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October
Taiwan president to pledge to bolster combat power as China tensions rise
Written by Nur Yasmin
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen will pledge to bolster the island's combat power and determination to improve its defences in a major speech on Monday, at a time when tensions with China have risen dramatically.
Democratic Taiwan, claimed by China as its own territory, has come under increasing military and political pressure from Beijing, especially after Chinese war games in early August following a Taipei visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen will pledge to bolster the island's combat power and determination to improve its defences in a major speech on Monday, at a time when tensions with China have risen dramatically.
Democratic Taiwan, claimed by China as its own territory, has come under increasing military and political pressure from Beijing, especially after Chinese war games in early August following a Taipei visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Tsai is overseeing a military modernisation programme and boosting defence spending as China presses its sovereignty claims against Taiwan.
In her speech, outside the presidential office in central Taipei, where there will also be a military parade, Tsai will emphasise that "democratic resilience" is the key to protecting Taiwan, the source said.
That includes continuing to deepen international cooperation and "closely connecting" democratic allies, the president will say.
Tsai's speech will come less than a week before China's ruling Communist Party's congress opens in Beijing, where President Xi Jinping is widely expected to win a precedent-breaking third five-year term.
China has pledged to work for peaceful "reunification" with Taiwan under a "one country, two systems" model.
All mainstream Taiwanese political parties have rejected that proposal and it has almost no public support, according to opinion polls. China has also never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.
China refuses to speak to Tsai, re-elected by a landslide in 2020 on a promise to stand up to Beijing, believing she is a separatist. Tsai has repeatedly offered talks based on equality and mutual respect.
She has made strengthening Taiwan's defences a cornerstone of her administration to enable it to mount a more credible deterrence to China, which is ramping up an ambitious modernisation programme of its own military. (Reuters)
October
India inflation likely hit five month high in Sept on food prices
Written by Nur Yasmin
India's retail inflation accelerated to a five month high of 7.30% in September due to surging food prices, staying well above the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) upper tolerance band for a ninth month, a Reuters poll found.
Fueled by erratic rainfall and supply shocks from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, prices of daily consumables like cereals and vegetables which form the largest category in the inflation basket have climbed over the past two years.
Already reeling from COVID-19 pandemic-induced economic shocks, India's poor and middle classes will be further hit by the increases as they spend a large chunk of income on food.
The Oct. 3-7 Reuters poll of 47 economists suggested inflation - as measured by the Consumer Price Index (INCPIY=ECI) - rose to an annual 7.30% in September from 7.00% the previous month. If realised, that would be the highest since May 2022.
Forecasts for the data, due at 1200 GMT on Oct. 12, ranged between 6.60% and 7.80%. Some 91% of economists, 43 of 47, expected inflation to be 7.00% or higher, suggesting the bias was for prices to go up further.
"There is a strong pressure from food that is playing out. What is even more worrying is the cereals and pulses inflation which has remained low for quite some time, will rise at an unprecedented pace," said Dharmakirti Joshi, chief economist at Crisil.
"Will monetary policy action be able to contain it? Very honestly, it will not. It will arrest inflation expectations from moving on to the higher side, but fiscal policy has a greater role to play."
The Indian government has introduced measures to calm local prices, including some export restrictions on rice to temper inflation. But consumer prices have remained defiant and stayed above the RBI's upper tolerance limit this year.
A weakening currency is also not helping. The battered Indian rupee hit a new low of 82.32/$ on Friday and was expected to remain under pressure over the next six months, a separate Reuters poll of FX analysts showed.
That is likely to pressure the RBI, which has raised its key repo rate by 190 basis points in four moves this year, to intensify its interest rates hikes.
"Against a more hostile global backdrop and a stickier inflation trajectory at home, we now expect a terminal rate of 6.75% - previously 6.25% - in this cycle," said Sajjid Chinoy, chief India economist at J.P. Morgan.
"To the extent the rupee weakens, there will be passthrough effects to the CPI trajectory." (Reuters)
October
Ukraine foreign minister cuts short Africa tour after Russian attacks on Ukraine
Written by Nur Yasmin
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Monday he was cutting short a trip to Africa following Russian missiles strikes across his country.
"I am in constant contact with partners since early morning today to coordinate a resolute response to Russians attacks. I am also interrupting my Africa tour and heading back to Ukraine immediately," he wrote on Twitter. (Reuters)
October
Malaysian prime minister calls for early election
Written by Nur Yasmin
Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob called for an early election on Monday, hoping to win a stronger mandate for his party and stabilise the rocky political landscape that has plagued the country over the last four years.
The ruling party's rush for an election comes as the economy, still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, has begun to feel the pinch of rising costs and a global slowdown.
