By Yew Lun Tian, Laurie Chen and Joe Cash

BEIJING (Reuters) -Four years before Li Qiang gained notoriety as the force behind the two-month COVID lockdown of Shanghai, the man set to become China’s next premier worked quietly behind the scenes to drive a bold revamp of the megacity’s sclerotic stock market.

Li’s back-channelling – sources said he bypassed the China Securities Regulatory Commission, which lost some of its power under the new set-up – demonstrated what became a reputation for pragmatism as well as close ties with President Xi Jinping.

In late 2018, Xi himself announced Shanghai’s new tech-focused STAR Market as well as the pilot of a registration-based IPO system, reforms meant to entice China’s hottest young firms to list locally rather than overseas.

“The CSRC was very unhappy,” said a veteran banker close to regulators and Shanghai officials, declining to be named given the sensitivity of the matter.

“Li’s relationship with Xi played a role here,” enabling him to present the scheme directly to the central government, without going through the CSRC, the person added.

The CSRC did not respond to a request for comment.

Previously the Communist Party chief in Shanghai, Li is poised to be confirmed as premier on Saturday during the ongoing National People’s Congress, charged with managing the world’s second largest economy. He would replace the retiring Li Keqiang, who is widely perceived to have been increasingly sidelined as Xi tightened his grip on management of the economy.

Leadership watchers say Li Qiang’s closeness to Xi is both a strength and a vulnerability: while he has Xi’s trust, he is beholden to his long-time patron.

Trey McArver, co-founder of consultancy Trivium China, said Li is likely to be much more powerful than his predecessor.

Xi expended significant political capital to get him into the role, given Li’s lack of central government experience and the Shanghai lockdown, McArver said.

“Officials know that Li Qiang is Xi Jinping’s guy,” he said.

“He clearly thinks that Li Qiang is a very competent person and he has put him in this position because he trusts him and he expects a lot of him.”

Li, 63, did not respond to questions sent to China’s State Council Information Office.

PRACTICAL PRAGMATIST

A career bureaucrat, Li was revealed as the pick for China’s No.2 role in October when Xi unveiled a leadership line-up stacked with loyalists.

At that time, Li had been known for overseeing the harrowing COVID lockdown earlier last year of Shanghai’s 25 million people, which shut the city’s economy and left psychological scars among its residents. That made him a target of anger but did nothing to derail his promotion.

Li was also instrumental in pushing for China’s unexpectedly sudden end to its zero-COVID policy late last year, Reuters reported on Friday.

People who have interacted with Li say they found him practical-minded, an effective bureaucratic operator, and supportive of the private sector – a stance that would be expected in someone whose career put him in charge of some of China’s most economically dynamic regions.

As Communist Party chief between 2002 to 2004 in his home city of Wenzhou, a hotbed of entrepreneurialism, Li came across as open-minded and willing to listen, said Zhou Dewen, who represented small and mid-sized enterprises in the city.

“He took a liberal approach of granting private companies default access to enter the market, except when explicitly banned by law, rather then the traditional approach of keeping private companies out by default,” said Zhou.

Craig Allen, president of the U.S.-China Business Council and a former U.S. official, said Li sought to level the playing field for foreign businesses, pointing to the speed with which U.S. carmaker Tesla was able to get its Shanghai factory there operational in 2019.

“Clearly nothing got in the way once a decision was made. There was a clarity of a kind in his decision making, an authority, and that really helps,” said Allen, describing Li as comfortable in his own skin.

Still, several observers caution against putting too much weight on Li’s experience in a business hub such as Shanghai, since Xi has steadily tightened Communist Party control and taken the economy in a more statist direction.

“Now Li is a national leader, working under a market-sceptic boss, and he has to balance growth with a range of social, technological, and geopolitical goals,” said Neil Thomas, senior analyst at Eurasia.

NO WALL-FLOWER

Even by the opaque standards of Chinese politics, there is little public information about Li’s background or personal life.

