering tickets to the general public has been altered toward spectators from selected groups,”

China has largely avoided major virus outbreaks with a regimen of lockdowns, mass testing for COVID-19 and travel restrictions, although it continues to fight surges in several cities, including the port of Tianjin, about an hour from Beijing. The capital itself confirmed over the weekend that a 26-year-old woman had contracted the omicron variant of the virus and has tested more than 13,000 people in search of cases of cross transmission.

Only “selected” spectators will be permitted at next month’s Beijing Olympics because of the coronavirus pandemic, organizers said Monday, according to AP.

Beijing had already announced that no fans from outside the country would be permitted at the events, and had not offered tickets to the general public.

Monday’s announcement posted on the organizing committee’s website confirmed expectations that the Winter Games would have few onlookers at the venues, under even more strict conditions than imposed during last year’s Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

In its statement, the organizing committee said its measures were intended to “create a pleasant environment for the holding of the Games.”

China’s birth rate plummeted for a fifth consecutive year to hit a new record low in 2021

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China’s birth rate plummeted for a fifth consecutive year to hit a new record low in 2021

China’s high property prices and rising education costs, especially in big cities, have frequently been cited in surveys as the top factors preventing couples from having more children.

Both sectors have been thrust into the spotlight this year, with the debt crisis surrounding property giant Evergrande and the Chinese government’s sweeping crackdown on the private tutoring industry.

China’s birth rate plummeted for a fifth consecutive year to hit a new record low in 2021, despite government efforts to encourage couples to have more children in the face of a looming demographic crisis, according to CNN.

The world’s most populous country recorded 10.62 million births last year, or only 7.5 births per 1,000 people, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics — marking the lowest level since the founding of Communist China in 1949.

The number of birthswas just enough to outnumber deaths, with the population growing by 480,000 to 1.4126 billion. The natural growth rate fell to 0.034%, the lowest since China’s great famine from 1959 to 1961, which killed tens of millions of people and led to a population decline.

New births in 2021 dropped 11.6% from 12.02 million in 2020 — a gentler decline than the 18% plunge that year, from 14.65 million in 2019.Chinese demographers have warned that if the downward trend continues, China’s population could stark shrinking soon.

Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statistics, told state media Monday the decline in births stemmed from a combination of factors, from “a decrease in the number of women of childbearing age, a continued decline in fertility, changes in attitudes toward childbearing and delays of marriage by young people,” including due to the pandemic.

The plunging birth rate comes as the Chinese government ramps up efforts to encourage families to have more children, after realizing its decades-long one-child policy had contributed to a rapidly aging population and shrinking workforce that could severely distress the country’s economic and social stability.

To arrest the falling birth rate, the Chinese government announced in 2015 that it would allow married couples to have two children. But after a brief uptick in 2016, the national birth rate has been falling year on year, prompting authorities last year to further loosen the policy to three children.

Ning, the Chinese statistics official, said in 2021, 43% of the children born were the second child in a family. He said the three-child policy is expected to gradually add births, and that “China’s total population will remain above 1.4 billion for a period of time to come.”

For decades, local governments forced millions of women to abort pregnancies deemed illegal by the state under the one-child policy. Now, they are churning out a flurry of propaganda slogans and policies to encourage more births. The common incentives include cash handouts, real estate subsidies and extension of maternity leave.

Last year, more than 20 provincial or regional governments amended their family planning laws, including extending maternity leave for women. For example, eastern Zhejiang province offers 188 days of maternity leave for the third child; and in northern Shaanxi province, women can enjoy 350 days paid leave for having a third child, according to state media reports.

But the policies have failed to convince many women, who worry they’ll be further disadvantaged as companies seek to avoid the extra financial burden.

The high cost of raising children is also deterring parents from having more of them, especially among the country’s growing middle class.

North Korea fires two ballistic missiles from Pyongyang airport

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North Korea fires two ballistic missiles from Pyongyang airport

 North Korea fired two suspected short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) on Monday from an airport in its capital city of Pyongyang, South Korea’s military reported, the fourth test this month to demonstrate its expanding missile arsenal, according to Reuters.

North Korea has not tested its longest-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) or nuclear weapons since 2017, but after denuclearisation talks stalled in 2019, it began testing a range of new SRBM designs.

Many of the latest SRBMs, including the hypersonic missiles, appear designed to evade missile defences. North Korea has also vowed to pursue tactical nuclear weapons, which could allow it to deploy nuclear warheads on SRBMs.

Japan also reported the launch, with chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno condemning it as a threat to peace and security while China urged all sides to preserve for stability.

“We call on relevant sides to keep in mind the overall peace and stability on the peninsula,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a daily briefing in Beijing when asked about the suspected launch.

