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Monday, April 25, 2022

Asian markets mixed but China, Fed keep confidence in check

Asian markets were mixed Tuesday as investors scrabbled to recover from the previous day’s rout but fears over the impact of China’s Covid-induced lockdowns and the Federal Reserve’s plan to hike interest rates quickly continue to drag on sentiment.

The Omicron flare-up across China has led authorities to impose strict containment measures in its biggest cities, shutting off millions of people and threatening to deal a hammer blow to the world’s number two economy.

While Shanghai -- the largest city -- has been in lockdown for weeks, Beijing has launched mass testing for nearly all its 21 million residents with many in the capital now fearing the same fate as the financial hub.

The measures have dealt a severe blow to the economy, leading to concerns about the likely knock-on effects for the rest of the world owing to its reliance on goods from China.

The China crisis comes as traders grapple with a hawkish Fed, which is struggling to control inflation, which is sitting at a more than 40-year high.

"For the time being, the spectre of more severe restrictions in China is not being traded from the inflationary side, but rather as a detriment to the global recovery and as a demand-negative shock," said BMO Capital Markets strategists Benjamin Jeffery and Ian Lyngen.

They added that they were "less convinced that the situation will be enough to materially shift" the Fed’s plans to aggressively hike interest rates to tame runaway inflation.

US central bank policymakers have said they are keen to lift rates several times this year to get a grip on prices, with boss Jerome Powell indicating a half-point rise next month followed by more before January.

The Fed and China issues are being compounded by the war in Ukraine and all the uncertainty that has brought, while investors are nervously awaiting results and forecasts from the world’s biggest companies, hoping for an idea about the impact on their bottom lines.

While Asia suffered a torrid day Monday, Wall Street managed to end on a positive note, helped by news of Elon Musk’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter.

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Russia warns of WWIII after top US officials visit Kyiv

Russia on Monday warned the Ukraine conflict risked escalating into a third world war and accused Kyiv of playing at peace talks a day after visiting US officials said Ukrainian forces could beat back Moscow s invasion.

The conflict has triggered an outburst of support from Western nations that has seen weapons pour into Ukraine to help them wage war against Russian troops.

Speaking to Russian news agencies, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticised Kyiv s approach to floundering peace talks, saying the risk of a World War III "is serious".

"It is real, you can t underestimate it."

While he said talks with Kyiv would continue, Lavrov accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of "pretending" to negotiate, adding: "You ll find a thousand contradictions."

For months, Zelensky has been asking Ukraine s western allies for heavy weapons -- including artillery and fighter jets -- vowing his forces could turn the tide of the war with more firepower.

The calls appear to be resonating now, with a host of NATO countries pledging to provide a range of heavy weapons and equipment, despite protests from Moscow.

"The first step in winning is believing that you can win," Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin told a group of journalists after he and Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Zelensky in Kyiv.

"We believe that we can win -- they can win -- if they have the right equipment, the right support."

The highly sensitive US trip by two of President Joe Biden s top cabinet members came as fighting continued across Ukraine, casting a long shadow over Easter celebrations in the largely Orthodox country.

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President sends letter regarding oath of CM Punjab, to PM Secretariat

The letter addressed to President Dr Arif Alvi by the Governor of Punjab dated April 23, 2022, explaining constitutional reasons for not administering oath of the purportedly elected Chief Minister of Punjab, has been sent to the Prime Minister s Secretariat on Monday.

It is pertinent to mention here that Governor Punjab Omar Sarfraz Cheema in his letter to President Arif Alvi has explained the constitutional reasons for not taking oath from Hamza Shehbaz.

According to President House, earlier, the Lahore High Court order dated April 22, 2022 in the Writ Petition No. 24320/2022 had also been sent to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat on April 22, 2022 for necessary process as per the Constitution and law.

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PM calls for unity to overcome challenges confronted by Muslim community

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday said that Muslim Ummah needs to work together to overcome common challenges, including poverty and unemployment.

Addressing an Iftar Dinner organized in honour of the Muslim countries ambassadors in Islamabad on Monday night, he emphasised on resolving all issues with unity.

Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif said Muslim countries are enriched with natural resources and they should help one another.

Talking about the Palestinian issue, the Prime Minister said that Israel is targeting the innocent people in Palestine, which needs ample response from Muslim Ummah.

Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif said India has been committing massive human rights violations in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). He said that Kashmir issue should be resolved in lines with the United Nations Security Council’s resolutions.

