Live Streaming
Program Highlight
Company Profile
International News (6891)
December
Malaysia landslide kills 12 at campsite, more than 20 missing
Written by Nur Yasmin
A landslide killed at least 12 people while they slept at a campsite in Malaysia early on Friday, officials said, as search teams scoured thick mud and downed trees for more than 20 people still missing.
The landslide in Selangor state, on the outskirts of capital, Kuala Lumpur, occurred about 3 a.m. (1900 GMT), tearing down a hillside into an organic farm with camping facilities, the state fire and rescue department said in a statement.
More than 90 people were caught in the landslide and 59 had been found safe, with 22 still missing, according to messages on social media by the department.
In addition to the 12 dead, eight were hospitalised, it said.
One of those taken to the hospital was pregnant, while others had injuries ranging from minor cuts to a suspected spinal injury, health minister Zaliha Mustafa told a news conference.
District police chief Suffian Abdullah said the dead were all Malaysians and included a child about 5 years old.
Almost 400 people from several agencies had been deployed, with search-and-rescue efforts ongoing, he told a news conference.
The landslide came down from an estimated height of 30 metres (100 ft) above the campsite, and covered an area of about one acre (0.4 hectare), according to the fire and rescue department's state director.
Footage from local television showed the aftermath of a large landslide through a steep, forested area beside a road, while other images on social media showed rescue workers clambering over thick mud, large trees and other debris.
"I pray that the missing victims can be found safely soon," Malaysia's minister of natural resources, environment and climate change, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, tweeted on Friday morning, one of several ministers who were heading to the scene. "The rescue team has been working since early. I'm going down there today."
The disaster struck about 50km (30 miles) north of Kuala Lumpur in Batang Kali town, just outside the popular hilltop area of Genting Highlands, an area known for its resorts, waterfalls and natural beauty.
Pictures posted on the Father's Organic Farm Facebook page show a farmhouse in a small valley, with a large area where tents can be set up.
Selangor is the country's most affluent state and has suffered landslides before, often attributed to forest and land clearance.
The region is in its rainy season but no heavy rain or earthquakes were recorded overnight.
A year ago, about 21,000 people were displaced by flooding from torrential rain in seven states across the country. (Reuters)
December
Japan turns back to nuclear power to tackle energy crisis
Written by Nur Yasmin
Japan confirmed a major nuclear power policy shift on Friday to tackle an energy crisis more than a decade after the 2011 Fukushima disaster prompted it to idle most of its reactors.
Public opinion has been hostile towards nuclear energy since a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, but the mood has shifted due to soaring energy costs amid the prolonged war in Ukraine and repeated power crunches in both summer and winter.
Quake-prone Japan, which previously said it had no plans to build new reactors, will now seek to replace decomissioned ones and extend the lifespan of others, the industry ministry said.
The stark policy turnaround comes after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in August that Japan would look at developing next-generation reactors, instructing the industry ministry to set up a policy plan to widen use of nuclear energy by the end of this year.
Governments across Europe and Asia are also extending the life of their aging nuclear fleets, restarting reactors and dusting off plans to resume projects shelved after the Fukushima disaster.
Under a strategic energy plan approved by the Cabinet last year, Japan aimed to reduce its dependence on nuclear power as much as possible.
But the new policy, which was approved by an expert panel under the industry ministry on Friday, would allow existing nuclear reactors to operate beyond the current limit of 60 years as well as support the development of new ones.
Further details will be discussed in parliament next year, an official at the industry ministry said.
In the financial year to March 2021, nuclear accounted for 3.9% of Japan's power mix, with the government aiming to boost it to as much as 22% by 2030. (Reuters)
December
Turkey's Baykar launches new jet-powered drone, aiming for air-to-air combat
Written by Nur Yasmin
Turkish defence firm Baykar said its first jet-powered unmanned aerial combat vehicle (UCAV) completed its maiden flight on Wednesday, as the company continues to gain popularity globally, most recently by helping Ukraine's army fight Russian forces.
Baykar released a video showing the Kizilelma (Golden Apple) UCAV taking off and then returning to an airbase which it said was in the northwestern Corlu province, 85 kilometers west of Istanbul.
Flightradar data also showed an unknown aircraft with a BYK07 call sign detected over Corlu Airport on Wednesday.
