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Tesla delivery time is longer on some China models after discounts

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SHANGHAI, Jan 9 (Reuters) – Prospective Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) buyers in China are waiting longer for certain versions of its Model Y car, suggesting the electric-vehicle maker’s decision to cut prices is stoking demand in its second-largest market.

The waiting time for orders of the rear-wheel-drive and long-range versions of Model Y was a week longer on Monday than it had been on Friday, Tesla’s website showed.

The company’s shares rose about 8% to $122.20 on Monday after losing 68% in the past 12 months.

The wait as of Monday was two to five weeks on those models. The wait time for all versions of the Model 3 and the performance version of the Model Y remained at one to four weeks as of Monday.

Tesla cut prices by 6% to 13.5% on Friday in discounts that brought some of its cars to near BYD’s (1211.HK) best-selling models in a step analysts read as a sign that a price war could be building at a time when demand in China has faltered.

As of Monday, Tesla had not made any adjustment to its January production plan for its Shanghai plant, with suspension of the assembly lines to start from Jan. 20 through the end of the month, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

“It (the wait time) is an early indication that the price cuts are having their intended impact, which is to boost demand,” said CFRA Research analyst Garrett Nelson.

Nelson added that Tesla’s vehicle production has exceeded sales for three straight quarters and the company has chosen to lower prices and take some additional downtime at the Shanghai factory to bring supply and demand back in balance.

People check a Tesla Model Y electric vehicle (EV) displayed at its booth during the 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in Beijing, China September 4, 2021. REUTERS/Florence Lo
Reuters Graphics

Angry Chinese owners who bought Tesla cars in late 2022 and missed out on the additional discount said they were waiting for a response from the company for their demand for some kind of compensation after a flurry of impromptu protests.

A Tesla representative told Reuters on Saturday that the company has no plan to compensate those buyers for price cuts they had missed. The company did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.

Some of the buyers in China said they had been led to believe that the further discounts would not be coming. Many were also looking to take advantage of a nation-wide EV subsidy that expired at year end.

Chinese state media have largely opted not to cover the protests, which online videos showed happened in cities including Beijing, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Xi’an. Reuters witnessed a protest at a Tesla facility in Shanghai.

Comments on Chinese social media were largely negative toward the Tesla buyers who have protested, with many saying online they should have understood the terms of the contract.

“I feel ashamed for them protesting after Tesla cut the prices,” a popular law blogger named “Wind Blows” commented on his Weibo social media.

Separately, Tesla began offering discounts to buyers in Singapore as of Monday who agreed to purchase existing inventory, adding that market to China, South Korea, Japan and Australia to those where it has offered new incentives.

Reporting by Zhang Yan, Brenda Goh; Additional reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Shounak Dasgupta

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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World

Travel curbs rack up as COVID-hit China readies reopening

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  • China to drop quarantine for overseas visitors on Sunday
  • Greece joins nations imposing travel curbs on China
  • Travel rush, holidays could inflame virus outbreak

SHANGHAI/BEIJING, Jan 6 (Reuters) – More countries around the world are demanding that visitors from China take COVID tests, days before it drops border controls and ushers in an eagerly awaited return to travel for a population that has been largely stuck at home for three years.

From Sunday, China will end the requirement for inbound travellers to quarantine, the latest dismantling of its “zero-COVID” regime that began last month following historic protests against a suffocating series of mass lockdowns.

But the abrupt changes have exposed many of China’s 1.4 billion population to the virus for the first time, triggering an infection wave that is overwhelming some hospitals, emptying pharmacy shelves of medication and causing international alarm.

Greece, Germany and Sweden on Thursday joined more than a dozen countries to demand COVID tests from Chinese travellers, as the World Health Organisation said China’s official virus data was under-reporting the true extent of its outbreak.

Chinese officials and state media have struck a defiant tone, defending the handling of the outbreak, playing down the severity of the surge and denouncing foreign travel requirements for its residents.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning warned on Friday of possible reciprocal measures after the European Union recommended pre-departure testing for Chinese passengers.

