SUEZ CANAL REOPENS AFTER GIANT STRANDED SHIP IS FREED

Traffic has resumed in Egypt's Suez Canal after a stranded container ship blocking it for nearly a week was finally freed by salvage crews.

Tug boats honked their horns in celebration as the 400m-long (1,300ft) Ever Given was dislodged on Monday with the help of dredgers.

Hundreds of ships are waiting to pass through the canal which links the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.

Peter Berdowski, CEO of Dutch salvage company Boskalis, said the Ever Given had been refloated at 15:05 (13:05 GMT) on Monday, "thereby making free passage through the Suez Canal possible again".

Egyptian officials say the backlog of ships waiting to transit through should be cleared in around three days, but experts believe the knock-on effect on global shipping could take weeks or even months to resolve.

Over the weekend, it was feared that some of the ship's cargo of some 18,000 containers would have to be removed in order to lighten the load.

But high tides helped the tugs and dredgers in their work and early on Monday, the stern (rear of the ship) was freed and the great ship swung across the canal, to shouts of celebration. Hours later, the bow (front) too came unstuck, and the Ever Given was able to move out.

INDIA ATTENDS MILITARY PARADE IN MYANMAR, TWO MONTHS AFTER COUP

Nearly two months after the coup in Myanmar, India attended the military parade at Naypitaw on March 27. China, Pakistan, Russia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand also sent representatives to Myanmar to be part of the parade to mark Tatmadaw Day on Saturday, according to reports in the media. Since diplomatic relations between India and Myanmar continue, diplomatic commitments are also continuing.

The annual military parade took place even as several nations condemned the excessive use of force by the Myanmarese military against the protesters.

Weeks of demonstrations and a deadly crackdown have roiled the nation since the February 1 coup brought back full military rule. The death toll before Saturday’s bloodbath was estimated at more than 400.

Indian officials confirmed that India’s military attaché attended the massive parade. The date marks the 76th anniversary of the Burmese National Army’s resistance against the occupying Japanese during the Second World War.

As news about the participation of foreign missions at the official parade emerged, there was immediate condemnation from pro-democracy protestors on social media.

None of these which sent representatives to the official parade of the Myanmar military despite the coup and mounting civilian casualties would be considered democratic by Western or (traditional) Indian standards.

Military leaders from 12 countries, including the United States, issued a rare joint statement Saturday night condemning the use of force by Myanmar's security forces following the deadliest day of anti-coup protests since the movement began.

The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, chaired by Gen. Mark Milley, joined their counterparts from Australia, Canada, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, and the United Kingdom in signing the brief statement, which urged Myanmar's military to "cease violence and work to continue to restore respect and credibility with the people of Myanmar that it has lost through its actions." Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also tweeted his support for the statement.

U.S. NOT YET READY TO LIFT TARIFFS ON CHINA, SAYS TRADE NEGOTIATOR TAI

President Joe Biden’s new trade negotiator has said the United States is not yet ready to lift tariffs on Chinese imports, but could be open to talks with Beijing.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, whose appointment was confirmed earlier this month, told The Wall Street Journal she understood the levies were hitting some American companies and consumers, but they can also protect businesses.

In January 2020, then-president Donald Trump signed an accord between Beijing and Washington after a bruising trade battle that saw tariffs imposed by both sides.

“I have heard people say, ‘Please just take these tariffs off,’” the 47-year-old Ms. Tai told the WSJ in an interview published on Sunday.

But the former trade lawyer — whose parents were born in China — warned that suddenly axing the levies could harm the U.S. economy unless a policy reversal is “communicated in a way so that the actors in the economy can make adjustments.”

She said it was essential for “companies, traders, manufacturers or their workers” to be able to plan for the future.

Ms. Tai told the Journal that while she recognised the tariffs were taking a toll on some U.S. businesses, they had been imposed “to remedy an unbalanced and unfair trade situation.”

PAKISTAN PM IMRAN KHAN REPLACES FINANCE MINISTER

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan removed his finance minister on Monday as part of a government shake-up aimed at bringing in policies to control "rising inflation", the information minister said.

The removal - the second of a finance minister in the 2-1/2 years of Khan's tenure that witnessed GDP growth falling from 5.6% to -0.4% - coincides with the restart of a $6 billion IMF bailout programme that had been suspended for one year over questions about fiscal and revenue reforms.

