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June
International tourism not seen rebounding until 2023 - UN report
Written by Nur Yasmin
International tourism arrivals are set to stagnate this year, except in some Western markets, causing up to $2.4 trillion in losses, a U.N. study said on Wednesday, adding the sector is not expected to rebound fully until 2023.
COVID-19 vaccination and certificates are key to restoring confidence in foreign tourism, which provides a lifeline for many countries, especially small island states that rely heavily on the sector to provide jobs, it said.
In 2020, international arrivals plunged by 73% from pre-pandemic levels in 2019, causing estimated losses of $2.4 trillion in tourism and related sectors, according to the report by UNCTAD and the UN's World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
"The outlook for this year doesn't look much better," Ralf Peters of UNCTAD's trade analysis branch, told a news conference.
"The first three months were again bad, there was not much travelling happening," he said.
"There is an expectation of a certain recovery in the second half of the year, at least for North America and Europe to a certain extent," he told Reuters, crediting vaccinations.
The report sets out three scenarios for 2021, showing international tourism arrivals forecast to drop by between 63% and 75% from pre-pandemic levels, resulting in losses of between $1.7 trillion and $2.4 trillion.
"In international tourism we are at levels of 30 years ago, so basically we are in the '80s ... Many livelihoods are really at threat," said Zoritsa Urosevic, Geneva representative of the Madrid-based UNWTO.
"What we are looking at in the long run is...meeting the 2019 numbers after 2023," she said.
Sandra Carvao, chief of market intelligence at UNWTO, said that it would be a "very diverse recovery", varying by region and by country.
The European Union's digital COVID-19 certificate, due to come into force on Thursday, represents the only regional harmonisation to date, she said.
Carvao, referring to travel corridors, said: "We see for example Asia-Pacific is still one of the most closed regions in the world at this moment - most of the borders in the countries are either totally closed or with significant restrictions." (Reuters)
June
North Korea's Kim says 'great crisis' caused by pandemic lapse
Written by Nur Yasmin
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the failure to implement measures to tackle the coronavirus had caused a "great crisis" and he chastised ruling party officials for risking the safety of the country and people, state media reported on Wednesday.
The report by state news agency KCNA did not elaborate on the nature of the crisis or how it put people at risk.
North Korea has not officially confirmed any COVID-19 cases, a position questioned by South Korean and U.S. officials. But the reclusive country has imposed strict anti-virus measures, including border closures and domestic travel curbs.
Kim called a meeting of the Workers' Party of Korea politburo to address some party executives' neglect of duty, including failing to implement important long-term measures to fight the pandemic, the KCNA state news agency said.
"He mentioned that senior officials in charge of important state affairs neglected the implementation of the important decisions of the Party ... and thus caused a crucial case of creating a great crisis in ensuring the security of the state and safety of the people and entailed grave consequences," the news agency said.
Several politburo members, secretaries of the central committee, and officials of several state agencies were replaced at the meeting, though KCNA did not specify if the shakeups were related to the neglect of pandemic-related duty.
When asked about Kim's remarks, South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun said officials in Seoul were aware of the report but had nothing to add.
"During this pandemic era we have publicly expressed our willingness to help (North Korea) ranging from PCR tests to whatever you can imagine," he told reporters at a briefing.
North Korea has treated the protection of its people from the coronavirus as a matter of national survival and anti-pandemic decisions are made by some of its most senior leaders, said Harvard Medical School’s Kee B. Park, who has worked on health care projects in North Korea.
"The main objective of North Korea’s strategy is to prevent the virus from even getting into the country while simultaneously strengthening its treatment capabilities as well as acquiring vaccines," he said.
North Korea’s all-of-government, comprehensive approach and the repeated holding of large-scale public gatherings suggest that it may have prevented any major outbreak, Park said.
"However, the success comes with steep cost to its economy and increased vulnerability for the poorest of the population," he said.
Last year, North Korea said it had declared a state of emergency and locked down the border city of Kaesong after a person who defected to South Korea three years ago returned across the fortified border with what state media said were symptoms of COVID-19.
The World Health Organization later said North Korea's coronavirus test results for the man were inconclusive. (Reuters)
June
S.Korean ex-chief prosecutor to challenge Moon's party for presidency
Written by Nur Yasmin
A former South Korean prosecutor-general launched on Tuesday a bid to become president in an election next year saying the administration of President Moon Jae-in was corrupt and had to be defeated.
Moon is limited to just one term under the constitution. His liberal party has yet to nominate its candidate for the presidential election but former top prosecutor Yoon Seok-youl said Moon's supporters had to be voted out.
"We have to stop the corrupt and incompetent ruling forces' attempt to extend their term and plunder people," Yoon told a news conference.
Moon and his government reject accusations of corruption.
