TOKYO: Japan will look into additional steps to cushion the economic blow from the coronavirus pandemic, its economy minister said on Friday, signaling that more stimulus measures could be forthcoming as the country sinks into deep recession.
Japan compiled a record $1.1 trillion economic stimulus package in April that focused on cash payouts to households and loans to small businesses hurt by the pandemic.
Ruling coalition lawmakers are ramping up calls for more assistance, as the government’s decision on Monday to extend a state of emergency through May heightens the chance of more bankruptcies and job losses.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday the government will look into ways to offer rent relief for businesses and help university students who lost part-time jobs pay tuition.
“We’re moving quickly to scrutinize what further steps are necessary, in consultation with the prime minister and close coordination with the ruling coalition,” Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told a news conference.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party will present a proposal to Abe including a plan for the government to cover two-thirds of the rent for small businesses hit by the pandemic for up to six months, the Nikkei newspaper said.
The sticking point will be on how to pay for the plan. Some lawmakers are demanding the government compile a second supplementary budget, following one that was put together to partly fund the $1.1 trillion package.
Finance Minister Taro Aso, however, said any additional spending should first be covered by $14 billion worth of reserves set aside under the first supplementary budget.
“We don’t know yet how big any new spending package would be,” Aso told a briefing on Friday. “We’re not at a stage to say when and how much” the government will need to spend, he added.
The economy likely shrank for a second straight quarter in the first three months of this year, a Reuters poll showed, meeting the technical definition of a recession as the pandemic crushed consumption and business activity.
Gross domestic product data on May 18 is likely to show the world’s third-largest economy contracted an annualized 4.6 percent in January-March, the poll of 14 analysts showed on Friday. Many believe the slump will be even deeper in the current quarter.
Japan has reported over 16,000 coronavirus cases and 603 deaths.
Japan eyes another stimulus package as coronavirus pandemic crushes economy
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Japan eyes another stimulus package as coronavirus pandemic crushes economy
- Japan compiled a record $1.1 trillion economic stimulus package in April
- Japanese economy likely shrank for a second straight quarter in the first three months of this year, poll shows
Israel says Hamas has not given ‘status of hostages’ it says ready to free
“As yet, Israel has not received any confirmation or comment by Hamas regarding the status of the hostages appearing on the list,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement after a Hamas official gave a list of 34 hostages the group was ready to free in the first phase.
Malaysia’s jailed ex-PM Najib wins appeal to seek home detention for corruption sentence
- Najib set up the 1MDB development fund shortly after he took office in 2009.
- Investigators allege at least $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund and laundered by Najib’s associates through layers of bank accounts in the United States and other countries
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia’s imprisoned former Prime Minister Najib Razak on Monday won an appeal to pursue his bid to serve his remaining corruption sentence under house arrest.
In an application in April last year, Najib said he had clear information that then-King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah issued an addendum order allowing him to finish his sentence under house arrest. Najib claimed the addendum was issued during a pardons board meeting on Jan. 29 last year chaired by Sultan Abdullah that also cut his 12-year jail sentence by half and sharply reduced a fine. But the High Court tossed out his bid three months later.
The Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling on Monday, ordered the High Court to hear the merits of the case. The decision came after Najib’s lawyer produced a letter from a Pahang state palace official confirming that then-Sultan Abdullah had issued the addendum order.
“We are happy that finally Najib has got a win,” his lawyer Mohamad Shafee Abdullah said. “He is very happy and very relieved that finally they recognized some element of injustice that has been placed against him.”
The lawyer said Najib gave a thumbs-up in court when the ruling was read.
He said it was “criminal” for the government to conceal the addendum order. Shafee noted that a new High Court judge will now hear the case.
In his application, Najib accused the pardons board, home minister, attorney-general and four others of concealing the sultan’s order “in bad faith.” Sultan Abdullah hails from Najib’s hometown in Pahang. He ended his five-year reign on Jan. 30 last year under Malaysia’s unique rotating monarchy system. A new king took office a day later.
Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has said he had no knowledge of such an order since he wasn’t a member of the pardons board. The others named in Najib’s application have not made any public comments.
