VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The number of Indonesians receiving the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine rose by 14,527 to 203,827,128 as of Saturday afternoon, the COVID-19 Handling Task Force reported.

According to data received from the task force in Jakarta, an additional 22,081 people got the second dose on Saturday, taking the total number of second dose recipients to 174,439,167.

The data showed that the number of people receiving the third dose or first booster rose by 75,015 to 67,506,011.

Meanwhile, 17,380 residents received the fourth dose or second booster, which is specifically being provided to healthcare workers and the elderly, bringing the total number of second booster recipients to 1,016,903.

The government has set itself the target of vaccinating 234,666,020 people against the coronavirus as part of efforts to put an immediate end to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Government Spokesperson for COVID-19 Reisa Broto Asmoro said the administration of the fourth dose or second booster to elderly adults is one of the efforts to end the pandemic earlier.

"This is also an endeavor when we have been vaccinated so that the severity or death risk will be lower. Since it is an endeavor, so it will not be wrong to try," she said.

The pandemic is not yet over, she added. While it is still on, the human body must be made strong to withstand the virus and until now, vaccination has remained effective in preventing an infection.

In fact, antibodies must continue to be formed through vaccinations so that people, particularly the elderly, have optimum protection against developing a severe infection or death.  (Antaranews)

Mining companies and governments in Africa are calling for stronger trade ties with the United States after a new climate law set out incentives for U.S. carmakers sourcing battery materials from trade partners.

The $430 billion Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has been criticised by the European Union and South Korea, who say it could hurt their car industries.

It could also negatively impact African nations that produce battery materials.

The United States has a Free Trade Agreement in place with only one African country, Morocco. Yet the continent is a key copper producer and Democratic Republic of Congo produces most of the world's cobalt.

Battery materials and trade are set to be a focus at next week's U.S.-Africa Leaders' Summit in Washington where President Joe Biden will meet presidents of African countries including Congo.

"The IRA was intended to push out China, and what it's ended up doing is pushing out the DRC, and the EU, and South Korea," said Indigo Ellis, managing director at consultancy Africa Matters Limited, who will attend the Dec. 13-15 summit.

Under IRA, U.S. carmakers will get tax credits if they source at least 40% of battery materials domestically or from American free-trade partners. This risks carmakers replacing Congolese cobalt with Australian, Canadian, Moroccan, or U.S. cobalt.

Congo produced 74% of the world's mined cobalt last year while the next-biggest single producer, Australia, was responsible for just 3%, according to a Cobalt Institute report.

An adviser to Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi said a USA-DRC Free Trade Agreement "is an option for the medium to long-term, but in the short term other avenues will be explored".

A spokesperson for the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said "we look forward to discussing ways to strengthen and deepen our trade and investment ties with our partners throughout Africa" during the summit.

The IRA aims to boost U.S. mining and processing, which some companies fear could come at the expense of value-added processing in Africa.

"The West needs to work with us to build some value-add," said George Roach, CEO of Premier African Minerals (PREM.L), which has a lithium project in Zimbabwe.

His is one of many projects across sub-Saharan Africa aiming to produce battery materials like lithium, nickel and graphite.

Joe Walsh, managing director at Australia-listed Lepidico (LPD.AX), which is building a lithium mine in Namibia and chemical plant in Abu Dhabi, said the IRA makes the United States a more attractive location for a planned second plant.

"The U.S. is not going to be able to incentivise the development of a significant battery raw material production base of its own without ruffling a few feathers along the way." (Reuters)

Late last month, Shanghai resident Pei was one of many people who came out in support of historic protests against China's COVID-19 curbs, including filming several seconds of footage of a man being arrested on a street corner.

Almost immediately, Pei said, five or six plainclothes police grabbed him. He was taken to a police station and held for 20 hours, at times with his arms and legs tied to a chair, he told Reuters.

"The policeman who shoved me into the car tried to intimidate me by saying I should be worried if other people find out what I did. Feeling defiant, I told him, I will let the world know what you police are doing," said Pei, 27. He asked to be identified only by part of his name for fear of repercussions.

Now, as many Chinese residents welcome a relaxation of lockdown measures that have crippled businesses and stoked unemployment, some protesters scooped up by China's security apparatus face an anxious wait about their fate.

While Pei and other protesters were released with a warning, some rights lawyers and academics note President Xi Jinping's hard line on dissent over the past decade, and say risks remain of further harassment and prosecution.

"'Squaring the accounts after the autumn harvests' is the Party's way of dealing with people who have betrayed it," said Lynette Ong, a University of Toronto professor, referring to the practice of delaying score settling until the time is ripe.

