VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

 Japan will lift a coronavirus state of emergency in all regions on Thursday as the number of new cases falls and the strain on the medical system eases, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said.

The plan takes Japan as a whole out of an emergency state for the first time in nearly six months.

"The daily new cases came down from more than 25,000 in mid-August to 1,128 yesterday ... the number of patients with serious conditions has been on a downtrend after peaking in early September," Suga told a coronavirus task force meeting.

"Thanks to progress in vaccination and administration of neutralising antibody drugs, we are entering a phase where medical services can be offered in a stable manner even if a certain degree of infections take place."

Nearly 60% of the population is fully vaccinated and the government has said all those who want shots will have had them by November.

Suga will hold a news conference at 7 p.m. (1000 GMT) to explain the decision to the public.

Earlier on the day, Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said some limitations on eateries and large-scale events would remain in place for about a month after the lifting of state of emergency to prevent a resurgence in cases

"New cases will undoubtedly rise after the emergency state is lifted," said Nishimura, who also oversees Japan's coronavirus response.

"We need to continue with the necessary measures to prevent a rebound," he said, adding that if cases surged again, reinstatement of a more limited "quasi emergency" was possible.

Restaurants in areas under emergency curbs are now required to close by 8 p.m. and not serve alcohol.

Nishimura said the government would introduce a certification system whereby only approved restaurants could stay open until 9 p.m., although the ban on alcohol would be lifted everywhere unless prefectural governors objected.

Like many other countries, Japan had struggled to contain the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant - including through the Summer Olympic Games - keeping much of the country under emergency restrictions. (Reuters)

Sydney residents who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 risk being barred from various social activities even when they are freed from stay-at-home orders in December, New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned on Tuesday.

Under a roadmap to exit lockdown in Australia's biggest city, unvaccinated people are already subject to delays in freedoms that will be gradually granted to inoculated residents between Oct. 11 and Dec. 1.

Berejiklian said people who choose not to be vaccinated could be barred entry to shops, restaurants and entertainment venues even after the state lifts all restrictions against them on Dec. 1.

"A lot of businesses have said they will not accept anyone who is unvaccinated," Berejiklian told Seven News on Tuesday. "Life for the unvaccinated will be very difficult indefinitely."

The two-tier system, designed to encourage more people to get vaccinated, has been criticised for both penalising vulnerable groups who have not had access to inoculations and for falling short of providing a real incentive for the vaccine hesitant.

Pubs, cafes, gyms and hairdressers will reopen to fully vaccinated people on Oct. 11 in New South Wales, home to Sydney, and more curbs will be eased once 80% of its adult population becomes fully vaccinated, expected by the end of October.

Australia is pursuing a faster reopening through higher vaccination rates despite persistent infections, largely in its two biggest cities of Sydney and Melbourne. Along with the capital Canberra, both cities are in a weeks-long lockdown.

The Delta-fuelled outbreak has divided state and territory leaders, with some presiding over virus-free parts of the country indicating they will defy a federal plan to reopen internal borders once the adult population reaches 80% vaccination, expected in November. The national vaccine rate is currently around 52%.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt welcomed the New South Wales roadmap and urged people to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

"The strongest possible reason to be vaccinated is to save your life," Hunt said.

CASES TOP 100,000

The number of COVID-19 cases recorded by Australia since the beginning of the pandemic topped 100,000 on Tuesday, with around 70% of those detected since a Delta-variant fuelled wave hit the country in mid-June.

New South Wales reported 863 new cases on Tuesday, up from 787 a day earlier, and seven new deaths. Neighbouring Victoria reported 867 new cases, its biggest daily rise ever, and four deaths.

The northeast state of Queensland reported four cases, including its first mystery case in almost two months. Officials are racing to trace the source after an aviation worker, who has not travelled interstate or overseas recently, contracted the virus.

While the state is on high alert, officials stopped short of enforcing a lockdown.

