VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Malaysian long-haul budget airline AirAsia X Bhd (AIRX.KL) reported a record loss for the first three months of the year and its eighth quarterly loss in a row as the coronavirus pandemic devastated demand for air travel.

The airline, an affiliate of AirAsia Group Bhd (AIRA.KL), on Thursday reported a net loss of 5.67 billion ringgit ($1.37 billion) in January-March, more than 10 times the loss of 549.7 million ringgit seen in the same period last year.

The loss was primarily attributable to the impairment of assets, it said in a statement.

Revenue for the quarter fell 95.8% to 38.5 million ringgit.

AirAsia said it has assessed the recoverability of its assets in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and its restructuring process, and impaired those assets by 5.28 billion ringgit.

The airline has been looking to reconstitute 64.15 billion in debt, and said the asset impairment does not impact the restructuring.

"Appropriate accounting entries will be made on a successful restructuring that will reflect more appropriately the assets and liabilities based on the final agreed restructuring terms," it said.

It also said it remains committed to resuming commercial operations as soon as possible on the successful completion of the restructuring plan and the opening of international borders.

The airline has changed its financial year end from Dec. 31 to June 30, expecting the outcome of the restructuring to be known then. It said the basis of preparation for its audited financial statements will clear and be of more value to shareholders at that point. (Reuters)

Children and the elderly make up a large proportion of people taking refuge in camps in northwest Myanmar to escape fighting between the army and insurgents, residents said on Thursday, as France called for an urgent delivery of humanitarian aid.

In the past week, Chin State bordering India has seen some of the most serious fighting since Myanmar's military seized power in a coup on Feb. 1 and removed the elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

India said this week more than 15,000 people had crossed the border to seek refuge there but residents in Chin State said many of the most vulnerable were sheltering in camps around the town of Mindat after it was overrun by the army.

"Children and the elderly make up a big proportion of the groups. Some didn't have sandals. They trekked through the forest barefoot for days," said a 34-year-old resident helping look after the displaced who asked not to be identified.

He said that villages around Mindat were looking after about 2,000 displaced people in camps and churches, while access to the town that was once home to more than 40,000 people had been blocked.

"We will face food shortage after a week," said the resident, adding that petrol supplies were about to run out.

Pleading for international aid, another resident said the camp he was at had 13 bags of rice and would see shortages soon with the 140 people there now expected to swell to 300.

Those fleeing say thousands of people left Mindat after the army attacked to root out fighters of the Chinland Defence Force, who are aligned with a National Unity Government formed by the junta's opponents.

The French Embassy in Myanmar in a statement on its Facebook page blamed a "disproportionate use of force and war weapons against civilians by the military" for causing a loss of human life and the displacement of thousands in Chin State.

"The restoration of access to water and electricity as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid for population in need are an immediate necessity," the embassy said.

Fighting in the area was still going on and a citizens' administrative group said in a post on social media Chin militia had killed three soldiers on a rod out of Mindat on Wednesday.

A spokesman for the junta did not answer calls seeking comment.

Since overthrowing and detaining Suu Kyi, the junta has struggled to impose its authority in the face of daily protests, paralysing strikes and an upsurge of fighting against old and new groups of ethnic minority fighters.

At least 10 people had been killed in Chin State in the past week, according to figures from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group. It puts the countrywide death toll since the coup at 807, a figure disputed by the army.

The United Nations said nearly 10,000 people had been displaced in Kachin State in the north by renewed fighting since mid-March. Thousands have also been displaced by clashes in the east and northeast. (Reuters)

Japan's exports grew the most since 2010 in April while capital spending perked up on surging global demand for cars and electronics, lifting hopes that an improvement in trade could help lead the world’s third-largest economy back to growth.

Also brightening the outlook, confidence among the nation's manufacturers hit a more than two-year high in May on the back of solid overseas orders, a Reuters survey showed on Thursday.

While the stronger exports and imports are partly helped by the favourable statistical base effects from the major plunge in trade seen a year earlier, real demand is also on the mend.

Global appetite for cars and electronics has picked up since last year, driven by a recovery in the U.S. and Chinese economies -- Japan's key markets -- although global chip shortages put a drag on overseas shipments in recent months.

Exports rose 38.0% in April from a year earlier, official data showed on Thursday, compared with a 30.9% increase expected by economists and following a 16.1% rise in March. That was the fastest gain since April 2010, led by U.S.-bound shipments of cars and car parts and Chinese demand for chip-making equipment.

"The trade data confirmed that exports were recovering steadily. Particularly car exports, which fell a lot last year, are picking up," said Yuichi Kodama, chief economist at Meiji Yasuda Research Institute.

"In Japan, capital spending tends to move in sync with external demand, so an export recovery is encouraging for machinery orders and capital expenditure."

By destination, exports to China, Japan's largest trading partner, rose 33.9% year-on-year in April, led by shipments of chip-making equipment, hybrid cars and scrap copper.

U.S.-bound exports grew 45.1% in the year to April, the fastest gain since 2010, on the back of demand for automobiles, car parts and ship engines.

Separate data from the Cabinet Office showed Japan's core machinery orders, a highly volatile data series regarded as an indicator of capital spending in the coming six to nine months, rose 3.7% in March from the previous month.

The rise in core orders, which exclude those of ships and electric utilities, compared with a 6.4% increase seen in a Reuters poll of economists, the data showed.

The Cabinet Office maintained its assessment on machinery orders, saying that a pick-up is stalling.

Japan's economy fell back into decline in the first quarter and economists have sharply revised down estimates for growth this quarter as emergency curbs hobble consumer spending that makes up more than half the economy. 

"Export growth is welcome for the Japanese economy, but that doesn't mean the whole of Japan can benefit from it," said Ayako Sera, market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.

"What's important now is a recovery in service-sector activity helped by a progress on coronavirus vaccination." (Reuters)

The Shangri-La Dialogue Asian security summit that was due to be held in Singapore next month has been canceled, the organisers said on Thursday, citing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including on the host country.

This year's event, which is arranged by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), was scheduled to take place from June 4–5.

The forum has typically attracted top level military officials, diplomats and weapons makers from around the globe since its launch in 2002. read more

The global COVID-19 situation has recently deteriorated, with the rise of infectious new virus variants, IISS said.

"In Singapore there has been a rise in local cases, recently introduced new restrictions, and the prospect of further tightening cannot be ruled out – all of which creates uncertainty," it said.

"Taken together these various factors mean that holding an in-person Shangri-La Dialogue this year has become unviable."

A wide range of defence ministers, senior officials, corporate leaders and influential strategists from Asia, North America, the Middle East and Europe had confirmed their attendance.

Attendees of the 2019 event included China's Defence Minister Wei Fenghe and then-acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was to attend the summit this year.

Singapore has in recent days imposed some of the tightest restrictions since it exited a lockdown last year to combat a spike in local infections.

The IISS move comes three days after the World Economic Forum canceled its annual meeting due to be held in Singapore this year. 

IISS will plan the return of the full in-person Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD) in the middle of next year. The 2020 edition was also canceled due to the pandemic.

Singapore's defence ministry said it supported the decision to cancel, calling it regretful but the responsible course.

"The cancellation of the SLD in no way reflects any reduced commitment to dialogue and engagement to ensure peace and stability in Asia and beyond," the ministry said, adding it will "find alternative and safer avenues for these important goals". (Reuters)