China's Ministry of Public Security did not respond to a request for comment on the laws they might use against protesters. The Shanghai police also did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Pei's description of how he was arrested or on what further actions they might take.

Last week, in a statement that did not refer to the protests, the Communist Party's top body in charge of law enforcement agencies said China would crack down on "the infiltration and sabotage activities of hostile forces" and would not tolerate any "illegal and criminal acts that disrupt social order".

Asked about the protests, China's foreign ministry has said rights and freedoms must be exercised lawfully.

FINES AND JAIL TIME?

Reuters was unable to establish how many protesters are still in police custody. Social media appeals for details on the whereabouts of a handful of missing protesters remain online.

The protests, widely seen as a tipping point to an easing in tight COVID restrictions, largely petered out in several cities after police mounted a heavy presence on streets.

The repercussions of protesting in China have grown in recent years under Xi's tenure, with the Ministry of Public Security introducing guidelines two years ago that have been used by local authorities to ban protesters from taking up jobs such as tour guides or insurance agents, and also make it harder for their family members to obtain government-related jobs.

Zhang Dongshuo, a Beijing-based lawyer who has handled rights cases in the past, said the levels of punishment for protesting in China vary widely.

Those deemed to be bystanders could be let off with a small fine and up to 15 days' detention, while physical altercations with police could lead to jail terms for disrupting public order or "picking quarrels" and provoking trouble.

Those who shouted slogans calling for the ouster of Xi or the Communist Party - as seen in a number of protests across China - potentially face heavier charges of inciting or engaging in subversion of the state, Zhang said, which in the most extreme cases carry punishment of up to life in prison.

Eiro, another Shanghai protester who was detained after trying to stop police from taking away a fellow protestor, said that during her interrogation, police particularly wanted to know if anyone had distributed blank A4 sheets of paper that were a defining symbol of these protests, as well as the identities of protest organisers.

"The police said there'll be no punishment for all of us this time, but may call us back after further investigation," she told Reuters on an encrypted messaging app.

Pei, Eiro and other protesters Reuters spoke to said they were asked by police to sign letters of repentance, with some of them asked to read the letters aloud while being filmed.

During Hong Kong's protracted anti-China, pro-democracy protests in 2019, thousands were arrested but only charged much later with offences such as rioting and subversion, and many are still in legal proceedings.

"I probably won't go (protesting) again in the short term," Eiro said. "Everyone was impulsive this time and had no experience. We hadn't prepared well and there wasn't any mature organisation and communication platform that could unite and organise everyone."

"WORTH IT"

During a meeting in Beijing last week with European Council President Charles Michel, Xi attributed the dissent in part on youths frustrated by the pandemic, according to one senior EU official.

Alfred Wu, assistant professor at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, said a harsher crackdown was only more likely if authorities believed the protests to be organised and political in nature, rather than leaderless and spontaneous.

"They just sprang up organically because people were driven by a sense of hopelessness and desperation about the never-ending COVID restrictions," Wu said.

For some, however, the desire for broader political freedoms remains undiminished even with the COVID relaxation measures.

"I don't think this is good news or a victory in our struggle because what we are asking for is liberty," said Eiro.

Despite the looming shadow of future reprisals by authorities, Pei said he had no regrets.

"It was worth it. It allowed me to personally see the Communist Party's control over our speech, and to see how the freedom of the people under its rule is deeply restricted." (Reuters)

North Korean government-backed hackers referenced the deadly Halloween crush in Seoul to distribute malware to users in South Korea, Google's (GOOGL.O) Threat Analysis group said in a report.The malware was embedded in Microsoft Office documents which purported to be a government report on the tragedy that killed more than 150 people after tens of thousands of young revellers crowded into narrow alleyways.

"This incident was widely reported on, and the lure takes advantage of widespread public interest in the accident," the Threat Analysis Group said.

Google attributed the activity to a North Korean hacking group known as APT37 which it said targets South Korean users, North Korean defectors, policy makers, journalists and human rights activists.

Google also said it has not determined what the malware, which exploited an Internet Explorer vulnerability, was intended to achieve. It reported the problem to Microsoft on Oct. 31 after multiple reports from South Korean users on the same day. Microsoft issued a patch on Nov. 8.

A United Nations panel of experts that monitors sanctions on North Korea has accused Pyongyang of using stolen funds gained through hacking to support its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes to circumvent sanctions.

North Korea does not respond to media inquiries, but has previously released statements denying allegations of hacking.

On Thursday, South Korean officials warned businesses against inadvertently hiring IT staff from North Korea.

In May, the United States issued a similar advisory, saying rogue North Korean freelancers were taking advantage of remote work opportunities to hide their true identities and earn money for Pyongyang. (Reuters)