Philippines says Japan, South Korea, India offer to fund railway projects - CNA

MANILA: Japan, South Korea and India have offered to finance three Philippine railway projects worth nearly US$5 billion, the country's transport chief said on Monday (Nov 6), after Manila dropped China as a funding source last year.

Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said the Philippine government could tap the three countries for possible official development assistance (ODA). He said the government may also fund a portion of the rail projects or seek private sector investments.

"We're exploring these. We cannot give any details yet," Bautista told a media forum.

The rail projects are the Subic-Clark Railway Project, the Philippine National Railways South Long-Haul Project and the Davao-Digos segment of the Mindanao Railway Project, collectively worth US$4.95 billion.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr had ordered officials last year to renegotiate loan agreements with China, which were considered "withdrawn" after the Chinese government failed to act on the funding request.

But Bautista said the government had to look for other financing options since there was no progress on the loan negotiations with China on the rail projects, which began in 2018 during the term of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte pursued warmer ties with Beijing and set aside territorial disputes in exchange for billions of dollars in aid when he was president. Marcos replaced him in June last year.

From more than 1,100km before World War II, the Philippines had only 77km of operational railway as of 2016, well behind other urban centres across Asia, government data shows. Marcos has promised to modernise the country's railway system.

Construction of the Philippines' first subway train, funded by loans from Japan, is underway in the capital region.

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2023-11-06 07:35:08Z
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Blizzards in China's northeast ground flights, force school closures - CNA

BEIJING: Unseasonably cold weather and blizzards hit northeast China on Monday (Nov 6), forcing hundreds of flights to be rescheduled and closing schools as several cities issued heightened weather alerts and warned people to stay indoors.

As of 10.30am, 405 flights were cancelled at Harbin Taiping International Airport in the capital of Heilongjiang, the country's northernmost province, according to data from third-party travel app Flight Master.

Earlier, Heilongjiang's government said operations were otherwise normal at the airport.

Most parts of Harbin suspended primary and secondary schools, kindergartens, and off-campus training institutions, according to the government's official WeChat account, as snow and freezing temperatures hit the region.

Many flights were also cancelled in Jilin and Liaoning provinces, and in the Inner Mongolia region, Flight Master showed.

Video from a local newspaper showed many travellers stranded in a railway station as heavy snow lashed Jilin's Changchun city, with some trains from the city suspended.

China's weather authority warned of a drastic drop in temperature in the coming days, along with blizzards, anticipated to substantially affect several cities, state media reported.

"The season changed outside overnight," a netizen from Heilongjiang complained on Weibo, China's popular social media platform.

Provinces and cities upgraded weather response protocols as heavy snowfall is expected in parts of Inner Mongolia, and Hebei, Jilin and Liaoning provinces, China Daily reported.

On Monday, Inner Mongolia, and Liaoning and Jilin provinces suspended schools.

Late on Sunday, Heilongjiang issued a red alert - the country's highest weather advisory - as cities in the province were expected to see 20mm to 40mm of blizzard precipitation into Monday evening, according to Chinese weather forecasters, China Daily reported.

The Central Meteorological Observatory said some areas could see 8cm to 10cm of snow and temperatures in many regions would drop sharply.

Chinese weather forecasters kept orange alerts for blizzards in several areas, while China's National Meteorological Centre issued an orange alert for blizzards and a blue alert for cold waves and strong wind, Global Times reported.

China has a four-tier colour-coded weather alert system, with red the highest, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

In Harbin, social media video footage showed residents battling gale force winds and sliding and stumbling as they made their way down icy streets.

The cold forced governments in Beijing and Tianjin to make preparations to supply heat earlier than usual, according to city government notices.

Over the past week, northern China has experienced unseasonably odd contrasts in weather from smog to logging the second-warmest October in decades and then a sharp drop in temperatures over the weekend.

The Central Meteorological Administration said this week most of the northeast is expected to see temperatures dive to the single digits or below freezing as cold air moves east and south.

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2023-11-06 07:12:00Z
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Israel intensifies Gaza strikes despite ceasefire calls - CNA

Israel on Monday (Nov 6) pounded Gaza with "significant" strikes as soldiers battled Hamas forces in the besieged territory, ignoring ceasefire calls by UN aid agencies who condemned surging civilian deaths in the month-long conflict.

