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The Philippines has granted the United States expanded access to its military bases, their defence chiefs said on Thursday, amid mounting concern over China's increasing assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea and tensions over self-ruled Taiwan.

Washington would be given access to four more locations under the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Philippines' Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez said in a joint news conference.

Austin, who was in the Philippines for talks as Washington seeks to extend its security options in the country as part of efforts to deter any move by China against self-ruled Taiwan, described Manila's decision as a "big deal" as he and his counterpart reaffirmed their commitment to bolstering their countries' alliance.

"Our alliance makes both of our democracies more secure and helps uphold a free and open Indo-Pacific," said Austin, whose visit follows U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris's trip to the Philippines in November, which included a stop at Palawan in the South China Sea.

"We discussed concrete actions to address destabilising activities in the waters surrounding the Philippines, including the West Philippine Sea, and we remain committed to strengthening our mutual capacities to resist armed attack," Austin said.

"That's just part of our efforts to modernize our alliance. And these efforts are especially important as People's Republic of China continues to advance its illegitimate claims in the West Philippine Sea," he added.

"We discussed concrete actions to address destabilising activities in the waters surrounding the Philippines, including the West Philippine Sea, and we remain committed to strengthening our mutual capacities to resist armed attack," Austin said.

"That's just part of our efforts to modernize our alliance. And these efforts are especially important as People's Republic of China continues to advance its illegitimate claims in the West Philippine Sea," he added. (Reuters)

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia's military must stop the shelling of Russian regions from Ukrainian territory, which he said had left many people homeless or without power.

Putin was addressing a government meeting about restoring destroyed housing and infrastructure in regions of southwest Russia that border Ukraine.

"Of course, the priority task is to eliminate the very possibility of shelling. But this is the business of the military department," Putin said in remarks published on the Kremlin website.

Ukraine does not claim responsibility for strikes inside Russian territory but has described them as "karma" for Moscow's invasion, which has razed Ukrainian cities and systematically targeted the country's energy infrastructure, leaving people frequently without power and water in the depths of winter.

Putin cited the Russian regions of Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk, as well as Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine and annexed in 2014, as areas where housing had been damaged or destroyed.

People were facing "very acute" problems, and repairs and compensation were needed, he said.

"Many people found themselves in a difficult situation, lost their homes, were forced to move to relatives or to temporary places of residence, faced interruptions in the supply of water, heat, and electricity," he said.

His comments signalled Moscow's frustration at the frequency of attacks in southern Russia, which have included strikes on sites such as electricity sub-stations and depots for weapons and fuel. (Reuters)

President Vladimir Putin was expected to use an event on Thursday to mark the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in Stalingrad 80 years ago to rally Russians around his military campaign in Ukraine.

He was due to give a speech during the afternoon in Volgograd, the city in southern Russia which until 1961 was called Stalingrad. It was the location of the bloodiest battle of World War Two when the Soviet Red Army, at a cost of over 1 million casualties, broke the back of advancing German forces.

The commemoration came as Russian forces in Ukraine are making incremental gains in the east as Moscow tries to step up what it calls its "special military operation" in the face of fierce Ukrainian resistance.

Thousands of people lined Volgograd's streets on Thursday to watch a victory parade as planes flew overhead and modern and World War Two-era tanks and armoured vehicles trundled by.

Some of the modern vehicles had the letter 'V' painted on them, a symbol used by Russia's forces in Ukraine.

Irina Zolotoreva, a 61-one-year old resident who said relatives fought at Stalingrad, saw a parallel with Ukraine.

"It evokes an association. Our country is fighting for justice, for freedom. We got victory in 1942 and that's an example for today's generation. I think we'll win again now whatever happens."

Paying tribute to those who delivered the victory at Stalingrad, widely recognised as a turning point in the war, is sacred in Russia where the authorities have long cast it as an enduring symbol of selfless patriotism and heroic resilience.

Since Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February last year, Russian officials have drawn parallels with World War Two and the struggle against the Nazis.

Ukraine - which itself suffered devastation at the hands of Hitler's forces and was then part of the Soviet Union - rejects those parallels and accuses Russia of a war of imperial conquest.

