Czech billionaire PM Babis seeks second term in tight election race

Czechs begin voting on Friday in a tight parliamentary election in which Prime Minister Andrej Babis hopes to win a second term despite criticism that he mismanaged the pandemic, ran up heavy debts and mixed business interests with those of his country.

The two-day election kicks off at 2 pm local time (1200 GMT) and runs until 2 pm on Saturday.

Babis's centrist ANO party remains ahead in opinion polls but its lead has narrowed in recent weeks to just a couple of percentage points over the two opposition groups who have pledged to work together to oust him.

Babis has vowed to continue raising public sector wages and pensions, policies that have benefited his main support bases.

His spending policies, which he has stuck with despite a broad recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, mark a break from traditional Czech fiscal prudence, and the country's debt is set to grow among the fastest growingin Europe, albeit from a low base. read more

The centre-right Together coalition and the progressive Pirates/Mayors have refused to work with the billionaire Babis over what they say are unacceptable conflicts of interest. He is the founder of the Agrofert food, farming, chemicals and media empire, whichemploys more than 30,000 people in central Europe.

Babis says he met all legal obligations by putting the firms into trust funds in 2017 before becoming prime minister. But a European Commission audit determined otherwise and it has stopped paying development grants to the group.

Babis faced new allegations on Sunday of using opaque offshore structures to buy real estate in France before he entered politics. He has denied any wrongdoing.

The opposition also blame Babis for chaotic policy changes during the pandemic. COVID-19 has claimed more than 30,000 Czech lives, one of Europe's worst per-capita death tolls.

Babis has employed anti-migrant and anti-EU rhetoric in the campaign and has accused the Pirate/Mayors coalition of failing the country by supporting more European integration and eventual adoption of the euro.

However, the opposition includes a eurosceptic wing and its European policies remain unclear.

President Milos Zeman, 77, a Babis ally who appoints prime ministers under the constitution, will forgo the custom of voting publicly this time due to unspecified health issues and will cast his ballot away from the media gaze at the presidential palace, his office said.

Babis will probablyget the first shot at forming a government but may find it difficult to find coalition partners.

He may try to team up with the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy Party, despite opposing its demands to approve legislation allowing for a referendum to leave the EU.

Victory for the opposition would bring an improvement in relations with Brussels by ending Babis's conflict-of-interest disputes. It would also set the Czechs further apart from regional partners Hungary and Poland, which have been at loggerheads with the EU over democratic standards.

"Babis is a small fish compared with what is going on in Poland and Hungary, but he has a problem of a similar type and thus the Commission cannot go against Hungary and Poland and ignore what is going on here," said European studies lecturer Tomas Weiss from the Charles University.

"The moment he goes, this acute problem disappears."

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Tesla moving headquarters to Texas from California

Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Thursday the electric carmaker plans to move its headquarters from Silicon Valley's Palo Alto, California to Austin, Texas, where it is building a massive car and battery manufacturing complex.

Tesla joins Oracle, HP and Toyota Motor (7203.T) in moving U.S. headquarters to Texas from California, which has relatively high taxes and living costs. While Silicon Valley also is a hive of development of new ideas and companies, Texas is known for cheaper labor and less stringent regulation.

"I'm excited to announce that we're moving our headquarters to Austin, Texas," Musk told the company's annual meeting, held in the Texas car factory.

"This is not a matter of, sort of, Tesla leaving California," he said, saying it plans to increase output from its main California factory and Nevada factory by 50%.

The Fremont, California factory nonetheless is "jammed" and it is tough for people to afford houses in California, he said.

Billionaire Musk himself moved to the Lone Star State from California in December to focus on the electric-car maker’s new plant in the state and his SpaceX rocket company, which has a launch site in the southern tip of Texas.

Musk had a rocky relationship at times with California, threatening to move Tesla headquarters and future programs to Texas during a row over the closure of Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California due to COVID-19, for instance.

At the meeting he showed off a design of what looked like a cowboy-style belt buckle emblazoned with "Don't Mess With T" -- the T in the style of the Tesla logo. The phrase is based on a venerable and popular Texas anti-littering campaign - Don't Mess with Texas.

