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January
Hong Kong suspends transit flights from most of the world due to COVID-19
Written by Nur Yasmin
Hong Kong will suspend for a month transit flights from around 150 countries and territories considered high risk because of the coronavirus, deepening the global financial hub's isolation.
The move comes as the city has seen around 50 cases of the fast-spreading Omicron variant since the end of last year.
Prior to the outbreak, which authorities said could be traced back to two aircrew members of Cathay Pacific Airways , the city had had no local transmissions for over three months.
Hong Kong International Airport said in a statement on Friday that any persons who have stayed in places classified as high risk by health authorities in the 21 days before travelling cannot transit through the city from Jan. 16 until Feb. 15.
The measure was taken "in order to control the spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant," it said.
Hong Kong currently classifies more than 150 countries and territories as high risk.
Last week, it banned incoming flights from Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Britain and the United States, including interchanges.
The Chinese-ruled city has followed mainland China's policy in adopting a zero-tolerance towards local COVID-19 cases even as much of the world shifts towards living with the coronavirus.
In recent weeks, authorities have tightened quarantine restrictions on air crew and reintroduced curbs on social life.
Fifteen type of venues, including bars and clubs, cinemas, gyms and beauty salons were ordered to close, while dining in restaurants is banned after 6.00 pm. Primary schools and kindergartens have also shuttered. read more
The government is expected to announce later on Friday that the restrictions will be extended through the Lunar New Year holiday at the start of February. (Reuters)
January
Australia records highest temperature in 62 years
Written by Nur Yasmin
Another day, another heat record.
Australian authorities warned people to stay indoors on Friday as a severe heatwave along the northwestern coast pushed temperatures to a blistering 50.7 degrees Celsius (123 degrees Fahrenheit), hitting a high last seen 62 years ago.
Climate scientists and activists have raised alarm bells that global warming due to human-driven greenhouse gas emissions, especially from fossil fuels, is close to spiralling out of control.
The planet's hottest years on record have all been within the last decade, with 2021 being the sixth-hottest, data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed this week.
An iron ore mining region in the northwest, Australia's Pilbara, where temperatures hit the record high on Thursday, is known for its hot and dry conditions, with temperatures usually hovering in the upper thirties this time of year.
Australia is one of the world's biggest carbon emitters per capita, but the government has refused to back down from its reliance on coal and other fossil fuel industries, saying to do so would cost jobs.
Scientists have found that rising temperatures can hit public health and outdoor labour productivity, resulting in billions of dollars in economic losses.
Australia lost an average of A$10.3 billion ($7.48 billion) and 218 productive hours every year in the last two decades because of heat, according to a global study published this week by researchers at Duke University. These losses will only deepen in the coming decades as the world heads toward global warming of 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial times, they warned.
"These results imply that we don't have to wait for 1.5°C of global warming to experience impacts of climate change on labour and the economy ... Additional future warming magnifies these impacts," said lead author Luke Parsons. (reuters)
January
Frustration over COVID-19 restrictions in increasingly isolated Hong Kong
Written by Nur Yasmin
Hong Kong is following mainland China's zero-tolerance approach to control COVID-19, rankling many residents of the international financial hub as much of the world shifts towards living with the coronavirus.
Hong Kong effectively closed its borders and imposed social restrictions this month to deal with a spurt in COVID-19 infections due to the spread of the Omicron variant.
Although the moves are less strict than those in parts of the mainland, they come after months of relative normalcy and are battering a city dependent on business travellers and accustomed to frequent dining out.
Frustration among the city's 7.5 million residents is mounting as the restrictions also threaten to dampen Chinese New Year celebrations at the end of the month, traditionally a time for shopping, feasting and family reunions. The border to the mainland is closed while retailers and restaurant owners are reeling during what is usually the year's busiest period.
"With the obvious conclusion that most countries have come to, that COVID-19 is not going away, the only sensible course of action is to gradually relax the quarantine arrangement and manage this endemic virus in the same way that we manage other viruses," said Stuart Bailey, chairman at the Hong Kong Exhibition & Convention Industry Association, one of the city's world-leading business sectors that has been battered by the pandemic.
Around 50 cases of the Omicron variant have been detected in the community since the first local transmission was recorded in late December, ending three months without locally transmitted infections.
Authorities have raced to contain further spread, with leader Carrie Lam vowing to persevere with zero tolerance of infections while asking society to tolerate the costs.
"I fully understand the anxiety, dissatisfaction, and anger of the public," Lam said this week. "There is nothing we can do because we need to fight this epidemic."
