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Olaf Scholz will scramble for coalition partners after his SPD party beat the conservatives - 

German political parties will hold exploratory talks from Sunday (Oct 3) as they jostle to form the next government after a close election, with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) battling Angela Merkel's conservatives for the chancellery.

The SPD and its candidate Olaf Scholz narrowly won last week's vote on 25.7 per cent, with Merkel's CDU-CSU alliance plunging to an all-time low of 24.1 per cent as she prepares to leave the stage after 16 years in power.

The result leaves the SPD in pole position to form a government, but conservative leader Armin Laschet has also vowed to begin coalition talks in a last-ditch effort to keep the ailing CDU-CSU in power.

In the complex calculations for a coalition, the makeup of the next German government essentially hinges on which of the two parties can persuade the Greens and the liberal FDP to sign up for a partnership.

First up in what Der Spiegel magazine has described as the "poker game for power" is the SPD, which will huddle with the FDP on Sunday afternoon and the Greens in the evening.

Their rivals, the CDU-CSU, will meet with the FDP on Sunday evening and the Greens on Tuesday.

In a poll for the ZDF broadcaster on Friday, 59 per cent of respondents said they were in favour of an SPD-Greens-FDP coalition, also known as the "traffic-light" combination after the parties' colours.

Only 24 per cent said they would prefer the combination led by the CDU, a coalition known as "Jamaica" after the colours of that country's flag.

About 76 per cent said they thought Scholz should be the next German chancellor, with just 13 per cent backing Laschet.

In an interview with Der Spiegel magazine on Friday, Scholz said it was "clear from every poll that people don't want the (CDU-CSU) to be part of the next government".

"The election result is clear. The CDU and CSU have suffered a historic defeat and have been voted out," he said.

But the conservatives are not giving up, with Markus Blume, general secretary of the CSU, insisting on Friday that "Jamaica has a chance".

The CSU, the smaller Bavarian partner in the conservative alliance, had provoked consternation earlier in the week by conceding that Scholz had won the election and should be first in the queue to form a government.

The stance broke ranks with Laschet, who at that point had not publicly congratulated Scholz and had claimed "no party" - not even the SPD - could claim a mandate to govern from the vote outcome.

Laschet has faced a barrage of criticism over his election performance and his refusal to admit defeat, including calls to resign from within his own party - but has so far given no indication that he plans to do so.

With the SPD and the conservatives scrambling for the affections of the Greens and the FDP, the smaller parties find themselves in an outsize position of power as potential kingmakers.

"For now, Greens and FDP are in the driver's seat," said Holger Schmieding, an analyst for the Berenberg bank.

The two parties have aready held two sounding-out sessions, with their leaders posting a much-shared selfie on social media in a show of unity after a secret gathering on Tuesday.

But it remains to be seen "whether they can really choose between traffic light and Jamaica, and the extent to which they can shape the agenda", Schmieding said.

The two smaller parties are not natural bedfellows, diverging on issues like tax hikes and public investment in climate protection.

After Germany's last election in 2017, the FDP dramatically walked out of negotiations with the CDU-CSU and the Greens, with leader Christian Lindner declaring it was "better not to govern at all than to govern badly"//CNA

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte arrives with daughter and first lady Sara Duterte-Carpio to attend the enthronement ceremony of Japan's Emperor Naruhito in Tokyo, Japan, on Oct 22, 2019. (File photo: Pool via Reuters/Carl Court) - 

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's daughter would run for president in next year's election and her father's long-time aide, who filed his vice presidential candidacy, would be her running mate, broadcasting firm ABS-CBN news reported late on Saturday (Oct 2).

Sara Duterte-Carpio is currently mayor of Davao, the Philippines' third-largest city, and filed on Saturday to run for mayor again. She has previously said she would not run for national office next year.

ABS-CBN news based its report on an interview that Duterte had with a broadcast journalist right after he announced that he was retiring from politics while accompanying his closest loyalist, Senator Christopher "Bong" Go, who filed his vice presidential candidacy.

