China Is Debating a Reduction to Covid Quarantine for Inbound Travelers - Bloomberg

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1. China Is Debating a Reduction to Covid Quarantine for Inbound Travelers  Bloomberg
2. China considers reducing COVID-19 quarantine for visitors: Report  CNA
3. Hong Kong may let VIP bankers who get Covid-19 exit on private jets  The Straits Times
4. China Stocks Pare Loss on Report Authorities Mull Quarantine Cut  Bloomberg
5. China considers shorter COVID quarantine for visitors - Bloomberg News  Reuters
6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2022-10-20 08:03:03Z
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Russia, Iran defiant as West presses sanctions over drones in Ukraine - CNA

If the UN Secretariat or Secretary-General Antonio Guterres still go ahead, "we will have to reassess our collaboration with them, which is hardly in anyone's interest", Polyanskiy said.

Iran's UN envoy, Amir Saeid Iravani, also rejected the "unfounded and unsubstantiated claims" on the drone transfers and said that Tehran, which has abstained in votes on the Ukraine war, wanted a "peaceful resolution" of the war.

The alleged arms transfers come as Iran is facing growing pressure over its crackdown on the biggest protests in years, which were sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old detained by the clerical state's notorious "morality police."

"SWIFT AND FIRM" RESPONSE

The European Union is expected to approve sanctions over the drones ahead of a summit on Thursday in Brussels.

A list seen by AFP showed the 27-nation bloc planned sanctions on three senior military officials, including General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, as well as drone maker Shahed Aviation Industries, an aerospace company linked to the powerful Revolutionary Guards.

Nabila Massrali, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, said the bloc had "gathered our own evidence" and would prepare "a clear, swift and firm EU response".

The United States has charged that the drones violated UN Security Council Resolution 2231 of 2015 that blessed a now moribund nuclear deal.

The resolution's ban on Iran's conventional arms sales expired in 2020, despite attempts by the then-US administration of Donald Trump.

The United States has not spelled out the purported violation but Resolution 2231 still bars through October 2023 any transfers that could benefit nuclear-capable ballistic missiles.

"Iran's supply of these specific types of UAVs to Russia is a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, and it is an issue for the UN Security Council," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said.

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2022-10-19 21:58:00Z
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Malaysia to go to the polls on Nov 19 amid worries over monsoon season - CNA

An election had not been due until September 2023, but Mr Ismail Sabri had been under pressure from some factions of his ruling coalition to hold the vote earlier.

On Sep 30, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) supreme council decided that parliament must be dissolved soon so that GE15 can be held this year.

UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is facing 47 charges of criminal breach of trust, corruption and money laundering, had been very vocal in pushing for snap polls, ostensibly to seek a fresh mandate from the people.

UMNO’s call for an early GE15 has been criticised by the opposition and Mr Ismail Sabri’s own Cabinet members as Malaysia’s Meteorological Department has warned of floods during the north-east monsoon season, which typically starts in November and ends in March.

Following the dissolution of parliament, Malaysia’s King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah said he had no choice but to consent to the dissolution of the parliament.

In a statement on Oct 10, Comptroller of the Royal Household of Istana Negara, Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin, said that the ruler was disappointed with the current political developments in the country.

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2022-10-20 04:21:00Z
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China’s Xi Crowned `People’s Leader’, A Position That’s Only Comparable with Mao - Bloomberg

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China’s Xi Crowned `People’s Leader’, A Position That’s Only Comparable with Mao  BloombergView Full coverage on Google News
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2022-10-19 21:00:00Z
CAIiEJqhtdZMXwhtS5mk1n56fZgqGQgEKhAIACoHCAow4uzwCjCF3bsCMIrOrwM

Putin demands all-Russia war effort as he declares martial law in occupied Ukraine - CNA

LONDON: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday (Oct 19) he was introducing martial law in four Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine that Moscow claimed last month as its own territory but is struggling to defend from Ukrainian advances.

In televised remarks to members of his Security Council, Putin boosted the security powers of all Russia's regional governors and ordered the creation of a special coordinating council under Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin to step up the faltering war effort.

He said the "entire system of state administration", not only the specialised security agencies, must be geared to supporting what Russia calls its "special military operation".

The package of moves, nearly eight months into the war, marked the latest escalation by Putin to counter a series of major defeats at the hands of Ukrainian forces since the start of September.

The US State Department said Russia was resorting to "desperate tactics". A Kyiv official said it would change nothing.

The published Kremlin decree ordered an "economic mobilisation" in eight regions adjoining Ukraine, including Crimea, which Russia invaded and annexed in 2014.

It placed them in a special regime one step below martial law and allowed for the restriction of people's movements.

Putin conferred additional powers on the leaders of all Russia's 80-plus regions to protect critical facilities, maintain public order and increase production in support of the war effort.