An election was not due until September 2023, but Ismail has been under increasing pressure from some factions of his ruling coalition to hold the vote earlier due to infighting.
In a televised speech, Ismail said the country's monarch had agreed to his request to dissolve parliament on Monday, and an election date would be announced by the election commission. Polls must be held within 60 days of the dissolution of parliament. Voter turnout could be reduced if the chosen date falls during the year-end monsoon season.
Ismail said he was calling for the election to end questions over the legitimacy of his government and return the mandate to the people.
"The people's mandate is a powerful antidote for the country to manifest political stability and create a strong, stable and respected government after the general election," Ismail said.
The election commission did not have an immediate comment.
Malaysia has been mired in political uncertainty since the last election in 2018 - a historic vote in which the opposition ousted the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party, which had governed for more than 60 years since independence, due to widespread corruption allegations.
But the winning coalition collapsed in two years due to a power struggle, returning UMNO to power in a new alliance.
Malaysia has had three prime ministers since the 2018 election.
With the dissolution of the parliament, Ismail, who came to power in August 2021, becomes the shortest serving prime minister in Malaysian history.
His UMNO party urged early elections to take advantage of what they see as favourable sentiment towards them, and to form a more stable ruling coalition.
UMNO has won elections held at the state level as recently as March, when it wrested control of the southern state of Johor back from the opposition which had won in 2018.
In April, Ismail was named as UMNO's prime minister candidate, though it was unclear if he still had that support. (Reuters)
October
UK says Russia firing missiles into Ukraine civilian areas "unacceptable"
Written by Nur Yasmin
Britain's foreign minister James Cleverly called Russia's firing of missiles into civilian areas of Ukraine "unacceptable" on Monday.
"Russia’s firing of missiles into civilian areas of Ukraine is unacceptable," Cleverly said on Twitter.
"This is a demonstration of weakness by Putin, not strength." (Reuters)
October
Japan reopens to tourists with shuttered souvenir shops, hotel staff shortage
Written by Nur Yasmin
As Japan throws open its doors to visitors this week after more than two years of pandemic isolation, hopes for a tourism boom face tough headwinds amid shuttered shops and a shortage of hospitality workers.
From Tuesday, Japan will reinstate visa-free travel to dozens of countries, ending some of world's strictest border controls to slow the spread of COVID-19. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is counting on tourism to help invigorate the economy and reap some benefits from the yen's slide to a 24-year low.
Arata Sawa is among those eager for the return of foreign tourists, who previously comprised up to 90% of the guests at his traditional inn.
"I'm hoping and anticipating that a lot of foreigners will come to Japan, just like before COVID," said Sawa, the third-generation owner of the Sawanoya ryokan in Tokyo.
Just over half a million visitors have come to Japan so far in 2022, compared with a record 31.8 million in 2019. The government had a goal of 40 million in 2020 timed with the Summer Olympics until both were upended by the coronavirus.
Kishida said last week the government is aiming to attract 5 trillion yen ($34.5 billion) in annual tourist spending. But that goal may be too ambitious for a sector that has atrophied during the pandemic. Hotel employment slumped 22% between 2019 and 2021, according to government data.
Spending from overseas visitors will reach only 2.1 trillion yen by 2023 and won't exceed pre-COVID levels until 2025, wrote Nomura Research Institute economist Takahide Kiuchi in a report.
Flag carrier Japan Airlines Co (9201.T) has seen inbound bookings triple since the border easing announcement, president Yuji Akasaka said last week, according to the Nikkei newspaper. Even so, international travel demand won't fully recover until around 2025, he added.
GHOST TOWN
Narita Airport, Japan's biggest international airport some 70 kilometres from Tokyo, remains eerily quiet, with about half of its 260 shops and restaurants shuttered.
"It's like half a ghost town," said 70-year old Maria Satherley from New Zealand, gesturing at the Terminal 1 departure area.
Satherley, whose son lives in the northern island of Hokkaido, said she would like to return with her granddaughter this winter but probably won't because the child is too young to be vaccinated, a prerequisite for tourists entering Japan.
"We're just going to wait till next year," she said.
Amina Collection Co has shut its three souvenir shops at Narita and is unlikely to reopen them until next spring, said president Sawato Shindo.
The company reallocated staff and supplies from the airport to other locations in its 120-shop chain around Japan as it refocused on domestic tourism during the pandemic.
"I don't think there's going to be a sudden return to the pre-pandemic situation," Shindo said. "Restrictions are still pretty strict compared to other countries."
Japan still strongly encourages that people wear masks indoors and refrain from loud talking. The Cabinet on Friday approved changing hotel regulations so that they can refuse guests who do not obey infection controls during an outbreak.
