VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Lim Jock Hoi in Jakarta, Thursday, confirmed that the special travel policy (travel corridor arrangement) will soon be realized so that trade and economic activities in the region are not disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We are still designing the special travel policy and hopefully we can immediately make a declaration about special trips, especially for the essential sectors," said Lim Jock Hoi during a dialogue with ERIA President Prof. Hidetoshi Nishimura.

ERIA or the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia is one of the study institutions that focuses on exploring economic and trade issues in the region.

The ASEAN Secretary-General is aware that each member country has currently agreed on a special travel agreement through a bilateral agreement.

He argued that they also needed special travel arrangements at the regional level to enhance cooperation on economic recovery during and after the epidemic.

According to Lim, the ASEAN travel corridor is also an effort to ensure markets in the Southeast Asia region remain open during the pandemic.

An open market has become one of the important factors that have accelerated economic recovery in the 10 member countries of the association.

The ten ASEAN member countries are Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia.

The ASEAN economic ministers agreed on ensuring the market remains open so that access to essential products and services is not disrupted, for example, the ASEAN Special Summit Declaration (Summit) in Hanoi as a commitment to improving the trade supply chain connectivity in the region.

"We also continue to build cooperation with countries outside ASEAN through the ASEAN 3 and ASEAN 1 mechanism," he said in the dialogue held by ERIA, Thursday.

Lim's statement refers to the Declaration of the Special ASEAN Summit on COVID-19, which was launched on April 14, 2020 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The declaration was followed up by the launch of the Hanoi Action Plan on June 26, 2020. President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo at the opening of the 36th ASEAN Summit which was held virtually on June 26, 2020, proposed the importance of forming a special travel agreement in the region or the ASEAN travel corridor arrangement.

According to President Jokowi, special travel arrangements in the region will show ASEAN's strategic meaning in the eyes of the world.

During a pandemic situation, Indonesia has agreed on special travel agreements with the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, China, and Singapore.

In addition, the Indonesian and Japanese governments in October 2020 also agreed on establishing a travel corridor between the two countries.

Referring to President Jokowi's statement in October, Indonesia and Japan are likely to formalize a special travel agreement in November. However, all travel corridor agreements made by Indonesia only apply to essential business trips and official travel. (Antaranews)

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (SJP) said Wednesday that Israel has killed over 46 members of the Palestinian press since the Al-Aqsa Intifada erupted in 2000.

This was revealed in a demonstration held in front of the UN headquarters in the Gaza Strip on the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists.

The SJP deputy chairman, Tahseen al-Astal, asked the United Nations to take on its responsibility in protecting journalists and bringing to justice the perpetrators of Israeli crimes against Palestinian journalists.

"Syndicates annually count between 500 - 700 occupation and (Israeli) crime attacks against Palestinian journalists and now is the time to stop these crimes and hold accountable those who committed crimes and those who issued orders," Al-Astal said.

He stressed that Israel's violations of journalists "aim to silence the press while preventing factual images from being conveyed to the world."

Israel has a long history of targeting journalists, the New York-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists documented 17 confirmed murder cases of journalists in Israel and in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1992.

As many as 15 journalists were shot dead by Israel in 2014, when Israel launched its final massive offensive against blockaded Gaza and killed more than 2,200 Palestinians. It was the bloodiest year for journalists in Palestine. (Anadolu-Antaranews)

The United States formally exited the Paris Agreement on Wednesday, fulfilling a years-long promise by President Donald Trump to withdraw the world’s second-largest greenhouse gas emitter from the global pact to fight climate change.

But the outcome of the tight U.S. election contest will determine for how long. Trump’s Democratic rival, Joe Biden, has promised to rejoin the agreement if elected.

“The U.S. withdrawal will leave a gap in our regime, and the global efforts to achieve the goals and ambitions of the Paris Agreement,” said Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The United States still remains a party to the UNFCCC. Espinosa said the body will be “ready to assist the U.S. in any effort in order to rejoin the Paris Agreement.”

