World
UK’s Sunak vows to halve inflation, tackle illegal migration
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to halve inflation, grow the U.K. economy and stop illegal immigration Wednesday as he set out his Conservative government’s priorities in his first major speech of 2023.
Sunak focused on tackling the U.K.’s slowing economy and made promises to reduce national debt. He also vowed to pass new laws to stop migrants from arriving on U.K. shores in small boats, as well as cut massive backlogs in Britain’s public health service.
“Those are the people’s priorities. They are your government’s priorities. And we will either have achieved them or not,” Sunak said.
“No trick, no ambiguity, we’re either delivering for you or we’re not. We will rebuild trust in politics through action, or not at all,” he added.
Sunak, who came to office in October after a tumultuous year in U.K. politics that saw the resignation of two other prime ministers, stressed that he would deliver stability. He said his first priority was to “halve inflation this year to ease the cost of living and give people financial security.”
Sunak’s predecessor, Liz Truss, unveiled a disastrous package of unfunded tax cuts in September and was forced to quit after less than two months in the job. Her policies sent the British pound tumbling, drove up the cost of borrowing and triggered emergency intervention from Britain’s central bank.
Read more: Rishi Sunak as UK PM: What are the expectations?
Since Sunak replaced Truss in late October, the U.K. economy has calmed but his government is grappling with a cost-of-living crisis and widening labor unrest as key public sector workers from nurses and ambulance drivers to train workers stage disruptive strikes to demand better pay to keep pace with soaring inflation.
Inflation in the U.K. stood at 10.7% in November — down slightly from October — but that’s still near the highest in four decades. Energy and food costs have soared, in large part driven by Russia’s war on Ukraine, and living standards have plunged for millions of Britons.
In recent weeks, Sunak’s government was also under increasing pressure to address failings in the public health system, with many frontpage headlines focusing on the lack of hospital beds and record waiting times for seeing a doctor or getting an ambulance.
Authorities have blamed high numbers of flu and COVID-19 cases, but health chiefs say the problems are longstanding and a result of chronic government underfunding.
Sunak has also repeatedly said that stopping migrants from crossing the English Channel in small boats to claim asylum in the U.K. was a top priority for his term in office. Last year more than 45,700 people crossed the Channel to the U.K. — a record high and up 60% compared to numbers in 2021.
Read more: Next UK PM: Rishi Sunak a strong favorite
“We will pass new laws to stop small boats, making sure that if you come to this country illegally, you are detained and swiftly removed,” Sunak said.
Sunak’s Conservative Party, which has been in power for 12 years, is lagging behind the opposition Labour Party in polls. The next general election is due to take place by the end of 2024.
Philippines seeks to cleanse police force of drug ties
The Philippines’ interior secretary announced Wednesday he has asked all police generals and full colonels to submit their courtesy resignation to clean the ranks of ties to illegal drugs.
Around 300 officers are covered by the directive, which was recommended by the national police chief, who will also submit his courtesy resignation, Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. said in a news conference.
“It appears that there is a big problem in our police force. It appears there are generals and colonels involved in drugs,” he said. “We need to clean our ranks. We need the trust of the people.”
More than a dozen police officers were arrested or relieved from their posts and put under investigation last year for their involvement or suspected involvement in the drug trade. Abalos cited a recent case of law enforcers selling drugs in their office. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency was also subject to raids, arrests and dismissals in recent months.
Read more: Philippines seizes huge drugs stash, arrests Chinese
Former President Rodrigo Duterte has earned international condemnation for his lethal war on drugs, which — according to police data — left over 6,200 suspects dead. Human rights groups have cited higher death tolls and accused some police officers of fabricating evidence to make it appear that victims violently resisted arrest.
In November, Philippine National Police Chief Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said he directed law enforcers to minimize killings of people engaged in drug activities.
Abalos said it’s difficult to fight a war against illegal drugs if supposed allies could shoot your back, and the resignations aim to prevent erring officers from covering their tracks or filing trumped-up charges.
