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January
UN seeks record $4.4 bln in aid for Afghanistan's future
Written by Nur Yasmin
U.N. agencies on Tuesday asked donors for $4.4 billion in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan in 2022, calling the funds an "essential stop gap" to ensure the country's future after a period of turmoil marked by the Taliban's seizure of power and a hasty U.S. exit.
The United Nations says the appeal, which amounts to nearly a quarter of the country's GDP, is the largest ever sought for a single country and is triple the figure it received in 2021 when the U.S.-backed government collapsed.
"This is a stop gap, an absolutely essential stop gap measure that we are putting in front of the international community today," U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths told reporters in Geneva.
"Without this being funded there won't be a future, we need this to be done otherwise there will be outflow, there will be suffering."
The abrupt withdrawal of foreign aid last year following the Taliban victory in August left Afghanistan's fragile economy on the brink of collapse, with food prices rising rapidly and causing widespread hunger.
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. read more
Griffiths, who has been meeting with Taliban officials, said the humanitarian plan had been "carefully calibrated" so that aid will go directly to people in need and not to authorities.
Filippo Grandi, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said that improved security presented an opportunity to entice millions of people displaced by the long conflict back home, adding that since the Taliban seized power, 170,000 had returned already.
"The conflict between the Taliban and the previous government is over and that has opened up some space of security which I think we need to take advantage of," Grandi said.
"But to do that we need those resources that are part of this appeal." (Reuters)
January
Philippines poll body to rule by next week on Marcos disqualification bids
Written by Nur Yasmin
The Philippines' poll body will rule by Jan. 17 on a series of petitions seeking to disqualify from presidential elections the son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, a commissioner said on Tuesday.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the frontrunner for the May 9 election according to opinion polls, has faced at least eight complaints urging the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to bar him from running, mainly over a 1995 tax evasion conviction.
Aides to Marcos, 64, have rejected the petitions as propaganda aimed at discrediting him.
"On or before Jan. 17, the COMELEC First Division will promulgate its resolution on the DQ (disqualification) cases against Marcos," commissioner Rowena Guanzon said in a tweet.
COMELEC's second division is handling several other complaints against him.
Most of the complaints centre on his failure to pay income tax and file tax returns while in public office from 1982 to 1985, which petitioners say carries a lifetime election ban that Marcos has successfully avoided.
His lawyer Vic Rodriguez did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.
The Court of Appeals acquitted Marcos of non-payment of taxes in 1997, but it upheld the guilty verdict on failing to file tax returns.
Since the conviction, Marcos has been elected governor, congressman and senator and ran unsuccessfully for the vice presidency. He remains hugely popular in northern parts of the Philippines and has a big social media following.
Despite its fall from grace, the Marcos family has retained vast wealth and powerful political connections, but its prominence has been a cause of anger to many who suffered under the notorious martial law era of his father's rule.
Others vying for the presidency include senator and retired boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, Vice President Leni Robredo, Manila mayor Francisco Domagoso, senator and former police chief Panfilo Lacson. (Reuters)
January
Japan urges more chip tie-ups with Taiwan at trade talks
Written by Nur Yasmin
Japan called for greater collaboration with Taiwan on semiconductors at a bilateral economic and trade meeting on Tuesday.
Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Chairman Mitsuo Ohashi praised Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC)'s plans to expand in Japan, saying, "I hope these collaborations can continue to expand, and positively impact the resilience of both Taiwan and Japan's supply chains."
"Currently, even though the pandemic has blocked exchanges between Japan and Taiwan, the economic and trade relationships between Japan and Taiwan have continued to deepen," Ohashi added via video.
Although Chinese-claimed Taiwan and Japan do not have formal diplomatic ties, they have close unofficial relations. Both share concerns about China, especially its increased military activities near the two.
The Taiwan-Japan Economic and Trade Conference has typically been held in Taiwan or Japan each year, but because of the pandemic, the two sides met virtually this week.
TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, announced last year that it would set up a research and developmentcentre in Japan, as well as a $7 billion chip plant with Sony Group.
Tech powerhouse Taiwan is at the forefront of efforts to resolve a shortage of chips that has hampered auto production lines and affected consumer electronics makers around the world.
Chiou I-jen, chairman of the Taiwan-Japan Relations Association, thanked Japan for supporting Taiwan's bid in September to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
He said Taiwan hoped both sides could start a "constructive dialogue" on Taiwan joining the trade pact as soon as possible.
"Taiwan is of crucial importance to the world's supply chain, economy and trade," Chiou said, speaking at a Japanese hotel in Taipei. "If (Taiwan) can join the CPTPP, it will greatly increase the importance and visibility of this pact in the global economy."
