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October
N.Korea's Kim calls for improving people's lives amid 'grim' economy
Written by Nur Yasmin
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un urged officials to focus on improving citizens' lives in the face of a "grim" economic situation, state media reported on Monday, as he marked the anniversary of the country's ruling party.
Art performances, galas, and a fireworks show were held in Pyongyang to celebrate the 76th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea on Sunday, but no large military parade, which are sometimes held on such occasions, was reported.
North Korea's economy has been battered by years of sanctions over its nuclear and weapons programmes, and heavy rains and floods have also taken a toll.
The country's most vulnerable risk starvation after it slipped deeper into self-imposed isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the worsening humanitarian situation could turn into a crisis, a U.N. rights investigator said in report seen by Reuters last week.
The country faces "huge tasks for adjusting and developing the state economy" and accomplishing the economic goals established in recent party and government meetings, Kim said in a speech, according to state news agency KCNA.
"The only way for dynamically pushing forward the unprecedented crucial work despite grim situation is for the entire Party to get united," he added, making no mention of the political standoff over its nuclear weapons.
Officials should not wish for privilege and preferential treatment, and "should always consider whether their work infringe upon the interests of the people or cause trouble to the people," Kim said.
State media showed Kim addressing a room full of darkly dressed officials, with no major social distancing, masks, or other anti-COVID-19 measures apparent.
The country has not reported a single case of the virus, but has imposed strict border lockdowns, movement restrictions, and other measures.
State television broadcasts showed young people attending the gala, and other people laying flowers at statues of the country's previous leaders.
The U.S. State Department on Thursday accused Kim's government of being primarily responsible for the humanitarian situation in the country.
“The regime continues to exploit its own citizens, to violate their human rights, to divert resources from the country’s people to build up its unlawful (weapons of mass destruction) and ballistic missiles programme,” spokesperson Ned Price told a briefing in Washington, while noting the United States supports efforts to provide humanitarian aid to North Korea.
October
Facebook-backed group launches misinformation adjudication panel in Australia
Written by Nur Yasmin
A tech body backed by the Australian units of Facebook, Google and Twitter said on Monday it has set up a special committee to adjudicate complaints over misinformation, a day after the government threatened tougher laws over false and defamatory online posts.
The issue of damaging social media posts has emerged as a second battlefront between Big Tech and Australia, which last year passed a law to make platforms pay licence fees for content, sparking a temporary Facebook blackout in February.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week labelled social media "a coward's palace", while the government said on Sunday it was looking at measures to make social media companies more responsible, including forcing legal liability onto the platforms for the content published on them.
The Digital Industry Group Inc (DIGI), which represents the Australian units of Facebook Inc (FB.O), Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google and Twitter Inc (TWTR.N), said its new misinformation oversight subcommittee showed the industry was willing to self-regulate against damaging posts.
The tech giants had already agreed a code of conduct against misinformation, "and we wanted to further strengthen it with independent oversight from experts, and public accountability," DIGI Managing Director Sunita Bose said in a statement.
A three-person "independent complaints sub-committee" would seek to resolve complaints about possible breaches of the code conduct via a public website, DIGI said, but would not take complaints about individual posts.
The industry's code of conduct includes items such as taking action against misinformation affecting public health, which would include the novel coronavirus.
DIGI, which also counts Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and TikTok as signatories, said it could issue a public statement if a company was found to have violated the code of conduct or revoke its signatory status with the group.
Australian communications minister Paul Fletcher, who has been among senior lawmakers promising tougher action against platforms hosting misleading and defamatory content, welcomed the measure, while consumer groups argued it did not go far enough.
"I'm pleased that DIGI is announcing an important development to strengthen the way the code will protect Australians from misinformation and disinformation," Fletcher said in a statement.
But Reset Australia, an advocate group focused on the influence of technology on democracy, said the oversight panel was "laughable" as it involved no penalties and the code of conduct was optional.
"DIGI's code is not much more than a PR stunt given the negative PR surrounding Facebook in recent weeks," said Reset Australia Director of tech policy Dhakshayini Sooriyakumaran in a statement, urging regulation for the industry.
Australian Communications Consumer Action Network CEO Andrew Williams said the move was "a step in the right direction" but too limited since only people with Google accounts could lodge complaints on the new website.
"It's important that any information that consumers need to know about the DIGI Complaints Portal is easy to find and accessible for everyone," he said.
October
New Zealand makes COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for health workers
Written by Nur Yasmin
New Zealand will require teachers and workers in the health and disability sectors to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday, as she extended restrictions in Auckland, its largest city, for another week.
New Zealand is fighting the highly infectious Delta outbreak that forced it to abandon its long-standing strategy of eliminating the new coronavirus amid persistent infections and is looking to live with the virus through higher vaccinations.