The government re-imposed a raft of restrictions on Jan. 7, including bans on gatherings of more than four people and dining out past 6 p.m.. Pubs, schools, gyms and cinemas have been ordered to close and air travel has been sharply cut back.
In mainland China, a handful of cities have imposed lockdowns on millions of residents, preventing them from leaving home as authorities re-double containment efforts as Beijing readies to host the Winter Olympics.
LOGISTICAL NIGHTMARE
Lam's policies have long exasperated those unable to travel for business or family emergencies due to costly 21-day hotel quarantine, flight bans, and difficult paperwork.
The city's position as one of the world's busiest passenger hubs has been drastically curtailed by tough air crew restrictions and the banning of passenger flights from countries including the United States, Australia, France and Britain.
Hong Kong is far behind other developed cities with its vaccination campaign. Around 75% of eligible people have had a first dose, while around 70% have had a second one. About 8% have received a third.
Almost a million people have been given mandatory testing notices so far this year, thousands have been forced into overnight lockdowns, and thousands more have been sent to government quarantine facilities.
The largest quarantine facility has been beset with electricity and supply shortages, overwhelmed by sheer numbers.
Worse may be still to come.
Amid tighter quarantine rules for aircrew, Hong Kong’s Association of Freight Forwarding & Logistics said logistics costs would rise 40% in coming weeks, with premium food, fresh produce, pharmaceuticals and e-commerce goods hardest hit.
Lam told legislators on Wednesday she expected some goods to be unavailable or their price to go up, with food, electronics and medicine among the worst affected. read more
'HELPLESS AND FRUSTRATED'
Bars, restaurants and caterers have forecast hundreds of millions of dollars in losses in coming weeks, while some gyms, beauty parlours and cultural establishments fear for their survival.
"We are feeling very helpless and frustrated," Hong Kong’s Theatre Association said in an email.
The frustration was compounded last week when senior government officials were found to have ignored appeals to avoid large gatherings and attended a birthday bash.
Lam ordered a "disciplinary investigation," although many residents - weary from two years of COVID-19 that came on top of dramatic political change as Beijing tightened its grip on the city - wondered if rules applied only to ordinary folk.
A manager at Sun Kong restaurant, which serves dim sum in a working-class neighbourhood, pointed to his mostly empty venue, saying it was not his fault.
"Carrie Lam is the one not managing well," said the manager, who only gave his last name of Chan. (Reuters)
January
N.Korea fires two missiles, warns of action over U.S. sanctions push
Written by Nur Yasmin
North Korea fired at least two ballistic missiles on Friday, its third test in less than two weeks, just hours after criticising a U.S. push for new sanctions over the previous launches as a "provocation" and warning of a strong reaction.
Two weeks of missile launches by North Korea, retaliatory sanctions designations by the United States, and indignant statements by both sides raised the spectre of a return to the 2017 days of "fire and fury" threats before a flurry of diplomacy stalled and slipped back into a standoff.
South Korea's National Security Council held an emergency meeting and expressed "strong regret" over the test and called on Pyongyang to return to talks.
"It emphasised that North Korea's series of missile tests are not helpful for stabilising the situation of the Korean peninsula at this important time, and urged North Korea to swiftly respond to calls for dialogue," the presidential Blue House said in a statement.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it had detected what it presumed were two short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) launched eastward from Uiju, in North Pyongan province on the North's west coast, near its border with China.
Japan's coast guard also said the North fired what could be a ballistic missile. The missiles appeared to have landed in the sea outside Japan's exclusive economic zone, broadcaster NHK said, citing an unnamed Japanese defence ministry official.
"The actions of North Korea, including the repeated ballistic missile launches, are a threat to the safety of our nation and the region, and they are an important issue for all of international society," Hirokazu Matsuno, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, told a regular news conference.
The U.S. military's Indo-Pacific Command said while it assessed that the launch did not pose an immediate threat to the United States or its allies, it highlighted the "destabilising impact of the (North's) illicit weapons program."
SERIES OF TESTS
The two missiles travelled about 430 km (267 miles) to a maximum altitude of 36 km (22 miles), South Korea's JCS said.
The launch is be the third since New Year's day, an unusually rapid pace of such tests. The previous two were of "hypersonic missiles," North Korean state media said, or projectiles capable of high speeds and manoeuvering after launch.
SINGLE MISSILE IN EARLIER LAUNCHES
In contrast to Friday's tests, each of the earlier launches involved a single missile fired from Jagang province, neighbouring North Pyongan.
