VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

FILE PHOTO: Romania's new Prime minister-designate Nicolae Ciuca, a retired four-star army general, delivers a press statement alongside Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, in Bucharest, Romania October 21, 2021. George Calin/Inquam Photos via REUTERS/File Photo - 

A minority government lineup put forward by Romania's centrist Prime Minister-designate Nicolae Ciuca will face a parliamentary vote of confidence next week, which he is widely expected to lose, further prolonging a month-long political stalemate.

Romania has been in political paralysis since a Liberal-led government was toppled by parliament on Oct. 5, threatening economic recovery and efforts to cut big budget and external shortfalls at a time of rising COVID-19 infections.

Parliamentary committees decided on Saturday to hold the confidence vote on Wednesday, with parliamentary hearings of cabinet ministers due the day before.

Retired army general Ciuca, 54, a Liberal serving as defence minister in the current caretaker government led by Florin Citu, has drafted a cabinet lineup made of his party and ethnic Hungarian UDMR ministers, which jointly control 163 parliament seats, 71 seats short of a majority.

Analysts expect Ciuca to face a tough task convincing the fragmented legislature to back him, with the largest opposition group, the Social Democrats, saying they would only favour a cabinet made of technocrats instead of a minority setup.

A previous Liberal-led coalition unravelled last month after the centrist USR, a relatively new grouping, withdrew its ministers in a row over a regional development fund, stripping the government of a parliamentary majority.

If Ciuca fails to win next week's confidence vote, President Klaus Iohannis can dissolve parliament and call a snap election - an unlikely scenario given current economic and health challenges.

A fresh nomination for premier from Iohannis might occur as early as next week, pundits say//CNA

A meeting between Pope Francis and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Vatican on Oct 30, 2021 - 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday (Oct 30) asked Pope Francis to visit India, a significant opening towards the head of the Catholic Church who has long sought an official invitation to the Hindu-majority country.

Modi, 71, invited Pope Francis during a meeting at the Vatican on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome.

"Had a very warm meeting with Pope Francis. I had the opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues with him and also invited him to visit India," Modi said on Twitter after the talks.

The Pope, 84, has been on record saying that he wants to visit India. The Vatican had even drafted a schedule for a papal trip several years ago, according to religious news website Crux.

"Thank you very much for your visit. I'm happy, I'm very happy," a smiling Pope Francis said as he grasped Modi's hand at the end of the visit, according to footage released by the Vatican.

Modi replied: "I would like to see you in India."

Pope Francis, leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics, is hoping to push the defence of religious freedom in the world's second-most populous country.

Activists say that religious minorities in India have faced increased levels of discrimination and violence since Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014.

While Muslims, who make up around 14 per cent of the population, have borne the brunt, Christians, who account for just over 2 per cent, have also suffered a rise in reported violent attacks.

The last papal visit to India was made by Pope John Paul II in 1999.

Saturday's Vatican visit was the first meeting between Pope Francis and Modi. A senior official in the prime minister's office told AFP the "very warm" talks - scheduled to last 20 minutes - went on for nearly an hour.

In an unusually short note, the Vatican described it as "a brief conversation" in which "the cordial relations between the Holy See and India were discussed".

Modi's office said the leaders discussed "fighting climate change and removing poverty". There was no mention of the red-button issue of religious freedom.

Under the pretext that Christians are seeking forcibly to convert Hindus, more than 300 violent incidents have been recorded this year, according to a report by a group of NGOs released this month.

This included a reported attack on a prayer house by around 200 members of the BJP and Hindu groups in the northern state of Uttarakhand in early October.

The local head of the BJP said the prayer house held "suspicious gatherings".

At least three states run by the BJP have passed legislation aimed at preventing "forced conversion" and dozens of people have been arrested.

Others plan to follow suit including Karnataka, where priests have come out in protest.

In 2020, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom listed India as a "country of particular concern" for the first time since 2004.

Modi's government denies having a Hindu agenda and insists that people of all religions have equal rights//CNA

PM Lee Hsien Loong attends the opening plenary session of the G20 Summit in Rome. (Photo: Ministry of Communications and Information) - 

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Saturday (Oct 30) called for the faster manufacture and deployment of COVID-19 vaccines as well as standardised travel protocols at the Group of 20 (G20) summit.

Speaking at the “Global Economy and Global Health” session on the first day of the summit in Rome, he said that building collective resilience will be “essential”, even as the pandemic remains a challenge.

“New variants, more infectious or vaccine-resistant, may yet emerge. Meanwhile, countries still face the enormous economic, social, and human costs of the pandemic,” Mr Lee said.

And in order to build that resilience, in the short-term, there needs to be faster manufacture and deployment of vaccines worldwide to ensure a more “durable and equitable” recovery, he added.

In the longer term, this means strengthening pandemic preparedness and response, Mr Lee added.

“Singapore commends the Italian presidency for galvanising global cooperation to quell this pandemic and to prepare for future health crises. The proposed reforms and initiatives to strengthen healthcare financing are important first steps,” he said.

“The current global system for public health is significantly underfunded, and mobilising concerted action takes far too long. We need a mechanism for credible and inclusive global governance, as well as predictable and sustained funding to plug gaps in global health security.”

Mr Lee also pointed out that Singapore has played its part both regionally and internationally. 

“We contributed to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment and the COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund. We donated vaccines, oxygen, and other critical supplies to those that needed them,” he explained.

“We used Singapore’s logistics capability, airport, and ultra-cold chain facilities, to become a distribution hub for vaccines.”//CNA

Indonesian President Joko Widodo (center) attends a dinner hosted by the Italian President Sergio Mattarella (second from left) in Rome, Italy on Saturday (October 30, 2021). (ANTARA/HO-Press Bureau of the Presidential Secretariat/Muchlis Jr./yas) - 

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi lauded Indonesian President Joko Widodo's programs regarding MSMEs empowerment, increasing the role of women in business, and economic inclusiveness, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said.

"The Italian prime minister appreciates the programs presented by President Jokowi," Minister Hartarto stated in an online press statement -- on the Group of Twenty (G20) Summit in Rome -- broadcasted on Presidential Secretariat's YouTube channel and monitored from Jakarta on Sunday.

Amid the series of G20 meetings, a side event on MSMEs and women-owned businesses was conducted, and it presented President Jokowi as a speaker, along with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands.

At the side event, Jokowi conveyed about the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) empowerment programs that Indonesia had carried out, such as the provision of loans for people's business (KUR), supermicro KUR loans, women-based finance lending development (Mekaar) program, and digitization program for MSMEs.

Moreover, Coordinating Minister Hartarto also said that Queen Maxima of the Netherlands during the event mentioned about the presence of online motorcycle taxi services as a good example of economic inclusive implementation.

During the G20 side event regarding MSMEs, President Jokowi said that Indonesia currently has more than 65 million MSMEs that contribute to 61 percent of the national economy. Jokowi emphasized that MSMEs are the main pillar of Indonesia's national economy.

At the same time, 64 percent of Indonesian MSME actors are women. Therefore, for Indonesia, the program to empower MSMEs also means empowering women in business. MSMEs in the coutry have also shown quite high resilience in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, Indonesian government has also distributed a fund worth US$1.1 billion for the Productive Micro Business Program and 63.5 percent of which was received by women entrepreneurs//ANT