Born in Ruian county in what is now Wenzhou, the 17-year-old Li went to work in 1976 at an irrigation station in his hometown, a desirable job in what turned out to be the final year of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution.

Li entered Zhejiang Agricultural University in 1978, the year that campuses were reopened in China and competition for places was fierce. He later was awarded master’s degrees from the central party school in Beijing and Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

It was in Zhejiang, home to some of China’s biggest private companies, where Xi was provincial party secretary and Li was his chief of staff between 2004 and 2007, that the two men would have built their personal bond.

American author Robert Lawrence Kuhn, who met Li and Xi together in 2005 and 2006, said the two shared an easy rapport.

“Unlike most other staffers of top leaders, Li was no wall-flower,” Kuhn told Reuters.

“In the presence of Xi, he felt comfortable and confident enough to put himself forward to engage me, which tells me he is not worried his boss might think he is trying to steal his limelight,” Kuhn said.

However, leadership watchers said there are limits to what Li will be able to do.

“Li can make some repairs here and there, but he won’t tear down the wall and build something new,” said Chen Daoyin, former associate professor at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, and now a commentator based in Chile.

(Additional reporting by the Shanghai newsroom and Julie Zhu in Hong KongEditing by Tony Munroe and Lincoln Feast.)

By Nate Raymond

BOSTON (Reuters) -A U.S. judge on Thursday ordered a psychiatric evaluation to determine if a man was mentally competent to face trial after prosecutors said he tried to open an emergency exit door on a recent Boston-bound United Airlines flight and then attacked a flight attendant.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith Dein in Boston granted a request by prosecutors for Francisco Severo Torres, 33, to be committed to a facility for a psychiatric evaluation, saying there was reason to believe he was mentally incompetent.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elianna Nuzum said a review of Torres’ past involvement with police and the courts showed a history of “fantastical” statements and concerns about his mental health.

She cited a passenger’s video from the Sunday flight to Boston from Los Angeles showing Torres saying he was “waiting for them to point the gun at me so I can show everybody that I won’t die,” and saying, “They’re going to have to shoot me down today.”

Torres later told law enforcement he would not die if stabbed in the heart or shot in the chest and could come back to life, Nuzum said. He has also attacked a jail guard, she said.

Joshua Hanye, Nuzum’s court-appointed lawyer, said his client objected to any evaluation. As the hearing ended, Torres shouted as guards led him out of the courtroom: “My name is still Balthazar, renamed by God.”

In the Christian religion, Balthazar is the name of one of the three wise men who visited the baby Jesus in the Bible.

According to prosecutors, about 45 minutes before the flight landed in Boston, the flight crew received an alarm in the cockpit that a door between the first class and coach sections had been disarmed.

After Torres was confronted about whether he tampered with it, he tried to stab a flight attendant in the neck with a broken metal spoon. Passengers then tackled him and the flight crew restrained him.

Torres was charged with one count of interference and attempted interference with flight crew members and attendants using a dangerous weapon and faces up to life in prison if convicted.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, David Gregorio and Leslie Adler)

By Andrius Sytas

RIGA (Reuters) – Latvia began seizing cars from heavily drunk drivers this year, and as hundreds of vehicles began overfilling impound lots, decided to send them to Ukrainian military and hospitals.

Seven cars were driven in a snowstorm onto a trailer and out of a state impound lot on Wednesday, destined for Ukraine.

Two hundred cars were taken from drivers found with blood alcohol levels over 0.15% in two months in the Baltic nation of 1.9 million people.

“It’s actually very scary when you realise how many cars are driving around with drunk drivers,” said Reinis Poznaks, founder of the NGO known as Twitter Convoy which has been tasked by the government to deliver the vehicles to Ukraine.

The two-dozen confiscated cars the state has promised to hand him each week to send to Ukraine will test the limits of his largely volunteer operation, Poznaks said.