A committee will be formed to review the records of police officials to determine if they are involved in the illegal drug trade, he said, adding that those who are not involved have nothing to worry about.
Read more: Floods in Philippines leave 51 dead, over a dozen missing
Pope praises ‘gentle’ Benedict ahead of funeral
Pope Francis praised Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s “acute and gentle thought” as he presided over a packed Wednesday general audience in the Vatican, while thousands of people paid tribute to the former pope on the final day of public viewing in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Francis was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd in the Paul VI auditorium and shouts of “Viva il papa!” or “Long live the pope” as he arrived for his weekly catechism appointment with the faithful.
This week’s audience was conducted as tens of thousands of people continued to flock to St. Peter’s Basilica to pay their respects before Benedict’s body, lying in state. The first two days of viewing drew a total of 135,000 people. Wednesday’s viewing began before dawn and was set to end in early evening.
Francis is due to preside over the late German pope’s funeral on Thursday, an event that is drawing heads of state and royalty despite Benedict’s requests for simplicity and Vatican efforts to keep the first Vatican funeral for an emeritus pope in modern times low-key.
Francis drew applause when he opened his remarks by noting all those who were outside paying tribute to Benedict, whom he called a “great master of catechesis.”
“His acute and gentle thought was not self-referential, but ecclesial, because he always wanted to accompany us in the encounter with Jesus,” Francis said.
Later Wednesday, Vatican officials were to place Benedict’s body in a cypress coffin — the first of three coffins —along with a brief, written summary of his historic papacy, the coins minted during his pontificate and his pallium stoles.
Read more: Pope on Christmas: Jesus was poor, so don’t be power-hungry
After the funeral, the retired pontiff’s remains will be carried back into the basilica, where the coffin will placed inside a zinc one, and then finally into another made from oak.
In keeping with Benedict’s wishes, his remains will be placed in the crypt once occupied by the tomb of St. John Paul II in the grottos underneath the basilica.
Benedict, who was elected pope in 2005 following John Paul’s death, became the first pope in six centuries years to resign when he announced in 2013 he no longer had the strength to lead the Catholic Church. After Francis was elected pope, Benedict spent his nearly decade-long retirement in a converted monastery in the Vatican Gardens.
“We can’t forget the example that he gave in his resignation, that he more or less said, ‘Look, I’m not in this for the prestige, the power of the office, I’m in it for service, as Jesus taught,’” recalled Cardinal Timothy Dolan, whom Benedict named archbishop of New York in 2009 and cardinal in 2012. Dolan came to Rome for the funeral.
Thursday’s rite takes into account the unusual situation in which a reigning pope will preside over a funeral for a retired one, making important changes to a funeral ritual for popes that is highly codified. Two key prayers, from the diocese of Rome and the Eastern rite churches, that were recited during John Paul’s funeral, for example, will be omitted because Benedict wasn’t pope when he died and because both branches of the Catholic Church still have a reigning pope as their leader: Francis.
Read more: Did the Pope actually say ‘even nuns watch porn’?
While the funeral will be novel, it does has some precedent: In 1802, Pope Pius VII celebrated the funeral in St. Peter’s of his predecessor, Pius VI, who had died in exile in France in 1799 as a prisoner of Napoleon, the Vatican noted Wednesday.
Japan's PM Kishida vows deeper alliance with US on defense
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday pledged to deepen his country's alliance with the United States under Japan's new defense policy that breaks from its exclusively self-defense-only stance in the face of growing regional tensions.
Kishida, speaking in a news conference after visiting Ise Shrine in central Japan, said he will visit Washington for talks with President Joe Biden to underscore the strength of the Japan-U.S. alliance and highlight closer cooperation between the countries under Japan's new security and defense strategies adopted last month.
The U.S. visit is part of Kishida's upcoming trip to most of the Group of Seven countries beginning Monday. Japan will host this year's G-7 summit in Hiroshima. Kishida said his meeting with Biden will be “very important" and "more significant than showing my face as G-7 president.”