The company's earlier Bayraktar TB2 drone has featured prominently in global conflicts, pushing Baykar into the global spotlight and transforming it into a major manufacturer and exporter.
International demand for Baykar's propeller-driven drones soared after their impact in Syria, Ukraine, and Libya, where their laser-guided armor-piercing bombs helped repel an offensive by UAE-supported forces two years ago.
Selcuk Bayraktar, Baykar's chief technology officer, said in the video that Kizilelma had successfully completed its maiden flight.
The UCAV will increase the top speed and carrying capacity of the existing drones in Turkey, which have also played a prominent role in conflicts in Libya and northern Iraq.
Turkey's new drone powered by a jet-engine shows similar exterior features to fifth generation fighter jets. Baykar says in addition to conventional drone missions, Kizilelma will be able to conduct air-to-air engagements.
Malaysia and Indonesia had expressed interest in buying armed drones from Turkey, while 20 of them have been delivered to the United Arab Emirates.
Baykar is planning to complete the construction of its manufacturing plant in Ukraine, the only one outside of Turkey, in two years.
After it got removed from the F-35 fighter jet program, Turkey converted its vertical take-off aircraft carrier, which is still under construction into a drone carrier. The carrier will serve as a base for Kizilema and other drones in use by the Turkish military. (Reuters)
December
South Korea protests Japan's island claim in national security strategy
Written by Nur Yasmin
South Korea issued a strong protest against Japan's territorial claim over disputed islands made in a national security strategy released on Friday while cautiously responding to Tokyo's plans for an unprecedented military buildup.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol who took office in May has tried to improve ties with Tokyo which have been marred by the territorial row over the islands and historic disputes stemming from Japan's 1910-1945 occupation of Korea.
South Korea's foreign ministry on Friday demanded an immediate removal of the territorial claims from Japan's national strategy documents, saying in a statement that the move did nothing to help "building a future-oriented relationship" between the two countries.
The foreign ministry later said it summoned a senior diplomat from Japan's embassy in Seoul to lodge the protest. The defence ministry separately said it summoned a Japanese defence official to protest the claim.
The islands known as Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan are controlled by Seoul with a small contingent of coast guards.
In a separate statement, the foreign ministry said it hoped the implementation of Japan's new security policy will be transparent and contribute to regional peace and stability while continuing to uphold the spirit of is pacifist constitution.
Any exercise of attack capabilities against the Korean peninsula "must necessarily involve close consultations and agreement" with South Korea, it said, in an apparent reference to possible action to counter North Korea's aggression.
President Yoon, who has made it a key national security priority to improve cooperation with Japan, told Reuters in an interview in November it was understandable for Japan to boost its defence spending given the growing threat from North Korea's ballistic missile programme. (Reuters)
December
Malaysia PM signs cooperation pact with smaller parties ahead of confidence vote
Written by Nur Yasmin
Malaysian political parties supporting Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Friday signed a cooperation pact promising to ensure stability, ahead of a confidence vote on the premier next week.
Anwar - who has spent more than two decades as an opposition figure - became prime minister last month, forming a government with rival political blocs after an election that produced a hung parliament.
He has promised to convene parliament on Monday for a confidence vote to prove his lower house majority, after rival and former premier Muhyiddin Yassin cast doubt on his support.
Anwar is Malaysia's fourth prime minister since 2020, after two previous administrations collapsed due to political turmoil. Malaysia this year passed laws to prevent future party defections, but the new rules do not stop political coalitions from switching allegiances as a bloc.
According to Anwar and other coalition leaders, the parties agreed to ensure political stability after years of turmoil, spurring the economy, good governance, and upholding the rights of the country's majority Malay community and Islam as its official religion.
"We agreed on the broad parameters and broad policies including to ensure the government is stable," he said after a ceremony where political party chiefs signed the pact.
"We concede that no party managed to have a clear majority, therefore... it makes a lot of sense that we have to achieve this sort of understanding based on shared principles and policies."
They promised to improve development in the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak in Borneo island. Support from Borneo-based blocs is crucial for Anwar to maintain his majority.
His government also includes the previous ruling coalition Barisan Nasional, which he spent much of his political career seeking to overthrow.
Barisan had ruled Malaysia for more than six decades before being voted out in a 2018 election amid widespread corruption allegations.
