VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

With "Hooker Hill" and snaking alleyways of bars with signs like "BADASS" around the local landmark Hamilton Hotel, Seoul's Itaewon district was a symbol of freewheeling nightlife in the South Korean capital for decades, before tragedy struck.

The crush of partygoers on Saturday night that killed 153 mostly young people could hamper the revival of an area that was just starting to thrive after more than two years of COVID-19 restrictions, as trendy restaurants and shops replaced seedy establishments.

Lee Sang-yoon, who runs a pub in the alley next to the Hamilton where the disaster took place, said it may prove a devastating blow for even those who adapted to change.

"This happened right at the moment when we were about to rebound after being hammered by the pandemic," said Lee, who has operated Itaewon businesses for three decades. "We could survive the pandemic because we owned this place, but most of our neighbours who had been paying rent here had closed their businesses and left."

A short walk from the Yongsan U.S. army garrison, Itaewon sprang up after the 1950-53 Korean War as a hangout for American soldiers, with bars, brothels and fashion shops lining both sides of the main stretch running through it.

Itaewon went through decades of rises and falls.

A mysterious killing called the "Itaewon Murder" and other crimes in the late 1990s painted a dark image of the area. But early in this century it became a gourmet spot and place to experience world cultures without a passport.

The district has been a recurrent theme in popular culture, with a recent hit drama "Itaewon Class" and K-pop song "Itaewon Freedom".

Restrictions placed on U.S. troops after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States prompted a shift to a local clientele, a change accelerated by celebrities opening restaurants that became popular with young South Koreans.

Before 9/11, "Itaewon was full of Americans," reminisced a 40-year resident who sells flowers on the street. Streets were just getting packed again for the first time since the pandemic, said the woman, who asked not to be named.

"Before COVID, more foreigners than locals, and now lots of local people come from rural areas," she said. "I can't believe this tragedy really happened. Holiday or, what's it called, Halloween?

Early in the coronavirus pandemic, some of Itaewon's gay bars and transgender clubs become a lighting rod for controversies, with dozens of cases traced to people who were faulted for not disclosing to health authorities that they had spent time there.

Park Geun-ho, owner of the Havana Lounge & Pub, worried the disaster may prove to be greater challenge than anything the area has seen.

"After all this, would people come to Itaewon now? They won't," said Park, who has run businesses in the district for nearly 30 years.

Before disaster struck, Halloween festivities had been the leading attraction for years, drawing local people and foreigners to the foothills of the Namsan mountain, just steps from luxury villas occupied by foreign diplomats and heads of chaebol business syndicates, including the late chairman of Samsung Group.

But questions have grown in recent years about the safety of hosting an event that draws up to 100,000 to the cramped and hilly streets, especially without shutting down the main street to traffic to accommodate pop-up stores and kiosks.

"This month should've been a good one with the Global Village Festival, Halloween and so forth, but then this accident happened," said Kim Kyung-mo who works at a convenience store near the alley where the crush happened.

"I bumped into my boss earlier today and chatted briefly, and he obviously didn't look really good." (reuters)

At a warehouse on an industrial stretch in Ottawa, giant metal crates of donated groceries are piled high as volunteers sort canned goods, pasta and other foods to be distributed to pantries around the Canadian city.

Demand has surged 33% at the Ottawa Food Bank from pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, with visits up as spiraling grocery, gas and rent prices, along with fast-rising borrowing costs, leave more Canadians struggling to make ends meet.

"We are absolutely seeing more people," said Rachael Wilson, chief executive of the Ottawa Food Bank, adding the organization is now spending C$6 million ($4.4 million) a year on food, up from C$2 million pre-pandemic.

"That's because the cost of food has risen ... but also because of the number of people that are turning to a food bank right now," said Wilson. "It is unfortunately a perfect storm."

Canada's headline inflation rate has eased to 6.9% from a peak of 8.1%, but food costs are still accelerating and underlying price pressures remain sticky.

At the same time, the Bank of Canada (BoC) has hiked interest rates by 350-basis points in just seven months, one of its sharpest tightening campaigns ever, to try to force inflation back to its 2% target.