Pakistan is also preparing to float Eurobonds worth around $2 billion to raise capital from international markets about two months before presenting a budget amid historical remittances and good debt inflows helping to shore up foreign reserves to assist its currency's recovery against the dollar.

"There has been rising inflation, and the prime minister thinks that we need to bring in a fresh team which could devise pro-poor policies," information minister Shibli Faraz told Dunya News TV.

Faraz said the minister for industries and production Hammad Azhar would replace Abdul Hafeez Shaikh.

NORTH KOREA'S KIM YO JONG CALLS SOUTH'S PRESIDENT 'A PARROT RAISED BY AMERICA'

North Korea called South Korea’s president “a parrot raised by America” Tuesday, resuming its trademark derisive rhetoric against its rivals amid renewed animosities on the Korean Peninsula.

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, issued the latest verbal salvo after South Korean President Moon Jae-in criticized the North’s ballistic missile launches last week. She said Moon’s “illogical and brazen-faced” comments echoed the US stance.

“We can hardly repress astonishment at his shamelessness,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by the North's state media. “He cannot feel sorry for being ‘praised’ as a parrot raised by America.”

The United States, South Korea and the United Nations all condemned the North's missile launches, the first of their kind in a year, as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

On Saturday, Ri Pyong Chol, a top deputy to Kim Jong Un, called President Joe Biden’s criticism of the North’s missile tests a provocation and encroachment on the North’s right to self-defense. Ri said it was “gangster-like logic” for Washington to criticize the North’s launches while the U.S. freely tested intercontinental ballistic missiles.

HONG KONG: CHINA TO PASS 'PATRIOT' ELECTORAL REFORMS

China is expected on Tuesday to finalise changes to Hong Kong's electoral rules, which critics say will tighten its control over the city.

The aim of the changes is to ensure that only "patriotic" figures can run for positions of power.

Critics warn it would mean the end of democracy in Hong Kong, keeping any opposition out of the city parliament.

The move would mean that any prospective MPs would first be vetted for their loyalty to the mainland.

Beijing first approved plans to change the way Hong Kong's elections work during the National People's Congress (NPC) earlier in March.

The details are now being hammered out by Beijing's NPC Standing Committee, before they are added to the annexes of Hong Kong's mini-constitution, the Basic Law.

The plan is to expand Hong Kong's parliament, the Legislative Council (LegCo), from 70 to 90 seats, according to reports.

But most importantly, it envisages a system where LegCo candidates will be vetted before they can run, thus making it easier to bar any politician deemed critical of the mainland.

FRENCH PHARMA GIANT FOUND GUILTY OVER DEADLY DIET PILL

A court in Paris on Monday found pharmaceutical firm Servier guilty in a case involving its diabetes and weight loss medication Mediator.

The case against the drugmaker involved thousands of plaintiffs and is one of the biggest health scandals to erupt in the country.

Servier was found guilty of “aggravated fraud” and “involuntary manslaughter” over the pill, which is blamed for hundreds of deaths.

The company’s former deputy boss, Jean-Philippe Seta, was handed a suspended prison sentence of four years.

Judges fined the company €2.7 million ($3.2 over the scandal), while France’s medicines agency ANSM was also handed a fine of €303,000.

The massive trial involved 6,500 plaintiffs, who alleged that Servier permitted the drug to be prescribed as a weight loss medication, despite the risks. The company was accused of deliberately ignoring warnings and covering up the pill’s effects on patients.

Regulator ANSM was also accused of colluding in the cover-up.

The trial opened in September 2019 and ran until July 2020 — spread across five rooms in the Paris courthouse, with nearly 400 lawyers taking part.

FACEBOOK, GOOGLE PLAN NEW UNDERSEA CABLES TO CONNECT SOUTHEAST ASIA AND AMERICA

Facebook said on Monday it planned two new undersea cables to connect Singapore, Indonesia and North America in a project with Google and regional telecommunication companies to boost internet connection capacity between the regions.

"Named Echo and Bifrost, those will be the first two cables to go through a new diverse route crossing the Java Sea and they will increase overall subsea capacity in the trans-pacific by about 70%," Facebook Vice President of Network Investments, Kevin Salvadori, told Reuters.

The cables, according to the executive, will be the first to directly connect North America to some of the main parts of Indonesia, and will increase connectivity for the central and eastern provinces of the world's fourth most populous state.

