VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa has urged all regional leaders in the province as well as stakeholders to consistently collaborate in efforts to eradicate extreme poverty and suppress stunting.

She made the request at the opening of the highlights of Public Collaboration Month XX and the 51st commemoration of the Family Welfare Empowerment Collective Movement in Madiun, East Java, on July 16, 2023.

According to a statement received in Madiun on Monday, the governor said that the special month can serve as an opportunity to boost collaboration among all stakeholders, including tertiary education institutions, by outlining a comprehensive community service program (KKN) that can suppress the rate of extreme poverty and stunting at a faster pace.

"The national target of 2024 is for extreme poverty rate to reach zero percent, whereas the stunting rate (is targeted to come down) to 14 percent. God willing, East Java can achieve those earlier if collaboration is consistently improved," Parawansa added.

She cited 2020 data from the province's Health Office, which pegged the region's stunting prevalence at 25.6 percent. In 2021, the figure declined to 23.5 percent, and in 2022, it fell further to 19.2 percent, she noted. The governor informed that the latest rate was below the World Health Organization's (WHO’s) stunting threshold of 20 percent.

She said that there was an interesting finding from a professor of science in nutrition—that stunting does not merely denote a lack of nutrition, but also hints at underlying issues within families.

"(The professor) did a survey in one South Asian country, in a village in which usually the children grew up with stunting. Turns out the problem is not just low nutritional intake, or lacking protein and calories. But instead, the lack of love and (attention)," she added.

According to Parawansa, the period of gestation, not birth marks the beginning of life. Hence, a mother must be loved and cared for a lot by her spouse and family.

"So our intervention measure can't just be limited to nutritional stuff. But also on educating about parenting in every prospective family who will be wedded, it must be done (effectively)," she added.

The governor said that the province recorded an extreme poverty rate of 1.8 percent in 2022; hence, she urged everyone to use the collaboration month to bring down the poverty rate significantly by working hand in hand. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati discussed tax reform with her Australian counterpart James Edward Chalmers on the sidelines of the 3rd G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (3rd G20 FMCBG) Meeting in India.

"One of the topics of discussion is taxation, especially related to tax reform," she said on her official Instagram account @smindrawati, which was accessed from Jakarta on Monday.

Apart from taxation, Indrawati and Chalmers also discussed other topics relevant to India's Presidency of the G20.

On climate change financing, they explored the potential for collaboration regarding taxonomy and green financing in the Asian region.

They also discussed infrastructure and its financing by integrating public-private partnership.

"I also take this opportunity to express my appreciation for Jim's support regarding Indonesia's membership in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)," Indrawati said.

She attended the FMCBG meeting organized under India’s G20 Presidency in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India.

As part of the agenda, she shared her views on economic development and increasing cooperation with various stakeholders.

To strengthen bilateral cooperation, the Indonesian minister and Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched the Economic and Financial Cooperation Dialogue (EFD) in Gandhinagar.

The dialogue will discuss policies ranging from the highest level to the technical level. The discussion will be targeted at meeting the domestic development needs of each country, as well as efforts to maintain high economic growth performance, create jobs, reduce poverty, and increase cooperation, not only within a bilateral framework, but also at the multilateral level. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Minister of Manpower, Ida Fauziyah, sent off Indonesian delegates to participate in the 13th WorldSkills ASEAN in Singapore.

"You are the best of the nation who have been chosen through a long and stringent selection, and I believe that you have prepared yourselves well, with a fighting spirit that never gives up to become a champion," the minister said in a statement released on Monday.

According to Fauziyah, WorldSkills ASEAN has an important meaning in the effort to prepare competent human resources. The success of Indonesian competitors within the event will be one of the benchmarks to measure how competitive Indonesian human resources are at the ASEAN level.

She urged participants to show proper and professional attitude as well as high sportsmanship.

"Show that, in addition to skills, we are also not lacking in terms of attitude, behavior, and personality," the minister said.