Najib, 71, served less than two years of his sentence before it was commuted by the pardons board. His sentence is now due to end on Aug. 23, 2028. He was charged and found guilty in a corruption case linked to the multibillion-dollar looting of state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
The pardons board didn’t give any reason for its decision and wasn’t required to explain. But the move has prompted a public outcry over the appearance that Najib was being given special privileges compared to other prisoners.
Najib set up the 1MDB development fund shortly after he took office in 2009. Investigators allege at least $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund and laundered by Najib’s associates through layers of bank accounts in the United States and other countries, financed Hollywood films and extravagant purchases that included hotels, a luxury yacht, art and jewelry. More than $700 million landed in Najib’s bank accounts.
Najib is still fighting graft charges in the main trial linking him directly to the scandal.
Death toll from the German Christmas market attack rises to 6
- A woman succumbed to her injuries, prosecutors said Monday
- More than 200 people were injured in the Dec. 20 attack
BERLIN: The death toll in the attack on a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg last month has risen to six as a woman succumbed to her injuries, prosecutors said Monday.
Prosecutors in Naumburg said the 52-year-old woman died in a hospital, German news agency dpa reported. Authorities have said that the others who died were four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75, and a 9-year-old boy.
More than 200 people were injured in the Dec. 20 attack.
Authorities have identified the suspect, who was arrested immediately after he drove a rented car through the crowded market early on a Friday evening, as a Saudi doctor who arrived in Germany in 2006 and had received permanent residency.
They have said he does not fit the usual profile of perpetrators of extremist attacks. The man described himself as an ex-Muslim who was highly critical of Islam, and on social media expressed support for the far-right.
Shooting attack on a bus carrying Israelis in the occupied West Bank kills 3
- The attack occurred in the Palestinian village of Al-Funduq, on one of the main east-west roads crossing the territory
JERUSALEM: A shooting attack on a bus carrying Israelis in the occupied West Bank killed at least three people and wounded seven others on Monday, Israeli medics said.
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said those killed included two women in their 60s and a man in his 40s.
Violence has surged in the West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza ignited the ongoing war there.
The attack occurred in the Palestinian village of Al-Funduq, on one of the main east-west roads crossing the territory. The identities of the attackers and those killed were not immediately known. The military said it was looking for the attackers, who fled.
Palestinians have carried out scores of shooting, stabbing and car-ramming attacks against Israelis in recent years. Israel has launched near-nightly military raids across the territory that frequently trigger gunbattle with militants.
The Palestinian Health Ministry says at least 835 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want all three territories for their future state.
Some 3 million Palestinians live in the West Bank under seemingly open-ended Israeli military rule, with the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority administering population centers. Over 500,000 Israeli settlers live in scores of settlements, which most of the international community considers illegal.
Meanwhile, the war in Gaza is raging with no end in sight, though there has reportedly been recent progress in long-running talks aimed at a ceasefire and hostage release.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed across the border in a massive surprise attack nearly 15 months ago, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s air and ground offensive has killed over 45,800 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health authorities, who say women and children make up more than half of those killed. They do not say how many of the dead were militants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
The war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced 90 percent of the territory’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. Hundreds of thousands are enduring a cold, rainy winter in tent camps along the windy coast. At least seven infants have died of hypothermia because of the harsh conditions, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Aid groups say Israeli restrictions, ongoing fighting and the breakdown of law and order in many areas make it difficult to provide desperately needed food and other assistance.
New Syria foreign minister begins first visit to UAE: state media
Damascus: Syria’s new foreign minister Asaad Al-Shaibani landed in the United Arab Emirates Monday on his first visit to the country since rebels toppled president Bashar Assad last month, official news agency SANA said.
“Shaibani, accompanied by defense minister Murhaf Abu Qasra and intelligence chief Anas Khattab, has arrived in the United Arab Emirates,” SANA reported.
Shaibani also posted a picture of himself on X stepping off a plane, and said he looked forward “to building constructive bilateral relations.”
The officials took office after Islamist-led rebels swept into Damascus in early December, toppling Assad after more than 13 years of civil war.
Their trip to the UAE comes after they visited its Gulf neighbors Qatar on Sunday and Saudi Arabia last week.
Both Qatar and Turkiye, which backed the anti-Assad opposition, reopened their embassies in Damascus in the aftermath of Assad’s flight to Moscow.
Turkiye has long maintained a working relationship with the HTS rebels, leaving it with a direct line to Damascus.