The conservative Yoon has been topping polls for presidential candidates since he resigned from the prosecutor job in March.
In a Realmeter survey released last week, Yoon won the support of 32.3% of respondents with Lee Jae-myung, the popular governor of Gyeonggia province and a member of Moon's party, coming second on 22.8 percent. (Reuters)
June
China says Japanese official calling Taiwan a 'country' is serious violation
Written by Nur YasminChina's foreign ministry said on Tuesday that the recent characterisation of Taiwan as a "country" by a senior Japanese official was erroneous and a serious violation.
Japan's deputy defence minister on Monday warned of a growing threat posed by Chinese and Russian collaboration and said it was necessary to "wake up" to Beijing's pressure on Taiwan and protect the island "as a democratic country". (Reuters)
June
New Zealand to partially restart 'travel bubble' with Australia
Written by Nur Yasmin
The New Zealand government said it will resume quarantine-free travel with parts of Australia next week as it lifted COVID-19 curbs in Wellington on Tuesday.
New Zealand halted its "travel bubble" with Australia on Saturday as an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant took root in Sydney and several other Australian cities.
COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said quarantine-free travel will resume with South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria states and the Australian Capital Territory from Monday, although authorities would continue to review the situation until then.
"The cabinet agreed that partially lifting the pause was the appropriate course of action," Hipkins told a news conferene. said. "The health advice is that the spread of COVID-19 in these parts of Australia has been contained at this point," he said.
Travellers will be required to provide a negative COVID-19 test pre-departure and must not have visited the blocked states and territories in recent days, Hipkins said.
The pause in travel with Western Australia, New South Wales, Queensland states and the Northern Territory will be reviewed on Tuesday, he added, to allow test results to be returned and a further assessment of the situation.
The Sydney outbreak also led officials to impose social distancing restrictions in Wellington a week ago after an Australian tourist who visited the city tested positive for COVID-19 after returning home.
Hipkins said those measures will be eased from midnight on Tuesday.
New Zealand is among only a handful of countries that has contained the spread of COVID-19 within its borders. Its last community case was in February.
No new cases were reported on Tuesday. New Zealand has so far had 2,385 confirmed cases and 26 deaths linked to the virus. (Reuters)
June
Bali reopening to foreign tourists delayed as COVID surges -minister
Written by Nur Yasmin
Indonesia's government will wait until COVID-19 cases fall significantly before opening Bali to foreign tourists, the country's tourism minister said in an interview.
The coronavirus pandemic has devastated the economy of Bali, for decades a magnet for holidaymakers thanks to its spectacular beaches, vibrant nightlife and distinctive Hindu culture.
"We were targeting end of July, beginning of August, but we just have to be mindful of where we are in this recent spike (in coronavirus cases)," Indonesia's Minister for Tourism and the Cultural Economy, Sandiaga Uno, told Reuters in an interview on Monday.
"We will be waiting for the situation to be more conducive."
Coronavirus infections have surged across Indonesia in recent weeks, including in Bali, where there has been a fourfold rise in the past month, albeit from a low base, to about 200 cases per day, according to official data.
Uno said he wanted Bali's daily coronavirus infections to fall to 30 or 40 per day before reopening.
The true extent of Bali's infections is masked by its low testing rates, which stand at 15% of the minimum recommended by the World Health Organisation, according to data released by the global health body.
Indonesia's government has prioritised Bali for vaccinations, and was seeing good early results as most people infected with coronavirus showed only mild symptoms, Uno said. While bed occupancy rates were approaching 100% in many parts of the neighbouring, densely populated island of Java, he said the rate was below 50% in Bali.
About 71% of Balinese had received a first vaccine dose, and the target of full vaccination for 70% of its population could be achieved by the end of July, Uno said.
Domestic travellers to Bali will now be required to have a PCR test before entering, a measure to insulate the island from the pandemic.
As well as traditional tourists, Bali hopes to attract 'digital nomads' - international entrepreneurs operating internet-based companies. They will be granted five-year visas under the proposed scheme.
"If they earn income within Indonesia they will be taxed but if it's solely from overseas there will be zero tax," Uno said. (Reuters)
June
Xi stresses loyalty as Chinese Communist Party prepares for 100th anniversary
Written by Nur Yasmin
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday urged Chinese Communist Party members to remain loyal and continue to serve the people as he awarded a new medal of honour to 29 members as part of the ruling party's 100th anniversary celebrations this week.
The medal award ceremony took place in Beijing's Great Hall of the People with much fanfare and was broadcast live on national television, as the party prepares to mark its 100th birthday on Thursday.
The "July 1 medal", announced in 2017 and given out for the first time on Tuesday, is part of Xi's efforts to shore up the image of one of the world's most powerful political parties.