The 2023 WorldSkills ASEAN will be held from July 23–25 in Singapore. During the previous editions, WorldSkills ASEAN, also known as ASEAN Skills Competition (ASC), was a routine activity held in ASEAN once every two years.

The event was held to improve training cooperation, promote vocational training and education, and improve the quality of the young workforce in ASEAN.

The 13th WorldSkills ASEAN is being held this year after being delayed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For this year, the competition will feature 22 vocational fields and draw participation from 10 ASEAN member countries.

Indonesia has sent 36 competitors for 18 vocational fields, namely automobile technology, beauty therapy, CNC maintenance, electronics, fashion technology, graphic design technology, hairdressing, industrial automation, Internet of Things, and IT network system administration.

They also include IT software solutions for business, mechanical engineering CAD, mechatronics, mobile robotics, rapid transit systems, refrigeration and air conditioning, restaurant services, and web technologies. (Antaranews)

Global temperatures were soaring to historic highs as the world's two biggest carbon emitters, the United States and China, sought on Monday to reignite talks on climate change.

With scientists saying the target of keeping global warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels is moving beyond reach, evidence of the crisis was everywhere.

A remote town in China's arid northwest, Sanbao, registered a national record of 52.2 Celsius (126 Fahrenheit).

Wildfires in Europe raged ahead of a second heat wave in two weeks that was set to send temperatures as high as 48C.

And nearly a quarter of the U.S. population fell under extreme heat advisories, partly due to a heat dome that has settled over western states.

"In many parts of the world, today is predicted to be the hottest day on record," tweeted Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organisation.

"The #ClimateCrisis is not a warning. It’s happening. I urge world leaders to ACT now."

Ahead of meeting Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua in Beijing, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry urged China to partner with the United States to cut methane emissions and coal-fired power.

Prolonged high temperatures in China are threatening power grids and crops and raising concerns about a repeat of last year's drought, the most severe in 60 years.

Typhoon Talim was gaining strength and due to make land at night along China's southern coast, forcing the cancellation of flights and trains in the regions of Guangdong and Hainan.

In South Korea, torrential rains left 40 people dead as river levees collapsed causing flash floods. They followed the heaviest recorded rain in the capital Seoul last year.

An anticyclone nicknamed Charon - who in Greek mythology was the ferryman of the dead - could cause Europe to break its highest recorded temperature of 48.8C, possibly on the Italian island of Sardinia, according to Italy's Air Force weather service.

'VERY SCARY'

The high temperatures are especially risky for people like teenage sisters Matilde and Angelica Aureli from Rome, who during extreme heat can only venture outside after 9 p.m. because of their albinism. The genetic condition affects the protective pigment melanin in hair, skin and eyes.

"In the summer, it is getting hotter year by year... it's actually very scary as an experience because for people with albinism, the sun keeps getting worse," Matilde said.

In Spain, temperatures could rise to as high as 44C in some regions and will not fall below 25C at night, increasing the probability of wildfires, said Ruben del Campo, a spokesperson for state weather agency AEMET.

However, a forest fire on the island of La Palma in the Canaries that forced the evacuation of 4,000 people was being brought under control as temperatures fell, local official Sergio Rodriguez said in an interview on TVE.

The heat dome across the western United States also helped to generate heavy rains in the northeast, claiming at least five lives. The heat warnings spread as far as Florida.

In California's Death Valley, tourists gathered in Furnace Creek on Sunday in anticipation of witnessing the hottest recognised temperature on earth: 134 Farenheit (56.7C) in 1913, according to the World Meteorological Organization.

They cheered as a digital display of 132F ticked up to 133 while National Park rangers stood by in case anyone succumbed to heat stroke.

"It's my first time being here so I feel it would be really cool to be here for the hottest day ever on Earth for my first time," said Kayla Hill, 24, of Salt Lake City, Utah.

Carlo Buontempo, director of the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service, said there was a clear pattern of heatwaves becoming more common as predicted by scientists.

"We are already in uncharted territory, completely. We have never seen anything like this in our living memory, in our history," Buontempo said. (Reuters)