Australia had been faring relatively well until the latest wave, but a sluggish vaccine rollout left it vulnerable to the more virulent Delta strain. Deaths stand at 1,256 but the mortality rate from Delta is lower than last year due to higher vaccination rates among the vulnerable population.

In New South Wales, the number of people hospitalised dipped to 1,155 from 1,266 a week ago as dual-dose vaccination levels in people aged over 16 topped 60% in the state.

Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus: open https://tmsnrt.rs/2FThSv7 in an external browser. (Reuters)

The East Asia and Pacific region's recovery has been undermined by the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant, which is likely slowing economic growth and increasing inequality in the region, the World Bank said on Monday.

Economic activity began to slow in the second quarter of 2021, and growth forecasts have been downgraded for most countries in the region, according to the World Bank's East Asia and Pacific Fall 2021 Economic Update.

While China's economy is projected to expand by 8.5%, the rest of the region is forecast to grow at 2.5%, nearly 2 percentage points less than forecast in April 2021, the World Bank said.

"The economic recovery of developing East Asia and Pacific faces a reversal of fortune," said Manuela Ferro, World Bank Vice President for East Asia and Pacific.

"Whereas in 2020 the region contained COVID-19 while other regions of the world struggled, the rise in COVID-19 cases in 2021 has decreased growth prospects for 2021."

The economies of several Pacific island countries and Myanmar have been hit the hardest, with Myanmar expected to contract by 18% while the Pacific island countries as a group are anticipated to shrink 2.9%, the World Bank said.

Myanmar will see the biggest contraction in employment in the region and the number of poor people in the country will rise, it added.

"There is no doubt the military takeover (in Myanmar) has led to a disruption of economic activity combined with the civil disobedience movement which means fewer people are going to work," said World Bank East Asia and Pacific Chief Economist Aaditya Mattoo.

The report estimates most countries in the region, including Indonesia and the Philippines, can vaccinate more than 60% of their populations by the first half of 2022. While that would not eliminate coronavirus infections, it would significantly reduce mortality, allowing a resumption of economic activity.

The damage done by the resurgence and persistence of COVID-19 is likely to hurt growth and increase inequality over the longer-term, the World Bank said.

"Accelerated vaccination and testing to control COVID-19 infections could revive economic activity in struggling countries as early as the first half of 2022, and double their growth rate next year," Mattoo said.

"But in the longer term, only deeper reforms can prevent slower growth and increasing inequality, an impoverishing combination the region has not seen this century."

The World Bank said the region will need to make a serious effort on four fronts to deal with the rise in coronavirus: addressing vaccine hesitancy and limitations to distribution capacity; enhancing testing and tracing; increasing regional production of vaccines; and strengthening local health systems. (Reuters)

When the Taliban won back control of the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar last month, they set out to settle a score with an old foe.

As they searched for prominent local politician Ajmal Omar - who had helped drive the militants out of a Nangarhar district a year earlier and tried to dissuade young Afghans from joining them - Taliban members detonated explosives at his ancestral home.

They also looted gold and cars, and detained and whipped several of his relatives to try and establish his whereabouts.

The events were recounted by two relatives who say they were targeted in the reprisals, 10 locals officials and residents who witnessed or were familiar with the incidents and a former Afghan intelligence official.

Images from the sources, which Reuters could not independently verify, show a badly damaged property and family members with injuries they say were from Taliban beatings.

Omar, 37, has gone into hiding. He declined to comment for this story, citing security concerns.

Soon after the Taliban seized power on Aug. 15, the Islamist movement sought to reassure the international community and its former opponents by saying there would be no reprisals.

Omar's family said their experience contradicted that commitment.

"None of us had imagined we would be targeted like this," said one of Omar's relatives, requesting anonymity. "The Taliban said they will not punish anyone who had worked with the previous regime but they did the exact opposite in our case."

Taliban spokespeople did not respond to questions about events described by Omar's family and local residents or about his efforts to help defeat them.