“We will show to the rest of the world an even stronger Japan-U.S. alliance, which is a lynchpin of Japanese security and diplomacy,” Kishida said. “We will also show our further cooperation toward achieving a ‘free and open Indo-Pacific.’”
Also Read: New Japanese envoy exchanges views on bilateral interests with foreign secretary
Japan, under the new security and defense plans, is purchasing hundreds of U.S.-developed Tomahawks and other long-range cruise missiles to preempt possible attacks and also building up defenses in southwestern Japan amid growing worries of a Taiwan emergency. Japanese media said the U.S. and Japan are expected to discuss how they would cooperate in the event of a conflict over Taiwan.
Earlier Wednesday, the White House announced that Biden will host Kishida for economic and security consultations on Jan. 13.
Biden and Kishida are expected to discuss North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, amid concerns over the potential for another nuclear test by the reclusive nation, as well as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, stability across the Taiwan Strait, climate change and economic issues, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
The two leaders last met in Bali, Indonesia, during November’s Group of 20 summit.
Kishida will also visit France, Italy, Britain and Canada to meet their leaders during his Jan. 9-15 trip, according to Japan's Foreign Ministry.
Kishida on Wednesday also vowed to tackle Japan's dire problem of declining births, while pushing his “new capitalism” policy that he said will generate a “virtuous cycle of growth and distribution of wealth” to achieve a steady increase in salaries that have stalled for decades.
The number of babies born in Japan last year is expected to fall to a new record below 800,000 as part of a steady decline that is seen as eroding national strength.
“We cannot wait any longer,” Kishida said. “From an economic perspective, we also need to allay the concerns of those saying they cannot invest in Japan because it's shrinking from declining births.”
Kishida said the government will do more to expand support for childcare and reduce gender gaps in salaries and working environments to lower barriers for women.
Japan is the world’s third-biggest economy but living costs are high and wage increases have been slow. The conservative government has lagged in making society more inclusive for children, women and minorities.
So far, the government’s efforts to encourage people to have more babies has had limited impact despite introducing subsidy payments for pregnancy, childbirth and child care.
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Associated Press White House correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
Pakistan orders malls to close early amid economic crisis
Authorities on Wednesday ordered shopping malls and markets to close by 8:30 p.m. as part of a new energy conservation plan aimed at easing Pakistan's economic crisis, officials said. The move comes amid talks with the International Monetary Fund.
On Tuesday, Pakistan Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif and Minister for Power Ghultam Dastghir said the government decided to shut establishments early as part of the new energy conservation plan approved by the Cabinet. Authorities also ordered wedding halls and restaurants to shut at 10 p.m.
The government expects these measures to save energy and curtail the costs of imported oil, for which Pakistan spends $3 billion annually. In Pakistan, most of the electricity is generated by using imported oil.
So far, there has been a mixed reaction from representatives of shopping malls, restaurants and shop owners who want the government to reverse the decision.
Many Pakistanis do their shopping and dine at restaurants as late as midnight.
Also Read: Pakistan troops search for attackers after 6 soldiers killed
Business leaders say the new measures will have a negative impact on their establishments, which suffered during the pandemic under government-imposed lockdowns to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Since 2021, the coronavirus has caused 36,000 deaths out of 1.5 million cases in Pakistan.
Pakistan is currently in talks with the IMF to soften some conditions on its $6 billion bailout, which the government thinks will cause a further increase in inflation.
The fund released the last crucial tranche of $1.1 billion to cash-strapped Pakistan in August. Since then, there has been a stalemate in talks between the two parties.
Pakistan says last summer's devastating floods caused up to $40 billion in damages to the country's economy, making it difficult for the government to comply with some of the IMF's conditions, including increases in the price of gas and electricity and new taxes.
Beijing threatens response to ‘unacceptable’ virus measures
The Chinese government sharply criticized COVID-19 testing requirements imposed on visitors from China and threatened countermeasures against countries involved, which include the U.S. and several European nations.