“The EU should listen more to … rational voices and treat China’s epidemic prevention and control objectively and fairly,” Mao told a regular media briefing in Beijing.

The Global Times, a nationalistic tabloid published by the official People’s Daily, said in an editorial that some Western media and politicians “would never be satisfied” no matter what steps China takes.

The global aviation industry, battered by years of pandemic curbs, has also been critical of the decisions to impose testing on travellers from China. China will still require pre-departure testing for inbound travellers after Jan. 8.

HOSPITALS PACKED

Some Chinese citizens think the reopening has been too hasty.

“They should have taken a series of actions before opening up … and at the very least ensure that the pharmacies were well stocked,” a 70-year-old man who gave his surname as Zhao told Reuters in Shanghai.

China reported five new COVID deaths in the mainland for Thursday, bringing its official virus death toll to 5,264, one of the lowest in the world.

But that appeared to be at odds with the reality on the ground where funeral parlours are overwhelmed and hospitals are packed with elderly patients on respirators. In Shanghai, more than 200 taxi drivers are driving ambulances to meet demand for emergency services, the Shanghai Morning Post reported.

International health experts believe Beijing’s narrow definition of COVID deaths does not reflect a true toll that could rise to more than a million fatalities this year.

Investors are optimistic that China’s reopening can eventually reinvigorate a $17-trillion economy suffering its lowest growth in nearly half a century.

Those hopes, alongside policy measures to help revive its troubled property sector, lifted China’s yuan on Friday.

Meanwhile, both China’s blue-chip CSI300 Index (.CSI300) and the Shanghai Composite Index (.SSEC) have gained more than 2% in the first trading week of the year.

“While the re-opening is likely to be a bumpy affair amid surging COVID-19 cases and increasingly stretched health systems, our economists expect growth momentum across Asia to gather steam, led by China,” Herald van der Linde, HSBC’s head of equity strategy, Asia Pacific, said in a note.

SOUTHEAST ASIA OPEN

With the big Lunar New Year holidays late this month, the mainland is also set to open the border with its special administrative region of Hong Kong on Sunday, for the first time in three years.

Ferry services between the city and the gambling hub of Macau will resume on the same day.

Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways (0293.HK) said on Thursday it would more than double flights to mainland China. Flights to and from China remain at a tiny fraction of pre-COVID levels.

The WHO has warned that the holiday, which starts on Jan. 21 and usually brings the biggest human migration on the planet as people head home from cities to visit families in small towns and villages, could spark another infection wave in the absence of higher vaccination rates and other precautions.

Authorities expect 2.1 billion passenger trips, by road, rail, water and air, over the holiday, double last year’s 1.05 billion journeys during the same period.

The transport ministry has urged people to be cautious to minimise the risk of infection for elderly relatives, pregnant women and infants.

One region poised to be a major beneficiary of China’s opening is Southeast Asia, where countries have not demanded that Chinese visitors take COVID tests.

Except for airline wastewater testing by Malaysia and Thailand for the virus, the region’s 11 nations will treat Chinese travellers like any others.

As many as 76% of Chinese travel agencies ranked Southeast Asia as the top destination when outbound travel resumed, according to a recent survey by trade show ITB China.

Many people in China have taken to social media to announce their travel plans but some remain wary.

“You want to see the world, but the world might not want to see you,” wrote one WeChat user from Tianjin city.

Reporting by Brenda Goh in Shanghai, Bernard Orr, Eduardo Baptista, Martin Pollard and Liz Lee in Beijing, Farah Master in Hong Kong, and Xinghui Kok in Singapore; Writing by John Geddie and Greg Torode; Editing by Robert Birsel and Andrew Heavens

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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World

Power outage forces Philippines to suspend flights, shut airspace

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  • More than 280 flights delayed, diverted on New Year’s Day
  • Transportation chief blames power outage for failure
  • System partially restored, airlines offer free rebooking

MANILA, Jan 1 (Reuters) – Philippine authorities halted flights in and out of Manila on New Year’s Day due to a malfunction of air traffic control, which also prevented airlines bound to other destinations from using the country’s airspace.