"New Zealand is at one of the trickiest and most challenging moments in the COVID-19 pandemic so far," Ardern told reporters in Wellington. Ardern, however, said "there is a clear path forward" in the next few months to live with fewer curbs and more freedoms once the country reaches a higher level of vaccinations.
About 2.38 million New Zealanders have so far been fully vaccinated, or about 57% of the eligible population, with officials promising to end lockdowns once 90% of the eligible population is vaccinated.
Health and disability sector workers will have to be fully vaccinated by Dec. 1, while school and early learning staff must get their two doses by Jan. 1, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said.
The decision of mandatory vaccinations comes as New Zealand reported 35 new cases, all of them in Auckland, down from 60 on Sunday, taking the total cases in the current outbreak to 1,622.
Having largely controlled the virus last year, New Zealand has recorded just over 4,600 cases and 28 deaths.
Some 1.7 million people in Auckland entered into a lockdown in mid-August in an effort to stamp out the Delta outbreak, the first major spate of community cases in the country since early in the pandemic.
Authorities last week eased some curbs in Auckland including leaving homes to connect with loved ones outdoors, with a limit of 10 people, as well as go to beaches and parks. (Reuters)
October
Japan's Kishida puts wage hike incentives ahead of higher capital gains tax
Written by Nur Yasmin
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Monday he will prioritise boosting wages through tax incentives, rather than imposing higher levies on capital gains and dividends to address Japan's income gap.
Kishida, facing opposition questions in parliament for the first time since becoming prime minister, also said a near-term priority would be to put the economy on a solid footing with bold monetary easing, flexible fiscal steps and a growth strategy.
"It's among options to create a virtuous cycle of growth and redistribution," Kishida told parliament, when asked by an opposition lawmaker about his earlier idea to raise capital gains tax.
"But there are other things we should do first such as reforming the tax system to achieve wage increases," Kishida said.
The government would start by overhauling corporate tax to help companies that are keen on raising wages, he said.
Kishida defended former Prime Minister Shin Abe's "Abenomics" stimulus policies as having boosted growth, pulled Japan out of deflation and created jobs.
"We will now take various steps to redistribute wealth," Kishida said. "The order in which we take these steps is crucial."
Kishida, who has made wealth redistribution his key policy agenda, had previously said adjusting taxes on capital gains and dividends would be among the options.
But he walked back that pledge on Sunday, saying he would not change the taxes on investment income for now, a decision some analysts said reflected his concern about jolting stock markets. (Reuters)
October
EXCLUSIVE U.S., EU line up over 20 more countries for global methane pact
Written by Nur Yasmin
Two dozen countries have joined a U.S.- and EU-led effort to slash methane emissions 30% by 2030, giving the emerging global partnership momentum ahead of its launch at the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow later this month, a government official told Reuters.
Nigeria, Japan and Pakistan are among the 24 new signatories to the Global Methane Pledge, which was first announced by the United States and EU in September with the aim of galvanizing rapid climate action before the start of the Scotland summit on Oct. 31. It could have a significant impact on the energy, agriculture and waste sectors responsible for the bulk of methane emissions.
The nine original partners include Britain, Indonesia and Mexico, which signed on to the pledge when it was announced at the Major Economies Forum last month. The partnership will now cover 60% of global GDP and 30% of global methane emissions.
U.S. special climate change envoy John Kerry and European Commission Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans will introduce the new partners at a joint event on Monday and also announce that more than 20 philanthropic organizations, including ones led by Michael Bloomberg and Bill Gates, will mobilize over $223 million to help support countries' methane-reduction efforts, said the official, who declined to be named.
The source said the countries represent a range of different methane emissions profiles. For example, Pakistan's main source of methane emissions is agriculture, while Indonesia's main source is waste.
Several countries most vulnerable to climate change impacts, including some African nations and island nations like Micronesia, have also signed the pledge.
In the weeks leading up to the U.N. climate summit, the United States will engage with other major emerging economy methane emitters like India and China to urge them to join and ensure the "groundswell of support continues," the official said.
'ONE MOVE LEFT'
Methane is a greenhouse gas and the biggest cause of climate change after carbon dioxide (CO2). Several recent reports have highlighted the need for governments to crack down on methane to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C, the goal of the Paris climate agreement.
Methane has a higher heat-trapping potential than CO2 but breaks down in the atmosphere faster. A landmark United Nations scientific report released in August said "strong, rapid and sustained reductions" in methane emissions, in addition to slashing CO2 emissions, could have an immediate impact on the climate.
The United States is due to release oil and gas methane regulations in the coming weeks, and the European Union will unveil detailed methane legislation later this year.