It returned to power last year, but was ousted again in last month's polls - coming in third to Anwar's and Muhyiddin's coalitions. (Reuters)
December
U.S. FDA advisers to weigh on updating initial COVID vaccine doses
Written by Nur Yasmin
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Friday it planned to hold a meeting of outside experts next month to discuss whether initial doses of COVID-19 vaccines need to be updated to combat circulating variants.
While updated booster doses from Pfizer (PFE.N) and Moderna (MRNA.O) are already approved for adults as well as children as young as five years, the FDA said it was important to weigh in on the composition of both initial and booster doses as new variants spread.
"Since the initial authorizations of these vaccines, we have learned that protection wanes over time, especially as the virus rapidly mutates and new variants and subvariants emerge," the FDA said in a statement.
The independent advisers, who are scheduled to meet on Jan. 26, are also expected to weigh in on whether the timing or composition of booster doses need to be adjusted.
The U.S. health regulator's announcement comes after the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) emergency task force said earlier this month that bivalent COVID-19 shots, which target the original strain and the Omicron BA.4/5 subvariants, may be used in previously unvaccinated children and adults.
EMA's recommendation was based on data that showed primary vaccination with the adapted bivalent vaccines should give rise to a broad immune response in people who have not yet been exposed to or vaccinated against COVID-19.
In June, advisers to the FDA had recommended a change in the composition of COVID-19 booster shots before fall to combat more recently circulating variants of the coronavirus. (Reuters)
December
EU regulator backs gene therapy to treat rare bleeding disorder
Written by Nur Yasmin
The European Union's health regulator on Friday said it had recommended granting a conditional marketing authorisation for a gene therapy by Australian drugmaker CSL Ltd (CSL.AX) and partner uniQure N.V. , to treat haemophilia B, a rare bleeding disorder which is caused by genetic anomalies.
About one in 40,000 people are affected by the inherited disorder, caused by a gene mutation that hampers the body's ability to make clotting protein factor IX.
If approved, the treatment, branded Hemgenix, will be the first gene therapy in the European Union for the condition that is usually treated by regular injections of factor IX, the European Medicines Agency said.
CSL had acquired exclusive global rights to Hemgenix in May last year from uniQure N.V.
In November, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Hemgenix for the treatment of rare genetic blood clotting disorder, followed by CSL Ltd setting the list price of the therapy at $3.5 million making it the world's most expensive treatment. (Reuters)
December
We've run out of cholera vaccines, WHO official says as disease surges
Written by Nur Yasmin
The global stockpile of cholera vaccines the World Health Organization helps manage is "currently empty or extremely low", a WHO official said on Friday amid a resurgence of the disease around the world.
The U.N. health agency says global fatality rates are rising and there are around 30 countries around the world that have reported cholera outbreaks this year, about a third higher than in a typical year.
"We have no more vaccines. More countries are continuing to request (them) and it's extremely challenging," said Dr Philippe Barboza, WHO Team Lead for Cholera and Epidemic Diarrhoeal Diseases.
He was referring to an emergency stockpile held by the International Coordinating Group on vaccine provision that is managed by the WHO and other partners. Typically, it has about 36 million doses available a year. The shortage of vaccines has already prompted the WHO to temporarily suspend the standard two-dose vaccination strategy in October.
Barboza said part of the crunch was due to the decision by an Indian manufacturer to halt exports, without giving details. He said a South African manufacturer was planning to start production but it would take "a few years".
"It's probably far less attractive to develop a vaccine for cholera, so basically a vaccine for poor countries, than to develop COVID vaccines where the income made for the vaccine is much higher," he said. A batch of more than 1 million doses arrived in Haiti this week.
Cholera is spread by contaminated food or water and can cause acute diarrhoea. Many people have mild symptoms but it can kill within hours if untreated.
"It is not acceptable in the 21st century to have people dying of a disease which is very well known and very easy to treat," Barboza added.
Among the countries with outbreaks are those affected by poverty and conflict such as Haiti and Yemen but the disease has also been reported in countries like Lebanon which until recently was a middle-income country, saying this should be a "wake-up" call for other countries. (Reuters)
December
'Go all out': China prepares for infection spread after COVID policy U-turn
Written by Nur Yasmin
China put a priority on protecting rural communities from COVID-19 on Friday as millions of city-dwellers planned holidays for the first time in years after Beijing abandoned its stringent system of lockdowns and travel curbs.