A total of 282 flights were either delayed, cancelled or diverted to other regional airports, affecting around 56,000 passengers at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), the airport operator said on Sunday.

It was unclear how many overflights were affected.

Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista apologized for the inconvenience to passengers as he blamed a power outage for the breakdown of the central air traffic control system that also affected operations at other airports in the country.

He said the outdated existing facility should be upgraded immediately and that a back-up system was also needed.

“This is air traffic management system issue,” he said in a media briefing. “If you will compare us with Singapore, for one, there is a big difference, they are at least 10 years ahead of us.”

As of 0800 GMT, “the system has been partially restored thereby allowing limited flight operations”, the Manila International Airport Authority said in a statement. By late evening, eight flight arrivals and eight departures had been allowed, according to the airport operator.

Video clips and photos posted on social media showed long queues at the airport and airline personnel distributing food packs and drinks to stranded passengers.

“We’re told radar and navigation facilities at NAIA down. I was on my way home fm Tokyo – 3 hours into the flight, but had to return to Haneda,” tweeted one passenger – Manuel Pangilinan, chairman of Philippine telecommunications conglomerate PLDT Inc.

“6 hours of useless flying but inconvenience to travellers and losses to tourism and business are horrendous. Only in the PH. Sigh.”

Budget carrier Cebu Pacific (CEB.PS) and Philippine Airlines (PAL.PS) said they were offering passengers due to fly on Sunday free rebooking or the option to convert tickets to vouchers.

Reporting by Enrico Dela Cruz; Editing by Neil Fullick, Peter Graff and Alison Williams

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World

The New Year rings in as Asia then Europe usher out 2022

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Dec 31 (Reuters) – With fireworks planned in Paris, hopes for an end to war in Kyiv, and a return to post-COVID normality in Australia and China, Europe and Asia bid farewell to 2022.

It was a year marked for many by the conflict in Ukraine, economic stresses and the effects of global warming. But it was also a year that saw a dramatic soccer World Cup, rapid technological change, and efforts to meet climate challenges.

For Ukraine, there seemed to be no end in sight to the fighting that began when Russia invaded in February. On Saturday alone, Russia fired more than 20 cruise missiles, Ukrainian officials said, with explosions reported throughout the country.

Evening curfews remained in place nationwide, making the celebration of the beginning of 2023 impossible in many public spaces. Several regional governors posted messages on social media warning residents not to break restrictions on New Year’s Eve.

In Kyiv, though, people gathered near the city’s central Christmas tree as midnight approached.

“We are not giving up. They couldn’t ruin our celebrations,” said 36-year-old Yaryna, celebrating with her husband, tinsel and fairy lights wrapped around her.

Oksana Mozorenko, 35, said her family had tried to celebrate Christmas to make it “a real holiday” but added: “I would really like this year to be over.”

In a video message to mark the New Year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Time Magazine’s 2022 Person of the Year, said: “I want to wish all of us one thing – victory.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin devoted his New Year’s address to rallying the Russian people behind his troops fighting in Ukraine.

Festivities in Moscow were muted, without the usual fireworks on Red Square.

“One should not pretend that nothing is happening – our people are dying (in Ukraine),” said 68-year-old Yelena Popova. “A holiday is being celebrated, but there must be limits.” Many Muscovites said they hoped for peace in 2023.

Paris was set to stage its first New Year fireworks since 2019, with 500,000 people expected to gather on the Champs-Elysees avenue to watch.

Like many places, the Czech capital Prague was feeling the pinch economically and so did not hold a fireworks display.

“Holding celebrations did not seem appropriate,” said city hall spokesman Vit Hofman, citing “the unfavourable economic situation of many Prague households” and the need for the city to save money.

Heavy rain and high winds meant firework shows in the Netherlands’ main cities were cancelled.

But several European cities were experiencing record warmth for the time of year. The Czech Hydrometeorological Institute said it was seeing the warmest New Year’s Eve on record, with the temperature in Prague’s centre, where records go back 247 years, reaching 17.7 Celsius (63.9 Fahrenheit).