Many service workers found better working conditions and wages in other fields over the past two years, so luring them back may be difficult, said a consultant for tourism companies who asked not to be identified.
"The hospitality industry is very infamous for low wages, so if the government values tourism as a key industry, financial support or subsidies are probably needed," he added.
The Japanese government is starting a domestic travel initiative this month that offers transportation and accommodation discounts, similar to its Go To Travel campaign in 2020 that was cut short following a surge in COVID infections.
TIGHT LABOUR MARKET
Almost 73% of hotels nationwide said they were short of regular workers in August, up from about 27% a year earlier, according to market research firm Teikoku Databank.
In Kawaguchiko, a lake town at the foot of Mt. Fuji, inns had difficulty staffing before the pandemic amid Japan's tight labour market and they anticipate a similar bottleneck now, said a trade group staffer who asked not to be identified.
That sentiment was echoed by Akihisa Inaba, general manager at the hot-spring resort Yokikan in Shizuoka, central Japan, who said short staffing during the summer meant workers had to forego time off.
"Naturally, the labour shortage will become more pronounced when inbound travel returns," said Inaba. "So, I'm not so sure we can be overjoyed."
Whether overseas visitors wear face masks and abide by other common infection controls in Japan is another concern. The strict border controls were broadly popular during most of the pandemic, and fears remain about the appearance of new viral variants.
"From the start of the pandemic until now, we've had just a few foreign guests," said Tokyo innkeeper Sawa. "Pretty much all of them wore masks, but I'm really not sure whether the people who visit from here on will do the same."
"My plan is to kindly ask them to wear a mask while inside the building," he added. (Reuters)
October
China urges 'patience' as COVID cases rebound ahead of key congress
Written by Nur Yasmin
China called for "patience" with its tough COVID policies and warned against any "war-weariness" as local cases soared to their highest since August, days ahead of a pivotal Communist Party congress.
Many countries are learning to co-exist with COVID-19, but China has repeatedly quashed any speculation of a let-up in its counter-epidemic policies, which can range from locking down a local community to sealing an entire city, even though fatalities remain low by global standards and symptoms, if any, are mostly mild.
Pressure on officials to stop outbreaks as soon as they spring up has risen in recent weeks as the highly transmissible Omicron sub-variants BF.7 and BA.5.1.7 appeared in mainland China for the first time, ensnaring travellers during a just-ended week-long national holiday.
Across China, 1,939 locally transmitted cases were reported on Oct. 9, the highest since Aug. 20, according to Reuters calculations based on official data published on Monday.
Thousands of cases caused by the BF.7 have been reported in Inner Mongolia since Oct. 1, turning the region into China's latest COVID epicentre and activating localised lockdowns, wrecking havoc on travel plans during the National Day "Golden Week" holiday.
A few days into the Golden Week, the western region of Xinjiang also barred people from leaving its borders as cases started to tick higher. Tourists who are stranded in Xinjiang could seek temporary work as electricians, cooks and wood craftsmen, advised authorities in its capital Urumqi.
Shanghai, which locked down its entire population of 25 million in April and May, reported 34 local cases on Oct. 9, the most in almost three months.
"The transmission and pathogenicity (of Omicron) have not weakened, and it still poses a relatively large threat to the elderly and people with underlying diseases," according to a commentary in the state-owned People's Daily on Monday.
"It is for this reason that we must continue to remain vigilant against the spread of the epidemic, increase our confidence and patience in our country's epidemic prevention and control policies, and overcome any numbness of the mind, any war-weariness, any thought of leaving things to chance, and any complacency."
The COVID restrictions came just days before a once-every-five-years Communist Party congress starting on Oct. 16, where Xi Jinping is widely expected to extend his decade-long leadership for another five years.
Xu, a native from Inner Mongolia who works in Beijing, had planned to take the train back to the Chinese capital on Oct. 7 after attending a friend's wedding in her hometown of Baotou, but has since been trapped there due to a local quarantine lockdown.
"What I worry most now is when I can get to return to Beijing," said Xu, who declined to identify herself further.
"All this waiting around is tough."
'NOT OVER'
While most of the new infections in Shanghai were detected in quarantine, the city's Putuo and Changning districs weren't taking any chances, announcing on Monday the suspension of leisure and entertainment venues.
One of the recent Changning cases was a man who arrived from Xinjiang on Oct. 2. He was declared a carrier five days later.
Guests at the hotel where he stayed have been locked down. Patrons to the bars and restaurants he visited have been treated as close contacts.
Sona and her husband were told to quarantine themselves at home after going to an underground bar strip that the Changning case visited.