China's move last week to start aligning with a world that has largely opened up to live with the virus, followed historic protests against President Xi Jinping's signature 'zero-COVID' policies designed to stamp out COVID.
But the excitement that met this dramatic u-turn has quickly given way to concerns that China is unprepared for the wave of infections to come, even though officials have been trying to downplay the dangers posed by the less severe new COVID strain.
China reported 2,157 new symptomatic COVID-19 infections for Dec. 15 compared with 2,000 a day. The official figures, however, have become less reliable as testing has dropped. It also stopped reporting asymptomatic figures on Wednesday.
There is particular concern about China's hinterland in the run up to China's Lunar New Year holiday starting on Jan. 22.
Rural areas are likely to be inundated with travellers returning to their hometowns and villages, which have had little exposure to the virus during the three years since the pandemic erupted.
China's National Health Commission on Friday said it was ramping up vaccinations, especially for the elderly, and building stocks of ventilators, essential drugs, and test kits in rural areas.
Mainland China's international borders remain largely shut, but recent decisions to abandon testing prior to domestic travel and disable apps that tracked people's journey history have freed up people to move around the country.
Multiple cities including the capital Beijing and those in the southwest Sichuan, central Hunan and eastern Zhejiang and Anhui provinces have also opened new vaccination sites to encourage the public to take booster shots, the state-run Global Times newspaper reported.
"Go all out" was the message from China's state asset regulator in a statement late Thursday that urged government-owned drugmakers to ensure supplies of COVID-related medicines.
On the streets, there are increasing signs of chaos during China's change of tack - including long queues outside fever clinics, runs on medicines and panic buying across the country.
SF Express (002352.SZ) , one of China's largest courier services, said on its official WeChat account that it sent in workers from across the country to keep deliveries going in Beijing amid staff shortages and soaring demand.
It also said it had started a "fast track" for emergency shipments such as medicines and daily necessities, with demand in the capital 300% above normal levels in recent days.
The COVID scare in China also led people in Hong Kong, Macau and in some neighbourhoods in Australia to go in search for fever medicines and test kits for family and friends on the mainland.
'TRANSITIONAL PAIN'
For all its efforts to quell the virus since it erupted in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019, China may now pay a price for shielding a population that lacks "herd immunity" and has low vaccination rates among the elderly, analysts said.
That has dented the prospects for any near-term rebound in growth, even if the opening up should eventually revive the world's second largest economy.
JP Morgan on Friday revised down its expectations for China's 2022 growth to 2.8%, which is well below China's official target of 5.5% and would mark one of China's worst performances in almost half a century.
China is bracing for "a transitional pain period", analysts at the bank said, adding they expected infections to spike in the months after the Lunar New Year holidays before the economy starts to recover in the middle of 2023.
Investors are also waiting to hear about government plans to revive the ailing economy.
President Xi, his ruling Politburo and senior government officials are holding their annual Central Economic Work Conference this week, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
State media, however, have been unusually silent about the meeting and Bloomberg reported earlier this week that the start of the conference had been delayed due to surging infections in Beijing. (Reuters)
December
Pakistan signs $475 mln flood loan deal with ADB
Written by Nur Yasmin
Pakistan has signed a $475 million loan agreement for flood relief with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the country's economic affairs minister said on Thursday, taking the total for the year to $2.7 billion with the agency.
Floods caused by abnormal monsoon rains and a melting glacier submerged huge swathes of the country earlier this year and killed nearly 1,700 people, the majority of them children and women.
Minister Ayaz Sadiq said the concessionary ADB loan was signed at the rate of 1% for a period of 40 years.
"The impression that's being spread is that God forbid, Pakistan is going to be bankrupt, or it is in financial crisis. There is nothing like that," Sadiq said in a recorded message.
"Had there been such a situation, the ADB wouldn't have signed these loans with us today."
Pakistan is struggling to meet its external financing obligations in the face of low foreign exchange reserves that are barely enough to cover a month of imports. It is also beset by decades-high inflation.
The country has been trying to approach allies to seek financial support, and a ninth review of the International Monetary Fund for a 2019 bailout programme has been pending since September. (Reuters)