It was also the warmest New Year’s Eve ever recorded in France, official weather forecaster Meteo France said.

[1/7] People gather on the Champs Elysees avenue during the New Year’s Eve celebrations near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France, December 31, 2022. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier

In Croatia, dozens of cities, including the capital Zagreb, cancelled fireworks displays after pet lovers warned about their damaging effects, calling for more environmentally aware celebrations.

The Adriatic town of Rovinj planned to replace fireworks with laser shows and Zagreb was putting on confetti, visual effects and music.

‘SYDNEY IS BACK’

Earlier, Australia kicked off the celebrations with its first restriction-free New Year’s Eve after two years of COVID disruptions.

Sydney welcomed the New Year with a typically dazzling fireworks display, which for the first time featured a rainbow waterfall off the Harbour Bridge.

“This New Year’s Eve we are saying Sydney is back as we kick off festivities around the world and bring in the New Year with a bang,” said Clover Moore, lord mayor of the city.

Pandemic-era curbs on celebrations were lifted this year after Australia, like many countries around the world, re-opened its borders and removed social distancing restrictions.

In China, rigorous COVID restrictions were lifted only in December as the government reversed its “zero-COVID” policy, a switch that has led to soaring infections and meant some people were in no mood to celebrate.

“This virus should just go and die, cannot believe this year I cannot even find a healthy friend that can go out with me and celebrate the passage into the New Year,” wrote one social media user based in eastern Shandong province.

But in the city of Wuhan, where the pandemic began three years ago, tens of thousands of people gathered to enjoy themselves despite a heavy security presence.

Barricades were erected and hundreds of police officers stood guard. Officers shuttled people away from at least one popular New Year’s Eve gathering point and used loudspeakers to blast out a message on a loop advising people not to gather. But the large crowds of revellers took no notice.

In Shanghai, many thronged the historic riverside walkway, the Bund.

“We’ve all travelled in from Chengdu to celebrate in Shanghai,” said Da Dai, a 28-year-old digital media executive who was visiting with two friends. “We’ve already had COVID, so now feel it’s safe to enjoy ourselves.”

In Hong Kong, days after limits were lifted on group gatherings, tens of thousands of people met near the city’s Victoria Harbour for a countdown to midnight. Lights beamed from some of the biggest harbour-front buildings.

It was the city’s biggest New Year’s Eve celebration in several years. The event was cancelled in 2019 due to often violent social unrest, then scaled down in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.

Malaysia’s government cancelled its New Year countdown and fireworks event at Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur after flooding across the nation displaced tens of thousands of people and a landslide killed 31 people this month.

Celebrations at the capital’s Petronas Twin Towers were pared back with no performances or fireworks.

Reuters 2022 Year in Review

Reporting by Reuters bureaux around the world; Writing by Neil Fullick, Frances Kerry and Rosalba O’Brien; Editing by Hugh Lawson, David Holmes and Daniel Wallis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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World

Chinese jet came within 10 feet of U.S. military aircraft -U.S. military

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WASHINGTON, Dec 29 (Reuters) – A Chinese military plane came within 10 feet (3 metres) of a U.S. air force aircraft in the contested South China Sea last week and forced it to take evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision in international airspace, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

The close encounter followed what the United States has called a recent trend of increasingly dangerous behavior by Chinese military aircraft.

The incident, which involved a Chinese Navy J-11 fighter jet and a U.S. air force RC-135 aircraft, took place on Dec. 21, the U.S. military said in a statement.

“We expect all countries in the Indo-Pacific region to use international airspace safely and in accordance with international law,” it added.

A U.S. military spokesperson said the Chinese jet came within 10 feet of the plane’s wing, but 20 feet from its nose, which caused the U.S. aircraft to take evasive maneuvers.

The United States has raised the issue with the Chinese government, a separate U.S. official said.

The Chinese embassy in Washington D.C. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the past, China has said that the United States sending ships and aircraft into the South China Sea is not good for peace.

