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May
South Korea's daily COVID infections dip to near 4-month low under 10,000
Written by Nur Yasmin
South Korea's daily new COVID-19 infections dropped to below 10,000 for the first time in nearly four months on Monday, as the highly contagious Omicron variant recedes despite eased pandemic restrictions.
The figure of 9,975 is the lowest since South Korea reported 8,570 cases in late January, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
South Korea ditched most of its pandemic-related restrictions, including an outdoor mask mandate, earlier this month as cases slowed after peaking at more than 600,000 in mid-March. read more
The decline in infections comes as its neighbour, North Korea, is battling the country's first confirmed outbreak of COVID while refusing most outside help and keeping its border shut.
North Korea reported 167,650 new patients suffering from fever on Monday, raising the total caseload tallied since late April to 2.81 million, state news agency KCNA said. The official death toll stood at 68.
Apparently deprived of testing supplies, North Korea has not confirmed the total number of people testing positive for the coronavirus. (Reuters)
May
With U.S. help, Japan wants to go from player to power in space
Written by Nur Yasmin
Space is a key area of cooperation for Japan with the United States, its closest ally, amid heightened tensions with an increasingly assertive China, which itself aims to become a space power.
Tokyo has said it hopes to put one of its astronauts on the lunar surface - the first non-American - in the latter half of the 2020s as part of NASA's Artemis programme to return humans to the moon.
Japan has an extensive space programme, mainly focused on developing launchers and space probes. But it doesn't have a human flight programme and has relied on the United States and Russia to carry its astronauts into space. More Japanese have visited the International Space Station other than citizens of the United States and Russia.
Space cooperation was on the agenda when U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met on Monday. The allies announced progress in the Artemis programme and confirmed their intention to include a Japanese astronaut on Gateway, a human outpost near the moon.
Biden is visiting Tokyo this week as part of his first Asian trip since taking office.
Japan's space ambitions, and investment, are welcome by the United States as it tries to stay ahead of China in a potential new space race. Beijing plans to complete its first space station by the end of this year.
Japan's space agency, JAXA, last year reopened astronaut recruitment for the first time in more than a decade to revive its pool of ageing astronauts.
Japan is due to help the European Space Agency (ESA) build the main habitat module of the U.S.-planned orbiting lunar outpost, Gateway, that will be used in moon landings.
Japan also built the Kibo experiment module on the International Space Station and resupply missions have been lifted into space by its heavy launch rockets.
Japan's aerospace industry was dismantled at the end of World War Two but it has fostered its space industry through industrial heavyweights such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.T) and Mitsubishi Electric (6503.T).
MHI rockets launching from the Tanegashima Space Centre off the southwestern island of Kyushu have delivered payloads including the Michibiki satellites that have bolstered the U.S. global positioning system (GPS) in Asia.
The launch of the new H3 rocket being developed by MHI and JAXA was delayed earlier this year due to engine problems.
The growth of the U.S. private space industry centred on companies such as Elon Musk's SpaceX has transformed the market for launch services.
Japan also aims to cultivate its space startup scene with businesses including space debris removal company Astroscale and Ispace, which is developing landers and rovers for lunar exploration.
Billionaire Yusaku Maezawa became the first private passenger to visit the ISS in more than a decade after launching on a Soyuz rocket in December. (Reuters)
May
Biden says he is weighing reducing tariffs on China
Written by Nur Yasmin
U.S. President Joe Biden said he was weighing cutting tariffs on Chinese goods while increasing calls on OPEC to raise oil production as he grappled with a politically damaging wave of inflation.
"I am considering it. We did not impose any of those tariffs. They were imposed by the last administration and they're under consideration," Biden said on reducing tariffs on China.
He made the comments during a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. (Reuters)
May
Long fuel queues persist in Sri Lanka despite scramble to deliver supplies
Written by Nur Yasmin
Long queues snaked around gas stations in Sri Lanka's commercial capital and its outskirts on Monday even though the island nation's government was scrambling to deliver fuel supplies and douse any unrest as it battles a devastating economic crisis.
Kanchana Wijesekera, Sri Lanka's minister for power and energy, said supplies of 95-octane gasoline, mostly used in cars, had been received and were being distributed across the country of 22 million people that has been struggling with fuel shortages for months.
"With the 2 cargo vessels unloaded, petrol stocks will be available for the next 6 weeks comfortably," Wijesekera said in a tweet.
Another 40,000 metric tonnes of petrol supplied by India had also reached Sri Lanka on Monday, the Indian High Commission (Embassy) said, two days after New Delhi delivered 40,000 tonnes of diesel to its southern neighbour.