He urged all members to "firmly keep the loyalty and love for the party and the people close to one's heart, turn that into action, dedicate everything, even your precious life, to the party and the people".
Honoured for "outstanding contributions" to the party, the medal recipients included soldiers, community workers and professionals in the arts and science.
The Chinese Communist Party had 91.9 million members in 2019, or 6.6% of China's population, and has ruled the country since 1949.
As part of the anniversary-week celebrations, the party also staged a gala performance on Monday night in the National Stadium, or "Bird's Nest" as it is commonly called.
Party leaders and foreign diplomats watched the extravaganza of song, dance and theatre which credited the party with guiding China's rise into a great power over the past century.
Darker parts in the party's history, including a famine in the late 1950s, the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, were omitted from the show.
The show culminated with the audience singing the song "Without the Communist Party, There Would Be No New China," and five minutes of fireworks.
Many Chinese cheered the celebration by posting online well-wishes for the country and party on social media.
Some comments were less cheery.
"Only when housing price falls, can the people start to feel happiness," read one comment, which received 39 "likes". (Reuters)
June
India's vaccine shortage eases as inoculations outpace new registrations
Written by Nur Yasmin
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday urged Chinese Communist Party members to remain loyal and continue to serve the people as he awarded a new medal of honour to 29 members as part of the ruling party's 100th anniversary celebrations this week.
The medal award ceremony took place in Beijing's Great Hall of the People with much fanfare and was broadcast live on national television, as the party prepares to mark its 100th birthday on Thursday.
The "July 1 medal", announced in 2017 and given out for the first time on Tuesday, is part of Xi's efforts to shore up the image of one of the world's most powerful political parties.
He urged all members to "firmly keep the loyalty and love for the party and the people close to one's heart, turn that into action, dedicate everything, even your precious life, to the party and the people".
Honoured for "outstanding contributions" to the party, the medal recipients included soldiers, community workers and professionals in the arts and science.
The Chinese Communist Party had 91.9 million members in 2019, or 6.6% of China's population, and has ruled the country since 1949.
As part of the anniversary-week celebrations, the party also staged a gala performance on Monday night in the National Stadium, or "Bird's Nest" as it is commonly called.
Party leaders and foreign diplomats watched the extravaganza of song, dance and theatre which credited the party with guiding China's rise into a great power over the past century.
Darker parts in the party's history, including a famine in the late 1950s, the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, were omitted from the show.
The show culminated with the audience singing the song "Without the Communist Party, There Would Be No New China," and five minutes of fireworks.
Many Chinese cheered the celebration by posting online well-wishes for the country and party on social media.
Some comments were less cheery.
"Only when housing price falls, can the people start to feel happiness," read one comment, which received 39 "likes". (Reuters)
June
Australia tightens lockdown amid Delta virus outbreak, vaccine chaos
Written by Nur Yasmin
Australia reported a slight rise in COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, while officials in several states tightened movement curbs and pushed for vaccinations to limit flare-ups of the highly infectious Delta variant.
After months in which it had nearly stamped out the virus, Australia is battling the variant in five of its eight states and territories, just two weeks after an infection in key city Sydney involving a limousine driver of overseas airline crew.
Worries that the variant first detected in India could touch off outbreaks have forced lockdowns in three large cities and curbs of varying strictness in several more, affecting more than 20 million Australians, or about 80% of the population.
Northern Queensland state imposed a three-day lockdown in capital Brisbane and neighbouring regions from Tuesday evening. The Western Australian capital of Perth began a four-day lockdown from Tuesday, joining Sydney and Darwin.
"The risk is real and we need to act quickly, we need to go hard, we need to go fast," said Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said. The state reported two new local cases.
Sydney, home to a fifth of Australia's population, is in a two-week lockdown until July 9, while a stay-home order in the outback city of Darwin was extended by 72 hours to Friday. The Sydney outbreak has grown to nearly 150 cases.
Mandatory masks and limits on gatherings are among the curbs across Australia.
Police in the most populous state of New South Wales fined Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce A$200 ($150) for not wearing a mask inside a petrol station, media said.
Joyce, the highest ranking government official to face such a fine, confirmed the incident in a media interview, saying he had gone unmasked to pay for petrol bought for his partner. read more
Even under lockdown, New South Wales reported 19 new locally-acquired infections, up from 18 a day ago.
Western Australia reported no new cases, despite going into lockdown, while the Northern Territory detected two.
VACCINE CONFUSION
Monday's decision to indemnify doctors who give the AstraZeneca (AZN.L) vaccine to those younger than 60, a bid to kickstart a sluggish inoculation program, provoked complaints from doctors who said the medical regulator still recommended the vaccine for those older than 60. read more
"Phones are ringing off the hook at GP clinics," Karen Price, president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, said on Twitter.
