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December
Myanmar airstrikes displace more people along Thai-Myanmar border
Written by Nur Yasmin
Myanmar's military carried out more airstrikes on a rebel-controlled area near the Thai border, the rebel group said on Friday, in the latest escalation of violence that has sent hundreds fleeing into Thailand.
The Karen National Union (KNU) said the military launched at least two airstrikes and fired some artillery rounds on an area under its control near the Thai-Myanmar border late on Thursday.
A Reuters reporter at Mae Sot, a Thai border town some 15 km (10 miles) from where the air strikes reportedly took place, heard several explosions on Thursday evening at around 11 p.m. local time.
A spokesman for the Myanmar's military junta did not answer calls seeking comment.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military ousted a civilian government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, triggering protests and sporadic clashes in the countryside between anti-junta militia and the army.
Fresh fighting between the Myanmar military and the KNU broke out last week, and more than 4,200 people have crossed into Thailand since the violence began, Thailand's foreign ministry said. Civil society groups have said the number of displaced is as high as 10,000.
KNU spokesman Saw Taw Nee told Reuters that the airstrikes have further displaced more civilians living in the area and repeated his group's call for the international community to established a no-fly zone in the area.
Thailand's foreign ministry spokesman Tanee Sangrat said at a press conference on Friday that Thailand was concerned about the latest violence in Karen state that also impacted Thai people living along the border.
Several foreign envoys to Myanmar, including from the EU, Britain and the United States, issued a joint statement on Friday calling for an end to "indiscriminate attacks" in Karen state and elsewhere by the military.
"The recent attacks on civilians in Karen State, including the shelling of villages, are a violation of International Humanitarian Law and must stop," they said. (Reuters)
December
Philippines approves Merck's COVID-19 pill for at-risk patients
Written by Nur Yasmin
The Philippines on Thursday approved emergency use of Merck & Co Inc's (MRK.N)COVID-19 treatment pill for adult patients at risk of developing severe illness as it tries to boosts the country's arsenal of drugs to fight new variants.
It also approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5-11 so the vaccine, which will be administered in a paediatric formulation, could be administered once it becomes available, its Food and Drug Administration (FDA) chief said.
FDA chief Rolando Enrique Domingo told a public briefing the benefits outweighed the risks and it was already being used for children in countries like the United States and Canada.
In October, the FDA allowed 31 Philippine hospitals to use Merck's molnupiravir, the world's first oral antiviral medication for COVID-19, under a compassionate use permit even before approval for its wider use.
The Southeast Asian nation has halved to three months the waiting time for a booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine in its battle to rein in the more infectious Omicron variant of coronavirus, which has forced a global tightening of curbs. (Reuters)
December
Singapore to freeze new ticket sales for quarantine-free arrivals
Written by Nur Yasmin
Singapore will freeze the sale of tickets for arriving flights and buses under its quarantine-free travel programme for four weeks from Thursday, the government said, citing the risk from the fast-spreading Omicron COVID-19 variant.
Under the vaccinated travel lane (VTL) programme, Singapore allows quarantine-free entry for fully vaccinated travellers arriving from certain countries on designated flights or buses. The travellers have to undergo regular testing.
About two dozen countries are listed in the programme including Australia, India, Malaysia, Britain and the United States.
But no new tickets would be issued for people hoping to arrive from any of those countries from Thursday to Jan. 20, the government said on Wednesday.
"Our border measures will help to buy us time to study and understand the Omicron variant, and to strengthen our defences, including enhancing our healthcare capacity, and getting more people vaccinated and boosted," the health ministry said in a statement.
The government said it would also reduce the VTL quotas and ticket sales for travel after Jan. 20. For flights, the total number of VTL tickets would be capped at 50% of the previously allocated quota.
Travellers already holding tickets on VTL flights or buses and who meet all other requirements can still travel under the programme.
The government also urged people arriving in Singapore to minimise their social interactions, avoid large gatherings and eating out for seven days even if their tests, which they have to take every day for the week, are negative.
Singapore has confirmed 65 imported Omicron cases, along with a handful of local cases. But the government said it has been able to limit onward community transmission.
The health ministry said on Monday it had found a suspected Omicron cluster in a gym. (Reuters)
December
Japan rules out changes to COVID-19 curbs despite Omicron
Written by Nur Yasmin
Japan's government is not considering an immediate change to current COVID-19 restrictions, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Thursday, a day after community transmission of the Omicron variant was discovered in the country.
The government confirmed on Wednesday that a family of three based in the western city of Osaka were infected by the Omicron variant and the origin of how they had caught the virus could not be traced.
And on Thursday, the governor of neighboring Kyoto prefecture said that a community infection was confirmed in a woman in her 20s, with authorities investigating seven of her close contacts.
The government has started preparations to expand free testing to people who don't have COVID-19 symptoms in an attempt to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant, news agency Jiji reported on Thursday citing unnamed government sources.
Shigeru Omi, the nation's top health advisor, urged caution before people travel or gather with family and friends during the holiday season.