“We believe that the entry restrictions adopted by some countries targeting China lack scientific basis, and some excessive practices are even more unacceptable,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily briefing Tuesday.
“We are firmly opposed to attempts to manipulate the COVID measures for political purposes and will take countermeasures based on the principle of reciprocity,” she said. Mao did not specify what steps China might take.
Read more: EU, Beijing heading for collision over China’s COVID crisis
The comments were China’s sharpest to date on the issue. Australia and Canada this week joined a growing list of countries requiring travelers from China to take a COVID-19 test prior to boarding their flight, as China battles a nationwide outbreak of the coronavirus after abruptly easing restrictions that were in place for much of the pandemic.
Other countries including the U.S., India, Japan, South Korea and several European nations have announced tougher COVID-19 measures on travelers from China amid concerns over a lack of data on infections in China and fears that new variants may emerge.
China has had some of the toughest entry requirements for people arriving from abroad. It is about to drop a mandatory five-day quarantine for all arrivals but will still require a negative COVID-19 test within 48 hours of the flight.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said “there’s no cause for retaliation” by Beijing for countries “taking prudent health measures to protect their citizens” with COVID-related restrictions on travelers coming from China. She added that restrictions were “based on public health and science.”
“This is something that all of us, (and) other countries are doing to make sure that we are protecting our citizens here,” Jean-Pierre said.
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne defended the tests. Starting Wednesday, anyone flying from China to France will have to present a negative virus test taken within the previous 48 hours and be subject to random testing on arrival.
“We are in our role, my government is in its role, protecting the French,” Borne said Tuesday on France-Info radio.
The U.K. will require that passengers from China take a COVID test before boarding the plane from Thursday. Transport Secretary Mark Harper said the requirement is for “collecting information” because Beijing isn’t sharing coronavirus data.
Health officials will test a sample of passengers when they arrive in the U.K., but no quarantine is required for those who test positive, he said.
“The policy for arrivals from China is primarily about collecting information that the Chinese government is not sharing with the international community,” Harper told the LBC radio station on Tuesday.
Sweden’s Public Health Agency said Tuesday that it had urged the government to require travelers from China to present a recent negative COVID-19 test.
Read more: Lack of info on China’s COVID-19 surge stirs global concern
The statement from the agency comes as Sweden, which has taken over EU’s rotating presidency, has called a meeting of the EU’s crisis management mechanism for Wednesday to try to agree on a common European line.
The Swedish government “is preparing to be able to introduce travel restrictions. At the same time, we are conducting a dialogue with our European colleagues to get the same rules as possible in the EU,” Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer said in a statement.
Austria, too, plans to test the wastewater of all planes arriving from China for new variants of the coronavirus, the Austria Press Agency reported Tuesday, following a similar announcement by Belgium a day earlier.
Chinese health officials said last week that they had submitted data to GISAID, a global platform for sharing coronavirus data.
The versions of the virus fueling infections in China “closely resemble” those that have been seen in different parts of the world between July and December, GISAID said Monday.
Dr. Gagandeep Kang, who studies viruses in the Christian Medical College of Vellore in India, said that the information from China, albeit limited, seemed to suggest that “the pattern was holding” and that there wasn’t any sign of a worrisome variant emerging.
Mi Feng, the spokesperson for China’s National Health Commission, said authorities have been open and transparent since the start of the pandemic three years ago. China held technical exchange meetings twice with the WHO last month on the overall situation, medical treatment, vaccination and other issues, he said Tuesday.
A senior Hong Kong official also criticized the steps taken by some other countries. Some have applied the requirements to passengers from Hong Kong and Macao, both semiautonomous Chinese territories, as well as mainland China.
Hong Kong Chief Secretary Eric Chan said in a Facebook post that the government had written to various consulates on Monday to express its concerns over the “unnecessary and inappropriate” rules.
Some experts have questioned the effectiveness of the testing. Kerry Bowman, assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine, said that people can test positive long after entering the country.