But it was far from clear how fast or how effectively the new measures might bolster Russia's military position on the ground. They came as Russian-installed officials in Ukraine's occupied Kherson region told civilians to leave some areas as soon as possible in anticipation of an imminent Ukrainian attack.

Russia expert Mark Galeotti said on Twitter the moves amounted to "a declaration of variegated martial law across the whole of Russia", with some level of emergency regulation now applying across the whole country.

He said it was unclear whether regional officials would use the extra powers as Moscow wanted, ignore them, or exploit them as opportunities to embezzle state resources.

The Russian-installed acting governor of occupied Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, confirmed that he would hand power to the military, according to Russian news agencies. But many regional chiefs - including Moscow's mayor Sergei Sobyanin - said they did not plan to make any immediate changes.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter: "This does not change anything for Ukraine: We continue the liberation and de-occupation of our territories."

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2022-10-19 12:11:00Z
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UK PM Truss tries to reassert authority as rebellion grows - CNA

LONDON: British Prime Minister Liz Truss sought to reassert authority over her fraught party on Wednesday (Oct 19) with Conservative enforcers telling lawmakers they had to support her fracking policy as a vote treated as a test of confidence in the government.

Truss is trying to shore up support from within her party after she was forced to scrap her vast tax-cutting plan, leading some Conservative lawmakers to call for her to be replaced as leader just weeks after she took office.

She has admitted her radical economic plans had gone "too far and too fast" after investors dumped the pound and government bonds.

However, with mortgage rates soaring and official figures showing inflation back to a 40-year high, Truss, who was elected by Conservative members on a promise of tax cuts and maintaining public spending, faces a struggle to convince the public and her party she could address the cost of living crisis.

Polls indicate Conservatives are some 30 points behind the opposition Labour Party, and her own ratings are calamitous.

"What I'm not convinced by ... is that going through another leadership campaign, defenestrating another prime minister, will either convince the British people that we're thinking about them rather than ourselves or convince the markets to stay calm," foreign minister James Cleverly told Sky News.

But, speculation about the prime minister's future continues to grow, with media reporting that rebellious Conservatives are weighing up who should replace her, not if she should go.

"I think her position is becoming increasingly untenable," Conservative lawmaker Steve Double told Times radio. "We've seen a complete reversal of just about everything she stood for in her leadership election campaign. I think many of us are asking exactly what does Liz Truss now believe and stand for?"

Truss will face parliament later on Wednesday for her usual weekly question and answer session, and later the main opposition Labour Party will seek to hold a vote on an outright ban on fracking, after the government last month lifted a moratorium in England that had been in place since 2019.

Conservative whips, responsible for enforcing discipline among members of parliament, sent a message to their lawmakers saying the vote would be treated as a "confidence motion in the government".

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2022-10-19 11:26:43Z
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Russia appeals for evacuation ahead of battle for Ukraine's Kherson - CNA

RUSSIA SEES "DIFFICULT" SITUATION

The evacuation calls followed a gloomy assessment of Russia's prospects in the area from General Sergei Surovikin, the new commander of Russian forces in Ukraine.

"The situation in the area of the 'Special Military Operation' can be described as tense," Surovikin told state-owned Rossiya 24 news channel. "The situation in this area (Kherson) is difficult. The enemy is deliberately striking infrastructure and residential buildings."

Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Russian-installed council governing Zaporizhzhia, another region in the south, said Ukraine's forces had intensified overnight shelling of Russian-held Enerhodar. Many employees of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear station live there.

Artillery fire had hit the town's outskirts and there had been 10 strikes around a thermal power station, he said on the Telegram messaging app on Wednesday (Oct 19).

Dmytro Orlov, whom Ukraine recognises as mayor of Enerhodar, blamed Russia for the shelling.

"The shelling, first of the industrial zone, and then of the city itself, began around midnight and it did not stop in the morning," he posted on Telegram.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said he expected to return soon to Ukraine amid negotiations to establish a protection zone around the Zaporizhzhia facility, Europe's largest nuclear power station.

The plant is in one of four Ukrainian regions Russia has proclaimed as annexed but only partly occupies. The other three are Kherson, and the eastern border provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk - together known as Donbas.

Putin proclaimed them regions of Russia after staging what Moscow called referendums in September, which Kyiv and Western governments denounced as illegal and coercive.

Ukraine's military said on Wednesday that Russian forces had carried out attacks with cruise, aviation and anti-aircraft missiles across several regions, including Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia, in the past 24 hours.

"In addition, the occupiers used 14 Iranian-made Shahed-136 unmanned aerial vehicles, 10 of which were shot down," it said.

Reuters could not independently verify battlefield reports.

Both Ukraine and Russia have denied targeting civilians, although Ukraine and UN officials have accused Russia's forces of war crimes.

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2022-10-19 09:26:00Z
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