A Taliban cabinet minister told Reuters that commanders across the country had raided former government officials' homes and offices to seize weapons and armoured vehicles, but he was not aware of punishment meted out to Omar's family.

The group's defence minister, Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, issued a rebuke last week over the conduct of some fighters following the Taliban's victory. He did not go into specifics.

"Miscreants and notorious former soldiers" had joined Taliban ranks and committed offences ranging from occupying ministries and government offices to two to three incidents of reported killings, he said.

"You all are aware of the general amnesty announced in Afghanistan; no mujahid has the right to take revenge on someone."

SOCIAL MEDIA

The Taliban brutally enforced their version of Islamic law during their previous rule from 1996-2001, carrying out public stonings and amputations and banning women from work and girls from school.

They have said they would respect people's rights this time around and not go after enemies, yet tens of thousands of people, fearing for their safety and future, fled the country in a chaotic evacuation from Kabul. Many more are in hiding.

Hundreds of social media posts have been shared featuring grainy mobile phone footage purportedly of armed men searching houses, beating people in the streets and bundling them into cars.

Several former officials, military personnel and others close to the fallen government have alleged retributions took place. Reuters has not been able to verify their accounts; some interviewed by Reuters said they were too afraid to share their experiences publicly.

Omar's story is one of the most detailed accounts so far of Taliban revenge against those who worked with the Western-backed government, and in particular who fought to eradicate the group from Afghanistan.

ON THE RUN

According to residents, the Taliban have long targeted Kodi Khel, a remote village in a valley dotted with apple and lemon orchards in the mountainous east of the country.

After they were ousted from power in 2001, the village and the surrounding Sherzad district were struck by rockets as the Taliban tried to wrest back control of the strategic route into Pakistan, the residents said.

Omar was a prominent local landowner whose family had a sprawling 22-room walled villa there.

As deputy head of the provincial council, he spearheaded strategic efforts to drive the Taliban out of the district last year. Several militants were wounded in the fighting as were some Afghan soldiers.

Before then, since his election in 2014, Omar had spent much of his time going from village to village trying to persuade young adults to join U.S.-backed forces fighting the insurgents, according to residents.

In a province that has long been a hotbed of Taliban activity, it could be a dangerous job.

Three Nangarhar council members have been killed in different attacks in the past five years.

Last year, Omar was on his way to a rally to celebrate the Afghan army's local victory when a convoy of cars he was travelling in was attacked by Taliban fighters, killing two people, a former council member said.

On Aug. 13, when the Taliban re-took Kodi Khel in a lightning offensive across the country, residents said they were ordered to stay indoors as the fighters searched for Omar.

Taliban militants found Omar's residence empty apart from some domestic staff who were ordered to leave.

Cars and other valuables were taken, and several explosives detonated, collapsing parts of the surrounding wall and turning rooms to rubble, according to interviews with family members and locals who heard the blasts and saw the aftermath.

Omar, who was in a crisis meeting of the provincial council in Nangarhar's capital Jalalabad where he and others were discussing how to repel the Taliban's advance, soon learned of the search.

He fled to the capital Kabul, then still under control of the previous administration, and remains in hiding, according to two of his relatives.

Nangarhar province fell to the Taliban a few days later.

On Sept. 3, armed Taliban fighters in army fatigues raided Omar's official residence in Jalalabad, two family members who were present said.

They took his three sons, five nephews and a brother into custody, and confiscated gold, cash, cars and an armoured vehicle and some guns he used for protection. The relatives have all since been released.

One relative said he and others were beaten with whips and thrown into a room with no window. He shared pictures of injuries showing limbs heavily bandaged and bruised skin.

Another relative said he was locked in a room for three days and tortured. Reuters could not independently confirm his account. He sees no future for himself and his family in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.

Omar's wife, children, four brothers, five sisters and their families all live in Afghanistan and are maintaining a low profile.

Omar is currently growing his hair and beard, the relatives said, moving from house to house to try and evade the Taliban and hoping to find a way to leave the country. (Reuters)