VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Japan has reported its fourth case of the Omicron coronavirus variant, TV Asahi said on Wednesday.

The fresh case was a man in his 50s who had stayed in Nigeria, the network reported.

The Japanese government has enforced tighter border controls against the Omicron variant. (Reuters)

New Zealand's defence forces warned on Wednesday of the security threat from an increasingly powerful China as it assertively pursues its interests in the Indo-Pacific region.

Growing strategic competition between China, which is New Zealand's biggest trading partner, the United States and other powers will also boost potential for confrontation and conflict in the region, a defence assessment report for 2021 said.

"New Zealand faces a world in which strategic competition is increasingly the background for states’ relationships," the report said, adding that China’s rise was the major driver of such competition.

Even in the absence of open conflict, strategic competition would play out across arenas from space to cyber space in ways that will threaten New Zealand’s security, said the report, which is made every five years.

"This is true of both the wider Indo-Pacific and New Zealand’s immediate region."

New Zealand has publicly expressed its concern over developments such as the building and militarisation of features in the South China Sea, the report added.

One of the biggest possible threats New Zealand could face would be the setting-up of a military base or dual-use facility in the Pacific by a state that did not share its values and security interests, the report said.

China has drawn up plans to upgrade an airstrip and bridge on one of Kiribati’s remote islands to revive a site that hosted military aircraft during World War Two.

New Zealand relies on its Western allies, including neighbouring Australia, for its security needs. U.S. President Joe Biden has signalled a renewed commitment to bolster his country's influence in the Indo-Pacific. read more

"Washington’s delivery on this commitment, over both short and longer terms, will be important in determining the future for this region, including New Zealand's own neighbourhood," the report added. (Reuters)

Myanmar soldiers have been accused of rounding up 11 people in a village in a central area of the strife-torn country before shooting them and setting fire to their bodies, according to residents in the area and media reports.

The charred remains were found in a village in Sagaing, an area which has seen fierce fighting between security forces and militia set up by opponents of military rule since a Feb. 1 coup, said residents, who said some of the victims were still alive when burned.

Video footage purporting to show the burned bodies was circulated on social media and images were published by some media including the Myanmar Now news portal.

Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the footage or claims over how the 11 died and a spokesman for the junta did not answer calls seeking comment.

A volunteer aid worker in the area, who asked not to be identified, said by telephone troops had entered Don Taw village early on Tuesday and the victims were killed at around 11 a.m. that day.

"The troops were just brutally killing anyone they could find," the volunteer said, citing witness accounts. The volunteer has assisted people who have fled Don Taw and other nearby villages.

The volunteer said it was unclear if the victims were militia members or ordinary civilians.

Myanmar has been in chaos since the military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's democratically elected government, with widespread protests and the formation of militia, known as People's Defence Forces (PDF), to take on the well-equipped army.

Kyaw Wunna, a member of a PDF in the region, said by telephone he was informed that troops had arrived firing weapons and those detained were taken to a field near the village before being killed.

Kyaw Wunna declined to disclose the source of the information.

Another volunteer aid worker said they had spoken to witnesses among some of the 3,000 people who had fled from five villages in the area and had gone into hiding, fearful of more arrests and killings.

A relative of one of the victims told Reuters the dead man, Htet Ko, was a 22-year-old university student and not a member of any militia and not armed.

"This is inhumane. I feel deep pain in my heart," said the relative, who said the man had tried to flee, but had been wounded by gun fire.

Dr Sasa, a spokesperson for Myanmar's shadow civilian government set up following the coup, alleged the victims had been "lashed together, tortured, and ultimately burned alive".

In a post on social media, he listed what he said were the names of the 11, all male and including a boy of 14.

"These horrific attacks show that the military have no regard for the sanctity of human life," he said.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a monitoring group cited by the United Nations, says more than 10,700 civilians have been detained and 1,300 killed by security forces since the military seized power.

The military says AAPP is biased and uses exaggerated data and that hundreds of soldiers have also been killed. (Reuters)

 Japan will deny some tax breaks to big companies that do not hike wages while boosting deductions for those that do, as it moves to boost domestic salaries, a final draft of the ruling party's annual tax reform plan showed on Wednesday.

Wages in Japan have stayed largely flat over the past 30 years, OECD data shows, causing "lost decades" and grinding deflation, while the ruling LDP and its coalition ally Komeito are expected to endorse the plan on Friday.

The carrot-and-stick approach underscores Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's focus on distributing wealth to households, with steps such as urging pay hikes of 3% or more by firms whose profits have returned to pre-pandemic levels.

"The move shows the government has no choice but to intervene in private-sector wages to stoke a positive cycle of broad wage hikes and sustainable inflation in the long run," said analyst Yoshimasa Maruyama.

But it was doubtful the measures would immediately prompt firms to raise wages as they had recently lifted pay, added Maruyama, the chief market economist at SMBC Nikko Securities.

Lawmakers of Kishida's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have also agreed on tweaks to tax breaks on mortgages in another major reform for the next fiscal year, a senior lawmaker told Reuters.

Such tax breaks, adopted to cushion the pain of a hike in sales tax in Oct. 2019, now permit a deduction of 1% of outstanding housing loans at the end of each year, for up to a decade.

LDP lawmakers agreed on Tuesday to cut that deduction to 0.7% instead of 1%, as the exemptions outstrip the interest rates paid by homebuyers on such loans, while extending the term to 13 years from 10, to keep the amount of tax breaks steady.

UNDER PRESSURE

Since it swept to power in late 2012, the LDP-led government has piled pressure on cautious Japanese firms to spend their record cash piles to boost wages. But many have resisted, in the face of economic uncertainties.

Large companies that raise wages by 4% from the previous year will get deductions of up to 30% of taxable income, up from the maximum of 20% now, according to the plan for next fiscal year's tax reform obtained by Reuters.

Small firms that raise wages by 2.5% will qualify for a tax deduction of up to 40% from the current maximum of 25%.

However, companies that do not raise wages will not be able to claim tax deductions for spending on areas such as research and development, promoting investment, 5G, digital transformation and carbon neutrality, the draft showed.

Wage increases of 4% would represent a significant hike for Japanese firms, compared with offers of about 2% at annual wage talks with unions in recent years. (Reuters)