U.S. military planes and ships routinely carry out surveillance operations and travel through the region.

China claims vast swathes of the South China Sea that overlap with the exclusive economic zones of Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Trillions of dollars in trade flow every year through the waterway, which also contains rich fishing grounds and gas fields.

In a meeting with his Chinese counterpart in November, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin raised the need to improve crisis communications, and also noted what he called dangerous behavior by Chinese military planes.

Despite tensions between the United States and China, U.S. military officials have long sought to maintain open lines of communication with their Chinese counterparts to mitigate the risk of potential flare-ups or deal with any accidents.

Australia’s defence department said in June that a Chinese fighter aircraft dangerously intercepted an Australian military surveillance plane in the South China Sea region in May.

Australia said the Chinese jet flew close in front of the RAAF aircraft and released a “bundle of chaff” containing small pieces of aluminum that were ingested into the Australian aircraft’s engine.

In June, Canada’s military accused Chinese warplanes of harassing its patrol aircraft as they monitored North Korea sanction evasions, sometimes forcing Canadian planes to divert from their flight paths.

Relations between China and the United States have been tense, with friction between the world’s two largest economies over everything from Taiwan and China’s human rights record to its military activity in the South China Sea.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan in August infuriated China, which saw it as a U.S. attempt to interfere in its internal affairs. China subsequently launched military drills near the island.

The United States has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan but is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself.

Reporting by Idrees Ali and Doina Chiacu
Editing by Frances Kerry and Josie Kao

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Idrees Ali

Thomson Reuters

National security correspondent focusing on the Pentagon in Washington D.C. Reports on U.S. military activity and operations throughout the world and the impact that they have. Has reported from over two dozen countries to include Iraq, Afghanistan, and much of the Middle East, Asia and Europe. From Karachi, Pakistan.

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World

Wall St stocks fall, oil rises as China drops quarantine rule

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NEW YORK/LONDON, Dec 27 (Reuters) – Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 and the Nasdaq fell on Tuesday after the release of U.S. economic data, while oil prices rose after China said it would scrap its COVID-19 quarantine rule for inbound travellers, which was seen as a major step in reopening its borders.

U.S. Treasury yields rose after economic data that showed the advance goods trade deficit for November narrowed to $83.35 billion from the prior month’s $98.8 billion, while a separate report pointed to continued struggles for the housing market as home prices fell under rising mortgage rates.

Oil pared gains as some U.S. energy facilities shut by winter storms began to restart after the commodity earlier hit a three-week high as China’s latest easing of COVID-19 restrictions spurred hopes of a recovery in demand.

On the first day of the holiday-shortened trading week, the rise in U.S. rates put pressure on shares in the heavy-weight rate sensitive technology sector, according to Michael O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading in Stamford, Connecticut.

“It’s a lack of anybody with the conviction to step in and buy right now,” said O’Rourke, who said further pressure came from a sharp decline in shares of electric car maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O).

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 113.48 points, or 0.34%, to 33,317.41, the S&P 500 (.SPX) lost 5.67 points, or 0.15%, to 3,839.15 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) dropped 90.23 points, or 0.86%, to 10,407.64.

Markets in some regions including London, Dublin, Hong Kong and Australia remained shut after the Christmas holiday.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) rose 0.19% and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe (.MIWD00000PUS) gained 0.03%.

Emerging market stocks (.MSCIEF) rose 0.27%. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) closed 0.53% higher, while Japan’s Nikkei (.N225) rose 0.16%.

Benchmark 10-year notes were up 7.5 basis points at 3.822%, from 3.747% on Friday. The 30-year bond was last up 9 basis points to yield 3.9116%, from 3.822%. The 2-year note was last up 6.4 basis points to yield 4.387%, from 4.323%.

The dollar pared losses on Tuesday after China said it would scrap its COVID-19 quarantine rule for inbound travellers, which also boosted risk-related currencies such as the Australian dollar.

The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies, was down 0.01%, with the euro up 0.14% at $1.065.

The Japanese yen weakened 0.37% versus the greenback at 133.36 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.2019, down 0.34% on the day.