Despite some criticism from activist shareholders and a proxy advisory service, shareholders followed board guidance on several key proposals, including reelection of Kimball Musk, Elon's brother, and James Murdoch as board directors.

But they voted in favour of a stockholder proposal to reduce director terms from three years to one year and a proposal regarding additional reporting on diversity and inclusion efforts.

"It's unfortunate that the shareholders did not agree to remove Murdoch and Musk's brother. But I think they know the pressure is on them," Stephen Diamond, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law, said.

"They've got a lot more work to do on governance. Just changing the term is just an artifact of a larger governance issue," William Klepper, a professor at Columbia Business School, said.

Advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) had recommended that Tesla investors not re-elect the two directors because of concerns about excessive compensation packages to non-executive board members.

Shareholders also voted against a stockholder proposal asking for a study into the impact of Tesla's use of arbitration on workplace harassment and discrimination.

The proposal, opposed by the board, was thrown into the spotlight after a Black former contract worker on Monday won a $137 million jury award against Tesla over workplace racism.

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Japan wholesale inflation likely hit 13-year high in Sept on rising commodity costs

Japan's wholesale prices likely hit a 13-year high in September, buoyed by lofty commodity prices, while firms' machinery orders are expected to have risen for the second straight month in August, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.

The corporate goods price index (CGPI), which tracks the prices companies charge one another for their goods, likely rose 5.9% in September from a year ago, according to a poll of 17 economists. That would be its highest annual price gain since September 2008. The index grew 5.5% year-on-year in August.

On a monthly basis, Japan's wholesale prices likely grew 0.3% in September after being flat the previous month, the poll showed.

"Commodity inflation will affect prices of petroleum products, chemical, steel and other metals, which results in a higher growth" in wholesale inflation, said Shunpei Fujita, an economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting.

"But as the growth in commodity prices slows, corporate goods inflation in Japan will gradually cool down."

Commodity prices have rallied recently amid energy supply worries, stoking concerns about global inflation. But with Japan's main inflation gauge still well below target at 0.0% in August, the Bank of Japan is expected to stick to massive monetary stimulus for the foreseeable future read more .

The Bank of Japan will release the CGPI data on Tuesday at 8:50 a.m. (Monday at 2350 GMT).

On Wednesday, the government is due to release core machinery orders data.

Core machinery orders are expected to have risen 1.7% in August from the previous month, according to the Reuters poll, after 0.9% growth in July.

Orders likely rose amid solid capital expenditure among companies preparing for a reopening of the economy after the government lifted state of emergency curbs at the end of September.

Japan's economic recovery has been led by robust demand for its exports, offsetting the weakness in COVID-hit consumption. But the manufacturing sector is now facing renewed pressure from supply chain disruptions.

Industrial output fell for the second straight month in August as COVID-19 outbreaks elsewhere in Asia shut factories and made it harder for carmakers, already grappling with a global chip shortage, to source parts.

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New Zealand confirms it is in talks with PCB to reschedule Pakistan tour

The New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has confirmed it is in talks with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to reschedule the recently abandoned ODI, T20 series.

"New Zealand Cricket is back in discussions about reigniting their postponed tour to Pakistan," says a report in NZ Herald.

The NZC has confirmed that talks are under way between chief executive David White and his counterpart at the PCB. However the report said that both sides are open to the possibility of the Black Caps returning before the end of the current future tours programme cycle in 2023.

A day earlier, Ramiz Raja had revealed that the NZC has contacted them regarding the rescheduling of the home series against Pakistan and "good news will be announced within a week".

Speaking before the Senate Standing Committee on Interprovincial Coordination on different aspects and future goals set up for Pakistan cricket, Raja had said: "The PCB may put forward its terms before the NZC by choosing the month of November in 2022 for the rescheduling of the recently postponed series."

The New Zealand cricket team, last month, backed out of the much-awaited Pakistan tour, citing a "security alert" from their government. The Pakistani authorities had assured the NZC of complete security but the Black Caps insisted on abandoning the series.

The Pakistan prime minister spoke personally to the prime minister of New Zealand and informed her that we have one of the best intelligence systems in the world and that no security threat of any kind exists for the visiting team,” the PCB had said.

