VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - The death toll from a fire at a coal mine in Kazakhstan owned by ArcelorMittal (MT.LU) rose to 45 on Sunday, with emergency teams engaged in an operation to find one remaining miner believed to have been underground, emergency service officials were quoted as saying.

On Saturday, operator ArcelorMittal Temirtau, the local unit of Luxembourg-based steelmaker ArcelorMittal, said 206 of 252 people at the Kostenko mine had been evacuated after what appeared to be a methane blast.

Gennady Silinsky, a senior emergency services official, on Sunday confirmed the death toll and continuing operation in Karaganda, a major coal mining centre, to Kazakhstan's Khabar-24 television.

"Work is going on round the clock in shifts in two areas of operations," Murat Katpanov, another emergency official, told Khabar-24.

"Gas levels are normal. There are no visible signs of fire."

Earlier statements said rescue operations in the two areas - 4 km (2.5 miles) apart - were hampered by power cuts and wrecked equipment. (Reuters)

VOINews, Jakarta - The United States and South Korea began major air exercises on Monday, involving 130 warplanes from both countries to simulate 24-hour wartime operations.

The annual drills, called Vigilant Defense, will run until Friday, featuring variants of the F-35 stealth fighter from both the United States and South Korea, among other aircraft, South Korea's Air Force said.

The drills are aimed at improving interoperability between the two militaries by performing major air missions such as air-to-surface live fire drills, defensive counter air operation and other emergency training.

"We will maintain the best combat readiness to immediately respond to and strongly punish any provocation by the enemy through an intense training simulating an actual situation," South Korea's military said in a statement.

The drills come as North Korea has been stepping up military cooperation with Russia in what the United States and its Asian allies have condemned as Pyongyang's efforts to advance its military capabilities in return for arms support to Moscow.

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said on Saturday it was the "steadfast will" of Pyongyang to expand ties with Russia, adding that their relations will act as a "powerful strategic" element if security in the region is endangered.

North Korea has long condemned joint drills between the United States and South Korea as a rehearsal for invasion and proof of hostile policies by Washington and Seoul. (Reuters)

VOINews, Jakarta - Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno stated that Indonesia's tourism and creative economy sectors have shown significant recovery.

"Based on the collected data, the tourism sector contributed up to 3.6 percent to the national GDP, or US$6.72 billion in 2022," he noted in an official statement received here on Saturday.

According to Uno, the tourism and creative economy sectors have created as many as 22.89 million jobs in 2022.

Moreover, the creative economy sector recorded promising achievement, as the value of exports of creative economy products had risen to US$26.94 billion.

Based on those achievements, Uno expressed optimism at the 6th TEJ Ministerial Round Table at INTEX Osaka, Japan, on Thursday, that Indonesia's tourism sector would be able to recover quickly.

"I am very optimistic that tourism will recover quickly and have a bigger impact on the economy after the pandemic," he remarked.

His optimism is based on the number of foreign tourist arrivals in Indonesia this year, which, as of August 2023, had reached 7.44 million. The government is targeting foreign tourist arrivals to reach 8.5 million in 2023.

In 2022, the number of domestic tourist trips also showed a significant increase of 19.82 percent year on year, reaching 734.86 million trips. The figure is also 1.76 percent higher as compared to the figure recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the meeting, Uno, representing the Indonesian government, invited all parties to transform the tourism sector through innovative initiatives, strategic adaptation, and beneficial collaboration.

The aim is to improve the quality and sustainability of domestic and global tourism.

"Our vision is implementing a series of programs that will not only improve the potential of the industry but also contribute to the growth of the economy and culture in our region, encourage sustainable development, and create memorable experiences for tourists around the world," he explained.

In this regard, he is targeting to make the conditions of the tourism and creative economy sectors return to the pre-pandemic level in 2024. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Indonesia is experiencing a digital economy boom, Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno said at the Asian Creative and Digital Economy Youth Summit (ACE-YS 2023), here on Sunday.

"We are probably an Asian tiger that is growing rapidly in creative and digital economy ecosystems," he stated at the event held at the Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII) in Jakarta.

Based on the study by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company, Indonesia's digital economy in 2022 was expected to reach US$77 billion or grow 22 percent from 2021. The number is expected to double to US$130 billion in 2025.

Much of that growth has been driven by e-commerce, but more subsectors, such as the game, music, film, and animation industries, have shifted to the digital realm, therefore contributing to the digital economy.

Meanwhile, the growth of e-commerce's gross merchandise value (GMV) in Indonesia is estimated to increase from US$59 billion in 2022 to US$95 billion in 2025.

"Not only e-commerce, but (in the digital economy), we also look at (online) transportation, online food delivery, online travel, such as Traveloka, Tiket.com, and online media. So, (Indonesia's) digital economy as a whole, is expected to reach US$400 billion in 2030," Uno said.

He said Indonesia needs 600 thousand digital talents every year for the next nine years. However, currently, only 400 thousand digital talents can be produced every year through the education sector.

Uno explained that there is a gap of 200 thousand talents that need to be made available. According to him, this can be done by using innovation, research, artificial intelligence, and gamification to educate young people on digital skills and knowledge.

"If (the gap) is not filled, it will slow down our digital economy and greatly impact our target of becoming a developed country by 2045," he said. (Antaranews)