Taiwan's bid angered China, which views the island as one of its provinces with no right to the trappings of a state. Taiwan says it is an independent country and has vowed to defend its freedom and democracy. (Reuters)
January
Pacific may be most likely to see 'strategic surprise' -U.S. policymaker Campbell
Written by Nur Yasmin
The Pacific may well be the part of the world most likely to see "strategic surprise," the U.S. Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell said on Monday, in comments apparently referring to possible Chinese ambitions to establish Pacific-island bases.
Campbell told Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies the United States has "enormous moral, strategic, historical interests" in the Pacific, but had not done enough to assist the region, unlike countries such as Australia and New Zealand.
"If you look and if you ask me, where are the places where we are most likely to see certain kinds of strategic surprise - basing or certain kinds of agreements or arrangements, it may well be in the Pacific," he told an Australia-focused panel.
Campbell called it the issue he was "most concerned about over the next year or two," adding: "And we have a very short amount of time, working with partners like Australia, like New Zealand, like Japan, like France, who have an interest in the Pacific, to step up our game across the board."
Campbell did not elaborate on his basing reference, but lawmakers from the Pacific island republic of Kiribati told Reuters last year China has drawn up plans to upgrade an airstrip and bridge on one its remote islands about 3,000km (1,860 miles) southwest of the U.S. state of Hawaii.
Construction on the tiny island of Kanton would offer China a foothold deep in territory that had been firmly aligned to the United States and its allies since World War Two.
Kiribati said in May the China-backed plans were a non-military project designed to improve transport links and bolster tourism. read more
Campbell said ways the United States and its allies needed to do more in the Pacific included in countering COVID-19, over the issue of fishing, and in investment in clean energy.
Campbell followed up on remarks he made last week that Washington needed to "step up its game" on economic engagement in Asia. read more
He said Australia had privately urged the United States to understand that as part of its strategic approach, it needed "a comprehensive, engaged, optimistic, commercial and trade role."
Campbell has touted the so-called AUKUS pact, under which the United States and Britain have agreed to help Australia acquire nuclear submarines - as well as summits between the United States, Australia, India and Japan - as evidence that U.S. partnerships are causing China "heartburn."
But some Indo-Pacific countries, many of which count China as their largest trading partner, have lamented what they consider insufficient U.S. economic engagement after former President Donald Trump quit a trade deal now called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Biden told Asian leaders in October Washington would launch talks on creating an Indo-Pacific economic framework, but few details have emerged and his administration has avoided moves towards rejoining trade deals critics say threaten U.S. jobs.
Australia's Washington ambassador, Arthur Sinodinos, told the CSIS panel Australia continued to raise the issue with the U.S. Congress and "we haven't given up hope" of a reconsideration of U.S. trade policy. (Reuters)
January
N.Korea launches 'more advanced' missile less than week after hypersonic test
Written by Nur Yasmin
North Korea appeared to test fire a ballistic missile on Tuesday that may be more capable than the "hypersonic missile" it launched less than a week earlier, South Korea's military said, as Pyongyang pursues increasingly advanced weapons.
The launches underscored leader Kim Jong Un's New Year's vow to bolster the military with cutting-edge technology at a time when talks with South Korea and the United States have stalled.
Initial estimates found Tuesday's missile travelled more than 700 km (435 miles) to a maximum altitude of 60 km (37 miles) at a top speed up to 10 times the speed of sound (12,348 kmh/7,673 mph), South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement.
"We assess that this is more advanced than the missile North Korea fired on Jan. 5, though South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities are conducting detailed analysis," the JCS said.
The suspected ballistic missile launch was detected around 7:27 a.m. (2227 GMT Monday) from North Korea's Jagang Province toward the ocean off its east coast, the same location as last week's test.
North Korea has joined a global race in developing hypersonic missiles, which are usually defined as weapons that reach speeds of at least five times the speed of sound - or about 6,200 kms per hour (3,850 mph) - and can manoeuvre at relatively low trajectories, making them much harder to detect and intercept.
Last week, South Korean military officials cast doubts on the capabilities of the hypersonic missile North Korea claimed to have test fired on Wednesday, saying it appeared to represent limited progress over Pyongyang's existing ballistic missiles.
"Today's test might be intended to send a message to the South after authorities here said the earlier test was a failure and did not involve a hypersonic missile," Kim Dong-yup, a former South Korea Navy officer who now teaches at Seoul's Kyungnam University.
'DESTABILISING'
South Korea's National Security Council held an emergency meeting and President Moon Jae-in later expressed concerns over the series of launches coming ahead of the March 9 presidential election in South Korea, his office said.