Israeli troops and Hamas fighters engaged in house-to-house combat in densely populated Gaza, where the war has sent 1.5 million people fleeing to other parts of the territory in a desperate search for cover.

"We will take the fight to Hamas wherever they are, underground, above ground", Israeli army spokesman Jonathan Conricus said at a briefing Monday, repeating calls for civilians to leave the urban war zone in the north of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

"We will be able to dismantle Hamas, stronghold after stronghold, battalion after battalion, until we achieve the ultimate goal, which is to rid the Gaza Strip - the entire Gaza Strip - of Hamas."

Conricus again accused Hamas of building tunnels underneath hospitals, schools and places of worship in Gaza to hide fighters, plan attacks and store ammunition - a charge the militant group has repeatedly denied.

"This strike is like an earthquake," Gaza City resident Alaa Abu Hasera said, in a devastated area where entire blocks were reduced to rubble.

Israel launched a massive bombing campaign after the Palestinian militants staged the worst attack in the country's history.

In their Oct 7 attack, Hamas gunmen killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 240 others hostage.

The health ministry in Gaza, which is run by Hamas, says more than 9,770 people, many of them women and children, have been killed in Israeli strikes and the intensifying ground campaign since the war began.

Israel has resisted calls for a halt in the fighting, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken touring the region calling for "pauses" while rejecting Arab countries' demands for a ceasefire.

Israeli troops now encircle Gaza City, effectively splitting the territory in two, with "significant" strikes carried out, army spokesman Daniel Hagari said late Sunday.

Shortly before the strikes, internet and telephone lines were cut, Hagari said, adding that the strikes would continue in the days to come.

"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH"

Israel has distributed leaflets and sent text messages ordering Palestinian civilians in northern Gaza to head south, but a US official said Saturday at least 350,000 civilians remain in the worst-hit areas.

On Sunday, the health ministry said 45 people were killed in Israeli strikes on a refugee camp in central Gaza, leaving people searching through the rubble.

"Are there any survivors?" shouted Said al-Najma, as he tried to shift the blocks of concrete strewn across the road in the camp.

"They brought down an entire street on the heads of women and children without any notice," he said.

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2023-11-06 06:47:10Z
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Israel rebuffs calls for ceasefire; Lebanon strike angers Hezbollah - The Straits Times

GAZA/RAMALLAH - Israel on Sunday rebuffed growing international pressure for a ceasefire and said its forces had encircled Gaza City, as the top US diplomat scrambled to contain a crisis that threatened to cause further escalation in neighbouring Lebanon.

Gaza was under “unprecedented bombardment” from Israel on Sunday, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, while Palestinian telecommunications company Paltel said that all communications and Internet services had again been cut.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas joined international calls for an immediate ceasefire at a meeting with United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was making an unannounced visit to the occupied West Bank.

After Mr Blinken repeated US concerns that a ceasefire could aid Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled that out unless hostages held by Hamas were released.

“There will be no ceasefire without the return of the hostages. This should be completely removed from the lexicon,” Mr Netanyahu said.

Mr Blinken arrived in Ankara late on Sunday for further talks on the Gaza conflict with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Monday.

Hours earlier at a pro-Palestinian rally in southern Turkey, police used tear gas and water cannon on hundreds of people who tried to storm an airbase that houses US troops.

Gaza City surrounded

A military spokesman said Israeli forces had surrounded the main city in Gaza.

“They reached the coast in the southern part of Gaza City and they encircled Gaza City,” he said.

Tensions increased with Lebanon as an Israeli strike on a car in the south of the country killed three children and their grandmother, the Lebanese authorities said.

Israel’s chief military spokesman said the military had attacked “terrorist targets of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon” in response to a missile attack against tanks that killed an Israeli citizen.

He added that a Hezbollah drone was shot down.

Hezbollah said it responded by firing rockets at the town of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel. The group said it would never tolerate attacks on civilians and its response would be “firm and strong”.