Larry Kramer, president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, which contributed to the $200 million fund, told Reuters the money will "help catalyze climate action" and that reducing methane is the quickest way to help carry out the 1.5-degree goal.
Durwood Zaelke, president of the Washington-based Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, said the partnership was a "great start" for focusing the world's attention on the need to slash methane.
"There's one move left to keep the planet from catastrophe — cutting methane as fast as we can from all sources," he said by email ahead of the announcement. (Reuters)
October
'Freedom Day': Sydney reopens as Australia looks to live with COVID-19
Written by Nur Yasmin
Sydney's cafes, gyms and restaurants welcomed back fully vaccinated customers on Monday after nearly four months of lockdown, as Australia aims to begin living with the coronavirus and gradually reopen with high rates of inoculation.
Some pubs in Sydney, Australia's largest city, opened at 12:01 a.m. (1301 GMT Sunday) and friends and families huddled together for a midnight beer, television footage and social media images showed.
"I see it as a day of freedom, it's a freedom day," New South Wales (NSW) state Premier Dominic Perrottet told reporters in Sydney, the state capital. "We are leading the nation out of this pandemic but this will be a challenge."
Perrottet warned that infections would rise after reopening, and virus-free states such as Western Australia and Queensland are watching what living with COVID-19 is going to look like amid concerns health systems could be overwhelmed.
While NSW's dual-dose vaccination rate in people above 16 hit 74%, in neighbouring Queensland, whose borders remain closed to Sydney-siders, the rate is only 52% and the state government is following an elimination strategy with rapid lockdowns to control any outbreak.
Perrottet has declared an end to lockdowns in NSW and has strong support for reopening in Sydney, whose more than 5 million residents endured severe restrictions from mid-June following an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant.
The outbreak has since spread to Melbourne and Canberra, forcing lockdowns in those cities, even as case numbers dwindle in NSW.
New South Wales on Monday reported 496 new locally acquired cases, well down from their peak last month, while Victoria logged 1,612 new infections, the lowest in five days.
Under the relaxed rules for NSW, retail stores and restaurants reopened with reduced capacity, and more vaccinated people were allowed to gather in homes and attend weddings and funerals.
The state aims to hit an 80% vaccine rate around late October, when more curbs will be relaxed. But the unvaccinated must remain at home until Dec. 1.
Steven Speed, the publican at Sydney's oldest pub, Fortune of War, told Reuters he hoped it was the last lockdown after 18 months of restrictions.
"Just the costs of closing down and opening up, closing down and opening up - they're huge," said Speed, whose most loyal customers returned from 9:00 a.m. on Monday for the first post-lockdown beers with friends.
Kyl Raggio, owner of the KR Performance gym in the Sydney suburb of Randwick, said Australia could no longer afford to rely on rolling lockdowns to combat the virus.
"I hope that we can deal with whatever happens now moving forward, looking at the rest of the world hopefully we can stay open and do our thing," said Raggio, who welcomed his clients back into his training facility early Monday morning.
ELECTION LOOMING
Prime Minister Scott Morrison urged Sydney residents to "enjoy the moment".
"Today is a day so many have been looking forward to - a day when things we take for granted, we will celebrate," he said.
Morrison, who must call an election before next May, has come under pressure to press all states to reopen borders to bolster the economy and allow families separated by state border closures to reunite by Christmas. Some states with few cases have not said when they will re-open their borders.
With the vaccine rollout gaining momentum, Australia is planning a staggered return to normal, letting fully vaccinated residents enter and leave the country freely from November, although New South Wales plans to bring forward those dates.
Australia shut its international borders in March 2020, helping keep its coronavirus numbers relatively low, with 130,000 cases and 1,448 deaths. (Reuters)
October
U.S. says Taliban talks in Doha were 'candid and professional'
Written by Nur Yasmin
The United States said on Sunday the first face-to-face meeting between senior U.S. and Taliban officials since the hardline group retook power in Afghanistan was "candid and professional" and that the U.S. side reiterated that the Taliban would be judged on their actions, not just their words.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said the U.S. delegation at the weekend talks in Doha, Qatar, focused on security and terrorism concerns and safe passage for U.S. citizens, other foreign nationals and Afghans, as well as on human rights, including the meaningful participation of women and girls in all aspects of Afghan society.
He said the two sides also discussed "the United States’ provision of robust humanitarian assistance, directly to the Afghan people."
"The discussions were candid and professional with the U.S. delegation reiterating that the Taliban will be judged on its actions, not only its words," Price said in a statement.
It did not say if any agreements were reached.
The foreign ministry in Kabul said the two-day meeting went well. It welcomed the U.S. offer of humanitarian assistance and said local authorities would facilitate delivery and cooperate with aid groups but said such assistance "should not be linked to political issues".