Kim Dong-yup, a former South Korea Navy officer who teaches at Seoul's Kyungnam University, said North Korea could have fired previously deployed SRBMs such as the KN-23 or KN-24.
"It could fit in their ongoing winter exercises, while sending a message to the United States through action following the state media statement," he said.
North Korea defended the missile tests as part of its legitimate right to self-defence and said the United States was intentionally escalating the situation with new sanctions, state media said on Friday, citing the foreign ministry.
The North's recent development of a "new type" weapon was just part of efforts to modernise its national defence capability, and did not target any specific country or harm the security of neighbourss, the ministry said in a statement on the KCNA state news agency.
The statement warned of an unspecified "stronger and certain reaction" if the United States adopted a confrontational stance.
President Joe Biden's administration imposed its first sanctions on Wednesday over North Korea's weapons programmes following the series of missile launches.
It also called on the United Nations Security Council to act against several North Korean individuals and entities accused of violating security council resolutions that ban North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons development.
"It's obvious from their foreign ministry statement and test launch combo that North Korea is angry and protesting U.S. sanctions imposed after its recent tests," said Duyeon Kim, of the U.S.-based Center for a New American Security (CNAS).
Pyongyang's reaction also served as an excuse to keep perfecting nuclear weapons technology on the path to achieving strategic goals set last year by leader Kim Jong Un, she added.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States had made clear it had no hostile intent toward North Korea and was willing to engage in talks without preconditions, but the tests were "profoundly destabilising."
The North Korean foreign ministry said that while Washington may talk of diplomacy and dialogue, its actions showed it was still engrossed in its policy for "isolating and stifling" the North.
"The U.S. is intentionally escalating the situation, even with the activation of independent sanctions, not content with referring the DPRK's just activity to the U.N. Security Council," the ministry said.
Duyeon Kim of CNAS said Biden should continue to penalise North Korea for its missile tests and use sanctions to curb funding for weapons programmes, but if so, "We should expect to see more fireworks and provocations." (Reuters)
January
Myanmar believes new ASEAN chair will rule with fairness -spokesman
Written by Nur Yasmin
Myanmar believes that Cambodia will rule with fairness during its chairmanship this year of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a spokesman for its ruling military council said on Friday.
There were "good results" from a visit to Myanmar last week by Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, Myanmar junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told a regular briefing. He also said international pressure on Myanmar had not dialed down, but Myanmar would not bow to it. (reuters)
January
Philippines extends coronavirus curbs in capital region until end-Jan
Written by Nur Yasmin
The Philippines' coronavirus task force will extend coronavirus curbs in the capital region and other provinces until the end of January, acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles said on Friday.
The Southeast Asian nation is battling its biggest surge in COVID-19 cases, driven by the more infectious Omicron variant, disrupting business operations and government services. (Reuters)
January
Former Malaysian PM Mahathir discharged from hospital after medical procedure
Written by Nur Yasmin
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, 96, has been discharged from hospital following a successful medical procedure, the National Heart Institute said on Thursday.
"He will continue his recuperation and recovery process at home," the institute said in a statement.
It did not say what procedure Mahathir, who has a history of heart problems, had undergone. Mahathir was prime minister from 1981 to 2003 and held the top post again from 2018 to 2020.
The nonagenarian, who is still an active lawmaker, was admitted into the institute last Friday, the second time in as many months that he has been hospitalised.
He was hospitalised on Dec. 16 before being discharged a week later. (Reuters)
January
U.N. envoy urges 'inclusive' ASEAN approach to Myanmar crisis
Written by Nur Yasmin
A United Nations special envoy has urged Southeast Asian countries to support international efforts to engage all sides in the crisis in army-ruled Myanmar, days after a top regional leader travelled there to meet its junta chief.
Noeleen Heyzer, the secretary-general's special envoy on Myanmar, held virtual talks with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, the new chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and sought a collaborative effort in humanitarian aid and seeking progress in a stalled five-point peace plan, the U.N. said in a statement on Thursday.
Hun Sen visited junta boss Min Aung Hlaing last week, a move rights groups said risked legitimising the military's coup last year and its crackdown on thousands of democracy activists and supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi's ousted government. read more
Myanmar has been in chaos for nearly a year, with the military suppressing protests and fighting on different fronts with ethnic minority armies and newly formed militias it calls "terrorists".
At least 1,400 civilians have been killed, according to activists cited by the U.N.
"The special envoy advocated for confidence-building measures involving all stakeholders, in addition to ethnic armed organisations," the statement said of Heyzer's discussion with Hun Sen.