"Now that the Omicron strain has been confirmed as a community-acquired infection, there are concerns that it may spread further, so please be cautious when holding year-end or New Year's parties," he told reporters. (Reuters)
December
S.Korea holds talks with China amid spat with Taiwan
Written by Nur Yasmin
Senior South Korean diplomats will hold talks with Chinese counterparts on Thursday following a diplomatic spat with Taiwan over its cancellation of the attendance by a senior Taipei official for a business forum in Seoul last week.
Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun and aides are set to hold talks online later on Thursday with a team led by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng, the first such meeting since June 2017.
Both sides are expected to explore ways to reopen stalled denuclearisation talks with North Korea and discuss other bilateral, regional and global issues, Seoul officials said.
"We hope this meeting can have a positive effect on enhancing communication and mutual trust and the promotion of bilateral relations," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular press briefing on Thursday.
The meeting comes at a delicate time as Taiwan has lodged a protest over South Korea's revocation of its invitation sent in September for Digital Minister Audrey Tang to speak virtually at a conference last week in Seoul.
Taipei's foreign ministry called the move "rude," and summoned South Korea's acting de facto ambassador to express its displeasure.
The ministry said South Korea cited "various aspects of cross-strait issues" for its decision, but when Taiwan's representative in Seoul separately sought an explanation, he did not receive any answers.
South Korea's foreign ministry said the decision was made by the event's organisers based on "comprehensive considerations of all circumstances", without elaborating.
An official at Seoul's presidential Blue House said on Wednesday that the organisers cancelled the invitation in line with "our diplomatic principles, not because of China".
"Our position remains unchanged that we will continue promoting unofficial economic and cultural relations, and practical exchanges through them," the official told reporters.
Seoul faces an increasingly thorny balancing act as the United States, its top ally, focuses on marshalling allies and partners to counter what it calls a coercive and aggressive China, South Korea's largest economic partner.
The vice ministers could also discuss the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing, just as Western countries join a U.S.-led diplomatic boycott.
The Blue House has said it was not considering participating in the boycott but discussions have yet to be held with China on sending a delegation. (Reuters)
December
Three bodies found, but scores buried by landslide at Myanmar jade mine
Written by Nur Yasmin
Myanmar rescuers found two more bodies at a jade mine on Thursday after an official conceded there was little hope of finding survivors among scores of people buried by an avalanche of dirt and rubble while searching for fragments of the gems.
Many were swept into a lake below by the landslide of mining waste, prompting a desperate search by volunteers and workers in hard hats aboard rubber boats.
Two more bodies were found on Thursday morning taking the confirmed death toll at the mine in the Hpakant area to three, Pyae Nyein, captain of Hpakant Township's fire department, said.
"We are continuing the search. So far no one has survived," Pyae Nyein told Reuters. Earlier, he said that around 50 people still unaccounted for had likely also died.
Kachin Network Development Foundation, a civil society group involved in the rescue operation, estimated the number missing at around 80, while the Myanmar Now news portal cited sources as saying as many as 100 may be buried under mining waste.
"In incidents like this, bodies usually only turn up four to seven days later," Myanmar Now cited Min Naing of the Thingaha group, another volunteer body, as saying.
Deadly landslides and other accidents are common in Hpakant, the centre of Myanmar's secretive jade industry which draws poor workers from across Myanmar in search of gems mostly for export to China.
In a landslide last weekend, media reported at least six people were killed and in July last year more than 170 people died in one of the worst disasters in Hpakant after mining waste also collapsed into a lake.
Economic pressures due to the COVID-19 pandemic have drawn more migrants to the jade mines even as conflict has flared since Myanmar's military seized power in a coup in February.
The ousted government of Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi had pledged to clean up the industry when it took power in 2016, but activists say little has changed and that the coup has likely made the situation worse.
Myanmar produces 90% of the world's jade. Most comes from Hpakant, where rights groups say mining firms with links to military elites and ethnic armed groups make billions of dollars a year.
"The military coup has torpedoed hopes for urgently-needed reforms for Myanmar’s jade sector," Hanna Hindstrom, senior campaigner at advocacy group Global Witness, which has investigated the jade industry, said in a statement. (Reuters)
December
Thailand seizes $30 mln of crystal meth hidden in boxing punch bags
Written by Nur Yasmin
Thai authorities have seized crystal methamphetamine with a street value of almost $30 million stuffed inside boxing punch bags bound for Australia, officials said on Thursday.
Customs officers inspected the shipment after growing suspicious of the Thai-made training equipment which is not in high demand in Australia, Thai and Australian officials investigating the matter told a news conference in Bangkok.
More than 193 kg (425 lb) of the drugs, also known as ice, were hidden among 15 different bags.
Surrounded by cameras, a Thai customs official sliced through a long cardboard box and then the red outer layer of the boxing punch bag, exposing the drugs hidden amongst the stuffing.
"Australia consumes around 11 tons of methamphetamine per year," Australian Border Force Acting Superintendent Joel Carruthers said. "So there's a market for it, and disrupting it offshore in countries such as Thailand is fantastic."