Trump first announced his intention to withdraw the United States from the pact in June 2017, arguing it would undermine the U.S. economy. But he was unable to formally do so until now because of the requirements of the deal.

The departure makes the United States the only country of 197 signatories to have withdrawn from the agreement, hashed out in 2015. Obama’s White House had pledged to cut U.S. emissions 26-28% by 2025 from 2005 levels under the deal.

Biden is broadly expected to ramp up those goals if elected. He has promised to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 under a sweeping $2 trillion plan to transform the economy.

The Rhodium Group said that in 2020, the United States will be at around 21% below 2005 levels. It added that under a second Trump administration, it expects U.S. emissions would increase by more than 30% through 2035 from 2019 levels.

Most scientists believe the world must cut emissions sharply and quickly in order to avoid the most catastrophic effects of global warming. China, Japan, South Korea, and the European Union have recently ramped up their carbon-cutting targets. (Reuters)

Austrian police raided 18 properties and arrested 14 people in a massive manhunt on Tuesday for possible accomplices of a convicted jihadist who shot dead four people and injured 22 others in a late-night rampage in the center of Vienna.

The gunman, who was killed by police minutes after opening fire on crowded bars on Monday, had been released from jail less than a year ago. He was identified as Kujtim Fejzulai, a 20-year-old Austrian who also held North Macedonian nationality.

It was the first such militant attack in Vienna in a generation, and the government pledged robust action.

“We will defend our fundamental values, our way of life and our democracy with all our strength,” Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said in a national address about what he branded an Islamist terror attack.

“We will find and hunt down the perpetrators, those behind this and their associates, and mete out a just sentence. And we will pursue all those who have anything to do with this outrage with all available means.”

Swiss police also arrested two men on Tuesday near Zurich in an investigation of possible links to the gunman.

Speaking later to broadcaster ORF, Kurz urged European nations to take more decisive action against terrorism.

“We must give everyone who wants to integrate the chance to integrate, but we must at the same time make clear that our basic values are not negotiable,” he said.

The attack followed recent deadly assaults by lone Islamist attackers in Nice and Paris. Many Muslims have been angered by the publication in strictly secular France of satirical caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad.

“WE WILL REMAIN UNITED”

In Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron visited the Austrian Embassy to write a message of condolence in German that read: “In joy and in sorrow, we will remain united.”

Both he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke to Kurz to offer their support as expressions of solidarity poured in from around the world.

Islamic State claimed responsibility on Tuesday for the attack without providing evidence, the group’s Amaq News Agency said in a statement on Telegram.

An elderly man and woman, a young passer-by, and a waitress were among those killed in the attack, Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said. A German woman was also killed, Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said.

Vienna’s mayor said three people were still in critical condition.

The normally bustling center of Vienna was largely empty on Tuesday as the public heeded government calls to stay inside and a manhunt for a possible second gunman was underway.

The gunman, armed with an assault rifle, a handgun, and a machete, had opened fire at six places including a bar near Vienna’s main synagogue on Monday as people enjoyed the last night out before a COVID-19 curfew took effect.

Interior Minister Nehammer said Fejzulai had recently served about eight months of a 22-month sentence for seeking to travel to Syria to join Islamic State.

“He was released early exactly because he gave the impression that he had engaged with deradicalization programs and was prepared to integrate himself into society,” Nehammer told a news conference.

Fejzulai had posted a photo on a social media account before the attack, showing himself with weapons, Nehammer said.

Whether anyone else was involved in carrying out or preparing the attack remained unclear.

After saying overnight that another attacker was on the loose, Nehammer said there was no indication of another assailant in large volumes of mobile phone footage of the attacks sent in by the public, but it could not be ruled out.

North Macedonia’s Interior Ministry said it believed three people - all born in Austria and holding dual Austrian and North Macedonian citizenship - had been involved in the attack. It identified them only by initials and gave no further information.

A man identified as Fejzulai’s grandfather told a local television channel in North Macedonia that his grandson would visit his ancestral home, the tiny mountain village of Cellopek, every year. (Reuters)