"Detailed discussions were held during the meeting about all relevant issues. And efforts should be exerted to restore diplomatic relations to a better state," the ministry said in a statement, adding that similar meetings would be held in future if required.
On Saturday, Qatar-based Al Jazeera television quoted Afghanistan's acting foreign minister as saying that Taliban representatives asked the U.S. side to lift a ban on Afghan central bank reserves.
It said the minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, also said Washington would offer Afghans coronavirus vaccines and that the two sides discussed "opening a new page" between the two countries.
Biden administration officials told Reuters on Friday the U.S. delegation would press the Taliban to release kidnapped American Mark Frerichs. Another top priority would be to hold the Taliban to their commitment not to allow Afghanistan to again become a hotbed for al Qaeda or other extremists.
The Taliban took back power in Afghanistan in August, almost 20 years after they were ousted in a U.S.-led invasion for refusing to hand over al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
The U.S. officials said the weekend meeting was a continuation of "pragmatic engagements" with the Taliban and "not about granting recognition or conferring legitimacy" to the group.
U.S. officials say they are in contact with dozens of Americans and legal permanent residents who wish to leave Afghanistan and there are thousands of U.S.-allied Afghans at risk of Taliban persecution still in the country.
Washington and other Western countries are grappling with difficult choices as a severe humanitarian crisis looms large in Afghanistan. They are trying to work out how to engage with the Taliban without granting the group the legitimacy it seeks, while ensuring humanitarian aid flows into the country. (Reuters)
October
China lodges stern representations with Australia on Taiwan comments
Written by Nur Yasmin
The Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday that China has lodged stern representations with Australia over "inappropriate" comments by former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott about Taiwan.
Abbott last week visited Taiwan, which is claimed by China, in a personal capacity, met Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, and told a security forum that China may lash out with its economy slowing and finances "creaking". read more
"The relevant words and actions by the Australian politician go against the One China Principle and send a seriously wrong signal," Zhao Lijian, a spokesman at the Chinese foreign ministry, told a regular media briefing. "China is firmly opposed to this. We have made stern representations to Australia." (Reuters)
October
Japan PM Kishida says has no plan to alter capital-gains, dividend taxes
Written by Nur Yasmin
Japan's new Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, said on Sunday he won't seek to change the country's taxes on capital gains and dividends for now as he intends to pursue other steps for better wealth distribution, such as raising wages of medical workers.
Kishida, who has vowed to rectify wealth disparities, had previously said reviewing those taxes would be an option in addressing income gaps.
The premier's new stance indicates his concern about jitters in the stock market caused by the prospects of higher tax levies.
Kishida took the top job in the world's third-largest economy on Monday, replacing Yoshihide Suga, who had seen his support undermined by surging COVID-19 infections.
"I have no plan to touch the financial income tax for the time being ... There are many other things to tackle first," Kishida told a news programme on commercial broadcaster Fuji Television Network.
"Misunderstanding is spreading that I may do it soon. That will give unnecessary worry to people concerned, if not dispelled firmly."
Some investors have expressed concern that the new premier may press ahead with capital-gains tax hikes, signalling a turnaround from investor friendly economic policies pursued by Japan's longest-serving premier, Shinzo Abe, from 2013 to 2020.
Some analysts had called for raising Japan's tax levied on investment income from the current 20% to raise more from the rich and fund steps to support low-income households.
Others were sceptical about the impact such tax hikes may have on correcting wealth disparities.
Kishida's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) made no mention of reviewing taxes on capital gains and dividends in its campaign platform for the Oct. 31 general elections, a draft obtained by Reuters showed. read more
Investors had been concerned about any negative impact a higher tax rate on capital gains and dividends could have on stock markets, which could cool local investment and drive away foreigners.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei average (.N225) has declined 7% since Kishida won the LDP leadership election late last month. (Reuters)
October
Malaysia lifts travel restrictions for fully vaccinated people
Written by Nur Yasmin
Malaysia on Sunday lifted interstate and international travel restrictions for residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19, as the country achieved its target of inoculating 90% of its adult population.
Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the government has agreed to allow fully vaccinated Malaysians to travel overseas without applying for permission.
The new rules take effect on Monday.
The government is preparing to shift into an endemic COVID-19 phase where it will not impose wide lockdowns again if cases rise, Ismail Sabri told a news conference.
"We have to train ourselves to live with COVID, because COVID may not be eliminated fully," he said.
Nearly 65% of the country's 32 million population, including those aged 12 to 17, were fully vaccinated as of Saturday.
The Southeast Asian nation has recorded 2.3 million coronavirus infections and 27,265 deaths from COVID-19. (Reuters)