WORLD number one Iga Swiatek was named Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Player of the Year for a second successive season, the governing body of women’s tennis said.
Ms. Swiatek won the French Open for a third time to take her Grand Slam tally to four, and finished the year by claiming her first WTA Finals crown and regaining top spot in the rankings after briefly losing it to Aryna Sabalenka. — Reuters
Tyrese Haliburton stayed even keel in the aftermath of the Pacers’ bridesmaid finish at the In-Season Tournament (IST). True, disappointment was etched in his face as he looked back on their inability to claim the title; his confidence in their capacity to emerge from Las Vegas with an unbeaten record proved unfounded in the Lakers’ superior stand. On the other hand, there can be no denying the significant progress they made en route; they did beat such notables as the Sixers, Celtics, and Bucks en route, signaling to all and sundry their status as bona fide contenders. And as he reflected on their growth, he believed the best is yet to come.
Make no mistake. Haliburton was proud of the Pacers’ accomplishments in the IST. He announced his arrival as a superstar under the klieg lights, spearheading the high-octane offense of the blue and gold with ultra-efficient playmaking. Even as he beamed with pride at his body of work, however, he likewise couldn’t wait to get back to the grind of the regular season. And so he made sure to cite in his post-final presser that his focus would immediately turn to the next match. They had a day to rest before meeting the Pistons on the road.
Which, in a nutshell, was why the Pacers managed to take care of business yesterday. As head coach Rick Carlisle noted: “This is one of the most difficult games you can have, coming off the emotions of last week, the game on Saturday, the travel, and everything else. I just thought our guys did a great job of staying together, keeping their composure and their aggression.” On the court, Haliburton made sure they stayed sharp to counter the Pistons’ resolve to end a horrific losing streak. He didn’t particularly have a good shooting night, hitting only five of 12 shots. He wasn’t all that careful with the ball, either, winding up with seven turnovers. That said, he pushed the ball with the pace and purpose they needed to win.
Indeed, Haliburton is the Pacers’ engine, and they will ultimately go as far as he can take them. He makes them better than the sum of their parts. With their fourth straight victory, they’ve moved up to fifth in the East. And because they’re behind only the Magic and the three they beat in the IST, they know they possess the wherewithal to set up a deep playoff run.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
In this country with the longest Christmas season, festive parols have long gone up and homes are merry and bright with garlands of dazzling holiday lights. Indeed, there’s no stopping Filipinos from going the whole nine yards in celebrating the season that is closest to their hearts. This means putting a lot of effort into making the holidays truly special for their families and loved ones
Barely two weeks before Christmas Day, Filipinos continue to brave the worsening traffic and wrestle with other shoppers to get what they need, and hopefully get these at good prices. Mindful of this perennial scenario, Puregold has a number of surprises in store for their customers this holiday season.
First to go is the “Puregold 12.12 Pambansang Hakot Day” that will take place for one whole day on Dec. 12, 2023. The Puregold Pambansang Hakot Day will see all prices go down by 10 percent.
“We want to make the Pambansang Hakot Day a day of celebration, where every Filipino can get the best value for their holiday budget,” says Puregold President Vincent Co. “This Pambansang Hakot Day will be held in all Puregold branches across the country. We want our kababayans to head to their nearest Puregold on December 12, fill their baskets or carts with grocery items, and get panalo savings.”
On top of the 12.12 Pambansang Hakot Day, Puregold remains consistent in offering Mas Pinababang Presyo Araw-Araw throughout the year. This is particularly useful for households and business operators such as sari-sari store owners that depend on Puregold for affordable, quality, and complete assortments of essential items.
Finally, Puregold is excited to launch its #SaPuregoldArawArawPasko TikTok challenge where Puregold customers can showcase their hype and excitement for the season. Until Jan. 12, 2024, Puregold customers are encouraged to post their entries with the hashtag #SaPuregoldArawArawPasko and use the brand-new Puregold filter in however creative way they wish. The 50 best entries per week will win Pamaskong Rewards straight from Puregold.
With this line-up of events, Puregold continues to uphold its promise to serve the needs of Filipino consumers—and to give them an exciting end to 2023 and a happy start in 2024.