The PCB had said the security officials with the New Zealand team have been satisfied with security arrangements made by the Pakistan government throughout their stay here.

In a statement announcing the decision, NZC Chief Executive David White had said it was simply not possible to continue with the tour given the advice he was receiving.

“I understand this will be a blow for the PCB, who have been wonderful hosts, but player safety is paramount and we believe this is the only responsible option.”

 

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International community needs to engage with Taliban govt: Pakistan

National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf Friday met Deputy Secretary of State Wendy R Sherman and told her that the international community should engage with the interim Taliban-led government in Afghanistan.

NSA Moeed Yusuf held a meeting with the State Department's number two, who arrived Thursday in Pakistan on a two-day official visit. After the visit of the CIA Director William J Burns, Sherman is the senior-most US official to visit Pakistan.

During the meeting, bilateral issues and the evolving situation in the region after the Taliban takeover, were discussed. The two also exchanged views on economic cooperation, trade and the security situation in Afghanistan.

"The international community needs to engage with Afghanistan's new interim government," Moeed Yousaf said.

Yusuf told Sherman that Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir were leading the region towards further instability.

Earlier on Thursday, during a weekly press briefing, Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar had said that the United States has a very special responsibility towards addressing the grave and continuing human rights violations in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IoK), and the issue will be raised with Wendy R. Sherman during talks at the Foreign Office.

"Violations of human rights in IIOJ&K is an ongoing situation. We are taking it up at all levels — through bilateral and multilateral channels, including particularly with the UN leadership. I am certain this issue is going to be raised during the visit of the Deputy Secretary of State. We think that important countries like the US have a very special responsibility - as the permanent member of the UNSC and as advocates of human rights globally - in addressing the grave concerns regarding the human rights situation in IIOJK”, the FO spokesman had said.

Besides Afghanistan which has always been the focus of the US in talks with Pakistan, and the main reason that saw Burns here, the spokesperson had said it was time also to look at other shared interests in the bilateral relationship.

"I think it is very clear and we have been saying it for quite some time that we desire a relationship that takes into account the interests of both countries, and we do have many shared interests with the US.

"There is a desire on Pakistan's part, and I believe on the part of the US as well, to make this relationship broad-based and forward-looking, moving away from looking at it mostly from the perspective of Afghanistan. As I said before, close engagement between Pakistan and the US has always been mutually beneficial and a factor for stability in the region," he added.

When the recent reports of the US Congressional hearing were raised at the briefing, the spokesperson had said that these are a matter of concern.

“Let me reiterate that the US Congressional hearings represent a continuation of the debate underway in Washington to reflect on and draw lessons from the US intervention in Afghanistan.

"While the views being expressed by lawmakers and experts during these hearings do not necessarily reflect the United States’ official position, they are a matter of concern, and are nonetheless inconsistent with the reality of the ongoing cooperation between Pakistan and the United States on Afghanistan”, he had said.

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International community needs to engage with Taliban govt: Pakistan

National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf Friday met Deputy Secretary of State Wendy R Sherman and told her that the international community should engage with the interim Taliban-led government in Afghanistan.

NSA Moeed Yusuf held a meeting with the State Department's number two, who arrived Thursday in Pakistan on a two-day official visit. After the visit of the CIA Director William J Burns, Sherman is the senior-most US official to visit Pakistan.

During the meeting, bilateral issues and the evolving situation in the region after the Taliban takeover, were discussed. The two also exchanged views on economic cooperation, trade and the security situation in Afghanistan.

"The international community needs to engage with Afghanistan's new interim government," Moeed Yousaf said.

Yusuf told Sherman that Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir were leading the region towards further instability.

Earlier on Thursday, during a weekly press briefing, Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar had said that the United States has a very special responsibility towards addressing the grave and continuing human rights violations in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IoK), and the issue will be raised with Wendy R. Sherman during talks at the Foreign Office.

"Violations of human rights in IIOJ&K is an ongoing situation. We are taking it up at all levels — through bilateral and multilateral channels, including particularly with the UN leadership. I am certain this issue is going to be raised during the visit of the Deputy Secretary of State. We think that important countries like the US have a very special responsibility - as the permanent member of the UNSC and as advocates of human rights globally - in addressing the grave concerns regarding the human rights situation in IIOJK”, the FO spokesman had said.