The requirement is “not based on science at this point,” he said after Canada announced measures last weekend.
China, which for most of the pandemic adopted a “zero-COVID” strategy that imposed harsh restrictions aimed at stamping out the virus, abruptly eased those measures in December.
Chinese authorities previously said that from Jan. 8, overseas travelers would no longer need to quarantine upon arriving in China, paving the way for Chinese residents to travel.
Russia says phone use allowed Ukraine to target its troops
Unauthorized use of cell phones by Russian soldiers led to a deadly Ukrainian rocket attack on the facility where they were stationed, the Russian military said late Tuesday, raising the death toll from the weekend attack to 89.
Gen. Lt. Sergei Sevryukov said in a statement that phone signals allowed Kyiv’s forces to “determine the coordinates of the location of military personnel” and launch a strike. Sevryukov said unspecified measures were being taken to “prevent similar tragic incidents in the future” and promised to punish officials responsible for the infraction.
Read more: Russia, shaken by Ukrainian strike, could step up drone use
The attack, one of the deadliest on the Kremlin’s forces since the start of the war over 10 months ago, occurred one minute into the new year, according to Sevryukov.
Ukrainian forces fired six rockets from a U.S.-provided HIMARS multiple launch system at a building “in the area of Makiivka” where the soldiers were stationed. Two rockets were downed but four hit the building and detonated, prompting the collapse of the structure. The Russian Defense Ministry initially said the strike killed 63 troops. But as emergency crews sifted through the rubble of the building, the death toll has grown to 89, Sevryukov said on Tuesday. The regiment’s deputy commander was among the dead.
Other, unconfirmed reports put the death toll much higher.
The Strategic Communications Directorate of Ukraine’s armed forces claimed Sunday that around 400 mobilized Russian soldiers were killed in a vocational school building in Makiivka and about 300 more were wounded. That claim couldn’t be independently verified. The Russian statement said the strike occurred “in the area of Makiivka” and didn’t mention the vocational school.
Read more:
The attack marked yet another setback for the Kremlin’s bogged-down war effort in Ukraine, undermined by a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive. It stirred renewed criticism inside Russia of the way the war is being conducted.
Unconfirmed reports in Russian-language media said the victims were mobilized reservists from the region.
Myanmar army leader touts election plan on Independence Day
Myanmar’s ruling military leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, on Wednesday described plans for an election later this year and called for national unity in a speech as he led a ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of independence from Britain.
He urged other nations and international organizations, as well as his country’s own people, to support “the genuine, discipline-flourishing multiparty democratic system,” a concept the ruling military has defined as its goal.
The first real move toward holding polls could occur at the end of this month, when the latest six-month extension of a state of emergency is completed. The state of emergency was instituted to allow military rule after the army seized power in February 2021 from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
The army’s takeover reversed nearly a decade of progress toward democracy after five decades of military rule. The military has said it acted due to massive voting fraud in the poll, though independent election observers did not find any major irregularities.
Read: Court in Myanmar again finds Suu Kyi guilty of corruption
“Upon accomplishing the provisions of the state of emergency, free and fair elections will be held in line with the 2008 constitution, and further work will be undertaken to hand over state duties to the winning party in accordance with the democratic standards,” Min Aung Hlaing declared in his speech in the capital, Naypyitaw, where he also presided over a large-scale parade.
Military units and civil servants marched in formation close to the grandiose parliament complex while fighter jets, bombers and helicopters flew overhead.
The plan for a general election is widely seen as an attempt to normalize the military’s seizure of power through the ballot box and to deliver a result that ensures the generals retain control. The military will control the entire process and has spent the past two years enfeebling any credible opposition.
Although not officially outlawed, the National League for Democracy, the popular former ruling party, has effectively been broken up, with its leaders and many of its members either in jail or in hiding. All forms of dissent are currently suppressed by the security forces, sometimes with lethal force.
