简体中文
Every weekend, Asia Pacific Daily will provide you with a run-down of the latest hot news.
This week, the following hot news you should know:
Top 1 | Putin wants 'immediate' talks with NATO on Russia's security
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that he wants "immediate" talks with the United States and NATO over security guarantees, as tensions soar between Moscow and the West over Ukraine.
The U.S. and its NATO allies have for weeks accused Russia of planning an invasion of its neighbor and warned of a massive coordinated sanctions response should Putin launch such an attack.
In a phone call with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, whose country has traditionally served as a middle ground between Russia and the West, Putin said he wanted security talks to begin without delay.
He told Niinisto that Moscow wants "to immediately launch negotiations with the United States and NATO in order to develop international legal guarantees for the security of our country," the Kremlin said in a statement.
Top 2 | Moon says South Korea not considering 'diplomatic boycott' of Beijing Olympics: Yonhap
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Monday that South Korea is not considering a "diplomatic boycott" of the Beijing Winter Olympics, Yonhap reported.
He was speaking at a joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison after bilateral summit talks in Canberra, according to the report.
China's Foreign Ministry on Monday praised South Korea for positively supporting the Beijing Winter Games, which is in line with the Olympic spirit and demonstrates the friendly relations between the two countries.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin added that China and South Korea maintain close communication and coordination on the Korean Peninsula issue.
Top 3 | Chinese enterprises are facing more than challenges when they go global
Hosted by The China Public Diplomacy Association and the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the seminar on Chinese enterprises entering the Belt and Road Initiative was officially held in the Jianghai Hall of the Shanghai CPPCC on December 15.
With the theme of "Jointly Overcoming Difficulties for Development and Creating a Better Future through Win-win Cooperation", the symposium aims to give full play to the role of the Bridgehead of the Belt and Road Initiative and contribute China's and Shanghai's wisdom to its implementation.
Top 4 | Macron, Germany's Scholz meet in Paris, vow to enhance ties
French President Emmanuel Macron and the newly elected German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held a meeting on Friday in Paris.
The leaders discussed the future of the European Union with regards to immigration, new energies, border protection and relations with other states.
Top 5 | Britain finalizes with Australia first free trade deal after Brexit
Britain and Australia finalized in a virtual ceremony on Thursday a free trade agreement that is expected to unlock more than £10 billion ($11.32 billion) in trade annually.
The deal, which was agreed in principle in June, is the first free trade deal that Britain negotiated from scratch since its EU exit earlier this year to have been signed.
The EU does not yet have a free trade agreement with Australia, but negotiations are underway.
Analysis drawn up by Britain and independently vetted said the deal would boost the economy by £2.3 billion per year and unlock £10.4 billion of imports and exports by 2035.
Top 6 | Dutch parties agree on new coalition after 9 months
Dutch political parties agreed to form a coalition government on Monday, after nearly nine months of negotiations.
The parties are the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy led by caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the Christian Democratic Appeal, the center-leftist party Democrats 66 and the smaller centrist party the Christian Union.
The caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte is widely expected to be appointed to form his team of ministers, the fourth cabinet with Rutte as prime minister. The whole new cabinet is expected to be presented in January 2022.
Top 7 | Biden signs order directing federal govt to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order that requires the federal government to achieve a goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
"As the single largest land owner, energy consumer, and employer in the Nation, the Federal Government can catalyze private sector investment and expand the economy and American industry by transforming how we build, buy, and manage electricity, vehicles, buildings, and other operations to be clean and sustainable," the executive order said.
The order directs the federal government to use its scale and procurement power to achieve 100 percent carbon pollution-free electricity by 2030, 100 percent zero-emission vehicle acquisitions by 2035, and net-zero emissions from overall federal operations by 2050, including a 65 percent emissions reduction by 2030.
"The executive order will reduce emissions across federal operations, invest in American clean energy industries and manufacturing, and create clean, healthy, and resilient communities," the White House said in a fact sheet.
Top 8 | Night of devastating tornadoes likely kills over 100 in Kentucky, U.S.
At least 100 people were feared dead in Kentucky after a swarm of tornadoes tore a 200-mile path through the U.S. Midwest and South, demolishing homes, leveling businesses and setting off a scramble to find survivors beneath the rubble, officials said December 11.
The powerful twisters, which weather forecasters say are unusual in cooler months, destroyed a candle factory and the fire and police stations in a small town in Kentucky, ripped through a nursing home in neighboring Missouri, and killed at least six workers at an Amazon warehouse in Illinois.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said the collection of tornadoes was the most destructive in the state's history. He said about 40 workers had been rescued at the candle factory in the city of Mayfield, which had about 110 people inside when it was reduced to a pile of rubble. It would be a "miracle" to find anyone else alive under the debris, Beshear said.
Top 9 | Cambodia to appoint foreign minister as ASEAN chair's new envoy to Myanmar
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday that he would name the country's Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn as the ASEAN chair's new special envoy to Myanmar.
Cambodia will be the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for 2022. Sokhonn will succeed the bloc's current ASEAN special envoy, Brunei's Second Foreign Minister Erywan bin Pehin Yusof.
"I'd like to confirm that I will appoint Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn as the ASEAN chair's special envoy," Hun Sen said in a speech during the inauguration ceremony of a luxury hotel in Phnom Penh.
The special envoy has been assigned to enforce the implementation of the five-point consensus on Myanmar reached in April by ASEAN leaders to facilitate mediation of the dialogue process and provide humanitarian aid to Myanmar.
Top 10 | U.K. projected to have one million Omicron infections by end of December
The U.K. will have more than one million Omicron cases by the end of this month if current trends continue unchanged, the country's Health Security Agency said on Friday, but noted that booster shots provide 70-75% protection against symptomatic infection.
"The preliminary data showed effectiveness against the new variant appears to increase considerably in the early period after a booster dose, providing around 70-75% protection against symptomatic infection," the UKHSA said in a statement.
"Due to the early nature of the findings, all estimates are subject to significant uncertainty and are subject to change," it added.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
