To remedy this situation, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Nestor Espenilla has laid down a plan that would unclog bottlenecks in the financial system and reform outdated policies that result in banks charging often unwarranted risk premiums on small businesses wanting to take out loans for operations or expansion.

“MSMEs are unable to reach their full potential due to a range of barriers, including financial access,” the central bank chief said, adding that the Philippine situation mirrored those of other countries. “Bank lending to MSMEs leaves much to be desired, comprising only 8.4 per cent of total loan portfolio.”

Given this, 80 per cent of small businesses are “internally financed” while only 10 per cent are bank financed, unlike large corporations that can load up on credit for expansion while enjoying substantially lower interest rates.

MSMEs make up 99.5 per cent of all registered businesses in the Philippines and contribute the biggest share of total jobs generated at 61.6 per cent. Despite this, small businesses accounted for only 35.7 per cent of the total value of the country’s economic output as measured by its gross domestic product (GDP).

“At the BSP, we are troubled by these numbers and take them seriously,” Espenilla said.

To promote MSME access to finance, Espenilla said regulators have pursued continuing prudential reforms to improve the overall environment for credit allocation in the economy.

The 56-year-old former president is scheduled to attend campaign rallies in New Jersey and Virginia on Thursday to support Democratic party candidates for governor.

Voters in both states will decide the gubernatorial contests on Nov.7, one year after Donald Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton and stormed into the White House on a wave of anti-establishment fury.

The races are a potential indicator of voter sentiment ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, which will be a major test for Trump and his Republican party.

“There are only two big elections this year, for governor in NJ and VA,” political science professor Larry Sabato told AFP.

“What’s at stake is bragging rights headed into the 2018 midterm elections,” Sabato said.

It is unclear what Obama’s message will be. The former US leader has remained largely detached from the political debate since leaving office on January 20, in keeping with presidential tradition.

Trump has meanwhile used his first nine months in the White House to methodically demolish key Obama administration policies.

After three months of vacation Obama began writing his memoirs. He has said little in public and granted almost no interviews.

The few times Obama broke his silence was to comment on issues of national importance, such as immigration, health care and climate change.

But the 44th president may be tempted on Thursday to take aim at Trump, who has frequently and publicly excoriated his predecessor.

Test for Trump

In New Jersey, the post of governor will almost certainly go to Democrat Philip Murphy, who would succeed Chris Christie, a Trump ally whose popularity has plummeted to record lows.

New Jersey “is a runaway win for the Democrats, so Virginia is the only competitive contest. Obama is needed much more in Richmond than Trenton,” said Sabato, referring to the capitals of the two states.

Virginia is a pivotal state and the only southern US state that Clinton won in 2016. Its importance is amplified by its proximity to the US capital.

“If the GOP loses in Virginia, Trump will be widely blamed since he is so unpopular in a state carried by Hillary Clinton,” Sabato said.

“Should the Republicans win Virginia’s governorship, then Trump will not be viewed as such a liability for the GOP in 2018.”

In Richmond, Obama will back Ralph Northam, a former military doctor who was credited Wednesday with a slight lead over Republican Ed Gillespie in a Quinnipiac poll.

Obama’s impending arrival in the city of over 220,000 people sparked long lines of people seeking tickets to the campaign event.

Well aware of the importance of the vote, Trump has backed Gillespie and accused Northam of “fighting for the violent MS-13,” a Hispanic gang, as well as “sanctuary cities” that offer shelter to illegal immigrants.

Gillespie, a former advisor to president George W. Bush who has become a millionaire lobbyist, has so far kept a cautious distance from the mercurial Trump, whose backing recently failed to ensure the election of his pick in a Republican Senate race in Alabama.///AFP

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet top officials and members of the royal household next month before announcing the date, the Asahi Shimbun reported, citing unnamed government sources.

Akihito’s eldest son, 57-year-old Crown Prince Naruhito, will ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne the next day on April 1, the paper said.

The popular 83-year-old Akihito shocked the country last year when he signalled his desire to take a back seat after nearly three decades, citing his age and health problems.

There have been abdications in Japan’s long imperial history, but the last one was more than 200 years ago.

Akihito’s unexpected move presented a challenge since there was no law to deal with an emperor retiring from what is usually a job for life — and it reignited debate about allowing women to ascend the traditionally male-only throne.

In June, the parliament passed a one-off rule allowing the ageing emperor to step down but the Asahi report is the first time a precise date for the abdication has been mooted.

“It is an immeasurable relief to me that his majesty … can now have days of rest as he reaches an advanced age,” Empress Michiko, who turned 83 Friday, said in a statement.

The status of the emperor is sensitive in Japan given its 20th century history of war waged in the name of Akihito’s father Hirohito, who died in 1989.

Some worried that changing the rule to allow any emperor to abdicate could put Japan’s future monarchs at risk of being subject to political manipulation.

