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International News (6893)
January
North Korea train makes first crossing into China since COVID-19 border lockdown: Reports
Written by nuke
People wearing protective face masks walk in Pyongyang, North Korea, May 15, 2020, in this photo released by Kyodo. (File photo: Kyodo via REUTERS) -
A North Korean cargo train pulled into a Chinese border town on Sunday (Jan 16), in what would be the first confirmed crossing since anti-coronavirus border lockdowns began, media reports said.
North Korea has not officially reported any COVID-19 cases and has imposed strict anti-virus measures, including border closures and domestic travel curbs since the pandemic began in early 2020.
A North Korean freight train crossed the Yalu River railway bridge to arrive in the Chinese town of Dandong on Sunday, Yonhap said, citing multiple unnamed sources.
Yonhap said it marks the first time that North Korea has formally opened its land border with China.
It was unclear whether the train was carrying any cargo into China, but it was likely to return to North Korea on Monday with a load of "emergency materials", the sources told Yonhap, without elaborating.
Japan's Kyodo news agency also reported the train's arrival, citing an informed source.
While Chinese data show some limited trade has continued, most shipments appear to be using North Korean seaports, not trains across its land borders.
Officials in Seoul said late last year they were watching closely for a resumption in cross-border rail traffic as a signal that restrictions might be loosening.
After nearly two years of border closures, some humanitarian aid is trickling into the country, though shipments of key supplies including food remain blocked, according to United Nations organisations.
Several shipments of nutrition and medical aid have entered the country after up to three months of quarantine at Nampo sea port, but there have been no confirmation of major shipments being transported by train//CNA
January
China's Q4 GDP growth seen hitting 1.5-year low, raising heat on policymakers
Written by nuke
A person looks towards cranes in front of the skyline of the central business district in Beijing, China, Oct 18, 2021. (File photo: REUTERS/Thomas Peter) -
China's economy likely grew at the slowest pace in one-and-a-half years in the fourth quarter, dragged by weaker demand due to a property downturn, curbs on debt and strict COVID-19 measures, raising heat on policymakers to roll out more easing steps.
Data on Monday (Jan 17) is expected to show gross domestic product grew 3.6 per cent in October to December from a year earlier - the weakest pace since the second quarter of 2020 and slowing from 4.9 per cent in the third quarter, a Reuters poll showed.
On a quarterly basis, growth is forecast to rise to 1.1 per cent in the fourth quarter from 0.2 per cent in July to September.
For 2021, GDP likely expanded 8 per cent, which would be the highest annual growth in a decade, partly due to the low base set in 2020, when the economy was jolted by COVID-19 and stringent lockdowns.
The government is due to release the GDP data, along with December activity data, on Monday at 10am.
The world's second-largest economy, which cooled over the course of last year, faces multiple headwinds in 2022, including persistent property weakness and a fresh challenge from the recent local spread of the highly-contagious Omicron variant.
Exports, which were one of the few areas of strength in 2021, are also expected to slow, while the government is seen continuing its clampdown on industrial emissions.
Policymakers have vowed to head off a sharper slowdown, ahead of a key Communist Party Congress late this year.
The central bank is set to unveil more easing steps, though it will likely favour injecting more cash into the economy rather than cutting interest rates too aggressively, policy insiders and economists said.
Analysts polled by Reuters expect the central bank to deliver more modest easing steps, including cutting banks' reserve requirement ratios and the one-year loan prime rate - the benchmark lending rate.
Analysts at ANZ said in a note that they saw a possibility that the central bank will cut the rate on its medium-term lending facility on Monday.
Policymakers have also pledged to step up fiscal support for the economy, speeding up local government special bond issuance to spur infrastructure investment and planning more tax cuts.
"We might see a larger effect of the monetary and fiscal easing only in the second half of 2022 due to the transmission lags of these policies," analysts at Natixis said in a note.
"The recent monetary easing and the stabilization of PMI (factory activity) have indicated such a direction, but more efforts are needed to boost fixed asset investment."