Sri Lanka is in the throes of its worst economic crisis since independence, as a dire shortage of foreign exchange has stalled imports and left the country short of fuel, medicines and hit by rolling power cuts.
The financial trouble has come from the confluence of the COVID-19 pandemic battering the tourism-reliant economy, rising oil prices and populist tax cuts by the government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother, Mahinda, who resigned as prime minister this month.
M. Sudeera, an auto-rickshaw driver, was waiting in a two-kilometer (1.5-mile) -long queue at Kumbuke, on the outskirts of Colombo, to fill his vehicle, apopular form of public transport in the city and its suburbs.
"Last time, I spent two days in line for 3,000 rupees ($8.46) worth of fuel. With that I did a few hires but it's barely enough to cover costs," Sudeera said, standing beside parallel queues of auto-rickshaws, cars and motorcycles.
"Usually we run during the day and spent the night in line for fuel," he said. "I've never seen anything like this."
Veteran politician Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took over as prime minister earlier this month, has warned of hardship worsening over the coming months, including food shortages.
Protests against the government's handling of the crisis have continued for weeks, and erupted into violence earlier this month in which nine people were killed and over 300 injured. But the protests have been peaceful since then, although anger against the government is high.
Inflation in the island nation rose to 33.8% in April, compared to 21.5% in March, according to government data released on Monday.
Wickremesinghe's cabinet was expanded on Monday, with eight new ministers sworn in for portfolios including agriculture, fisheries, industries, transport and highways, water supply and irrigation. (Reuters)
May
U.S. considering $4 billion additional support for India
Written by Nur Yasmin
The United States is considering "investment support" of $4 billion for India on top of billions of dollars extended earlier, New Delhi said on Monday after the two sides signed an agreement to keep such money flowing.
The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) or its predecessor agencies have so far provided India with $5.8 billion, of which $2.9 billion is outstanding, for COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing, healthcare, renewable energy, financial inclusion and infrastructure.
"Proposals worth $4 billion are under consideration by DFC for providing investment support in India," India's Ministry of Finance said as officials from the two countries met in Tokyo where their leaders will hold a summit on Tuesday.
The ministry said the latest agreement "would lead to enhanced investment support provided by DFC in India".
On Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi were among government heads from 13 countries who jointly launched a partnership called the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity. (Reuters)
May
Turkish tourism heats up, stoking hopes of economic recovery
Written by Nur Yasmin
The number of foreigners arriving in Turkey last month more than tripled from a year earlier, data showed on Monday, reinforcing expectations that a rebound in the sector will help repair an economy battered by a weak currency and high inflation.
Sector representatives expect tourist numbers this year to return to around 2019 levels, leaving the 2020-21 coronavirus slump behind despite fallout from the war in Ukraine.
Foreign arrivals in April leapt 225.6% from a year earlier to 2.57 million, Tourism Ministry data showed.
In the southwestern resort city of Bodrum, mayor Ahmet Aras said foreign visitors would hit 1.5 million, exceeding the 1.3 million in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.
Aras said Britons, Germans and the Dutch would be back, attracted by lira weakness, compensating for declines in Russian and Ukrainian visitors due to the war.
"We are really a cheap destination now. Not only Bodrum but Turkey itself, whichhas again become a very attractive destination because of the weak lira," he said.
The lira has halved in value over the last year, attracting notice in countries that have previously been only small sources of Turkish tourism. Piotr Henicz, president of the largest Polish tour operator Itaka, said bookings had tripled from last year.
"In a word: great value for money," he said.
Last year, tourism revenues doubled to almost $25 billion - still below the $34.5 billion in 2019, when 45.1 million foreigners visited Turkey.
A currency crisis late last year largely sent inflation to a two-decade high of 70% last month.
The government says foreign income will help steady the currency and ease price rises, even as the trade balance has dipped further into negative territory.
TALE OF TWO HOT SPOTS
According to a World Travel & Tourism Council report, Turkey is set to be the fourth most popular European destination this summer.
Yet east of Bodrum in the major Mediterranean hub of Antalya, the war's impact is more acute. Russians and Ukrainians were the country's first and third biggest sources of visitors last year, and they both favour the area.
Antalya is expected to lose around 3 million Russian and 1 million Ukrainian tourists this year, or about two thirds of its total, said Recep Yavuz, NBK Touristic General Manager.
"Antalya is not able to fill its 600,000 bed capacity without Russians," he said.