"It wasn't even the same day as the guy was there, and we weren't even at the same (restaurant)," said Sona, a foreigner who has lived in Shanghai for years, speaking on condition of anonymity.
They have not been able to leave their home, as a magnetic device on the door installed by the authorities would track its opening and closing.
"It's really, really hard to deal with - you think it's over, but it’s not over." (Reuters)
October
Belarus, Russia to form joint military group, Lukashenko says
Written by Nur Yasmin
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said Belarus and Russia will deploy a joint military task force in response to what he called an aggravation of tension on the country's western borders, the state-run Belta news agency reported on Monday.
Lukashenko said the two countries would deploy a regional military group, and had started pulling forces together two days ago, apparently after the explosion on Russia's bridge to Crimea.
Russian forces used Belarus as a staging post for their Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, sending troops and equipment into northern Ukraine from bases in Belarus. (Reuters)
October
Danish Baltic Sea island suffers power blackout after transformer outage, operator says
Written by Nur YasminA Danish Baltic Sea island suffered a power blackout on Monday following an outage at a Swedish transformer station feeding electricity via a subsea cable, operator E.ON said.
There was no indication the blackout on Bornholm would have been caused by damage to the cable itself, a spokesperson at the German power operator's Swedish unit said.
"The blackout at our transformer station is the reason there is no power on Bornholm. We are still investigating the reason for the blackout at the station," he said.
"Nothing from the first signals indicates that there would be anything wrong with the cable," the spokesperson said.
Bornholm lost power at 0549 GMT due to "a fault in the high voltage grid", Danish transmission system operator (TSO) Energinet said on Twitter.
The island is located close to where the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipes that linked Russia and Germany ruptured two weeks ago in an act of suspected sabotage.
The power cable linking Bornholm and Sweden has been damaged several times in the past, most recently earlier this year. An investigation showed it had likely been damaged by a ship's anchor. (Reuters)
October
Thailand killer: police depict a man stressed by job loss, money and family troubles
Written by Nur Yasmin
The ex-policeman who went on a killing spree at a Thai daycare centre had risen quickly through the ranks of the police force in the capital, before a transfer to the provinces led to his use of drugs, and an abrupt halt to his career, police said.
No clear motive had been established yet for the rampage on Thursday.
But police said their preliminary investigation indicated Panya Khamrap was deeply troubled by marital and money problems following his suspension from police duty in January, after he admitted to using two types of methamphetamine.
"He wanted to vent. We learned from his mother that on the day of the incident he was quarrelling with his wife," local police chief Chakkraphat Wichitvaidya told Reuters.
"He may have wanted to do something bad."
Colleagues in the local police force said he was sometimes bad-tempered and violent while he worked there.
Police said Panya, 34, was agitated as he entered the daycare centre on Thursday, armed with a handgun and a large curved knife.
Witnesses described how he went on a two-hour rampage, slashing to death 22 children aged 2-5 as they took an afternoon nap, shooting bystanders and driving at people in his vehicle.
In all, 24 children were killed, among 38 fatalities. Panya's last victims were his wife and child before he turned his 9 mm handgun on himself at his home in a village 3 km (1.9 miles) away from the nursery school.
It was one of the world's worst child death tolls in a massacre by a single person in recent history.
Just hours before the massacre, Panya had appeared in court on drugs charges. Police said he then headed to the daycare centre to search for his son, who had not attended that day.
It was not clear if Panya still used drugs. An autopsy report indicated had not used them on the day of the attack, national police chief Damrongsak Kittipraphat said on Friday.
"We see that the quarrel with his wife is the main issue. They had longstanding problems," Damrongsak said.
"The reasons are probably unemployment, no money, and family issues."
HOT-TEMPERED, VIOLENT
According to his police record, Panya started his career in Bangkok and worked in two different police districts in the city's commercial heart.
During his time in the capital he was made lance corporal, then corporal, before being promoted to sergeant in 2019.
Local police told Reuters Panya's behaviour changed after he relocated to Nong Bua Lumphu province in the northeast.
Panya kept himself to himself but was sometimes hot-tempered and violent, the local police said, citing his fellow officers who said he fought with colleagues, who were aware of his drugs use.
A woman described as the killer's mother was interviewed on Thursday by local television on Thursday, which blurred her face on camera and withheld her name to protect her identity, which Reuters could not independently verify.
She said her son's behaviour changed when he gave up his life in Bangkok to look after her in the countryside.
"He started using drugs when he moved here after being stationed in Bangkok for six years. He moved here to take care of me," she told Channel 3 .
"He used drugs, didn't sell them. He would buy them."
Of her reaction when learning of her son's killing spree, she said "I almost fainted. I felt so much sorrow." (Reuters)