Growth is likely to slow to 5.2 per cent in 2022, according to the poll//CNA
January
England opens COVID booster vaccine programme to 16- and 17-year-olds
Written by nuke
A person receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, at vaccination centre for young people and students at the Hunter Street Health Centre, amid the COVID-19 outbreak, in London, Britain, Jun 5, 2021. (File photo: REUTERS/Henry Nicholls) -
England's health service said it will expand its COVID-19 booster vaccination programme to include 16- and 17-year-olds from Monday (Jan 17).
Until now, booster jabs have been limited to 16- and 17-year-olds most at risk from the coronavirus.
"More than four in five adults in England have already been boosted, helping to protect them from severe illness," British health minister Sajid Javid said in a statement.
"We're now extending the programme to 16- and 17-year-olds so they can top-up their immunity this winter to keep themselves and their friends safe."
Since the vaccination programme rolled out to the age group in August, more than 889,700 teenagers – or seven in 10 people aged 16 and 17 – have had their first dose and more than 600,000 have had their second//CNA
January
Canadian foreign minister to visit Ukraine, vows to deter Russian aggression
Written by nuke
FILE PHOTO: Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly speaks during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (out of frame) at the State Department in Washington, DC on November 12 , 2021. Olivier Douliery /Pool via REUTERS -
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly will visit Kyiv next week to reaffirm support for Ukrainian sovereignty and reinforce efforts to deter "aggressive actions" by Russia, Ottawa said on Saturday (Jan 15).
Moscow has stationed more than 100,000 troops near the border with Ukraine and the United States said on Friday it feared Russia was preparing a pretext to invade if diplomacy failed to meet its objectives.
Canada, with a sizeable and politically influential population of Ukrainian ethnic descent, has taken a hard line with Moscow since the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
"The amassing of Russian troops and equipment in and around Ukraine jeopardises security in the entire region. These aggressive actions must be deterred," Joly said in a statement.
"Canada will work with its international partners to uphold the rules-based international order."
Joly will meet Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal and travel to the west of the country to speak to a 200-strong Canadian training mission that has been there since 2015.
Canadian Deputy Foreign Minister Marta Morgan and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy R Sherman spoke on Friday and pledged continued close coordination to deter further Russian aggression against Ukraine and called for Russian de-escalation, US Department of State spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday and "emphasised that any military incursion into Ukraine would have serious consequences, including coordinated sanctions," Trudeau's office said.
Canada has imposed punitive measures on more than 440 individuals and entities over the annexation of Crimea.
Joly will also meet NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels during her week-long trip starting Sunday//CNA
January
Iran reports its first 3 deaths from Omicron COVID-19 variant
Written by nuke
FILE PHOTO: A health official checks the body temperature of worshipers during Tehran's first Friday prayer after a nearly two-year break due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Tehran, Iran October 22, 2021. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS -
Iran's health ministry reported the country's first three deaths from the highly contagious Omicron coronavirus variant on Saturday (Jan 15).
"The number of patients with Omicron in the country has reached 1,162 and ... one death has been reported due to Omicron in each of the cities of Tabriz, Yazd and Shahrekord, and one critically ill patient is hospitalised in Ahvaz," ministry spokesman Mohammad Hashemi told state broadcaster IRIB.
Iran this week lifted restrictions on land travel to and from neighbouring countries and some European states but maintained a ban on arrivals from Britain, France and eight countries in Southern Africa over Omicron fears, Iranian media reported.
Iran, the pandemic's epicentre in the Middle East, has suffered 132,044 deaths in five waves of COVID-19 infections since February 2020. Deaths have fallen in recent months and stood at 18 on Saturday, a 22-month low, according the state television.
More than 53 million of Iran's population of about 85 million have received two doses of coronavirus vaccine, and 12.2 million have received three doses//CNA
January
Peru urges COVID-19 vaccine sellers to extend expiration dates to cut risk of losses
Written by nuke
FILE PHOTO: A healthcare worker administers a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine to a woman during an initiative to vaccinate people over 12 years old, in Lima, Peru December 6, 2021. REUTERS/Sebastian Castaneda/File Photo -
Peru's Health Minister Hernando Cevallos has called on COVID-19 vaccine companies to extend expiration dates past the current three months to reduce the risk of losing doses.