Methamphetamine production in Southeast Asia's Golden Triangle - a border region between Thailand, Laos and Myanmar - has been increasing sharply in recent years, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (reuters)
December
China's Sinovac COVID-19 booster weaker against Omicron- Hong Kong study
Written by Nur Yasmin
Three doses of Sinovac's CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine do not produce adequate levels of antibodies to fight the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, researchers from Hong Kong said in a statement.
Their analysis revealed Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was more effective, as a third dose of the shot administered after two doses of the same or China's Sinovac vaccine provided "protective levels" of antibody against Omicron.
Pfizer (PFE.N) and its German partner BioNTech have said their three-shot course was able to neutralise the new Omicron variant in a laboratory test.
The latest study was conducted by researchers from the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and funded by the Health and Medical Research Fund and the Government of Hong Kong.
The statement did not say how many samples were used in the analysis. Sinovac did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sinovac's CoronaVac and state-owned Sinopharm's BBIBP-CorV vaccine are the two most-used vaccines in China and the leading COVID-19 vaccines exported by the country. Sinopharm also has a second vaccine in use in China.
Hong Kong has been using the Sinovac and Pfizer-BioNTech shots. But people aged 12-17 are eligible only for the BioNTech vaccine. (reuters)
December
Singapore Nov headline prices rise 3.8%, fastest in nine years
Written by Nur Yasmin
Singapore's November headline prices rose by their fastest pace in nearly nine years on higher private transport and services costs, while the government also slightly increased its 2021 outlook for the measure.
Headline inflation rose by 3.8%, exceeding economists' forecast of 3.35% and 3.2% in October. That is the most it has risen since February 2013.
The core inflation rate — the central bank's favoured price measure - rose to 1.6% in November on a year-on-year basis, the highest since January 2019, versus 1.5% in the prior month. A Reuters poll of economists had forecast a 1.5% increase.
Core inflation is projected to average 0.9% for 2021 with headline inflation at 2.3%, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and ministry of trade and industry said in a joint statement.
That compared with a previous outlook for core inflation to come in near the upper end of a 0–1% range, and headline prices to be at about 2%.
For 2022, the central bank maintained its forecast for headline prices to average 1.5–2.5% and core inflation to increase further to 1-2%. (Reuters)
December
Australian states reinstate COVID-19 curbs as Omicron cases jump
Written by Nur Yasmin
Australia reintroduced COVID-19 curbs such as mandated mask wearing indoors, capacity limits and QR code check-ins to cover most of the population on Thursday as daily infections hit a fresh record, fuelled by the highly infectious Omicron variant.
The changes for 17 million people two days before Christmas mark a reversal of the country's plans for a permanent reopening after nearly two years of stop-start lockdowns as the new variant rages through the community in spite of double-vaccination rates of more than 90%.
Hospitalisations and deaths remained low, but the explosion of infections had created a risk of healthcare workers being furloughed by testing positive, the authorities said.
The country recorded more than 8,200 new cases, by far its biggest daily rise since the pandemic began, from a previous record of 5,600 a day earlier, mostly in the states of New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria.
NSW, home to Sydney and a third of Australia's 25 million population, said it was again making it mandatory to wear masks indoors in public places, while venues were told to limit visitors and re-activate customer check-in via QR code.
"Today's changes are modest, cautious and take a precautionary approach as we move through this holiday period to the end of January," New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet told reporters.
Until Thursday, Perrottet had urged the state to hold steady on a plan, agreed between state and federal leaders, to remove restrictions once the vaccination rate exceeded a certain level.
Perrottet had steadfastly refused to re-introduce mandated indoor mask wearing, a move called on by the country's doctors and health wrokers, saying it was now time to live with COVID-19.
Victoria, which has nearly the same population, also re-introduced a mask mandate, citing the need to reduce the stress on the health system.
Western Australia, which has had very few cases and is virtually cut off from the rest of the country, ordered the closure of nightclubs and large public events, a ban on dancing and compulsory mask wearing in Perth city, after a French backpacker tested positive, suspected with the Delta variant. The man had attended many clubs and other public indoor places, the authorities said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has vowed never to return to lockdowns, saying Australians must now take personal responsibility for managing their health.
In another change of messaging on Thursday, Perrottet urged people to avoid going for COVID tests if they had received a notification of being a possible contact with an infected person but were not experiencing symptoms.
With reports of hours-long wait times at testing centres, blamed on people planning to travel interstate before Christmas, Perrottet said that "this is putting enormous pressure on the system ... but we need to make sure those people who need to get tested get tested in a timely way".
Most states require travellers to have a negative test result 72 hours before departure in order to be allowed entry, even as Morrison has urged them to ease the testing requirement.
Despite the spike in cases, hospitalisations remain far lower than during the Delta wave, with about 800 people in hospital out of nearly 44,000 active cases.
But only 37 of those are Omicron cases, the health department said in an emailed response. Only one case is in intensive care and no deaths have been reported from the Omrican variant.
Even amid the Omicron wave, Australia's tally of 273,000 infections and 2,173 deaths is far lower than many countries. (Reuters)