Nuclear-armed North Korea had already conducted three other missile tests in less than two weeks before Monday, an unusually rapid series of launches. It said two of them involved single “hypersonic missiles” capable of high speed and manoeuvring after launch, while a test on Friday involved a pair of short-range ballistic missiles fired from train cars.

Monday’s launch appeared to involve two SRBMs fired east from Sunan Airfield in Pyongyang, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement.

North Korea used the airport to test fire the Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) in 2017, with leader Kim Jong Un in attendance.

The missiles fired on Monday travelled about 380 km (236 miles) to a maximum altitude of 42 km (26 miles), the JCS said in a statement.

Japanese Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi said the missiles appeared to have landed in the ocean off North Korea’s east coast and it was evident that North Korea was using the frequent launches to improve its missile technology.

“The repeated launching of North Korea’s ballistic missiles is a grave problem for the international community, including Japan,” Kishi told reporters, noting that the tests were a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban North Korea from all ballistic missile development.

The U.S. military’s Indo-Pacific Command said that the launch did not pose an immediate threat to the United States or its allies, but that “these missile launches highlight the destabilising impact of (North Korea’s ) illicit weapons programme”.

The pace of testing suggested that North Korea had enough missiles to feel comfortable about using them on tests, training, and demonstrations, and they reinforced its deterrent credibility by emphasizing the volume of its missile force, said Mason Richey, a professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul.

A suspected Houthi drone attack near Abu Dhabi airport killed at least three people

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A suspected Houthi drone attack near Abu Dhabi airport killed at least three people

“Abu Dhabi police confirmed that a fire broke out this morning, which led to the explosion of three petroleum tankers in ICAD 3, Mussafah, near ADNOC’s storage tanks,” a statement said on WAM. “A minor fire also broke out in the new construction area of Abu Dhabi International Airport.”

A CNN journalist heard two explosions with a black plume of smoke rising from the direction of the airport. CNN has also seen a fighter jet — likely belonging to the UAE — circling the area.

According to CNN, a suspected Houthi drone attack near Abu Dhabi airport killed at least three people and sparked multiple explosions in the United Arab Emirates’ capital on Monday.

An Abu Dhabi police statement said three tanker trucks carrying fuel exploded in the emirate’s Mussafah area after catching fire, with preliminary investigations pointing to a drone attack.

One Pakistani and two Indians were killed, and six other people were injured, the UAE’s official news agency WAM said.

Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels said they would soon make a statement about “a special military operation that was carried out in the heart of the UAE,” the Houthi-owned Al Masirah TV channel said Monday.

Deadly attacks are extremely rare in the UAE, long considered an island of stability in a turbulent region. In recent years, Houthi rebels claimed to have launched multiple attacks on the country, but Emirati authorities have denied the allegations. Houthi rebels frequently target neighboring Saudi Arabia, with the kingdom intercepting the vast majority of those missiles.

The UAE has been part of a Saudi-led military campaign against the Houthi rebels in Yemen since 2015. On Thursday, the Saudi-led coalition said they detected multiple explosive-laden drones launched from the airport in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, which is controlled by Houthis.

“Operations like this will continue so long as the offensive and blockade continue and it will encompass strategic targets,” tweeted Ali al-Qhoom, a member of the Houthi’s political bureau. “These operations will happen within the context of a legitimate response to the crimes and attacks of the UAE in Yemen.”

CNN has requested comment from the government of the UAE.

Saudi Arabia, which leads the coalition fighting Houthi rebels, condemned the attack in a statement.

“We condemn in the strongest of words the cowardly terror attack that targeted Abu Dhabi International Airport in the UAE,” the kingdom’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “The kingdom also points out that this terror attack which the Houthi militia is behind reconfirms the danger that this terror group poses and its threat to the security, peace and stability in the region and the world.”

Winter storm whipping East Coast with snow, thunderstorms

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Winter storm whipping East Coast with snow, thunderstorms

A dangerous winter storm was bringing significant snowfall, strong thunderstorms and blustery winds to the northeastern U.S. on Monday

According to AP, a foot (30 centimeters) of snow was forecast for parts of New England, New York state, Ohio and Pennsylvania through Tuesday morning, and nearly 75,000 customers in the region were without power as of Monday morning.

The massive winter system brought similar conditions to the Southeast on Sunday. Multiple states reported inches of snow, and two people died Sunday in North Carolina when when their car drove off the road and into trees in the median as the storm blew mixed precipitation through.

Severe thunderstorms in Florida spun up a tornado with 118 mph (190 kph) winds, destroying 30 mobile homes and majorly damaging 51 more. Three minor injuries were reported.

Wet roadways in the South were expected to refreeze Monday, creating icy conditions for motorists.