Read: Myanmar's military regime must end its violence, release those unjustly detained: US
The NLD, led by Suu Kyi, won a second successive landslide victory in the 2020 general election, a result that triggered its overthrow by the military the following year.
The army’s seizure of power led to peaceful nationwide protests that the security forces quashed with deadly force, triggering armed resistance that some U.N. experts characterize as civil war.
Myanmar’s history even before the 2021 takeover was marked marked by decades of armed conflict between the central government and ethnic minorities seeking greater autonomy, mostly in border regions.
Armed conflict still rages through most of the country, and Min Aung Hlaing stressed that “the cessation of internal armed conflicts to ensure national solidarity and peace which are absolute necessities for our country and strenuous efforts are being made towards that end.”
Min Aung Hlaing’s government’s toppling of democracy and fierce repression of all opposition have also made it a pariah state among many other countries, which have instituted political and economic sanctions against the ruling generals.
“It is seen that some organizations and countries had meddled in the internal affairs of Myanmar. However, we have decided to stand firm globally, while adhering to our foreign policy in order to safeguard the sovereignty, security and interests of our nation,” he said.
UN Security Council welcomes new members; 2 are first-timers
Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland got a formal welcome into the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday, taking the two-year seats they won unopposed in June.
In a tradition that Kazakhstan started in 2018, the five countries’ ambassadors installed their national flags Tuesday alongside those of other members outside the council chambers.
Mozambican Ambassador Pedro Comissário Afonso of Mozambique called it “a historic date” and Swiss Ambassador Pascale Baeriswyl said she felt “a deep sense of humility and responsibility” as their countries marked their first-ever terms on U.N.’s most powerful body. Malta joined for a second time, Ecuador a fourth and Japan a record 12th.
China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States are permanent, veto-wielding members of the group. Its 10 other members are elected by the 193-nation General Assembly for staggered, two-year terms. They’re allocated by global regions.
Read more:UN Security Council adopts first-ever resolution on Myanmar; China, Russia and India abstain from voting
To many countries, winning a council seat is considered a signature diplomatic accomplishment that can raise a nation’s global profile and afford small countries a bigger voice than they might otherwise have in the major international peace and security issues of the day.
The council deploys peacekeeping missions, can approve sanctions and speaks out — sometimes — on conflicts and flashpoints, while also surveying such thematic issues as terrorism and arms control. While many matters are perennials on the agenda, council members also can use the platform to spotlight emerging concerns or topics of particular interest to them.
Countries often campaign for the council for years. Some 60 nations have never had a seat since the group’s formation in 1946.
Read more: Ambassador Muhith briefs Security Council as Chair of Peacebuilding Commission
The five latest members are replacing India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico and Norway. Their terms ended Dec. 31.
The other current two-year members are Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana and United Arab Emirates.
Global Covid cases top 666 million
The overall number of global Covid-19 cases has now surpassed 666 million.
According to the latest global data, the total case count mounted to 666,001,230 while the death toll from the virus reached 6,700,964 on Wednesday morning.
The US has recorded 102,747,552 cases so far, while 1,118,757 people have died from the virus in the country, both highest counts around the world.
Read: Beijing threatens response to ‘unacceptable’ virus measures
India reported 134 new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, with the active caseload standing at 2,582.
No Covid-19 related death has been reported across the country during the past 24 hours..
Meanwhile, France has registered 39,356,184 Covid-19 cases so far, while 162,377 people have died in the country, as per the Worldometer.
Covid in Bangladesh
Bangladesh registered 31 more Covid cases in the 24 hours till Tuesday morning.
With the new numbers, the country's total caseload rose to 2,037,187, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
However, the official death toll from the disease remained unchanged at 29,440 as no new fatalities were reported.
Read: Children aged 5-11 get Covid jabs on trial basis
The daily case test positivity fell to 0.74 per cent from Monday's 0.84 per cent as 4,189 samples were tested during the period.
The mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.45 percent while recovery rate rose to 97.59 per cent, it added.