“No-one expected that people are drunk-driving so many vehicles, they can’t sell them as fast as people are drinking. So that’s why I came with the idea – send them to Ukraine,” Poznaks said.

He laughed as he found a Russian flag pinned in one of the confiscated vehicles, left there by its owner.

Twitter Convoy has already dispatched about 1,200 vehicles, after announcing a plea for donations on Twitter days after the Russia’s invasion started on Feb. 24 last year. It raised 2 million euros ($2.1 million) for vehicle purchases, renovations, and logistics in 2022.

Latvian Finance Minister Arvils Aseradens said the government was inspired by the success of the NGO to drop attempts to auction the vehicles: “We said, well, you can take those cars … and (Poznak) says, ‘Oh, that’s very good!'”

“We are ready to do practically anything to support Ukrainians.”

At a police raid on Wednesday, where four officers closed a Riga road for half an hour to check every driver for alcohol, none was found drunk.

But 4,300 drivers were found over-the-limit on Latvia’s roads last year, police said, and were involved in almost thousand accidents in 2022.

($1 = 0.9476 euros)

(Reporting by Andrius Sytas and Janis Laizans; Editing by Stephen Coates)

By Katharine Jackson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday delivered a budget proposal that includes a robust spending agenda, higher taxes on the wealthy and plans to reduce the deficit, a document that forms the blueprint for his expected 2024 re-election bid.

Here is reaction to Biden’s budget proposal to Congress for the 2024 fiscal year:

U.S. House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington, Republican from Texas:

“His policies have led to 40-year record inflation, soaring interest rates and the prospect of a sustained economic recession. Unfortunately, Biden’s latest budget is more of the same bloated bureaucracy at the expense of working families, while sticking our grandchildren with the bill.”

U.S. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries:

“The Biden budget plan protects Social Security, strengthens Medicare and invests in our children. House Republicans continue to hide their extreme plans from the American people.”

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer and Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik in a joint statement:

“President Joe Biden’s budget is a reckless proposal doubling down on the same Far Left spending policies that have led to record inflation and our current debt crisis.”

Republican U.S. House Member Ben Cline of Virginia on Fox Business:

“I think his budget in the Republican House of Representatives is going to be about as popular as Pete Buttigieg in East Palestine, Ohio. I don’t think it’s going to get a, well, very good reception. His tax increases are dead on arrival. We’re working on a budget that is going to get rid of the woke and weaponized government that Joe Biden has been pushing for years now.”

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer:

“The president’s budget is set to be a bold, optimistic, and serious proposal for strengthening our economy and creating opportunities to climb into the middle class, as well as helping people stay there once they get in the middle class.”

Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal:

“This budget would advance priorities progressives have been pushing for years, and continue the unfinished work from the president’s 2022 agenda. ….. There are also a few places where we need to do better, and ensure record levels of funding come alongside real accountability, particularly for immigration and defense.”

Republican U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa:

“Even with near-record revenues, President Biden wants to raise taxes on every segment of America. Under his plan, the government’s bite out of the economy would be the largest since World War II. And despite all that, he’s somehow managed to continue adding to our national debt at a breakneck speed. It’s an unserious proposal, and will be treated as such by both parties in Congress.”

Josh Bivens, Economic Policy Institute, director of research:

“If there’s a quibble on the tax side, it’s that it doesn’t ask enough of plenty of American households who could afford to pay more.”

U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Executive Vice President Neil Bradley:

“The administration’s proposed budget is a recipe for economic and fiscal disaster. Nearly $2 trillion in spending increases would result in an economy where one out of every four dollars is government spending. An unprecedented $5 trillion in tax increases would hit businesses of all sizes and lead to lower wages for working Americans.”

U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Jack Reed, Democrat from Rhode Island, on Biden’s $886 billion in proposed national defense spending:

“This topline request serves as a useful starting point.”