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CAIRO/UNITED NATIONS (UN) — Hunger was worsening among Palestinians in the besieged Gaza strip, aid agencies said, as the United Nations General Assembly was scheduled to vote on Tuesday on an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the two-month-old conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Hundreds more civilians have died in Israel’s assault on Gaza since the US on Friday vetoed a Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire.
Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes and residents say it is impossible to find refuge or food in the densely populated coastal enclave. The UN World Food Program has said half of the population is starving.
“Hunger stalks everyone,” UNRWA, the UN body responsible for Palestinian refugees, said on X.
Gazans said people forced to flee repeatedly were dying of hunger and cold as well as the bombardments, describing looting of aid trucks and sky high prices.
Israel says its instructions to people to move are among measures it is taking to protect civilians as it tries to root out Hamas militants who killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostage in an Oct. 7 cross-border attack on Israel, according to Israeli tallies. About 100 hostages have since been freed.
Israel’s retaliatory assault has killed 18,205 people and wounded nearly 50,000, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The 193-member General Assembly is likely on Tuesday to pass a draft resolution that mirrors the language of one that was blocked by the United States in the 15-member Security Council last week.
General Assembly resolutions are not binding but carry political weight and reflect global views.
Some diplomats and observers predict the vote will garner greater support than the assembly’s October call for “an immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce.”
SCRUTINY ON US SUPPORT
The vote was due a day after 12 Security Council envoys visited the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, the only place where limited humanitarian aid and fuel have entered. The United States did not send a representative on the trip.
US President Joseph R. Biden, who has weathered intense criticism for his support of Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attacks, on Monday told a White House celebration for the Jewish holiday of Hannukah that his commitment to Israel is “unshakeable.”
“Folks, were there no Israel, there wouldn’t be a Jew in the world that was safe,” Mr. Biden said. He also alluded to his complex relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who he said is in a “tough spot.”
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Monday that Israel was no exception to US policy that any country receiving its weapons must comply with the laws of war. “We are monitoring everything that happens in this conflict,” Mr. Miller said. “We are engaged in conversations with the Israeli government.”
As the war has intensified, how and where Israel uses weapons from the US have come under more scrutiny, even though US officials say there are no plans to put conditions on military aid to Israel or to consider withholding some of it.
Washington found images circulating on social media showing Palestinian men detained in Gaza in their underwear “deeply disturbing” and asked Israel to clarify the circumstances around the photographs, Mr. Miller added. Israel has said the men were stripped to make sure they were not hiding explosives or weapons.
The White House also said on Monday it was concerned about reports Israel used US-supplied white phosphorus munitions in an October attack in southern Lebanon and was seeking more information. The munitions, which can be legally used on battlefields to make smoke screens among other uses, can cause serious burns.
Israel said an allegation by Human Rights Watch that it uses white phosphorus munitions in Gaza and Lebanon was “unequivocally false.”
NEW AID SCREENING SYSTEM
UN officials say 1.9 million people — 85% of Gaza’s population — are displaced and describe the conditions in the southern areas where they have concentrated as hellish.
To increase the amount of aid reaching Gaza, Israel said on Monday it would add shipment screening at the Kerem Shalom border crossing even though it was not opening the crossing itself.
Most trucks entered the strip at this crossing before the war. Two Egyptian security sources said inspections would begin on Tuesday under a new deal between Israel, Egypt and the United States.
After the collapse of a week-long ceasefire on Dec. 1, Israel began a ground offensive in the south and has since pushed from the east into the heart of Khan Younis city.
On Monday, militants and residents said fighters were preventing Israeli tanks moving farther west and clashing with Israeli forces in northern Gaza, where Israel had said its mission was largely complete.
Israel said dozens of Hamas fighters had surrendered and urged others to join them.
Residents reported exchanges of fire near the coastal road and Hamas media said fighters foiled an attempt by Israeli naval forces to make a landing of forces offshore.
Israeli bombing continued into the night on Monday, residents and health officials said. Medics said Israeli air strikes killed at least 15 people in separate strikes in the central and southern Gaza strip.