Cevallos said in a telephone interview on Saturday (Jan 15) that the government had asked one of the laboratories that supplies vaccines to Peru to deliver them with expirations of up to six months. But he said the laboratory refused, saying that the expiration dates were pre-set.
The minister declined to specify the name of the laboratory, citing the "confidentiality" of the purchase agreements.
Peru, with one of the highest per capita COVID-19 mortality rates in the world, has signed vaccine contracts with China's Sinopharm, the US companies Moderna Inc and Pfizer Inc and UK-based AstraZeneca Plc.
"The situation that the affected countries are facing must be understood, particularly in Latin America, due to the economic difficulties we're going through," Cevallos said.
Peru is facing a third wave of the virus triggered by the Omicron variant. The country has vaccinated just over 80per cent of its target population with two doses against COVID-19 and is in the middle of a its booster vaccination campaign.
The government expects to start vaccinating children between the ages of 5 and 11 next week.
"There are no penalties if there is any delay in the arrival of the vaccines. Nor is there any flexibility in expiration dates after they have entered the country," Cevallos said. "Not only do you have to consider the date it is produced, but also take into account the date when it arrives in the country."
"Some of the batches of vaccines have not arrived on time."
COVID-19 cases have totaled almost 2.5 million in Peru, causing 203,302 deaths. Peru has a population of about 33 million//CNA
January
Italy reports 180,426 COVID-19 cases on Saturday, 308 deaths
Written by nuke
FILE PHOTO: People queue to take a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test at a pharmacy as COVID-19 infections rise in Rome, Italy, December 31, 2021. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane -
Italy reported 180,426 COVID-19 related cases on Saturday (Jan 15), after 186,253 the day before, the health ministry said, while the number of deaths fell to 308 from 360.
Italy has registered 140,856 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February 2020, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the ninth highest in the world. The country has reported 8.55 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with COVID-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 18,370 on Saturday, up from 18,019 a day earlier.
There were 141 new admissions to intensive care units, up from 136 on Friday. The total number of intensive care patients dropped slightly to 1,677 from a previous 1,679.
Some 1.22 million tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with 1.13 million previously, the health ministry said//CNA
January
Thousands protest in Vienna against mandatory vaccination
Written by nuke
FILE PHOTO: Doctor Eva Raunig vaccinates a person with a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine inside a special container to use for general practitioners, called 'vaccination box' in Vienna, Austria April 26, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner -
Thousands of people took to the streets of Austria's capital on Saturday (Jan 15) to protest against government plans to introduce mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for all next month.
"The government must go!" crowds chanted at one rally in central Vienna in what has become a routine Saturday event.
Parliament is scheduled to vote next week on the issue, which has polarised the country as coronavirus cases surge.
In November, the government announced a fourth national lockdown and said it would make vaccinations compulsory for all Austrians, the first European Union country to do so.
A poll for Profil magazine found 51 per cent of those surveyed oppose making jabs mandatory from February, of whom 34 per cent were against compulsory vaccination in general and 17 per cent wanted to wait. The survey found 45 per cent of Austrians favoured compulsory vaccination starting in February.
The poll showed Chancellor Karl Nehammer's conservatives and the opposition Social Democrats in a dead heat for first place at 25 per cent, followed by the right-wing Freedom Party, a strident critic of government policy, at 20 per cent.
The Greens, junior partner in the coalition, were even with the liberal Neos on 11 per cent, while the vaccine-sceptical MFG party scored 6per cent.
Health authorities have reported more than 1.4 million infections and nearly 14,000 deaths from COVID-19 since the pandemic broke out in early 2020//CNA
January
Thousands protest in Vienna against mandatory vaccination
Written by nuke
FILE PHOTO: Doctor Eva Raunig vaccinates a person with a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine inside a special container to use for general practitioners, called 'vaccination box' in Vienna, Austria April 26, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner -
Thousands of people took to the streets of Austria's capital on Saturday (Jan 15) to protest against government plans to introduce mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for all next month.