Commodity currencies such as the New Zealand and Australian dollars also moved higher. read more

In energy futures, U.S. crude recently rose 0.98% to $80.34 per barrel and Brent was at $84.81, up 1.06% on the day.

Gold prices rose as optimism surrounding decisions by top consumer China to ease COVID-19 restrictions weighed on the dollar, while resilient U.S. yields cast a shadow over non-yielding bullion’s advance.

Spot gold added 1.5% to $1,824.29 an ounce. U.S. gold futures gained 1.09% to $1,815.50 an ounce.

Reporting by Sinéad Carew in New York, Nell Mackenzie in London
Additional reporting by Xie Yu and Ankur Banerjee
Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Matthew Lewis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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World

U.N. council demands end to Myanmar violence in first resolution in decades

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UNITED NATIONS, Dec 21 (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council adopted its first resolution on Myanmar in 74 years on Wednesday to demand an end to violence and urge the military junta to release all political prisoners, including ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Myanmar has been in crisis since the army took power from Suu Kyi’s elected government on Feb. 1, 2021, detaining her and other officials and responding to pro-democracy protests and dissent with lethal force.

“Today we’ve sent a firm message to the military that they should be in no doubt – we expect this resolution to be implemented in full,” Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward said after the vote on the British-drafted resolution.

“We’ve also sent a clear message to the people of Myanmar that we seek progress in line with their rights, their wishes and their interests,” Woodward told the 15-member council.

It has long been split on how to deal with the Myanmar crisis, with China and Russia arguing against strong action. They both abstained from the vote on Wednesday, along with India. The remaining 12 members voted in favor.

“China still has concerns,” China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun told the council after the vote. “There is no quick fix to the issue … Whether or not it can be properly resolved in the end, depends fundamentally, and only, on Myanmar itself.”

He said China had wanted the Security Council to adopt a formal statement on Myanmar, not a resolution.

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow did not view the situation in Myanmar as a threat to international peace and security and therefore believed it should not be dealt with by the U.N. Security Council.

Myanmar citizens who live in Thailand, hold a portrait of former Myanmar state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi as they protest against the execution of pro-democracy activists, at Myanmar embassy in Bangkok, Thailand July 26, 2022. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the resolution’s adoption. “This is an important step by the Security Council to address the crisis and end the Burma military regime’s escalating repression and violence against civilians,” he said in a statement.

‘FIRST STEP’

Until now the council had only agreed formal statements on Myanmar, where the army also led a 2017 crackdown on Rohingya Muslims that was described by the United States as genocide. Myanmar denies genocide and said it was waging a legitimate campaign against insurgents who attacked police posts.

Negotiations on the draft Security Council resolution began in September. The initial text – seen by Reuters – urged an end to the transfer of arms to Myanmar and threatened sanctions, but that language has since been removed.

The adopted resolution expresses “deep concern” at the continuing state of emergency imposed by the military when it seized power and its “grave impact” on Myanmar’s people.

It urges “concrete and immediate actions” to implement a peace plan agreed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and issues a call to “uphold democratic institutions and processes and to pursue constructive dialogue and reconciliation in accordance with the will and interests of the people”.

The only other resolution adopted by the Security Council was in 1948, when the body recommended the U.N. General Assembly admit Myanmar – then Burma – as a member of the world body.

Myanmar’s U.N. Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, who still holds the U.N. seat and represents Suu Kyi’s government, said while there were positive elements in the resolution the National Unity Government – comprised of remnants of the ousted administration – would have preferred a stronger text.

“We are clear this is only a first step,” he told reporters. “The National Unity Government calls on the UNSC (to build) on this resolution to take further and stronger action to ensure the end of the military junta and its crimes.”

Reporting by Michelle Nichols and Kanishka Singh; Editing by Alex Richardson and Grant McCool

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Malaysia landslide kills 12 at campsite, more than 20 missing

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  • Landslide ripped through farm campsite around 3 am
  • Eight injured, at least 50 found safe
  • Almost 400 people involved in search and rescue – police

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 (Reuters) – A landslide killed at least 12 people while they slept at a campsite in Malaysia early on Friday, officials said, as search teams scoured thick mud and downed trees for more than 20 people still missing.