Another commercial tanker in the Gulf was struck by a land-based cruise missile launched from Houthi-controlled Yemen, the US military said. Iran-aligned Houthis have stepped up attacks on vessels in vital shipping lanes and firing drones and missiles at Israel itself since the war erupted on Oct 7. — Reuters
FUKUSHIMA, Japan — A Japanese court on Tuesday found three former soldiers guilty of sexually assaulting a female colleague, in a victory for the victim whose long battle for justice challenged taboos in a traditional, male-dominated society.
The case of 24-year-old former Self-Defense Forces member Rina Gonoi, which has drawn broad international attention, relates to a 2021 incident during her time in the army when she alleges she was assaulted by three male colleagues.
The defendants, who denied their acts amounted to sexual assault, were each given a two-year suspended sentence, local media reported.
“I think it was good for Japan’s society that the court handed down a guilty verdict and accepted the claims that I’ve made from the very beginning,” an emotional Ms.Gonoi told reporters outside the Fukushima district court after the ruling.
“(The verdict) shows that it’s not OK to do things for a laugh, that such acts are an actual crime,” she said, pausing mid-sentence to retain her composure.
Ms. Gonoi, who said she was subjected to persistent harassment after enlisting in 2020, alleged that the three men pinned her to the ground, pulled her legs apart and pressed their crotches against her in simulation of a sex act.
She complained to her superiors at the time of the incident but later decided to leave the army when no action was taken.
After Ms. Gonoi went public in 2022, Japan’s defense ministry issued a public apology to her and announced that five men connected to the incident had been dismissed and four others punished. Her allegations also sparked a widespread survey by the Japan’s defense ministry into sexual assault in the military.
Her rare decision to go public with her accusations garnered attention in a conservative society where speaking out against sexual violence has remained largely taboo.
It also coincided with an effort by Japan to recruit more women soldiers and build up its military to deter its powerful neighbor China and nuclear-armed North Korea.
Ms. Gonoi’s battle has attracted international recognition: Time Magazine named her on its list of 100 emerging world leaders while the British Broadcasting Corp. included her among its 100 most influential women globally.
“I am appreciative of the fact that they value what I’m doing. There is a tendency in Japan when people speak up, they get criticized,” Ms. Gonoi told Reuters in an interview ahead of the verdict.
But at home she has also been the target of online vitriol.
“I have gotten many derogatory comments. But I know the world values what I’m doing,” she said.
Separately, Ms.Gonoi has also lodged a civil case against her former peers and the government, seeking damages for the alleged assault and the subsequent inaction despite her complaints. — Reuters
HONG KONG — Children are the most worthy investment for China’s economy to help stimulate consumption and expand domestic demand a Beijing policy institute said, after the country posted its first population drop in more than six decades last year.
China, the world’s second-largest economy, has struggled to mount a strong post-pandemic recovery and any decline in its future workforce and consumer demand could have a profound impact on its economy.
“In the current Chinese economy, children are the best investment. Infrastructure investment is becoming saturated, manufacturing has overcapacity … but investment in the number of children is not enough,” said the policy paper by the Yuwa Population Research institute published on Tuesday.
The paper urged authorities to “urgently” reverse a rapid decline in the number of newborns.
China’s advantage will shrink in the future as the young population shrinks rapidly, while economic measures such as cutting interest rates, activating the capital market and optimizing real estate regulation have not helped to bolster economic growth and the recovery remains weak, it said.
In order to boost the economy, the Yuwa report recommended that maternity subsidies be distributed at a national level rather than by local governments and targeted measures be implemented to reduce the large cost of childbearing and rearing.
Local governments have announced a series of measures to help lower childcare costs in recent years but many policies have not been implemented or remain on paper due to insufficient funding and lack of motivation by local governments, it said
“Nowadays people are unwilling to get married and have children … Because the cost of childbearing is too high, the difficulty for women to balance family and work, the average fertility willingness of Chinese people is almost the lowest in the world.”
Current subsidies are still insufficient, lower than most European countries it said.
China reported a drop of roughly 850,000 people for a population of 1.41175 billion in 2022, marking the first decline since 1961, the last year of China’s Great Famine. — Reuters
CONSUMER ADVOCACY group Public Citizen on Tuesday filed a petition with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking to require makers of Botox and several similar injections to include stronger warnings about the risk of a potentially fatal muscle-paralyzing disease.