"The government must go!" crowds chanted at one rally in central Vienna in what has become a routine Saturday event.
Parliament is scheduled to vote next week on the issue, which has polarised the country as coronavirus cases surge.
In November, the government announced a fourth national lockdown and said it would make vaccinations compulsory for all Austrians, the first European Union country to do so.
A poll for Profil magazine found 51 per cent of those surveyed oppose making jabs mandatory from February, of whom 34 per cent were against compulsory vaccination in general and 17 per cent wanted to wait. The survey found 45 per cent of Austrians favoured compulsory vaccination starting in February.
The poll showed Chancellor Karl Nehammer's conservatives and the opposition Social Democrats in a dead heat for first place at 25 per cent, followed by the right-wing Freedom Party, a strident critic of government policy, at 20 per cent.
The Greens, junior partner in the coalition, were even with the liberal Neos on 11 per cent, while the vaccine-sceptical MFG party scored 6per cent.
Health authorities have reported more than 1.4 million infections and nearly 14,000 deaths from COVID-19 since the pandemic broke out in early 2020//CNA
January
Tsunami warning in Tonga, US West Coast after powerful volcanic eruption
Written by nuke
In this satellite image taken by Himawari-8, a Japanese weather satellite, and released by the agency, shows an unde the Pacific nation of Tonga Saturday, Jan 15, 2022. (Japan Meteorology Agency via AP) -
Frightened Tongans fled to higher ground Saturday (Jan 15) after a massive volcanic eruption that triggered tsunami warnings across the South Pacific, including the entire US West Coast, as well as Japan.
The latest eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano came just a few hours after a separate Friday tsunami warning was lifted due to the eruption.
Dramatic images from space showed the moment the eruption sent a mushroom of smoke and ash into the air and a shockwave across the surrounding sea.
Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said a tsunami wave measuring 1.2m had been observed at Tonga's capital Nuku'alofa.
Mere Taufa said she was in her house getting ready for dinner when the volcano erupted.
"It was massive, the ground shook, our house was shaking. It came in waves. My younger brother thought bombs were exploding nearby," Taufa told the Stuff news website.
She said water filled their home minutes later and she saw the wall of a neighbouring house collapse.
"We just knew straight away it was a tsunami. Just water gushing into our home.
"You could just hear screams everywhere, people screaming for safety, for everyone to get to higher ground."
Tonga's King Tupou VI was reported to have been evacuated from the Royal Palace in Nuku'alofa and taken by a police convoy to a villa well away from the coastline.
The initial eruption lasted at least eight minutes and sent plumes of gas, ash and smoke several kilometres into the air.
Residents in coastal areas were urged to head for higher ground.
The eruption was so intense it was heard as "loud thunder sounds" in Fiji more than 800km away, officials in Suva said.
Fijian officials warned residents to cover water collection tanks in case of acidic rain fall.
Victorina Kioa of the Tonga Public Service Commission said Friday that people should "keep away from areas of warning which are low-lying coastal areas, reefs and beaches".
The head of Tonga Geological Services Taaniela Kula urged people to stay indoors, wear a mask if they were outside and cover rainwater reservoirs and rainwater harvesting systems.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued a "tsunami advisory" for American Samoa, saying there was a threat of "sea level fluctuations and strong ocean currents that could be a hazard along beaches".
Similar warnings were issued by authorities in New Zealand, Fiji, Vanuatu and Australia - where authorities said a swathe of coastline including Sydney could be hit by tsunami waves.
People in surrounding New South Wales state were "advised to get out of the water and move away from the immediate water's edge".
Tsunami warnings were also issued for the entire US West Coast, and waves triggered low-level flooding in Hawaii.
The US National Weather Service issued tsunami advisories from California to Alaska, predicting waves of up to two feet, strong rip currents and coastal flooding.
"Move off the beach and out of harbours and marinas in these areas," it advised.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said "a tsunami is currently being observed" in Hawaii, but said there was "no reported damage and only minor flooding throughout the islands".
The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano sits on an uninhabited island about 65km north of the Tongan capital Nuku'alofa//CNA