The focal point for commemorating the World War Two victory is a memorial complex to the city’s defenders, located on a hill overlooking the River Volga which is dominated by a hulking statue of a woman wielding a giant sword called The Motherland Calls.

The 1942-43 battle was devastating and reduced the city which bore Josef Stalin's name to rubble, while claiming an estimated 2 million casualties.

A new bust of Stalin was erected in Volgograd on Wednesday along with two others, of Soviet commanders Georgy Zhukov and Alexander Vasilyevsky.

The industrial city of Tsaritsyn was renamed in honour of Stalin in 1925, but became Volgograd in 1961, eight years after his death, when his legacy fell out of favour.

Despite Stalin's record of presiding over a famine that killed millions and political repression that killed hundreds of thousands, Russian politicians and school text books have in recent years stressed his role as a successful wartime leader who turned the Soviet Union into a superpower. (Reuters)

Japanese power utilities are stepping up efforts to cut thermal coal import costs by switching to lower quality grades and widening import sources, company officials said, as Tokyo looks to fight inflation and boost energy security.

The measures include burning more of cheaper low-to-mid-grade coal and seeking new suppliers in Africa and South America, they said, as the world's No. 3 coal importer has sharply reduced imports from Russia, sanctioned for its invasion of Ukraine.

The disruption in Russian energy exports squeezed energy supplies globally and drove prices of coal and liquefied natural gas to record levels last year, hitting nations hard.

Seven major regional utilities have already applied to raise electricity prices from April or June as the industry takes a hit from elevated costs of imported fuels, exacerbated by the weak yen.

Prices of high-grade Newcastle thermal coal futures surged to all-time highs of more than $400 per tonne last year, tripling Japan's import value of the fuel in 2022.

Although the prices have eased by 39% so far this year, utilities are concerned the market may rally again as top importer China recovers from COVID-19 lockdowns and will resume Australian coal imports from February.

"Among various measures to improve efficiency, cutting fuel cost is the most important thing as it's so big," Hokkaido Electric Power (9509.T) President Yutaka Fujii said last month.

Possible cost-cutting measures include using more low-grade coal, widening supplier sources and jointly purchasing coal with other companies, he added.

ALTERNATIVES TO AUSTRALIA

Japanese utilities rely mostly on high-grade coal like that from Australia to maintain a heat level consistent with the installed boilers, but have been slowly increasing the use of cheaper coal since the liberalisation of the local power market in 2016 boosted competition.

Japan bought 73% of thermal coal from Australia and 7% from Russia in 2022, against 73% and 12% in 2021, the country's trade data shows. As the price spread between Australian and European coal is wide, Japanese companies plan to increase imports from South Africa, a Tokyo-based coal trader said.

"We are looking into diversifying supply sources in areas (outside of Australia) such as Africa and South America," Kazuhiro Ikebe, president of Kyushu Electric, said last month.

JERA, Japan's biggest power generator, has modified some equipment at its coal power plants so that it can burn a wider variety of coal, which has already helped bring down the fuel cost by about 26 billion yen ($202 million) in the nine months ended Dec. 31, Tetsuo Yoshida, the head of finance, said.

Hokuriku Electric Power (9505.T), which like other Japanese utilities posted a record net loss in the nine month period ended Dec. 31 because of soaring import costs, will continue to seek high-grade coal "as much as possible," a company official said.

"But (we) will also use medium-grade coal in which the cost reduction benefit outweighs higher consumption volume and ash handling costs," the official added.

REPLACING RUSSIA

Coal imports from Russia have been in sharp decline since mid-2022 and preliminary broker data suggests they have fallen close to zero for February, according to Henning Gloystein, director of energy, climate and resources at Eurasia Group.

To replace Russian coal, Japan has increased coal imports from several sources, including Indonesia, Australia, South Africa and even occasional cargoes from the Americas, including Canada, Colombia, and the United States, he said.

Japan's biggest coal-fired power generator, Electric Power Development Co Ltd (9513.T), is considering buying coal from South Africa to diversify procurement sources, a spokesperson said. (reuters)