These injections, which use various versions of botulinum toxins to contract specific muscles by blocking certain nerve signals to erase wrinkles, already have a ‘black box’ warning in their labels about the risks of the intended effect spreading to other areas. The consumer group asked the FDA to make it clear that these adverse effects could happen even at recommended dosages.
The new petition seeks a stronger warning on the label of six toxin-based injections including market leader Botox from AbbVie, Revance Therapeutics’ Daxxify, Evolus’ Jeuveau, Supernus Pharmaceuticals’ Myobloc, Galderma’s Dysport and Xeomin from Merz Therapeutics.
Public Citizen also asked the FDA to remove promotional statements that claim there are no definitive serious side-effects of distant spread of toxin effect associated with the toxins.
The request comes after the advocacy group analyzed over 5,400 reports of deaths, life-threatening events and other serious side effect related to Botox and rival toxin-based wrinkle treatments between January 1989 and March 2021 that were recorded in FDA’s adverse events database.
The FDA maintains the database to help it identify unusual or emerging side effect trends that may require further investigation or actions, such as adding warnings to a product.
The group is asking the FDA to add clear warnings about systemic iatrogenic botulism, a condition that can cause progressive muscle paralysis if the toxin used in these products spreads beyond the intended treatment site.
The FDA said it will review the petition and respond directly to Public Citizen. Merz said it closely tracks the FDA adverse event database, and submits safety reports to the agency on a regular basis, while Revance and Evolus declined to comment. The other companies did not respond to requests for comment.
An earlier petition by Public Citizen in 2008 based on an analysis of 180 reports led to the FDA adding the current black box warning about the risk of Botox’s effect spreading to other areas of the body.
The group is now asking the FDA to add a clearer warning about the risk of botulism from Botox and other treatments. The term “botulism” is only mentioned in the labeling of Botox and related drugs once, toward the end of the prescribing information, it said.
The 5,400 reported adverse events may be an understatement, the advocacy group’s health services researcher Azza AbuDagga said, citing a study that found less than a tenth of adverse events related to drugs are reported.
The group is also asking the FDA to make it clear in labels that botulism cases associated with recommended doses of the products need prompt administration of botulinum antitoxins to avoid disease progression. — Reuters
BANGKOK — Myanmar has become the world’s largest source of opium, thanks to domestic instability and a decline in cultivation in Afghanistan, the United Nations (UN) said in a report on Tuesday.
The 95% decline in opium cultivation in Afghanistan after a drug ban by the Taliban in 2022 has seen global supply shifted to Myanmar, where political, social and economic instability brought about by a 2021 coup drove many to poppy farming, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report said.
Myanmar farmers now earn about 75% more from opium poppy farming, as average prices of the flower have reached about $355 per kilogram and the cultivation area has increased by 18% year on year, from 40,100 to 47,000 hectares, boosting the potential yield to its highest level since 2001, the UNODC said.
“The economic, security and governance disruption that followed the military takeover of February 2021 continue to drive farmers in remote areas towards opium to make a living,” UNODC Regional Representative Jeremy Douglas said.
Opium cultivation areas expanded most in Myanmar’s border regions in northern Shan State, followed by Chin and Kachin states, as yield expanded by 16% to 22.9 kilograms per hectare because of more sophisticated farming practices, UNODC report said.
The surge in fighting between the Myanmar military and armed ethnic-minority groups will most likely accelerate the expansion of opium cultivation, Mr. Douglas said.
The Myanmar junta did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The expansion of opium cultivation feeds into a growing illicit economy in Myanmar that include high levels of synthetic drug production and trafficking as well as other criminal enterprises from money laundering to online scam centers run by organized crime. — Reuters
MADRID — A Madrid court has started criminal proceedings against a Spanish arbitrator who awarded $15 billion to the descendants of a former sultan in the latest escalation of a 19th-century dispute between the heirs and Malaysia over a land deal.
