VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

 More Chinese cities advised residents on Wednesday to avoid unnecessary trips for the upcoming holiday long weekend, adding to COVID policies that are keeping tens of millions of people under lockdown and exacting a growing economic toll.

Nanjing and Wuxi, major cities in eastern China's Jiangsu province, recommended residents not leave town during the Saturday-Monday mid-autumn festival, echoing similar advisories made by other cities this month.

China reported a slight uptick in new cases for Sept. 6 to 1,695 - low by global standards - but its "dynamic zero" COVID policy to stamp out every infection chain means numerous cities have imposed various curbs on movement.

While successful in keeping case numbers down, the approach is weighing on the economy and fuelling widespread frustration nearly three years into the pandemic.

Chinese authorities have not announced any plan to exit the policy that has all but shut China's borders to international travel.

The latest advisories aimed at curbing COVID's spread come just over a month before Beijing hosts a once-in-five-years congress of the ruling Communist Party, where President Xi Jinping is expected to secure a precedent-breaking third leadership term.

The southwestern city of Chengdu, where most of the 21.2 million residents remained on Wednesday in a lockdown that began last Thursday, has yet to announce a plan to end the strict curbs.

In Beijing, the suburban Yizhuang economic and technological development zone said Communist Party officials must not leave the city unnecessarily during mid-autumn festival or the week-long holiday in early October, while residents of the area were also advised to stay put.

"The whole zone ... must strictly and assiduously implement various tasks for COVID prevention and control, in order to create a safe and stable social environment for the party congress," it said in a statement.

Beijing reported 14 locally transmitted infections for Tuesday, the capital's highest daily count since mid-June. All but two of the infections had been quarantined for medical observation before diagnosis, the city said on Wednesday.

In the latest gloomy barometer for the world's second-largest economy, data released on Wednesday showed exports and imports lost momentum in August, significantly lagging forecasts, as inflation crippled overseas demand and fresh COVID curbs and heatwaves in China disrupted output. (Reuters)

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday he did not think the West's "provocative" policies towards Russia were correct, after the European Union and Group of Seven nations proposed a price cap on Russian gas.

President Vladimir Putin had earlier threatened to halt all supplies if the EU took such a step, raising the risk of rationing in some of the world's richest countries this winter.

Erdogan was speaking at a news conference with the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade.

"No need to list the names but I can clearly say that I do not find the stance that the West is adopting is correct," Erdogan said, speaking at a news conference in Belgrade

"Because there is a West that is leading a policy based on provocation, it will not be possible to achieve a result there," he said, adding that other countries should not underestimate Russia.

Vucic said that Serbia had asked Turkey to allow it to transfer electricity imports from Azerbaijan he estimated at around 2 gigawatt hours (GWH).

On Aug. 22, Vucic and Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliev agreed over energy imports by Belgrade on unspecified terms. The Balkan country generates around 70% of its electricity needs in coal-fired power plants.

"I have asked him (Erdogan) to help us and allocate space ... for the transfer of Azeri electricity," he said.

Serbia is almost entirely dependent on Russian gas, but it wants to diversify supplies and plans to start importing natural gas from Azerbaijan in 2023. 

Vucic said the coming winter in Europe may prove to be "a very cold one" due to an energy crisis stemming from the war in Ukraine. Although Belgrade condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it has refused to impose sanctions on Moscow.

"If one really thinks to defeat Russia militarily (in Ukraine), then we will have to prepare not only for a cold winter but a polar winter," Vucic said.

Serbia also plans to buy Turkey's Bayraktar armed drones from 2023, Vucic said, adding that it would invest hundreds of millions of euros in the deal. He did not elaborate. (Reuters)

Iran's stock of uranium enriched to up to 60%, close to weapons-grade, has grown to well above the amount that by one definition is enough, if enriched further, for a nuclear bomb, a U.N. atomic watchdog report showed on Wednesday.

Iran's uranium enriched to up to 60% and in the form of uranium hexafluoride, the gas that centrifuges enrich, is estimated to have grown by 12.5 kg to 55.6 kg since the last quarterly International Atomic Energy Agency report issued on May 30, the IAEA report to member states seen by Reuters said.

At the same time, as in previous quarters, the IAEA issued a second report saying Iran had still not provided credible answers on the origin of uranium particles found at three undeclared sites that appear to mainly be old and which the IAEA has been investigating for years.

"The Director General is increasingly concerned that Iran has not engaged with the Agency on the outstanding safeguards issues during this reporting period and, therefore, that there has been no progress towards resolving them," the second report, also seen by Reuters, said.

The issue of the undeclared particles has been a sticking point in negotiations to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, with Iran seeking to have the investigation closed while Western powers and the IAEA insist it is a separate matter that Iran is legally obliged to help clear up as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

U.S. intelligence agencies and the IAEA believe Iran had a secret, coordinated nuclear weapons programme that it halted in 2003. Iran, however, insists it never had such a programme. Most of the sites are thought to date back to around 2003 or earlier.

"The Agency is not in a position to provide assurance that Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful," the second report said, meaning that without credible explanations from Iran on what happened to the uranium that appears to have been present at the three sites, the agency could not guarantee that uranium had not been siphoned off to make weapons. (Reuters)

Greece has sent letters to NATO and the United Nations, complaining over what it called "inflammatory" statements by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and asking them to condemn Ankara's behaviour, diplomatic sources said on Wednesday.

The two countries - North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies but historic foes - have been at odds for decades over a range of issues including where their continental shelves start and end, overflights in the Aegean Sea, and divided Cyprus.

On Monday, the European Union voiced concern over statements by Erdogan accusing Greece, an EU member, of occupying demilitarised islands in the Aegean and saying Turkey was ready to "do what is necessary" when the time came.

According to Turkey's state-owned Anadolu news agency, Ankara sent letters this week to the European Union, NATO and the United Nations explaining its stance and views on issues including overlapping claims on airspace, territorial waters and the demilitarisation status of the Aegean islands, among other issues.

Greek diplomatic sources said on Wednesday Turkey's letter distorted reality and its arguments were unfounded and violate international law. Greece, they said, has also sent letters to the United Nations and NATO.

"The Turkish attitude is a destabilising factor for NATO's unity and cohesion, weaking the southern flank of the Alliance at a moment of crisis," Greek foreign minister Nikos Dendias said in a letter to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. (Reuters)