The result is Canadian consumers and small businesses are being squeezed from both sides, prompting politicians, unions and even some economists to implore the central bank to slow its pace of tightening.

The bank this week signaled its tightening campaign was nearing its peak, but made clear it was not done yet, as it hiked rates by 50-bps to a fresh 14-year high.

In a television interview after the decision, BoC Governor Tiff Macklem said restoring price stability was not easy, but rampant inflation would be worse.

"I understand a lot of Canadians are in debt and interest rate increases will put more stress on them. It is something that we are watching closely," he told Radio-Canada.

'EVERYONE'S NERVOUS'

Canada, with its pricey homes and top of the G7 household debt levels, is particularly sensitive to higher interest rates, with fears mounting the BoC's aggressive hikes will trigger a recession.

Wes Farnell, who runs Eight Ounce Coffee in Calgary with his wife Jen, said their specialty coffee equipment business was growing by 25% to 35% a year before the pandemic, and then boomed as lockdowns led to surging demand for high-end lifestyle appliances.

Now he is already seeing signs that hot inflation and recession worries have consumers focused on essentials rather than luxury appliances, which is adding up to fewer large orders even as the holiday shopping season approaches.

"Our wholesalers are definitely more tentative about spending money," said Farnell. "Everyone's nervous ... Will people be spending money? Will there be any money to spend? Will inflation go up even further?"

The pain is also being felt on the farm, where record high debt levels and surging operating costs are weighing on many farmers, despite strong grain prices.

For Brodie Haugan, who farms with his parents near Orion, Alberta, inflation has hit especially hard, coupled with a relentless drought.

With the price of feed rising faster than cattle prices, Haugan reduced his 400-cow herd by 30% in spring.

He also delayed buying a much-needed new truck, as the cost shot up to C$100,000 from C$75,000 pre-pandemic.

"Right across the board, everything has increased in price, making it very difficult to really do anything at all," Haugan said. (reuters)

A record $3.3 billion in aid flowed to the Pacific islands in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, a 33% increase on the previous year, according to a report released by the Lowy Institute think-tank on Monday.

The pandemic led to border closures, confronting governments reliant on tourism with economic crisis. It also brought a shift in how aid was delivered, with more loans than grants made, and more direct funding to help deliver critical services.

The Lowy Institute's annual Pacific Aid Map showed Chinese aid to the region dropped to $187 million in 2020, its lowest since the institute began tracking aid flows in 2008.

Australia and New Zealand provided a third of all aid in 2020.

The map tracks development assistance to the Pacific islands, an effort the Institute says increases transparency of money flows, as China and the United States and its allies vie for influence in the strategically important region.

A move by the Solomon Islands to sign a security pact with China in 2022 has alarmed Washington and its allies, including Australia.

Since 2008, Australia has provided 40% of all aid to the region, followed by New Zealand, with 8.6%, Japan, with 8.5% and China, with 8.5%, the report said. Chinese aid, predominantly loans for infrastructure, had peaked in 2016.

The project director of the Pacific Aid Map, Alexandre Dayant, said development assistance remained a diplomatic tool for Beijing, with regional aid focusing on Kiribati and Solomon Islands, which switched diplomatic ties from Taiwan to Beijing a year earlier.

Dayant said the overall drop in Chinese aid in the region comes amid negative publicity about the cost of Chinese infrastructure loans, and Pacific island nations having more choice.

Australia, which has committed A$600 million in infrastructure loans since 2019, is becoming a prominent Pacific lender and needed to take "considerable care" it did not contribute to the region's debt problems, the report said.

Australia last week said it would spend another A$900 million ($576.99 million) in Pacific aid.

The United States has also pledged $800 million more after hosting a dozen Pacific islands leaders at a White House summit in September. (reuters)

NATO on Sunday called on Moscow to urgently renew the U.N.-brokered deal that enabled Ukraine to resume grain exports via the Black Sea amid a global food crisis.

"President Putin must stop weaponising food and end his illegal war on Ukraine," NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said. "We call on Russia to reconsider its decision and renew the deal urgently, enabling food to reach those who need it most."

All NATO allies had welcomed the agreement that came about with the help of Turkey, she noted.

"These exports have helped reduce food prices the world over," Lungescu added. (Reuters)