The Spanish state prosecutor and Malaysia accused Gonzalo Stampa of contempt of court, saying he failed to comply with a ruling by a Madrid court to drop the case and instead moved it to a court in Paris, Malaysia’s Law Minister Azalina Othman Said said in a statement on Monday night. Stampa declined to comment.
The dispute stems from an 1878 deal between European colonists and the late Sultan of Sulu for the use of his territory, which spanned parts of the southern Philippines and present-day Malaysia on the island of Borneo.
Malaysia paid a token sum annually to the sultan’s heirs to honor the agreement but stopped in 2013, prompting the heirs to seek arbitration.
In February 2022, Stampa awarded $14.9 billion to the heirs, who have since sought to enforce it against Malaysian government-owned assets around the world. Malaysia has obtained a stay on the case in France, but the ruling remains enforceable globally under a U.N. arbitration treaty.
Azalina said the matter affected Malaysia’s sovereignty, and accused Stampa of evading the oversight of the Spanish courts.
She also raised questions over legal fees paid to Stampa after his ruling.
“The amount he awarded is one of the highest in the world for arbitration. It’s a percentage of our GDP. You’re going to bankrupt a country like ours,” Azalina said.
Stampa’s fees after delivering the award came to about $2.3 million, court documents showed. The heirs’ $20 million litigation costs were funded by Therium, a London-based firm that provides financing for litigation and arbitration cases.
The heirs, who suffered a setback in June after a Paris court upheld the Malaysian government’s challenge against a partial award, are also trying to strengthen their case in Madrid.
Last week, they filed a criminal case against the Spanish justice system, claiming a court clerk in Madrid improperly sent an email ordering Stampa to step down from the case.
The email did not include any legal documents, failed to attach the ruling and did not stipulate the possibility of an appeal, said Carlos Aranguez, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.
“There is a crime of prevarication, procedural fraud, false documentation and coercion,” he said. “We are seeking a declaration that there has been interference in the administration of the award.”
The court has not yet decided whether to hear the heirs’ case. Spain´s High Court declined to comment. — Reuters
WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund’s executive board (IMF) on Monday approved a $900 million disbursement for Ukraine from its $15.6 billion loan program, hours before IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Georgieva met with Zelenskiy for nearly an hour at IMF headquarters in Washington and told him the IMF’s executive board was unanimous in its support for Ukraine, apart from one country, IMF officials said, in a clear reference to Russia.
The board approved a staff agreement reached last month with Ukrainian authorities after the second review of Kyiv’s progress on a four-year Extended Fund Facility loan approved earlier this year. That paves the way for $900 million disbursement, bringing total IMF funding for Ukraine this year to $4.5 billion.
“The EFF continues to provide a strong anchor for the authorities’ economic program, and its implementation has been broadly on track despite the extremely challenging backdrop,” the IMF said in a statement.
Georgieva said Ukraine’s economy had proven resilient despite Russia’s invasion in February 2022 and the “enormous social and economic costs” it posed.
“Looking ahead, whereas the recovery is expected to continue, the outlook has significant risks stemming mainly from the exceptionally high war-related uncertainty,” Georgieva said in a statement. “It is also critical that external financing on concessional terms continue on a timely and predictable basis.”
Zelenskiy is in Washington to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden and top congressional officials as he seeks to shore up support for continued U.S. security assistance to help Kyiv continue its fight against Russia’s invasion.
Ukraine has received more than $68.5 billion in budgetary support since the war started, finance ministry data shows.
Its government expects a budget deficit of about $43 billion in 2024 and plans to cover it with domestic borrowing and financial aid from its Western partners. But Ukrainian officials are growing worried about the certainty of financing, and some analysts predict Western aid could start diminishing next year.
Gavin Gray, the IMF’s mission chief for Ukraine, called on Ukraine to conduct an “ambitious” external commercial debt restructuring in the first half of 2024 to help restore debt sustainability.
Gray told reporters the IMF had upgraded Ukraine’s growth forecast for 2023 to 4.5% from an earlier range of 1% to 3%, and expected growth of 3% to 4% in 2024, citing what he called the “remarkable resilience” of the economy. A second official said 2023 growth could potentially exceed 4.5%.
Asked about possible international donor fatigue, Gray said Ukraine continued to face risks on securing external financing, but they were not necessarily higher than during first review of Ukraine’s $15.6 billion loan program.