New York City and Boston were spared the heaviest snowfall, which was accumulating at higher elevations in western Massachusetts, eastern Pennsylvania and parts of New England. A severe thunderstorm warning remained in effect for New York City early Monday, and high winds made travel treacherous across the region.

“We’ve had a very strong area of low pressure that’s kind of moved up the coast, with pretty heavy snowfall accumulations from Tennessee, North Carolina all the way into the northeast,” said meteorologist Marc Chenard at the weather service’s headquarters in College Park, Maryland.

The highest snowfall accumulations so far have been in the North Carolina mountains, at over a foot, Chenard said.

“The bigger cities — New York, Boston — it’s warmed up, it’s rain there,” he said.

Forecasters said wind gusts in the major city could top out around 45 mph (72 kph), and around 60 mph (97 kph) on Long Island.

The howling winds spread a fire that destroyed a motel and two other structures in coastal Salisbury, Massachusetts, early Monday.

Sleet and rain were the main threats for much of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Periods of snowfall transitioned to rain overnight. NWS meteorologists in Boston said wind gusts could reach 70 mph (113 kph).

Plow trucks were scattered along roads and highways up the East Coast, working to clear the way for travelers. Some crashes were reported in the early morning hours, including an ambulance involved in a wreck on Interstate 279 in Pittsburgh, KDKA-TV reported. It was unclear whether anyone was injured.

Retail sales fall 1.9% in December after early holiday rush

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Retail sales fall 1.9% in December after early holiday rush

The Atlanta resident, who does grocery shopping for her 17-year-old son and her fiancee, used to make intermittent trips to the grocery store in between big shopping trips but those smaller trips are now costing her $280, instead of $220. She has pulled back lunches at the mall with friends to avoid the temptation to shop there.

“I am being much more conservative,” she said. “I stopped any kind of going out impulsively.”

Americans, beset by product shortages, rising prices and the arrival of omicron, sharply cut their spending in December after a burst of early spending in the fall boosted this year’s holiday shopping season, according to AP.

Retail sales fell a seasonally adjusted 1.9% in December from November when sales increased 0.3%, the U.S. Commerce Department said Friday. Sales rose 1.8% in October. Still, retail sales surged 16.9% compared with December 2020, the Commerce Department said Friday.

Spending declines were spread across numerous sectors. Department store sales fell 7%, restaurant sales slipped 0.8% and online sales fell 8.7% compared with the previous month, according to the report.

Omicron was identified by the World Health Organization in late November, and the December report from the Commerce Department is the first to capture some of its effect on consumer behavior.

The monthly retail report covers only about a third of overall consumer spending and doesn’t include money spent on things like haircuts, hotel stays or plane tickets, all which tend to see business tail off when anxiety about COVID-19 tick higher. In November, restaurant sales posted a 1% gain — the sector’s best performance since July.

And it’s been a strong year for retailers as spending patterns shifted, but remained elevated.

The National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, is crunching last month’s sales figures and is expected to release the actual holiday sales results Friday. It was expecting a record breaking growth of anywhere from 8.5% and 10.5% compared to the year-earlier period despite the challenges facing shoppers and stores. I

The omicron variant has led to widespread worker shortages with so people calling out sick, including the retail sector, and supply shortages have curtailed what makes it to store shelves. Stores and restaurants have slashed operating hours or remained closed on days they had previously been open.

This week, Lululemon warned that fourth-quarter sales and profits will likely come in at the low end of its expectations as it grapples with the variant’s fallout.

“We started the holiday season in a strong position but have since experienced several consequences of the omicron variant, including increased capacity constraints, more limited staff availability, and reduced operating hours in certain locations,” said CEO Calvin McDonald.

And inflation has settled in across almost every level of the economy, forcing the Federal Reserve to stop describing the rising prices as “transitory.”

Inflation jumped at its fastest pace in nearly 40 years last month, a 7% spike from a year earlier that is increasing household expenses and biting into wage gains. And the largest price spikes are hitting where Americans can feel it, with the cost of homes, cars, clothes and food racing higher.

Raquel Schuttler, 53, who works in fashion sales, says that the surging costs for food has had a psychological impact on her spending everywhere.

China posted a record trade surplus in December and in 2021

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China posted a record trade surplus in December and in 2021

China posted a record trade surplus in December and in 2021, as exports outperformed expectations during a global pandemic, but some analysts pointed to a slowdown in international shipments in the coming months, according to Reuters.

The world’s second-largest economy staged an impressive recovery from the pandemic, with exports helping to buoy growth as several other sectors were faltering, but there are signs the momentum is flagging.

A property downturn and strict COVID-19 curbs could hurt the 2022 outlook, with some analysts pointing to the slowdown in import growth as evidence that this is already happening.

Imports rose 19.5% year-on-year in December, the customs data showed, missing a forecast for a 26.3% rise and down sharply from a 31.7% gain in November.