The nuclear envoys of South Korea and the United States held a phone call to share their assessment on the missile test and coordinate responses, and agreed to continue efforts restart the peace process with the North, South Korea's foreign ministry said in a statement.
The U.S. military's Indopacific Command (INDOPACOM) said while it had assessed that launch did not pose an immediate threat to the United States or its allies, it "highlights the destabilising impact of North Korea's illicit weapons program."
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida noted the United Nations had just finished holding discussions on how to respond to last week's launch.
"That North Korea continues to launch missiles is extremely regrettable," he told reporters.
U.N. Security Council resolutions ban all ballistic missile and nuclear tests by North Korea, and have imposed sanctions over the programmes.
Tuesday's apparent launch came a day after the United States mission to the United Nations, joined by France, Ireland, Japan, the United Kingdom and Albania, issued a joint statement condemning last week's test.
"These actions increase the risk of miscalculation and escalation and pose a significant threat to regional stability," U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in the statement on Monday. Such tests not only improve the North's capabilities, but expands what it can offer illicit arms clients and dealers around the world, she added.
However, China and Russia are pushing the U.N. Security Council to ease sanctions on North Korea by removing a ban on Pyongyang's exports of statues, seafood and textiles, and lifting a refined petroleum imports cap.
Thomas-Greenfield reiterated calls for countries around the world to enforce sanctions, and for North Korea to return to talks and abandon its missiles and nuclear weapons.
North Korea has said it is open to talk, but only if the United States and others drop "hostile policies" such as sanctions and military drills.
Few observers expect Kim to ever fully surrender his nuclear arsenal and North Korea argues its missile tests and other military activities are similar to measures taken by other countries.
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Seoul's Ewha University said North Korea is attempting to use repeated tests to normalise its missile capabilities and military programmes, portraying it as engaged in incremental improvements for self-defence like many other countries.
"At the same time, Pyongyang is challenging international sanctions, testing what it can get away with while the United Nations Security Council remains divided," he said. (Reuters)
January
Japan households' inflation expectations hit more than 2-year high - BOJ
Written by Nur Yasmin
Japanese households' inflation expectations have risen to a more than two-year high, a quarterly survey showed on Tuesday, a sign the rising cost of living was starting to change public perceptions about future price moves.
The result offers some hope for the Bank of Japan's effort to push inflation to its 2% target, partly by changing perceptions about persistent deflation, with aggressive monetary easing.
But analysts doubt whether recent increases in inflation, driven largely by rising fuel and raw material costs, could be sustained unless accompanied by higher wages.
The percentage of households that expect prices to be higher a year from now stood at 78.8%, up from 68.2% in September and hitting the highest level since September 2019, according to the BOJ survey conducted between Nov. 5 and Dec. 1.
Of the total, 80.8% said they expected prices to be higher five years from now, up from 78.1% in the previous survey and marking the highest level since December 2019.
The survey is among the data the BOJ will likely scrutinise at next week's policy meeting to judge whether rising input costs have affected households' inflation expectations.
Nearly nine years of ultra-easy policy have failed to fire up inflation to the BOJ's target as sluggish wage growth weighed on consumption, discouraging firms from increasing prices.
The hope among BOJ policymakers had been to shock the public out of a deflationary mindset with a massive dose of monetary stimulus.
While wholesale inflation hit a record 9.0% in November due to rising global commodity costs, core consumer inflation stood at just 0.5% due partly to the hit to consumption from the coronavirus pandemic. read more
Some analysts expect core consumer inflation to exceed 1.5% around April, as the drag from cellphone fee cuts last year tapers off and past rises in oil costs push up electricity bills.
Many BOJ policymakers view any such rise in inflation as unsustainable unless accompanied by steady wage gains, pointing to Japan's sticky deflationary sentiment.
Wage growth remains slow partly because Japanese firms do not need to lure back workers with higher pay, after having stuck to their tradition of keeping job cuts at a minimum even during last year's pandemic-induced economic slump.
BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has said the central bank would keep monetary policy ultra-loose until 2% inflation is achieved, even as its counterparts such as the U.S. Federal Reserve eye an exit from crisis-mode stimulus measures. (reuters)
January
Russian-led troops to start leaving Kazakhstan in 2 days -president
Written by Nur Yasmin
A Russian-led military bloc will begin withdrawing its troops from Kazakhstan in two days' time after fulfilling its main mission of stabilising the Central Asian country after serious unrest, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Tuesday.