The landslide in Selangor state, on the outskirts of capital, Kuala Lumpur, occurred about 3 a.m. (1900 GMT), tearing down a hillside into an organic farm with camping facilities, the state fire and rescue department said in a statement.

Teh Lynn Xuan, 22, said she was camping with 40 others when the landslide struck. She said one of her brothers died, while another is in the hospital.

“I heard a loud sound like thunder, but it was the rocks falling,” she told Malay-language daily Berita Haria. “We felt the tents becoming unstable and soil was falling around us. Luckily, I was able to leave the tent and go to someplace safer. My mother and I managed to crawl out and save ourselves.”

More than 90 people were caught in the landslide and 59 have been found safe, with 22 still missing, according to the fire and rescue department.

In addition to the 12 dead, eight were hospitalised, it said.

One of those taken to the hospital was pregnant, while others had injuries ranging from minor cuts to a suspected spinal injury, health minister Zaliha Mustafa told a news conference.

District police chief Suffian Abdullah said the dead were all Malaysians and included a child about 5 years old.

Almost 400 people from several agencies had been deployed, with search-and-rescue efforts ongoing, he told a news conference.

The landslide came down from an estimated height of 30 metres (100 ft) above the campsite, and covered an area of about one acre (0.4 hectare), according to the fire and rescue department’s state director.

Footage from local television showed the aftermath of a large landslide through a steep, forested area beside a road, while other images on social media showed rescue workers clambering over thick mud, large trees and other debris.

Reuters Graphics

“I pray that the missing victims can be found safely soon,” Malaysia’s minister of natural resources, environment and climate change, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, tweeted on Friday morning, one of several ministers who were heading to the scene. “The rescue team has been working since early. I’m going down there today.”

The disaster struck about 50km (30 miles) north of Kuala Lumpur in Batang Kali town, just outside the popular hilltop area of Genting Highlands, an area known for its resorts, waterfalls and natural beauty.

News agency Bernama tweeted that all campsites and water recreation areas around Batang Kali had been ordered to close immediately until further notice, citing the minister of home affairs.

Pictures posted on the Father’s Organic Farm Facebook page show a farmhouse in a small valley, with a large area where tents can be set up.

Selangor is the country’s most affluent state and has suffered landslides before, often attributed to forest and land clearance.

The region is in its rainy season but no heavy rain or earthquakes were recorded overnight.

A year ago, about 21,000 people were displaced by flooding from torrential rain in seven states across the country.

Reporting by Rozanna Latiff, Angie Teo, Yantoultra Ngui and Hasnoor Hussein; Writing by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Ed Davies and Gerry Doyle

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Indonesian suicide bomber leaves note criticising new criminal code

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BANDUNG, Indonesia, Dec 7 (Reuters) – A suspected Islamist militant, angered by Indonesia’s new criminal code, killed one other person and wounded at least 10 in a suicide bomb attack at a police station in the city of Bandung on Wednesday, authorities said.

The suicide bomber was believed to be affiliated with the Islamic State-inspired group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) and had previously been jailed on terrorism charges, Indonesian police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo told a news conference.

The police chief said the attacker, identified as Agus Sujatno, was released in late 2021 and investigators had found dozens of documents protesting the country’s controversial new criminal code at the crime scene.

“We found dozens of papers protesting the newly ratified criminal code,” he said.

Though there are sharia-based provisions in the new criminal code ratified by parliament on Tuesday, Islamist hardliners could have been angered by other articles that could be used to crackdown on the propagation of extremist ideologies, analysts say.

West Java police chief Suntana earlier told Metro TV that authorities had found a blue motorbike at the scene, which they believed was used by the attacker.

Attached to the bike was a note carrying a message decrying the new criminal code as “an infidel product,” Suntana said.

