1 Venezuela inflation at 63% (BBC) Venezuela's
annual inflation rate has risen to 63.4%, the highest in Latin America,
according to official figures. The figures are the first released by the
central bank since May, which has led critics to accuse the government of withholding
data for political reasons.
The poor state of the economy, among other issues,
triggered mass anti-government protests earlier this year. They have since died
down, but many continue to grapple with shortages. The central bank did not
publish its scarcity index, a measure of goods that are missing from store
shelves, but shortages of basic items such as flour, milk and toilet paper
continue to be the bane of many shoppers.
The government of President Nicolas Maduro blamed
the soaring inflation on the protests, which rocked the country earlier in the
year. Officials have argued that roadblocks erected by opposition activists
hampered trade, and violent clashes between protesters and the security forces
often forced shops to close early.
2 Asia faces ‘risk of choking skies’ (Karamjit Kaur
in Straits Times) Widespread flight delays could hit Asia, including Singapore,
in as little as five years if countries in the region do not act now and move
as one to cope with growing flight numbers, warns the head of a leading air
traffic research institute.
At worst, "catastrophic gridlock" will
lead to stagnation in the number of flights in Asia because air traffic
controllers cannot cope with additional flights, said Mr Hsin Chen Chung, who
heads the Air Traffic Management Research Institute at Nanyang Technological
University (NTU).
"The situation right now is barely tolerable in
some pockets of the region... If we don't do anything, my guess is that in five
to 10 years, we will experience what Europe went through 15 years ago -
catastrophic gridlock." He cited the routes from Singapore to Jakarta,
Bangkok and Hong Kong; Bangkok to Hong Kong; and from Asia to Europe as
examples of busy air paths that could develop into choke points.
3 Scotland inspires ‘Free Okinawa’ move (Justin
McCurry in The Guardian) Campaigners from Okinawa are expected in Scotland to
seek inspiration from the yes campaign as they look to boost support for making
the southern Japanese island an independent nation.
While Okinawa's movement is tiny compared with its
counterpart in Scotland, activists say they stand to benefit from mounting
public anger over Tokyo's plans to push through the construction of a
controversial US military base in defiance of local opposition.
Masaki Tomochi, a professor of economics at Okinawa
International University and a leading figure in the independence movement, and
his colleagues will tour Scotland meeting voters, academics and Scottish
National party officials.
The history of Okinawa, Tomochi argues, is one of
bloody sacrifice at mainland Japan's behest, and collusion between Tokyo and
Washington, beginning with a secret postwar agreement to allow the US to bring
nuclear weapons to the island and maintain military bases there indefinitely. The
2012 deployment of MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft on the island, and the relocation
of a military base have added to popular resentment towards Tokyo.
"The only way we can fix this is to declare our
independence from Japan and go back to the way we were before Japan used force
to take the islands," he said. Okinawa covers about 0.6% of Japan's land
area, but is home to more than half the 47,000 US troops in the country and
three-quarters of US bases. Some residents depend on the US military for
employment, but campaigners say the bases emasculate the local economy, the
poorest of Japan's 47 prefectures.
The Okinawa island chain once formed an independent
kingdom, known as the Ryukyus, until it was forcibly annexed by Japan in 1879. The
island was the scene one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific war, claiming
the lives of 240,000 people, including US troops and about a quarter of the
civilian population. US occupation authorities did not return the territory to
Japanese control until 1972.
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