U.S. House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers, Republican from Alabama:

“A budget that proposes to increase non-defense spending at more than twice the rate of defense is absurd. The president’s incredibly misplaced priorities send all the wrong messages to our adversaries.”

(Reporting by Katharine Jackson, Trevor Hunnicutt, Andrea Shalal, Mike Stone and Kanishka Singh; Editing by Alistair Bell and Cynthia Osterman)

By Steve Gorman and Brendan O’Brien

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -A newly formed Pacific storm swept into California on Thursday as forecasters warned of flooding from heavy downpours expected to drench much of the state, including mountain areas still blanketed in snow from recent blizzards.

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued excessive-rainfall alerts and flood watches, as well as high-wind advisories, for a wide swath of northern and central California encompassing the metropolitan areas around San Francisco Bay and Sacramento.

By Friday, when the storm is expected to reach its peak, excessive-rain and flood advisories will cover a region that is home to nearly 26 million people, extending as far south as Los Angeles, the state’s largest city, according to NWS forecaster David Roth.

The storm is the product of what meteorologists call an atmospheric river, a high-altitude current of dense, subtropical moisture streaming into West Coast from the warm Pacific waters around Hawaii.

It marks the latest of 10 such California storms since Christmas, adding to an exceptionally wet, snowy winter in a state that in recent years has been plagued far more by drought and wildfires than by severe precipitation.

The growing frequency and intensity of such storms amid bouts of prolonged drought are symptomatic of human-caused climate change, experts say. The swing from one extreme to another has only increased the difficulty of managing California’s precious water supplies while minimizing flood and wildfire risks.

Forecasters said Thursday’s blast will bring rain not only to low-lying regions but to mid-elevation mountains still digging out this week from a spate of blizzards, causing rapid snow melt that will add to runoff and flood hazards downstream.

Gusty winds accompanying the showers are expected to uproot a considerable number of trees loosely anchored in rain-soaked soils.

Rainfall totals of up to 5 inches (12.7 cm) were forecast for some low elevations, with as much of 10 inches (25.4 cm) possible in the Santa Cruz Mountains south of San Jose, and in the Santa Lucia Mountains along the coast near Big Sur, the NWS said.

The highest mountain regions – areas generally above 8,000 feet (2,400 meters) in the Sierra Nevada, the Cascades and coastal ranges – are likely to receive several feet of additional snow instead.

Heavy snowfall is expected to spread westward into portions of the Rockies by Friday, the weather service said.

“Most of the flooding concerns are for the lower-lying areas susceptible to rapid river and stream rises,” NWS Weather Prediction Center meteorologist William Churchill said.

Waterfront communities along several major rivers braced for the possibility of overflowing streambeds.

In Tulare County, Sheriff Mike Boudreaux issued an evacuation warning for homes and businesses along a stretch of the Kings River, which drains the Sierra range, in advance of “this rain-on-snow event.”

Elsewhere, the NWS issued “prepare now” alerts for residents along the Big Sur, Carmel, Salinas and Pajaro rivers.

Crews also scrambled to reinforce flood-weakened levees that were breached in flooding months ago along the Cosumnes River south of Sacramento, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

In addition to the potential for rivers overtopping their banks, Roth said mudslide risks persist in areas downhill from mountain slopes and canyons stripped bare and left unstable by recent wildfires.

The latest deluge follows a barrage of nine atmospheric river storms that triggered widespread flooding, rockfalls and sinkholes across California from late December through mid-January. At least 20 deaths were attributed to the earlier storms.

Although damaging, this winter weather has eased a historic four-year dry spell in California, replenishing some badly depleted reservoirs and the Sierra snowpack, a critical source of fresh water for the state.

Another storm system brewing over the Pacific could come ashore California early next week, the weather service said.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles and Brendan O’Brien in ChicagoEditing by Bradley Perrett, Frances Kerry and Diane Craft)