Sirens sounded across central Israel, and Israeli media reported that rockets had struck areas in and around Tel Aviv. No casualties were reported.

Health officials in Hamas-controlled Gaza said more than 9,770 Palestinians have been killed in the war, which began when Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct 7, killing 1,400 people and taking more than 240 hostages.

Israel said 31 of its soldiers have been killed so far.

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2023-11-05 22:47:00Z
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Abbas presses Blinken to push for Gaza ceasefire as refugee camp is struck overnight - The Straits Times

RAMALLAH, Palestinian territories - US top diplomat Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to the occupied West Bank on Sunday.

He met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who urged him to persuade Israel to agree to a ceasefire, as the death toll in Gaza continues to climb.

A Gaza Health Ministry spokesperson said earlier on Sunday that the Israeli military had struck the Maghazi refugee camp overnight, killing at least 47 people.

In a separate attack, 21 Palestinians from one family, including women and children, were killed in Israeli strikes targeting Gaza overnight, the Health Ministry added.

“We demand that you stop them from committing these crimes immediately,” Mr Abbas told Mr Blinken, demanding an “immediate ceasefire” from Israel.

“There are no words to describe the war of genocide and destruction... (that) our Palestinian people are being subjected (to) in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli war machine, without regard to the rules of international law,” Palestinian news agency Wafa quoted Mr Abbas as telling Mr Blinken.

Foreign ministers from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates met Mr Blinken in Amman on Saturday. They also pushed for Washington to convince Israel to agree to a ceasefire. But Mr Blinken argued that a ceasefire would only allow Hamas to regroup.

He is instead trying to convince Israel to agree to location-specific pauses that would allow much-needed aid to be distributed within Gaza.

“The secretary reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to the delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance and resumption of essential services in Gaza, and made clear that Palestinians must not be forcibly displaced,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

Mr Abbas has had little sway in Gaza since the Hamas takeover of the enclave in 2007.

Israel says it is targeting Hamas, not civilians, and that the Palestinian group is using residents as human shields.

Gaza health officials said on Sunday that more than 9,770 Palestinians have been killed in the war.

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2023-11-05 10:24:17Z
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China's Li Vows to Boost Imports, Widen Foreign Market Access - Bloomberg

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1. China's Li Vows to Boost Imports, Widen Foreign Market Access  Bloomberg
2. CIIE 2023: Li Qiang promotes Chinese consumers as fix for global economy  South China Morning Post
3. China pledges to expand market access at annual trade fair amid foreign criticism  The Straits Times
4. China will further expand market access, Premier Li says  Nikkei Asia
5. China Premier Li seeks to bolster his country's economic outlook at the Shanghai export fair  The Washington Post
6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2023-11-05 09:45:00Z
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Blinken rebuffs Arab states' push for immediate Gaza ceasefire - The Straits Times

GAZA/AMMAN -  Arab leaders publicly pressed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday to secure an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, hours after Palestinians said an Israeli air strike killed at least 15 people in a United Nations-run school being used as a shelter.

In a rare open display of disagreement, the United States’ top diplomat pushed back as he stood next to his Jordanian and Egyptian counterparts at a press conference, saying a ceasefire would only let Hamas militants regroup.

World and regional powers have failed to reach any consensus on how to deal with the escalating conflict in the four weeks since Israel and Hamas went to war on Oct 7, when the Islamist militant Palestinian group raided Israel from Gaza, in a rampage Israel says killed 1,400 people, with more than 240 others taken hostage.

Israel has since struck Gaza from the air, imposed a siege and launched a ground assault, stirring global alarm at humanitarian conditions in the enclave, Gaza health officials said on Saturday, killing more than 9,488 Palestinians.

Mr Blinken met the Saudi, Qatari, Emirati, Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers in Amman. “Right now we have to make sure that this war stops,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told the press conference afterwards.

Mr Blinken said all were agreed on the need for peace and that the current status quo in Gaza could not hold, but he acknowledged there were differences between Washington and its allies.

“A ceasefire now would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on Oct 7,” said Mr Blinken, who was on his second trip to the region since Israel and Hamas went to war.

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2023-11-04 18:07:12Z
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