Hi all,
In today's bulletin: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prepares to announce a state of emergency to contain Covid-19; Singapore announces a third round of support measures, US military seeks funding to improve America's influence in the Indo-Pacific; Vietnam protests sinking of its boat in disputed South China Sea, travel agencies plan attractive deals for 2021, and more.
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JAPAN TO DECLARE STATE OF EMERGENCY; SINGAPORE ANNOUNCES THIRD ROUND OF SUPPORT MEASURES
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe intends to declare a state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas with the number of cases with coronavirus infection still surging. More than 3,500 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the country and 85 people have died. The declaration is expected to be made tomorrow and could last as much as six months, reports said.
Japan's measures come as the number of coronavirus infections worldwide swelled to over 1.28 million and deaths crossed 70,000. An overwhelming majority of the new cases are being reported outside China.
In South-east Asia, Singapore announced a third round of support measures worth $5.1 billion, to save jobs and support businesses. With this, Singapore's commitment to fight Covid-19 to date went up to some $60 billion.
Malaysia, meanwhile, approved RM10 billion (S$3.3 billion) to help firms suffering from the coronavirus outbreak, with most of the sum going towards more than doubling a wage subsidy to RM13.8 billion, from the RM5.9 billion announced last month.
Read more:
Walter Sim: Tokyo and Osaka brought to a virtual standstill
Shannon Teoh: After grumbles from businesses, Malaysia pumps $3.3b in aid
US MILITARY SEEKS FUNDING FOR INDO-PACIFC TO DETER CHINA
US military officials are seeking additional funding to be able to shore up America's standing in the Indo-Pacific and deter China's People's Liberation Army (PLA).
US media reports say officials made the request last week, seeking an additional US$20.1 billion (S$28.9 billion) for spending between 2021 and 2026. The funds would be spent on new radar warning systems and cruise missiles and would also pay for more exercises with allies, deployments of additional forces and new intelligence centres.
The requests hint at a further decline in relations between the United States and China, despite global calls for the two superpowers to remain focused on containing the pandemic.
Don't miss:
Ravi Velloor: US goes MIA in Asia as disease surges
Benjamin Kang Lim: The folly of trading punches in a pandemic
VIETNAM PROTESTS CHINA'S SINKING OF BOAT IN S. CHINA SEA
Vietnam has lodged an official protest with China after one of its fishing boats sank in waters near the Paracel Islands in the disputed South China Sea, after it was reportedly rammed by a Chinese maritime surveillance vessel.
The Vietnamese fishing vessel had eight fishermen on board, Vietnam's foreign ministry said in a statement. All of them were picked up by the Chinese vessel and transferred to two other Vietnamese fishing vessels operating nearby, reports said.
The incident marks the second time in less than a year a Vietnamese fishing vessel has been reportedly sunk by a Chinese vessel in the disputed waters.
Go deeper:
South China Sea spat a big test for Vietnam as new Asean chair
HOTSPOTS DESERTED ... TRAVEL AGENCIES PREPARE FOR 2021
At the beginning of this year, the World Tourism Organisation had said international tourism would grow at the rate of 3 per cent to 4 per cent in 2020. Coronavirus upended that forecast.
With countries going into lockdown and coming up with travel restrictions, several of the world's top tourism hotspots are barely seeing any visitors. And airlines and airport operators are struggling to ensure they can resume regular operations as soon as the pandemic is in control. In Singapore, operations at Changi Airport Terminal 2 will be suspended for 18 months from May 1, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said today, in Parliament.
Meanwhile, travel agencies are busy figuring out attractive deals they could offer once tourism picks up again.
Read more:
No tourists? Travel agencies take the chance to regroup
GLOBAL RUSH FOR GOLD
One of humanity's oldest methods of storing wealth is back in demand amid worldwide panic over implications of the coronavirus outbreak and a flood of central bank stimulus measures. But there's a supply side squeeze too given transportation and business disruptions. All this has led to a historic squeeze on New York gold futures, making the metal much more expensive than the gold for immediate delivery in London. Industry insiders say there's a similar situation in other precious metals markets, such as silver.
Read also:
IN OTHER NEWS
INDONESIA AMONG WORST IN COVID-19 TESTING: Indonesia is the fourth worst in testing rate among countries with a 50-million population or above, a new report shows. The world's fourth most populous country of 270 million ranks just above Ethiopia, Nigeria and Bangladesh, with only 36 in every million people being tested, pandemic data site Worldometer reports.
TENCENT'S JOOX SEES SPIKE IN SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Chinese tech giant Tencent's international music streaming platform JOOX is seeing traffic go up by as much as 50 per cent to its karaoke services. Joox, which counts Spotify as its competitor, operates in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and South Africa, and is vying for the top spot in music streaming services in other regional markets.
EMIRATES SEEKS BILLIONS IN LOANS: Emirates, one of the world's biggest long-haul flights, is seeking to raise billions of dollars from loans after the coronavirus forced the airline to ground its passenger fleet and slash wages by as much as half. The Dubai-based airline operated a fleet of 270 planes. It received some assurance from Dubai's government last week that it would receive an unspecified amount of financial aid.
That's it for today. Thanks for reading. Stay safe and we'll be back with you tomorrow.
Shefali