Expressing Pakistan s concerns over the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, the Prime Minister urged the Muslim leaders to help people of Afghanistan in this critical juncture.

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Islamabad Red Zone sealed, Rangers deployed ahead of PTI’s protest

The Red Zone of the federal capital has been sealed by placing containers after Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) wrote a letter to the Interior Ministry for security ahead of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf s (PTI) protest in front of Election Commission offices across the country,

IG Islamabad met the officials of the Election Commission at the Central Secretariat of the Election Commission in which they discussed the security arrangements.

The ECP directed IG Islamabad to make foolproof security arrangements in view of the protest. IG Islamabad said that PTI rallies would not be allowed in the red zone. According to police sources, the entrance to the red zone will be through Margalla Road because of PTI s protest.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on April 24 (Sunday) gave a call to its workers to stage a protest outside Election Commission offices across the country on April 26 (Tuesday) against biased attitude of the chief election commissioner (CEC).

PTI leader and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry had said that PTI political committee held a meeting on April 24, in which the matters related to Election Commission were reviewed.

The PTI leader brutally criticized the Chief Election Commissioner expressing that he has reached the extreme in terms of bias and dishonesty.

He said that under the plan, the declaration to end the membership of PTI dissident members was also not issued yet. Therefore, PTI will protest in front of Election Commission offices across the country on Tuesday, April 26 against the behavior of the Election Commissioner.

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Robotaxi startup Pony.ai gains taxi license in China city

Self-driving tech company Pony.ai, backed by Toyota Motor Corp(7203.T), said on Sunday it has obtained a taxi license in China, which will allow some of its driverless vehicles to start charging fares.

The company said it was the first autonomous driving company in the country to do so. The startup said it was awarded the license to operate 100 driverless vehicles in the Guangzhou city district of Nansha.

Pony.ai last year also won approval to launch paid driverless robotaxi services in Beijing and has since begun offering rides.

In Beijing, however, rides are being offered in a much smaller, industrial zone on a trial basis, a Pony.ai spokesperson said.

According to the company’s statement, in Nansha it will start charging fares in the entire 800 square km of the district with driverless cars. Passengers can hail and pay for rides with Pony.ai’s own app.

Pony.ai will initially deploy those cars with safety drivers but expects to remove them "over the short to intermediate time frame," it said.

The announcement comes at a time when a host of startups are pouring billions of dollars into autonomous technology, aiming to take an early lead in the future of mobility.

Pony.ai has been active in the United States and China, testing its driverless technology on public roads in California’s Fremont and Milpitas, as well as the Chinese cities of Guangzhou and Beijing.

In China, a host of local startups are competing. In recent months, Momenta and automaker SAIC (600104.SS) gained official approval for a trial for their robotaxi service in Shanghai’s Jiading district, a move that followed a similar move in Guangzhou by Nissan-baked Weride(7201.T) .

In Shenzhen, Alibaba-backed AutoX (9988.HK) is also testing robotaxis — observed by safety drivers — in a highly congested urban area with lots of pedestrian and moped traffic.

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Graeme Smith cleared of racism allegations: Cricket South Africa

Former South Africa director of cricket Graeme Smith has been cleared of racism allegations by two independent arbitrators, the country s cricket board (CSA) said on Sunday.

Smith and current head coach Mark Boucher were among a number of CSA employees implicated in "tentative findings" made by the Social Justice and Nation Building Ombudsman last year into alleged discrimination within the sport s national governing organisation in the past.

Boucher has been accused of racism by former team mate Paul Adams and of sidelining his former assistant coach Enoch Nkwe. He denies both allegations and will face a CSA disciplinary hearing on charges of gross misconduct next month.

The panel concluded that there was no evidence that Smith, also a former captain of the national side, racially discriminated against former player Thami Tsolekile between 2012 and 2014, or that he was biased against Black leadership at CSA.

It added that there was no merit in the allegation that Smith favoured Boucher over Nkwe during the selection process for head coach in 2019.

"The manner in which these issues have been dealt with... confirms CSA s commitment to deal with the SJN issues in a manner that treats them with utmost seriousness but also ensures fairness, due process and finality," said Lawson Naidoo, chair of the CSA board.

"Now that finality on these processes has been reached, it is appropriate to recognise the extraordinary contribution that Graeme has made to South African cricket."

The 41-year-old Smith s tenure as director of cricket ended at the end of last month.

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