Ulkay Atmaca, head of the Professional Hotel Managers' Association, said hotels in Kemer have postponed season openings until June.
Still, Nirvana Hotels chief executive Korhan Alsan said that with bookings flowing in all European markets, the country should reach 2019 levels.
"I estimate Turkey will get tourism revenue worth $32 billion and host 39 million tourists," Alsan said. (Reuters)
May
Russia's Putin jokes about being blamed for all the world's woes
Written by Nur Yasmin
Russian President Vladimir Putin quipped on Monday that he would have a serious talk to the West about its assertions that he was to blame for all the economic chaos sown by the conflict in Ukraine and the West's crippling sanctions.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands and displaced 14 million people, while the West's attempt to isolate Russia as punishment and Moscow's blockade of grain shipments from Ukraine's Black Sea ports, have sent the price of oil, natural gas, grains, cooking oil and fertilisers soaring.
At a televised meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Putin told Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko that Russia's economy was doing well, despite the Western sanctions.
Lukashenko said the sanctions had given both countries the impetus to focus on self-development, and that the elites of the West were deluded about the causes of their economic woes.
"On the economy, thanks are really due to them (in the West) as they have given us such a push to our own development," Lukashenko told Putin, who smiled and nodded.
"What is happening over there is that they really underestimated it by reading their own media. They got inflation yet the truth is 'Putin is to blame', 'Putin is to blame for everything'," Lukashenko said.
Putin pursed his lips and nodded.
"We will have a serious talk to them," Putin said with a forced smile.
Lukashenko chuckled and said "Yes". (Reuters)
May
Russian diplomat in Switzerland says he resigns over Ukraine invasion
Written by Nur Yasmin
A Russian diplomat at the country's permanent mission at the United Nations in Geneva said on Monday he was leaving his post because of his disagreement with Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, a rare political resignation over the war.
Boris Bondarev, a who identified himself on LinkedIn as a counsellor at Russia's permanent mission to the UN who worked on arms control, told Reuters: "I went to the mission like any other Monday morning and I forwarded my resignation letter and I walked out."
"I started to imagine this a few years ago but the scale of this disaster drove me to do it," he said, referring to Russia's invasion of Ukraine that began on Feb. 24.
He said he had raised his concerns about the invasion with senior embassy staff several times. "I was told to keep my mouth shut in order to avoid ramifications," he said.
There was no immediate comment from the Russian permanent mission to the UN.
Earlier, he announced his departure on LinkedIn.
"I studied to be a diplomat and have been a diplomat for twenty years," Bondarev wrote. "The (Russian foreign) ministry has become my home and family. But I simply cannot any longer share in this bloody, witless and absolutely needless ignominy."
Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in what it called a special operation to degrade its southern neighbour's military capabilities and root out people it called dangerous nationalists.
The West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia and provided Ukraine with military support in response. (Reuters)
May
Lukashenko accuses Poland and NATO of plotting to partition Ukraine
Written by Nur Yasmin
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday he was concerned about what he called moves by the West to "dismember" Ukraine, and accused Poland of seeking to seize the Western part of the country.
He offered no evidence for his assertions.
"What worries us is that they are ready, the Poles and NATO, to come out, to help take western Ukraine like it was before 1939," Lukashenko said during a televised meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin, said Kyiv would eventually have to ask for help in preventing the seizure of western Ukraine.
Moscow has in the past suggested that Poland seeks to establish control over historical Polish lands in Ukraine, a claim that Warsaw denies as disinformation.
Poland is one of Ukraine's strongest supporters, sending weapons across the border and taking in more than 3 million Ukrainian refugees.
Belarus said in March its armed forces were not taking part in what Moscow calls its "special operation" in Ukraine, but it did serve as a launchpad for Russia to send thousands of troops across the border on Feb. 24.
Under a non-aggression pact signed in 1939 just before the outbreak of World War Two, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union carved Poland up between them. Most of the territory seized by Moscow is now in either Belarus or Ukraine. Kaliningrad, formerly German East Prussia, became an exclave of Russia. (Reuters)
May
Sri Lanka appointed nine new cabinet members on Friday, among them ministers for the critical portfolios of health, trade and tourism, as the island nation battles its worst economic crisis in history.
"Nine cabinet ministers of the new all-party government took their oaths before President Gotabaya Rajapaksa," a presidential news statement said.
Veteran politician Ranil Wickremesinghe took over as prime minister this month to form a new cabinet after the president's elder brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, resigned from the job. (Reuters)