"We had no warning of last night's announcements and this isn't the first time this has happened."
Omar Khorshid, the president of the Australian Medical Association, said the change took him by surprise and caused "disagreement and confusion", by appearing to contradict the formal advice.
"AstraZeneca is safe, it is effective, but for those under 60 there is a better vaccine and that is Pfizer," Khorshid told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Public health experts in three states said they were not consulted before the announcement.
Border closures, lockdowns and contact tracing have helped Australia hold down infections, with just over 30,500 cases and 910 deaths, but the federal government has faced criticism over the pace of vaccination.
Less than 5% of the population has been fully inoculated.
Neighbouring New Zealand said it would resume quarantine-free travel next week with the states of South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory, as it lifted curbs in its capital of Wellington. (Reuters)
June
Undeclared conflict? America's battles with Iran-backed militia escalate, again
Written by Nur Yasmin
U.S. President Joe Biden's latest strikes against Iran-backed militia in Syria and Iraq were not the first nor likely the last of his young presidency.
For some of Biden's fellow Democrats, the crucial question is: does the pattern of attacks and counter-attacks amount to an undeclared conflict?
If it does, they say, there is a risk that the United States could stumble into a direct war with Iran without the involvement of Congress, an issue that is becoming more politically fraught after two decades of "forever wars."
"It's hard to argue, given the pace of attacks against U.S. troops and, now, the increasing frequency of our responses, this isn't war," Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat who leads a key Senate foreign relations subcommittee, told Reuters.
"What we always worry about is that the United States slips into war without the American public actually being able to weigh in."
The two countries came close to the kind of conflict Democrats fear in January 2020, when the United States killed a top Iranian general and Iran retaliated with missile strikes in Iraq that caused brain injuries in more than 100 U.S. troops. That followed a series of exchanges with Iran-backed militias.
In the latest round, U.S. fighter jets on Sunday targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one in Iraq, in what the Pentagon said was a direct response to drone attacks by militias against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq.
On Monday, U.S. troops came under rocket fire in Syria in apparent retaliation, but escaped injury. The U.S. military responded with counter-battery artillery fire at rocket launching positions.
"A lot of people suggest that the term 'forever war' is just emotive, but it’s actually a decent descriptor of the kind of strike we saw again (Sunday): no strategic goal, no endpoint in sight, just permanent presence and tit-for-tat strikes," Emma Ashford, a resident fellow at the Atlantic Council, said on Twitter.
SALAMI-SLICE APPROACH
The White House has stressed that Sunday's air strikes were designed to limit escalation and deter future militia operations against U.S. personnel.
They were also legal, according to Biden.
"I have that authority under Article Two and even those up on the Hill who are reluctant to acknowledge that have acknowledged that's the case," Biden said, referring to part of the U.S. Constitution that lays out the powers of the president as commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
Brian Finucane, a former official with the Office of the Legal Adviser at the State Department, said the current administration - like others before it - do not see the episodes as part of an ongoing conflict.
He called it a "salami-slice" approach.
"They would characterize these as intermittent hostilities. We had one strike back in February and then the 60-day War Powers clock essentially was reset," said Finucane, now at the International Crisis Group.
He drew a comparison to the tanker wars with Iran in the 1980s, when the Reagan administration viewed "each round of fighting as sort of a closed event."
But experts say that view does not take into account that Iran-backed militia are waging a sustained - and escalating - campaign against the U.S. military presence in Iraq.
Michael Knights at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy cautioned that the militias' use of drones appeared increasingly dangerous, employing GPS guidance and precisely targeting U.S.-led coalition intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets, and missile defenses.
"In quantity and quality, Iraqi militia attacks on coalition points of presence in Iraq are increasing. Unless deterrence is restored, U.S. fatalities are increasingly likely," Knights said.
Beyond pushing the United States out of the region, the militias’ secondary goal is to signal to the United States, the Iraqi government and others their mastery of more advanced weaponry, like the explosive-laden drones, said Phillip Smyth, also at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
"They live on some of the covert actions that they're doing," he said.
Members of Congress are currently working on repealing some of the war authorizations that presidents from both parties have used to justify previous attacks in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere.
But that wouldn't necessarily prevent Biden or any other U.S. president from carrying out defensive air strikes.
After he was briefed by Biden's national security team, Murphy said he remained concerned. U.S. troops were in Iraq to battle Islamic State, not Iran-aligned militia.
If Biden is wary of going to Congress for war powers, then perhaps he needs to heed Americans' skepticism about interventions in the Middle East, he said.
"If Congress had a hard time authorizing military action against Iranian-backed militias, it would largely be because our constituents don't want it. And that's what's missing from this debate," he said. (Reuters)