The conflict has caused discord within ASEAN about how to deal with Myanmar, which saw the unprecedented sidelining last year of its top general from ASEAN meetings over a failure to honour peace commitments.
An envoy from the previous chair, Brunei, made meeting all stakeholders a precondition for visiting, which the junta rejected. Cambodia's incoming Myanmar envoy Prak Sokhonn said that approach was not productive. read more
Heyzer urged Prak Sakhonn work with her and the international community on "a coordinated strategy towards creating an enabling environment for inclusive dialogue."
"She emphasised solutions needed to derive from engaging directly with and listening carefully to all those affected," it said. (Reuters)
January
Taliban propose joint body to coordinate distribution of foreign aid
Written by Nur Yasmin
The Afghan Taliban on Wednesday proposed creating a joint body of its officials and international representatives to help coordinate billions of dollars in planned aid.
It was not clear whether the United Nations and foreign governments would back such an agreement, as it would constitute an increase in access to international funding by the Taliban, some of whose leaders have been hit by U.S. sanctions.
The abrupt withdrawal of foreign aid following the hasty exit of American forces and the Taliban's stunning victory last August left Afghanistan's economy on the brink of collapse. Hunger is widespread and prices for basic goods have spiked.
Western sanctions aimed at the Taliban also prevented the passage of basic supplies of food and medicine, although this has since eased after exemptions were passed by the U.N. Security Council and Washington in December.
On Tuesday, the United Nations asked donors for $4.4 billion in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan in 2022 and the White House announced it would donate an extra $308 million. read more
"The goal of this committee is coordination on a higher level for facilitating humanitarian aids of the international community and to distribute aid for needy people," Afghanistan's acting Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi told a news conference in Kabul also attended by U.N. envoy Ramiz Alakbarov.
"We ask the international communities that they should use the government capacities for their aid goals."
Foreign governments, facing warnings that millions of people could starve as the economic crisis intensifies, are ramping up humanitarian aid, but they are keen to keep it away from government interference.
An Afghan finance ministry spokesman said that discussions would take place over the next few days with the United Nations on the proposal for the joint body.
The U.N. Secretary General's deputy special representative for Afghanistan Alakbarov told Reuters that U.N. agencies were already communicating their requirements to the Taliban over aid.
Their main condition has been access to the entire country, including for female staff members.
"International organisations are totally free. They can continue their work according their own procedures. (We) will provide anything they need - security ... transportation," Finance Ministry spokesman Ahmad Wali Haqmal said.
"The Islamic Emirate (Taliban) doesn't want anything personally, or to distribute the aid; we just want to coordinate with international organisations," he said. (Reuters)
January
Japan to advance timeframe for balancing budget to FY2026
Written by Nur Yasmin
Japan's government will estimate that its primary budget would be balanced in fiscal 2026, one year earlier than its previous projection made about six months ago, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The revised projection would assume a scenario for robust economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis and higher tax revenue, said the sources who requested anonymity because the new estimate is being finalised on Friday.
Separate from this projection, the government has set a goal of achieving a primary budget balance, excluding new bond issuance and debt servicing costs, by fiscal 2025 - a key gauge of diagnosing a country's fiscal health. But the target has been pushed back several times due to a delay in fiscal reform.
Its most recent pledge of meeting that goal in fiscal 2025 included a caveat that it would be reviewed, when the revised fiscal projections are issued, to account for the fallout of the pandemic.
Whether the government would keep or ditch the goal in favour of more stimulus spending has been in focus as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida faced pressure from both sides within his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Japan is saddled with public debt that is more than double the size of its $5 trillion economy, the world's third largest, making it the industrial world's heaviest debt burden as a result of decades of massive pump-priming spending.
"It's true tax revenue is overshooting thanks to a return on massive stimulus spending, but it would be dangerous to assume a rosy scenario that tax revenue would remain high, given uncertainty such as the Omicron outbreak," said Hiroshi Shiraishi, senior economist at BNP Paribas Securities.
"Japan must carry the flag of fiscal reform to win market confidence in its debt management, but it would be difficult to achieve the primary balance target given the risk of a 'fiscal cliff' that could be caused by putting the plug on stimulus."
There is uncertainty over whether Japan can speed up efforts to keep its fiscal house in order as Kishida faces pressure to maintain or ramp up spending ahead of an upper house election later this year.
A vast majority of Japanese firms want fiscal support to keep flowing at least through this year, a Reuters poll showed, even as major economies from Europe to the United States dial back crisis-mode economic stimulus programmes. (Reuters)