Todd Elliott, a senior security analyst at Concord Consulting in Jakarta, said it was likely the attack had been planned for some time and was an ideological rejection of the country’s new laws.

[1/13] Indonesia Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (INAFIS) officers investigate following a blast at a district police station, that according to authorities was a suspected suicide bombing, in Bandung, West Java province, Indonesia, December 7, 2022. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan

“While all the attention is on some of these sharia-based provisions in the criminal code and how that is an indication of the spread of conservative Islam in Indonesia, there are also changes in the criminal code that hardliners would not support,” he said.

“Including outlawing any ideology that goes against the state ideology, Pancasila, and that would also include extremist ideology.”

Video footage from the scene of Wednesday’s attack showed smoke rising from the damaged police station, with debris n the ground.

“Suddenly I heard the sound of an explosion… I saw a few police officers come out from the station and they couldn’t walk properly,” Hanes, a 21-year-old street vendor who witnessed the explosion told Reuters.

Islamist militants have in recent years carried out attacks in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, including at churches, police stations and venues frequented by foreigners.

Members of JAD were responsible for a series of suicide church bombings in the city of Surabaya in 2018. Those attacks were perpetrated by three families, who also attached suicide vests to their young children, and killed at least 30 people.

In 2021, a pair of JAD newlyweds carried out a suicide bomb attack at a cathedral in Makassar, killing only themselves.

In an effort to crack down on militants, Indonesia created a tough new anti-terrorism law after suicide bombings linked to JAD.

The group, which is now largely splintered, has been significantly weakened by a wave of arrests by the counterterrorism agency in recent years, analysts say.

Reporting by Ananda Teresia, Fransiska Nangoy, Stefanno Sulaiman, Yuddy Cahya Budiman and Kate Lamb; Writing by Kate Lamb; Editing by Ed Davies, Gerry Doyle & Simon Cameron-Moore

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Oil prices fall on economic fears, dollar strength

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LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) – Oil prices fell in a volatile market on Tuesday as the U.S. dollar stayed strong and economic uncertainty offset the bullish impact of a price cap placed on Russian oil and the prospects of a demand boost in China.

Brent crude futures were down 61 cents, or 0.74%, to $82.07 a barrel at 1447 GMT. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) fell 51 cents, or 0.66%, to $76.42.

Earlier in the session, both contracts fell by more than $1, while Brent rose by more than $1 in Asian trading.

Crude futures on Monday recorded their biggest daily drop in two weeks after U.S. services industry data indicated a strong U.S. economy and drove expectations of higher interest rates than recently forecast.

The U.S. dollar index edged lower on Tuesday but was still buoyed by bets of higher interest rates, following the biggest rally in two weeks on Monday.

A stronger greenback makes dollar-denominated oil more expensive for buyers holding other currencies, reducing demand for the commodity.

“Inflationary headwinds could still cause global economic turbulence in coming months,” said Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM, but added that “China’s gradual COVID opening is a tentatively positive development”.

In China, more cities are easing COVID-19-related curbs, prompting expectations of increased demand in the world’s top oil importer.

The country is set to announce a further relaxation of some of the world’s toughest COVID curbs as early as Wednesday, sources said.

The market was weighing the production impact of a price cap of $60 per barrel on Russian crude imposed by the Group of Seven (G7), the European Union and Australia, contributing to market volatility.

The price cap adds to the disruption caused by the EU’s embargo on imports of Russian crude by sea and similar pledges by the United States, Canada, Japan and Britain.

The embargo is likely to tighten market supply as the EU has to source crude from elsewhere, Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch said in a note.

Russia has declared its intention not to sell oil to anyone who signs up to the price cap.

The threat of losing insurance will limit Russia’s access to the tanker market and could reduce crude exports by 500,000 barrels per day from February levels, said analysts from Rystad Energy in a note.

Russia’s January-November oil and gas condensate production rose 2.2% from a year earlier to 488 million tonnes, according to Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who expects a slight output decline following the latest sanctions.

Reporting by Rowena Edwards in London, additional reporting by Muyu Xu in Singapore; editing by Jason Neely and Barbara Lewis

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