Tokayev told parliament he was appointing a long-serving career public servant Alikhan Smailov as prime minister and spoke of initiatives to narrow the wealth gap, raise taxes on the mining sector, and eliminate irregularities in state procurement. L1N2TR0DW
Tokayev, 68, last week asked the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) to send in troops at the peak of what he later said was an attempted coup d'etat whose unnamed instigators had plunged half of the oil-rich nation's territory into violence.
A day earlier, he said that the CSTO mission, whose legitimacy and duration were queried by Washington prompting an angry response from Moscow, numbered 2,030 troops and 250 pieces of military hardware.
"The main mission of the CSTO peacekeeping forces has been successfully completed," Tokayev told parliament in a video conference call.
"In two days' time a phased withdrawal of the CSTO united peacekeeping contingent will begin. The withdrawal process of the contingent will take no more than 10 days."
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday said the deployment had been crucial, claiming victory in defending Kazakhstan from what he described as a foreign-backed terrorist uprising. read more
Kazakh authorities say order has been largely restored in the nation of 19 million and that almost 10,000 people have been detained over the unrest with a hunt for others ongoing.
The authorities say that initially peaceful protests against car fuel price increases were hijacked by groups aiming to overthrow the government.
Some Central Asia analysts have suggested that intra-clan infighting among the country's wealthy elite may have played a major role in what was the deadliest violence in the ex-Soviet republic's 30 years of independence from Moscow.
As protesters torched buildings in the biggest city Almaty, Tokayev said former leader Nursultan Nazarbayev was leaving his post as head of the powerful Security Council - a role in which Nazarbayev, 81, had continued to pull the strings despite handing over the presidency in 2019.
CSTO troops were also first deployed to the capital, Nur-Sultan, prompting speculation that their mission was to protect the government and Tokayev himself at a time when he could not fully trust his own security forces.
Tokayev sacked Karim Masimov, then head of the powerful National Security Committee (NSC), on Jan.5; Masimov was then detained on suspicion of treason.
Speaking to parliament on Tuesday, Tokayev said the NSC had not only missed the looming threat, but had also failed to act properly during the unrest.
"In some cities, heads of National Security Committee departments, despite having sufficient combat arsenals, abandoned (their buildings) and left behind firearms and classified documents," he said.
Tokayev did not name any new suspects in the unrest, but said the background for protests had been created by the state's failure to fight poverty and ensure fair income distribution.
He hinted he wanted associates of his predecessor and former patron Nursultan Nazarbayev, who ran Kazakhstan for almost three decades before resigning in 2019, to share their wealth with the public by making regular donations to a new charity foundation.
"Thanks to the first President... a group of very profitable companies emerged in the country as well as a group of people wealthy even by international standards," said Tokayev.
"I think it is time they pay their dues to the people of Kazakhstan and help them on a systemic and regular basis."
Nazarbayev - who in 2019 ensured Tokayev would succeed him as president - wielded sweeping power even after resigning by keeping the position of the chairman of the security council - which Tokayev took over last week. (Reuters)
January
Australia Nov retail sales boom in timely boost to economy
Written by Nur Yasmin
Australian retail sales surged past forecasts for a second month in November as consumers splashed out their pent up savings, a reminder of how well the economy was doing before an explosion of coronavirus cases cast a pall over Christmas.
Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics out on Tuesday showed retail sales jumped 7.9% in November, adding to an already stellar 4.9% rise in October as much of the country emerged from a tough pandemic lockdown.
It blew away expectations of a 3.9% gain and left sales 5.8% up on November last year at a record A$33.41 billion ($24.00 billion), a major boost to economic growth in the quarter.
Pent-up demand combined with an extended November sales period to drive record sales in clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing, household goods and department stores.
"Consumers brought forward Christmas spending to take advantage of sales and minimise delivery and stock availability concerns ahead of the festive season," noted Ben James, the ABS' director of quarterly economy wide statistics.
Some slowdown had always been expected in December as increasingly popular Black Friday sales pulled spending forward into November, but the sudden emergence of the Omicron strain has proved a whole new burden for the sector.
Shops and restaurants have seen a self-imposed lockdown from consumers as cases ballooned to over 100,000 a day, while isolation rules for contacts has blown a hole in supply chains and emptied supermarket shelves.
Analysts at ANZ say spending on the banks' cards in the first week of January sank to its lowest since the Delta lockdowns, with Sydney and Melbourne particularly badly hit.
ANZ's latest survey of consumer sentiment out on Tuesday duly showed a 2.2% drop for last week as confidence in the economy slammed into reverse.
"The good news is that people are still relatively happy about their own financial circumstances," said ANZ's head of Australian economics David Plank.
