VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The United States held briefings in Washington and Beijing with foreign diplomats from 40 nations about the Chinese spy balloon that Washington shot down on Saturday for spying over U.S. territory, a senior administration official and diplomats said on Tuesday.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Monday briefed nearly 150 foreign diplomats across 40 embassies, the official said, while in Beijing the U.S. embassy gathered foreign diplomats on Monday and Tuesday to present U.S. findings about the balloon.

"We want to make sure that we are sharing as much as we can with countries around the world who may also be susceptible to these types of operations," the senior administration official said.

Sherman's briefing was first reported by the Washington Post.

The appearance of the Chinese balloon over the United States last week caused political outrage in Washington and prompted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a trip to Beijing that both countries had hoped would patch their frayed relations. Blinken would have arrived in Beijing on Sunday.

A U.S. Air Force fighter jet shot down the balloon off the South Carolina coast on Saturday, a week after it first entered U.S. airspace. China's foreign ministry has said it was a weather balloon that had blown off course and accused the United States of overreacting.

The State Department also sent U.S. missions around the world information about the balloon incident to share with allies and partners, the official added.

In the briefings in Beijing, the United States presented information to demonstrate that the balloon, which entered U.S. airspace in the last days of January and flew over U.S. military sites, was not a weather research balloon as Beijing said but an airship that was used for espionage, said diplomats in Beijing who attended the discussions.

Washington said the balloon was controlled by the Chinese military, the People's Liberation Army.

The diplomats at the Beijing briefing said they were told that the solar panels on the balloon meant that it needed more power than a weather balloon, and that its flight path did not conform with natural wind patterns. U.S. officials have said the balloon was equipped with rudders and propellers.

"Based on the U.S. briefing, our own understanding about such balloons and the fact that China has so far refused to name the company or entity that owns this balloon, we find it hard to believe it is a civilian weather balloon," said a Beijing-based Asian defence diplomat.

The information was similar to what Pentagon has shared with reporters since the weekend, saying the balloons were part of a Chinese aerial fleet that has also violated the sovereignty of other countries.

The Washington Post reported that although analysts still don’t know the size of the balloon fleet, one U.S. official said there have been "dozens" of missions since 2018 and that the balloons use technology provided by a private Chinese company. (Reuters)

Sri Lanka's economy is expected to grow again from the end of this year and the government hopes the country will emerge from an economic crisis by 2026, the president said on Wednesday, as hundreds protested a recent rise in taxes amid high inflation.

The island of 22 million has been battling its worst economic turmoil since independence from Britain in 1948, which has forced it to default on loans and seek a bailout of $2.9 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Sri Lanka, which needs to raise taxes to boost government revenue to 11.3% of GDP this year from 8.3% in 2022 in order to get the IMF funds, introduced new income taxes in January for professionals, ranging from 12.5% to more than 36%.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took office in July after Gotabaya Rajapaksa was ousted in a popular uprising, told parliament he could see a way out of the troubles as he worked through economic reforms to seal the deal with the IMF.

"It is difficult for all sections of society to survive," he said. "However, if we endure this hardship for another five to six months, we can reach a solution."

He added, "We can achieve economic growth" by the end of 2023 and "can rise out of bankruptcy by 2026" or even earlier, if all political parties supported government initiatives such as raising taxes.

Last month Wickremesinghe said the economy could contract by 3.5% or 4.0% for the full year after having shrunk 11% last year. 

His speech to lawmakers did little to deter a lunch-hour protest by salaried workers.

Public workers shouting slogans, with some carrying black flags and signs reading "Yes to reasonable tax", stepped out of government buildings to protest. Black flags were also tied to railings outside Colombo's main hospital.

Doctors and university teachers working at state-run hospitals and universities started a 24-hour strike on Wednesday, warning of longer strikes.

"We have taken to the streets to tell this government that they must immediately and unconditionally withdraw these unfair taxes," said Ranjan Jayalal of the United Trade Union Alliance that represents workers of the state-run Ceylon Electricity Board.

"If they don’t do that, we will make this government kneel and force them to cancel this tax bill."

Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka's foreign reserves now at $500 million, after having fallen to zero last year.

Total reserves reached $2.1 billion at the end of January, the highest in about a year, though they included a $1.5-billion swap from People's Bank of China that cannot be tapped yet, as core reserves are insufficient for three months of imports.

Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka was working with China, its largest bilateral lender, to seek financing assurances supporting a debt restructuring to finalise an IMF programme.

"We have received positive responses from all parties," he added. "We are now working towards unifying the approaches of other countries and that of China." (Reuters)

Japanese prosecutors arrested on Wednesday a former Tokyo Olympics organising committee official and executives at three advertising agencies on suspected bid-rigging of test events for the Games, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office said.

The arrests come after months of investigations into alleged corruption in the planning and sponsorship of the international sporting event that was held in 2021 after a pandemic-driven postponement.

Yasuo Mori, the former deputy executive director of the Tokyo 2020 Games Operations Bureau, was arrested for suspected breach of antitrust laws, the Asahi newspaper and other Japanese publications reported.

The media reports later said the prosecutors also arrested three executives at advertising and event-planning firms Dentsu Inc (4324.T), Cerespo Co (9625.T) and Fuji Creative Corporation, a subsidiary of Fuji Media Holdings Inc (4676.T).

Dentsu said in a statement that a former employee, who currently works at a group firm in Japan, was arrested. "We sincerely apologise to all stakeholders, including our clients, for causing tremendous trouble and worries," it said, adding the company would fully co-operate with the investigation.

A Cerespo spokesperson also confirmed the arrest of its executive in an emailed statement that too promised co-operation with the investigation.

A spokesperson at Fuji Creative declined to comment.

Reuters was unable to ascertain Mori's contact details for a comment. The organising committee of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games was dissolved in June last year.

Local media have previously reported that Tokyo prosecutors late last year raided the offices of the country's biggest advertising agencies including Dentsu, Hakuhodo Inc (2433.T) and ADK Holdings Inc on suspicion of their colluding to rig the bids and orders for Olympics-related events worth an estimated 40 billion yen ($305 million).

"It was truly regrettable if there was fraud in the bidding process for the Tokyo Games' test event," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, the Japanese government's top spokesperson.

The bid-rigging investigation comes after a bribery scandal, in which Haruyuki Takahashi, a former member of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics board and before that a Dentsu executive, was arrested in August on suspicion of receiving bribes from Olympic sponsors.

Executives from ADK, suits retailer Aoki Holdings (8214.T) and publishing firm Kadokawa (9468.T) have also been arrested in connection with the bribery scandal. (Reuters)

Australia's environment minister on Wednesday declined to grant permission for a new thermal coal project owned by mining magnate Clive Palmer near the Great Barrier Reef.

The Central Queensland Coal owned mine is in the Styx Coal Basin, just off the coast of central Queensland.

"I've decided that the adverse environmental impacts are simply too great," Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said in a video posted to social media.

"The mine is an open-cut coal mine less than 10 km from the Great Barrier Reef, and the risk of pollution and irreversible damage to the reef is very real."

Plibersek said her office received 9,000 public submissions on the issue in ten business days.

Central Queensland Coal did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Environmental experts say the UNESCO world heritage-listed reef, the world's biggest coral reef ecosystem, is suffering from the significant impact of climate change and warming of oceans. (Reuters)