“Imports dropped back sharply, consistent with continued domestic weakness, especially in the property sector,” said Evans-Pritchard.

Customs data showed China’s imports of the key steelmaking ingredient iron ore slipped from the month before on steel production curbs and slowing property construction. 

“We expect import growth to remain muted in H1 this year as China’s domestic demand will continue to be dampened by the property slowdown and weak consumption,” said Louis Kuijs, head of Asia economics at Oxford Economics, in a note.

China’s economic growth is likely to slow to 5.2% in 2022, before steadying in 2023, a Reuters poll showed, as the central bank steadily ramps up policy easing to ward off a sharper downturn.

The trade surplus hit $676.43 billion in 2021, the highest since records started in 1950, up from $523.99 bln in 2020, according to data from the statistics bureau.

China also posted a record trade surplus for the month of December as exports remained robust while import growth slowed sharply, customs data showed on Friday.

The trade surplus rose to $94.46 billion in December, the highest since records started in August 1994. That was up sharply from a $71.72 billion surplus in November and above a forecast for a $74.50 billion surplus in a Reuters poll.

China’s hefty trade surplus with the United States, a key source of contention between the world’s two biggest economies, hit $39.23 billion in December, widening from $36.95 billion the month before, but below this year’s high of $42 billion in September.

China’s commerce ministry said on Thursday that it hopes the United States can create conditions to expand trade cooperation, after Chinese purchases of U.S. goods in the past two years fell well short of the targets in a Trump-era trade deal. read more

China’s exports outperformed expectations for much of 2021, but shipments have been slowing as an overseas surge in demand for goods eases and high costs pressure exporters. It was unclear how the Omicron coronavirus variant would affect that trend.

Exports increased 20.9% year-on-year last month, beating expectations for a 20% rise, but down from a 22% gain in November.

The trade data provided some support to the yuan , which looked set for the biggest weekly gain in two months.

“Exports remained strong last month but may soften in the coming months amid growing disruptions at ports,” said Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist at Capital Economics, in a note.

China reported a total of 143 local confirmed COVID-19 cases for Jan. 13, its health authority said on Friday, including in the key northern port city of Tianjin.

But Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, said exports may already be benefiting from Omicron’s disruption to other countries’ supply chains.

“We expect China’s exports to remain strong in Q1 because of resilient global demand and worsening pandemic in many developing countries. Currently the strong exports may be the only driver helping China’s economy,” said Zhang.

Amazon takes the first steps to develop a 3.2-million square-foot sorting facility in Atlanta

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Amazon takes the first steps to develop a 3.2-million square-foot sorting facility in Atlanta

Amazon began building its first slate of multistory distribution centers in 2019. Multistory warehouses provide developers an opportunity to maximize square footage in areas with higher property costs or scarcities of land.

But these structures are often more expensive to build. 

The rise of e-commerce sales during the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated demand for industrial properties. Amazon, by far Atlanta’s largest e-commerce company, has been adding millions of square feet, fueling much of the record absorption of industrial space. The Atlanta industrial market ended the year with a record level of positive absorption, surpassing the previous high with over 25 million square feet, according to Colliers.

Manufacturers are expected to continue their mad dash toward vacant industrial land or existing warehouse space in 2022, with commercial real estate services company CBRE predicting rents will increase, vacancy rates will decline and labor markets will further lighten.

Amazon is taking the first steps to develop a 3.2-million square-foot sorting facility about an hour north of Atlanta, according to Bizjournals.

Amazon.com Services purchased about 80 acres in Bartow County for the 5-story project, according to county property records. It’s the first chunk of land needed to build the sorting facility. For perspective on how much demand for space is shifting in the era of e-commerce, the Amazon project is equal in scale to at least two regional malls.

Amazon paid $17.6 million, or around $220,000 per acre, to acquire the site, property records show. The deal closed in December. Typically, land sales average around $60,000 to $80,000 per acre in Bartow County. Amazon paid almost three times that amount.

LakePoint Land, an arm of the company behind a 1,300-acre youth sports campus, was the seller. The land is next to LakePoint sporting community, where many of the country’s top college baseball prospects play tournaments.

The project would rise on Lakepoint Parkway, where Amazon has planned the development since last February.

Amazon is working with TPA Ventures to build the project, said Emerson City Manager Kevin McBurnett. Amazon paid a premium for the undeveloped land in Bartow County. However, the site has existing infrastructure, likely making it more valuable, said Scott Amoson, vice president and director of research at Colliers International-Atlanta. 

The project will contain 57 loading docks and require additional infrastructural improvements. The slated completion date is August 2022, according to a filing with the state Development of Regional Impact program. A DRI allows state planning and transportation officials to get involved when a project is large enough to put stress on local traffic and infrastructure.

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