Besides Afghanistan which has always been the focus of the US in talks with Pakistan, and the main reason that saw Burns here, the spokesperson had said it was time also to look at other shared interests in the bilateral relationship.

"I think it is very clear and we have been saying it for quite some time that we desire a relationship that takes into account the interests of both countries, and we do have many shared interests with the US.

"There is a desire on Pakistan's part, and I believe on the part of the US as well, to make this relationship broad-based and forward-looking, moving away from looking at it mostly from the perspective of Afghanistan. As I said before, close engagement between Pakistan and the US has always been mutually beneficial and a factor for stability in the region," he added.

When the recent reports of the US Congressional hearing were raised at the briefing, the spokesperson had said that these are a matter of concern.

“Let me reiterate that the US Congressional hearings represent a continuation of the debate underway in Washington to reflect on and draw lessons from the US intervention in Afghanistan.

"While the views being expressed by lawmakers and experts during these hearings do not necessarily reflect the United States’ official position, they are a matter of concern, and are nonetheless inconsistent with the reality of the ongoing cooperation between Pakistan and the United States on Afghanistan”, he had said.

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Pakistan's viewpoint seems to have been registered, Qureshi on ECB chairman's resignation

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday reacted to the resignation of England and Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) chairman saying that "Pakistan's viewpoint seems to have been registered" by the board.

Earlier in the day, ECB chief, Ian Watmore, resigned from his post after increasing pressure since the cancellation of England's tour to Pakistan.

Speaking on the matter, Qureshi said that during his recent visit to the United Kingdom, he had raised the issue of England's decision to pull out of the Pakistan tour with his UK counterpart, Elizabeth Truss.

"We raised the issue of the ECB taking a unilateral decision to cancel the Pakistan tour and how it disappointed cricket fans," he said, adding that Truss informed him that the decision was independently taken by the ECB and it had nothing to do with the UK government.

"The UK foreign secretary assured us that she would convey our grievances to the ECB and, with the resignation of Ian Watmore, it seems that Pakistan's viewpoint has been registered by the board," Qureshi reiterated.

The foreign minister added: "We conveyed the message because we wanted the ECB to understand that such decisions are not without consequences as they cause difficulties for players and fans alike."

Qureshi further said that the England team should look at its schedule and decide when it is feasible for it to revisit Pakistan.

Watmore served as the chairman of the ECB for only 13 months, despite having been appointed for a five-year term.

The 63-year-old is leaving after consultations with the board of directors this week and his resignation will go into effect immediately, The Times reported.

Read more: ECB chief Ian Watmore resigns after pressure over cancellation of Pakistan tour

According to ECB, following the announcement, Watmore remarked: "It is with regret that I step down as Chair of the ECB, but I do so in mindfulness of my own wellbeing and that of the game which I love. I was appointed to the post in a pre-pandemic era, but COVID has meant the role and its demands on time are dramatically different to all our original expectations, which has taken a personal toll on me. Given this, the Board and I feel the ECB will be better served by a new Chair to take it forward post-pandemic. Leaving now, at the end of the season, gives the Board time to find a new Chair to support cricket through the challenges of the 2022 season and beyond.

“On a personal level, I also retired last month after five years at the Civil Service Commission and recently became a grandfather. I would now like to retire completely from work and enjoy our great game as a spectator."

England's men and women teams were due to play two Twenty20s in Rawalpindi on October 13 and 14. The women's team were also due to play three ODIs in Pakistan on October 17, 19, and 21.

Following England's cancellation, which came on the heels of New Zealand pulling out of Pakistan at the eleventh hour of their own tour over what they said were "security" concerns, Watmore apologised to Pakistanis hurt by the move.

In Watmore's first public comments after England's decision invited anger from the Pakistan Cricket Board and cricket fans around the globe, he said: "I'm very sorry to anyone who feels hurt or let down by our decision, particularly in Pakistan."

"The decision the board made was an extremely difficult one and the board made it with the primary consideration being the welfare and mental health of our players and staff," he added.

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