VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Monday touted his administration's successes over the past year, including battling inflation and steering the economy back on track, but said a number of economic challenges lie ahead.

After more than a year in office, buffeted by soaring inflation that has dented economic growth, the government is now "stabilising the prices of all critical commodities", Marcos said.

"Inflation rate is moving in the right direction," he said in his second state of the nation address.

"There are many things over which we have no control. But over those where we do have control, we are doing everything we can."

To help keep consumer prices in check, Marcos said the government aimed to increase local food production, and augment supply with "timely and calibrated importation".

Developing the long-neglected farm sector, which contributes 10% of the country's economic output, is a priority for Marcos, who also helms the agriculture ministry.

Sentiment towards Marcos soured in his first year in office after inflation surged to levels not seen in 14 years, prompting the Philippine central bank to embark on its most aggressive monetary tightening cycle in years.

The Philippines remains vulnerable to global price shocks because it buys a sizeable portion of its rice overseas, and relies on imports for most of its fuel requirements.

Michael Ricafort, an economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp, said sustaining the reduction in inflation and bringing down electricity prices, among the world's highest, would remain key challenges for the government.

Annual inflation eased for a fifth straight month in June to 5.4%, still outside the government's 2-4% target for the year.

A short distance away from the Congress building where Marcos spoke, hundreds of protesters pressed the government to deal with issues ranging from higher wages and inflation to the environment.

Marcos, the son of the strongman overthrown in a 1986 revolt, aims to expand the Philippine economy by as much as 8% to keep its place among Asia's fastest-growing countries, and halve the poverty rate, which was 18.1% in 2021, the most recent figure.

He repeated his promise to invest in the country's roads, ports, airports, and water supply, committing infrastructure spending that is equal to as much as 6% of GDP.

Marcos also addressed climate change, stressing the need to shift to renewables and low carbon energy, which he said would account for 35% of the country's energy mix by 2030 and 50% by 2040.

In the speech before the joint session of Congress, Marcos urged lawmakers to support his priority measures, which include seeking to tax single use plastics and reform the pension system of military and uniformed personnel.

Echoing a pledge he made when he assumed the presidency last year, Marcos said: "We will protect our sovereign rights and preserve our territorial integrity, in defence of rules-based international order."

Under Marcos, relations between China and the Philippines have grown tense, with Manila pivoting back to its traditional ally, the United States, which was granted greater access to military bases this year.

"Our journey to progress requires not only unity and social cohesion among our people. It is also imperative that our nation remains intact and inviolable, our sovereignty preserved," Marcos said in the speech that lasted for over an hour. (Reuters)

A Russian delegation led by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu will visit North Korea this week, state media agency KCNA reported on Tuesday, joining a Chinese group as the first such public visitors to the country since the start of the pandemic.

The delegations will visit to celebrate the 70th anniversary of "Victory Day" on Thursday in Pyongyang, KCNA reported, with Chinese Communist Party politburo member Li Hongzhong leading the group from his country.

North Korea closed its border in early 2020 to all trade and diplomatic exchanges, even with its main economic and political partners China and Russia. State media report did not say whether the visits will mark any change in policy.

The anniversary events are expected to include a major military parade in North Korea's capital.

China asserted on Monday that it "strictly" implements U.N. sanctions on North Korea, reacting to a letter from the Group of Seven, European Union and others that urged Beijing to stop Pyongyang from evading the measures by using Chinese waters.

China's exports to North Korea in June were eight times higher than a year before, when the secretive state was reporting tens of thousands of COVID-19 cases per day and had shut its border.

The United States, meanwhile, has accused North Korea of providing military aid to Russia for the war in Ukraine, a claim that both Pyongyang and Moscow deny. (Reuters)

Japan and China agreed to resume high-level trilateral talks with South Korea that would include the countries' leaders and top diplomats, Japanese foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a regular press conference, Hayashi said he and Chinese counterpart Wang Yi made the agreement on the sidelines of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in Indonesia earlier this month.

A trilateral summit meeting has not been held since December 2019 due to diplomatic tensions between Japan and South Korea, which have since thawed.

"It's highly meaningful for the leaders of China, Japan and South Korea, which share a big responsibility towards the region's peace and prosperity, to get together" to discuss cooperation and other issues, Hayashi told reporters.

U.S. allies Japan and South Korea are wary of China's increasing military assertiveness and of growing tensions between China and the United States over a range of issues including trade and self-ruled Taiwan. (Reuters)

South Korea's top court on Tuesday ruled against a parliamentary vote to impeach the interior minister over what critics said was a botched response to a deadly Halloween crush in Seoul last year, provoking anger and dismay among victims' relatives.

Some relatives at the hearing broke down in tears after the Constitutional Court ruling, with two mothers collapsing and taken away by an ambulance, according to a Reuters witness. There was a heavy police presence at the court.

Lawmakers in February voted to impeach minister Lee Sang-min, urging him to take responsibility for the failure of the response to a crowd surge that killed 159 people, most of them young people celebrating Halloween, in Seoul's Itaewon nightlife district.

"This disastrous incident was not caused and exacerbated by a single cause or person," Lee Jong-seok, a justice at the court said, adding that different government agencies were not able to respond in a coordinated way to big disasters.

While the court found the minister had made inappropriate remarks about how the disaster unfolded, it said in a statement the comments did not amount to grounds for impeachment and ruled he had not neglected his duties. The decision was unanimous, the court said.

Lee, who did not attend the hearing, said later in a statement issued by his ministry that it was time to unite and stop "wasteful political strife" over the disaster.

Dozens of relatives and their supporters gathered in front of the court chanting "condemn the constitutional court that gave immunity to Lee Sang-min".

Choi Sun-mi, the mother of victim Park Ga-young, said the ruling as "truly devastating".

"Our children, young people, are living in a place that isn't safe to even walk in," said Choi, whose hands were shaking as she choked back tears.

President Yoon Suk Yeol had rejected an opposition demand that he sack Lee.

The president's office and the ruling party denounced their rival Democrats and accused the party of abusing its majority in parliament to push the impeachment.

Before the ruling, dozens of members of right-wing groups rallied outside the court, calling on it to dismiss the impeachment and branding it an opposition ploy.

In June, the opposition-led National Assembly decided to fast-track a bill aimed at an independent investigation of the crowd crush.

The Itaewon district is known as a place of fun and freedom but its narrow, steep streets and limited access points proved a lethal mixture for the partygoers who became trapped and crushed. (Reuters)