He said the IMF would conduct a third review under the EFF loan in the spring, and would be looking for moves by Ukraine to bolster its tax revenues. — Reuters
SYDNEY — Australia’s mid-year budget update will include about A$10 billion ($6.56 billion) in savings, official data showed on Tuesday, as the government looks to cut spending in a bid to contain high inflation.
The Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, which will be released on Wednesday, would show the federal Labor government had reined in spending, bringing the total amount of savings delivered since the 2022 election to A$49.6 billion.
“We know households are doing it tough at the moment and our responsible approach will ensure we are not putting upwards pressure on inflation,” Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said in a statement.
Australian households are under broad financial pressure from high inflation and rising interest rates, but a top central banker last week said severe stress is still rare and the vast majority of borrowers can service their loans.
The Reserve Bank of Australia has been raising rates since the middle of last year to curb inflation which spiked as high as 7.8% last December, before slowing to 5.4% in the third quarter.
“We are continuing to show restraint and to find savings and reprioritisations to account for new spending, some of which is unavoidable,” Gallagher said.
The “unavoidable spending pressures” would come to about A$5.2 billion, which Gallagher blamed on the former coalition government. A total of A$1.5 billion will be used to end the COVID-era pandemic visa scheme, while A$392 million will be used for COVID-19 responses, including continued support for aged care.
Gallagher did not mention if Australia would record a second successive surplus this year. Australia recorded a budget surplus of A$22.1 billion ($14.5 billion) for the year to June 2023, five times earlier estimates, as strong jobs growth and bumper mining profits helped it post its first surplus in 15 years. — Reuters
HANOI — China’s President Xi Jinping starts a two-day visit to Vietnam on Tuesday to upgrade ties between the Communist countries three months after United States President Joe Biden travelled to Hanoi, as the major powers vie for influence in the Southeast Asian nation.
Xi’s first trip to Vietnam in six years, has been months in the planning and had even been briefly considered to take place days before Biden’s visit, officials have said.
Despite ties that have been very close on the economic front, the neighbors have been at odds over boundaries in the South China Sea and have a millennia-long history of conflict.
“Asia’s future is in the hands of no one but Asians,” Xi said in an opinion piece published in the newspaper of the Vietnamese Communist party ahead of his visit.
A “community with a shared future” between the two countries would have strategic significance, he added, while warning against rising “hegemonism” in the world, an apparent reference to the United States, though he did not name it.
Xi’s visit was delayed also because of lengthy talks over use of the phrase “shared future”, favored by Beijing to describe ties between the two sides, though initially resisted by Hanoi, officials and diplomats have said.
“DOZENS” OF DEALS
Beyond taking ties to a level Beijing may see as being above those with the United States, upgraded status would come with the signing of “dozens of co-operation documents,” Vietnam’s state newspaper Tuoi Tre quoted China’s ambassador Xiong Bo as saying before Xi’s visit.
Deals are expected to include Chinese investments to upgrade rail links between the neighbors, which would include grants, though the volume and terms of possible loans are not clear.
Boosting transport links would allow Vietnam to export more to China, especially farm products, while Beijing wants to further integrate the country’s north with its southern supply chain networks.
Chinese firms have moved some operations to Vietnam quicker this year than before the COVID-19 pandemic, looking to be closer to Western clients there, lower risks from U.S.-China trade tension and cut exposure to China’s weakened economy.
Stronger rail networks would speed import of components from China for assembly in Vietnam, effectively expanding China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
In his op-ed piece, Xi called for faster co-operation on building infrastructure.
China has pushed to include Vietnam in its Digital Silk Road, which may entail investments for new undersea optical fibre cables, the 5G network and other telecoms infrastructure.
Although the Hanoi metro is Vietnam’s only project to have received BRI loans, it has not been labelled as such in a country where anti-Chinese sentiment is still widespread enough that such moves could be viewed as getting too close to Beijing.
Xi urged wider co-operation in security, connectivity, green energy and critical minerals, in a reference to the rare earths, of which China is the world’s leading refiner while Vietnam has the second largest estimated reserves after its neighbor. — Reuters