Salvadori said "Echo" is being built in partnership with Alphabet's Google and Indonesian telecommunications' company XL Axiata and should be completed by 2023.

Bifrost, which is being done in partnership with Telin, a subsidiary of Indonesia's Telkomsel, and Singaporean conglomerate Keppel is due to be completed by 2024.

The two cables, which will need regulatory approval, follow previous investments by Facebook to build up connectivity in Indonesia, one of its top five markets globally.

WE WILL ‘WORK WITH PAKISTAN’ FOR REGIONAL PEACE, SAYS CHINA

China on Monday said it was ‘pleased’ with “recent positive interactions” between India and Pakistan and was ‘ready to work with Pakistan to inject positive energy’ into promoting regional peace in South Asia.

The comments from Beijing came in response to Pakistan President Arif Alvi last week describing China as the country’s ‘closest’ friend, and in the wake of recent developments on the India-Pakistan front following the ceasefire agreement.

“China cherishes its all-weather strategic partnership of cooperation with Pakistan,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said. “We are ready to take the 70th anniversary of our diplomatic ties as an opportunity to work together in the fight against COVID-19, carry forward our traditional friendship, deepen all-round cooperation, and build an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future for the new era.”

Mr. Zhao noted that President Alvi “stressed in his speech that Pakistan will focus on development, and remain committed to peaceful coexistence with the outside world” and “called on world leaders, especially South Asian leaders, to discard hatred, prejudice and religious extremism, and jointly safeguard regional peace and prosperity”.

China, he said, “supports Pakistan’s foreign policy of peace and good-neighbourliness as well as its commitment to advancing the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan”. “China is pleased with Pakistan’s recent positive interactions with India,” he said. “We are ready to work with Pakistan, and continue to inject positive energy into regional peace, stability and development.”

CHINA PRESSURES BRANDS TO REJECT STATEMENTS ON XINJINAG

China stepped up pressure on Monday on foreign shoe and clothing brands to reject reports of abuses in Xinjiang, telling companies that are targeted by Beijing for boycotts to look more closely and pointing to a statement by one that it found no forced labour.

H&M, Nike, Adidas and other brands are caught in a conflict over Xinjiang after Western governments imposed sanctions on officials accused of abuses. State media called for a boycott of H&M for saying it would no longer use cotton from Xinjiang and are criticising other brands for expressing concern about reports of forced labor.

“When the stick of sanctions is brandished on Xinjiang, it will also hit your own head,” a spokesman for the Xinjiang regional government, Xu Guixiang, said at a news conference in Beijing.

The Chinese government rejects complaints of abuses and says the camps are for job training to support economic development and combat Islamic radicalism.

H&M should “look into this matter seriously,” Xu Guixiang said.

“Where did you get this evidence? That would be some fake scholars or distorted reports or so-called testimonies,” Xu Guixiang said. “Many of these people are ill-intentioned. They just want to destabilise Xinjiang.”

Separately, a foreign ministry spokesman warned Japan, which has been silent about Xinjiang, against joining Western governments in imposing sanctions.

FRIDGES, MICROWAVES FALL PREY TO GLOBAL CHIP SHORTAGE

A global shortage of chips that has rattled production lines at car companies and squeezed stockpiles at gadget makers, is now leaving home appliance makers unable to meet demand, according to the president of Whirlpool Corp in China.

The U.S. based company, one of the world’s largest white goods firm, is falling behind on exports to Europe and the United States from China, by as much as 25% on some months, Jason Ai told Reuters in Shanghai.

The company has struggled to secure enough microcontrollers, simple processors that power over half of its products including microwaves, refrigerators, and washing machines.

While the chip shortage has affected a range of high-end suppliers like Qualcomm Inc, it originated and remains most severe for mature technologies, for example power-management chips used in cars.

The chip shortage, which began in earnest in late December, was caused in part as automakers miscalculated demand and pandemic-fuelled sales of smartphones and laptops surged.

It forced carmakers including General Motors to cut production, and increased costs for smartphone makers such as Xiaomi Corp. And with every company that uses chips in its products panic buying to shore up its stockpile, the shortage has blindsided not just Whirlpool but other appliance makers too.

“Most of our products are already optimised for smart home use, so of course we need a lot of chips,” said Dan Ye, marketing director at Robam.