“Nothing has been decided on this issue,” a spokesman for the Imperial Household Agency told AFP, declining to comment further.

Almost all the deaths, 92 percent, happened in low- and middle-income countries, it said, with air pollution the main culprit, felling 6.5 million people.

Almost half of the total toll came from just two countries — India and China — researchers reported in The Lancet medical journal.

In rapidly-industrialising countries such as India, Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Madagascar and Kenya, pollution can account for as many as one in four deaths, they added.

“Pollution and related diseases most often affect the world’s poor and powerless, and victims are often the vulnerable and the voiceless,” said co-author Karti Sandilya of Pure Earth, an anti-pollution NGO.

“As a result, pollution threatens fundamental human rights, such as the right to life, health, wellbeing, safe work, as well as protections of children and the most vulnerable.”

With global welfare losses of about $4.6 trillion (3.9 trillion euros) per year, the economic cost of pollution-related deaths and disease is also concentrated in the developing world.

“Proportionally, low-income countries pay 8.3 percent of their gross national income to pollution-related death and disease, while high-income countries pay 4.5 percent,” said the researchers.

Aside from outright poisoning, pollution causes an array of deadly ailments such as heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The deadliest form, responsible for more than two-thirds of deaths, was air pollution, they added.

Call to action

This includes outdoor pollution from factory and car emissions, and indoor pollution from wood, charcoal, coal, dung or crop waste being burnt for heating and cooking.

After water pollution in second place with 1.8 million deaths, “workplace pollution including exposure to toxins and carcinogens was linked to 0.8 million deaths,” said the report.

These included the lung disease pneumoconiosis in coal workers, bladder cancer in dye workers, and asbestosis and lung cancer in workers exposed to asbestos.

“Lead pollution was linked to 0.5 million deaths that resulted from high blood pressure, renal failure and cardiovascular disease,” said the report.

In a separate comment, The Lancet editors Pamela Das and Richard Horton said the report came at a “worrisome time, when the US government’s Environmental Protection Agency, headed by Scott Pruitt, is undermining established environmental regulations.”

The latest findings, they added, should serve as a “call to action”.

“Pollution is a winnable battle…. Current and future generations deserve a pollution-free world,” the pair wrote.

Pruitt announced this month the US would pull out of former president Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan.

There was some good news in the report too.

Deaths due to water and household air pollution dropped from 5.9 million in 1990 to 4.2 million in 2015, said the report authors, as poor countries became richer.

On the other hand, deaths from pollution associated with industrial development — such as outdoor air pollution, chemical and soil pollution, increased from 4.3 million to 5.5 million over the same period.

The fire gutted the lakeside Kandawgyi Palace Hotel, a colonial-era building owned by a Myanmar businessman notorious for making his fortune under the former junta.

Hundreds of firefighters tried to quell the blaze which broke out at around 3am local time (2030 GMT), but they could not stop the flames from consuming the luxury hotel.

An AFP reporter at the scene saw a white plastic sheet covering a body retrieved from the fire, but there was no immediate confirmation of further casualties.

“We don’t know why the fire started. We’re sad that such a historic and beautiful place was completely destroyed,” a witness Kyi Kyi told AFP, standing near the still smouldering ruins of the building.

Another witness, wearing a branded shirt of the Htoo company which owns the hotel, said: “It is really bad. All has gone now.”

The Htoo company, which spans construction, timber, resorts and an airline, was founded by Tay Za – a controversial tycoon who spun millions of dollars through close junta links.

Guests at the destroyed hotel had been moved to other hotels in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city which has made its mark on Southeast Asia’s tourist trail since the country emerged from full junta rule.

The oldest parts of the Kandawgyi hotel date to the 1930s when British army officers used the site as rowing club.

Myanmar’s reputation as one of the region’s hottest new destinations has also been battered by global censure over an army crackdown on its Rohingya population.//AFP

Khaeryll Benjamin bin Ibrahim was arrested with 4.5 grams of the narcotics in April at Kualanamu International Airport.

In addition to the jail time, the 38-year-old was ordered to pay a fine of $74,000 by the Medan District Court.

However, the prison term was lower than the 14 years recommended by prosecutors and he escaped a possible death penalty.

“We declare the defendant Benjy proven legally and convincingly guilty … against the law of possessing and controlling narcotics,” head judge Wahyu Prasetyo Wibowo said.

Ibrahim — known to fans as Benjy — is the son of legendary Malaysian actress Azean Irdawaty, according to Malaysian media.

Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest anti-narcotics laws and people caught smuggling more than five grams of some controlled substances can be sentenced to death.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo launched a tough campaign against narcotics use in 2014, which culminated in the execution by firing squad last year of seven foreign drug convicts — including two Australians.

But the move drew worldwide condemnation, and the government has since shown little sign of preparing for more executions, saying it is focused on fixing the economy