VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Mar. 3 - A 63-year-old man in Hong Kong died two days after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine shot, the Department of Health said in a statement, although it was uncertain if there was a direct ink between his death and the shot for coronavirus.

The statement came after several media outlets reported a 63-year-old man who received China’s Sinovac shot on Feb. 26 died two days afterward. The Department of Health said the man developed acute breathing difficulties and died on Feb. 28.

It did not say which vaccine the man received.

It said it had contacted the Hospital Authority for more information and evaluation. The authority did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Global health authorities have praised the fast development of safe and effective COVID vaccines, but have warned people with serious underlying health conditions to take medical advice first. (Reuters)

Mar. 3 - The U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price on Tuesday said that the United States understanding is that Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York Kyaw Moe Tun remains in position despite an attempt by the junta to install his deputy.

Myanmar state television announced on Saturday that Kyaw Moe Tun had been fired for betraying the country, a day after he urged countries to use “any means necessary” to reverse a Feb. 1 coup that ousted the nation’s elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. (Reuters)

Mar. 3 - A summit of Southeast Asian states held on Tuesday to discuss the coup in Myanmar failed to find a breakthrough to get the nation back on the path to democracy after last month’s military takeover, sources with knowledge of the meeting said.

Speaking after foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ended their virtual meeting, Indonesia’s chief envoy Retno Marsudi urged the junta to allow the bloc to resolve escalating tensions.

“It takes two to tango,” she said after the meeting. “ASEAN’s good intentions and readiness will be meaningless if Myanmar does not open its door.”

ASEAN - which is made up of democracies, communist states, authoritarian regimes and an absolute monarchy - did not forge a common position during the meeting, two ASEAN diplomatic sources said.

A statement from the meeting’s chair, Brunei, on the outcome of the meeting, said ASEAN expressed concern about the situation in Myanmar and called on “all parties to refrain from instigating further violence”.

“We expressed ASEAN’s readiness to assist Myanmar in a positive, peaceful and constructive manner,” it said.

In a statement of remarks made during the summit, Singapore’s foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan warned an inability to find a common ASEAN position “would starkly underscore our lack of unity, and undermine our credibility and relevance as an organisation”.

The use of lethal force against unarmed civilians was “inexcusable”, he said.

Retno, Balakrishnan and the foreign ministers of Malaysia and the Philippines called for the release of political detainees including civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a position that was not endorsed by all at the summit.

The “informal” meeting was the first involving the 10-nation group since the coup and included Myanmar’s military appointed foreign minister, Wunna Maung Lwin.

Retno, the foreign minister of the region’s most populous country and the world’s third-biggest democracy, has been leading ASEAN diplomacy efforts and hardened her language against the coup.

“Restoring democracy back on track must be pursued,” she said. “Indonesia underlines that the will, the interest and the voices of the people of Myanmar must be respected.”

The United Nations, the United States, China and the European Union have all urged ASEAN to play a role in mediating the crisis in Myanmar, where at least 21 people have been killed as security forces tried to quash mass protests.

The chair’s statement said the grouping looked forward to a special ASEAN-United States meeting of foreign ministers “in the near future”.

Among recommendations made at the meeting, Retno said an ASEAN taskforce could provide humanitarian assistance in Myanmar.

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s chief diplomat Hishammuddin Hussein proposed that an ASEAN expert group could look into alleged discrepancies found in the November’s election won in a landslide by Suu Kyi.

The military seized power after claiming the election was riddled with fraud, despite independent monitors saying it reflected the will of the people.

Both the Singaporean and Malaysian foreign ministers noted that ASEAN had stood by Myanmar in the past when it was previously globally isolated under military rule. (Reuters)

Mar. 3 - Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung volcano sent a cloud of hot ash as high as 5 km (3.1 miles) on Tuesday, in its first big eruption since August last year, the country’s volcanology centre said.

Mount Sinabung’s activity has increased since last year and the alert for the volcano in North Sumatra province has been placed at the second-highest level.

No casualties were reported, but an official had earlier urged people to stay at least 3 km from the crater, Indonesia’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Centre said.

Videos on social media showed little panic among residents over the eruption, which sent a column of white ash into the blue sky.

Wirda Br Sitepu, a 20-year-old resident, told Reuters that the situation had calmed and said “the mountain is not erupting, and the ash has decreased.”

Indonesia straddles the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire”, a highly seismically active zone, where different plates on the earth’s crust meet and create a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes.

Indonesia has nearly 130 active volcanoes, more than any other country.

Sinabung had been inactive for centuries before it erupted again in 2010. (Reuters)