"This potentially sets things up for a rapid rebound once people are more confident about health outcomes."
Households still have a huge buffer of savings amassed during the long lockdowns, while a strong labour market has kept people on jobs and earning a wage.
This is a major reason the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) had been optimistic the economy could weather the Omicron wage, though the speed of it spread has still surprised.
Australia is also benefiting from high prices for its major resource exports which has provided a timely windfall to company profits and government tax receipts.
Data from the ABS on Tuesday showed the country's trade surplus narrowed to A$9.4 billion in November, but only because the splurge in domestic spending sucked in more imports.
While exports rose 2% in the month, imports jumped 6% on gains in consumption and capital goods. (Reuters)
January
U.S. and Russian negotiators face off in Geneva over Ukraine
Written by Nur Yasmin
After days of pessimistic statements on both sides, the United States and Russia began tough negotiations in Geneva on Monday that Washington hopes can avert the danger of a new Russian invasion of Ukraine without conceding to the Kremlin's far-reaching security demands.
The talks between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Wendy Sherman began at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Geneva with U.S.-Russia relations at their most tense since the Cold War ended three decades ago.
The pair made only brief eye contact when they posed for photographs beforehand.
"The talks promise to be long and substantial," the Russian diplomatic mission in Geneva tweeted, with a picture of the two lead negotiators standing in front of their national flags.
Sherman said "the U.S. will listen to Russia's concerns and share our own" in an earlier tweet from Geneva, adding that no discussions on European security would be held without the presence of other allies. Discussions will move to meetings in Brussels and Vienna later this week.
Nearly 100,000 Russian troops are gathered within reach of the border with Ukraine in preparation for what Washington and Kyiv say could be a new invasion, eight years after Russia seized the Crimea peninsula from the former Soviet republic.
Russia denies invasion plans and said it is responding to what it calls aggressive behavior from the NATO military alliance and Ukraine, which has tilted toward the West and aspires to join NATO.
Last month, Russia presented sweeping demands including a ban on further NATO expansion and an end to the alliance's activity in central and eastern European countries that joined it after 1997.
The United States and NATO say large parts of the Russian proposals are non-starters.
'WE NEED GUARANTEES'
Ryabkov told RIA news agency Russia would not accept U.S. attempts to limit the agenda to discussion of military exercises and missile deployments - the topics outlined by the Biden administration as areas it is willing to broach
"We need legal guarantees of the non-expansion of NATO and the elimination of everything that the alliance has created since 1997," Ryabkov said.
Russia had tried to show flexibility for the past 30 years and it was time for the other side to be flexible, he said. "If they are unable to do this, they will face a worsening situation in their own security."
The two countries are also at odds over Russia's deployment of troops in Kazakhstan after an uprising there last week, its support for Belarus in a migrant crisis on the EU's border, and what Washington sees as Russia's use of its gas supplies to Europe to gain political leverage over its neighbours. read more
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who will meet the Russian team on Wednesday in Brussels, said Russia and the West could find a pathway to avoid conflict.
"What we are hoping for is that we can agree on a way forward, that we can agree on a series of meetings, that we can agree on a process," Stoltenberg said.
Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanishyna, appearing alongside him, said Russia should not set conditions while its tanks remained near the Ukrainian border.
'UKRAINE MUST BE PRESENT'
On the streets of Kyiv, residents questioned why their country was not at the table. read more
"I think it should not be this way," said a 59-year-old man who gave his name as Oleh. "Ukraine must be present during those meetings because it is a more interested party than other countries... Ukraine must be sitting in the first row."
Russia has scorned Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskiy as a viable negotiating partner, but the United States and other western governments have said they are fully committed to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
As Ukraine is not a NATO member, it could not count on alliance members to defend it. But U.S. President Joe Biden has repeatedly warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that the United States and European allies would impose tough sanctions if Russia chose to invade Ukraine. Putin has said new sanctions could lead to a "complete breakdown in ties." (reuters)
January
Spain's Sanchez suggests tracking pandemic differently as COVID lethality has fallen
Written by Nur Yasmin
The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday it may be time to track the pandemic differently as COVID-19's lethality has fallen, confirming a report from El Pais newspaper that the government was mulling alternative monitoring methods.
"We have the conditions to gradually, with precaution, open the debate at a technical level and European level, to start evaluating the evolution of this disease with different parameters than we have until now," Sanchez said in an interview with radio station Cadena SER.
The Spanish government is considering changing how it tracks the pandemic's evolution to instead use a method similar to how it follows the flu, without recording every case and without testing all people presenting symptoms, El Pais reported on Monday. (Reuters)