He was asked: "So is it clear, Sara-Go?"

"It is Sara-Go," Duterte said in response.

When asked to confirm what the president said, Duterte-Carpio's spokesperson, Mayor Christina Garcia Frasco told Reuters: "The extent of my knowledge is also what was reported in local news. We have no comment on the same."

Go did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

ABS-CBN news said it obtained permission from the broadcast journalist to use the video showing Duterte outside a hotel in Manila where the registration of candidates was taking place, and that a transcript was also provided.

In the same clip, Duterte was asked when his daughter would file her candidacy for president. He said: "I really do not know. I do not have any idea at all".

Asked if he had given his daughter permission to run for president, he said: "Ah, no, actually we don't talk about politics, ever since we never talk about politics. I would say that it is for the better," Duterte was quoted as saying.

Duterte, 76, said on Saturday he was retiring from politics, a surprise move that fuelled speculation he was clearing the way for a presidential run by his daughter.

He had been expected to run for the No. 2 job, a plan most Filipinos oppose  as violating the spirit of the constitution which sets a one-term limit for the president to stop power being abused.

Duterte-Carpio's mayorial re-election filing, did little to douse speculation she has her eye on the presidency.

Political analysts were sceptical, noting that last-minute changes were still possible, as in 2015 when Duterte entered the presidential election race at the eleventh hour and won by a huge margin, and Duterte-Carpio, they said, could do the same.

Candidates have until Oct 8 to register, but withdrawals and substitutions are allowed until Nov 15, leaving scope for last-minute changes of heart//CNA

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned the attack on UN peacekeepers in Mali. (Photo: AFP) - 

An Egyptian peacekeeper was killed and four colleagues were seriously injured in improvised explosive attacks on their convoy in Mali's volatile north on Saturday (Oct 2), the United Nations said.

Confirming the toll, a spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General said Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the attacks, which happened near Tessalit, close to the Algerian border.

Guterres said attacks could constitute war crimes, and called on Malian authorities "to spare no effort" in finding those responsible.

"This incident is a sad reminder of the permanent danger hanging over our peacekeepers and of the sacrifices made for peace in Mali," El-Ghassim Wane, who heads the UN mission in Mali (MINUSMA), said in an earlier statement.

Already battling a jihadist insurgency, Mali slid into political turmoil when a military coup in August 2020 installed an interim civilian government only for it to be overthrown in a second putsch less than a year later.

Deployed in Mali since 2013, MINUSMA is currently the deadliest United Nations peace mission in the world, with 145 killed in hostile acts recorded as of Aug 31, according to UN statistics.

The current force includes more than 12,000 soldiers.

In April, four Chadian peacekeepers from MINUSMA were killed in a jihadist attack on their camp in Aguelhok, also in northeastern Mali.

The latest violence comes amid uncertainty over the future of foreign military forces in the country.

Mali's new military-dominated government took delivery Saturday of four Russian military helicopters as it considered hiring mercenaries from a Russian private security firm.

The Wagner group is considered close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Western countries accuse it of acting on behalf of Moscow.

European countries warned Bamako against becoming involved with the group on the sidelines of last week's UN General Assembly.

The new regime is reportedly in the process of hiring 1,000 paramilitaries from Wagner, a move viewed with grave concern particularly by former colonial power France, which currently maintains a 5,000-strong counterterrorism mission in Mali.

It was French military intervention in 2013 that helped defeat a jihadist insurgency there.

But Paris is due to reduce the number of its troops in the Sahel to 2,500 or 3,000 by 2023.

It wants to reorganise its presence around a tighter unit centred on targeted strikes against jihadist leaders and on supporting local armies.

At the UN last month, Mali's Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga reacted to the decision by accusing France of abandoning his country. Bamako was justified in its desire to "seek other partners" to boost security, he added.

French President Emmanuel Macron denounced the comments as "inadmissible" in the same week another soldier died in Mali, the 52nd service member lost there since 2013//CNA

Illustration - Seaweed harvesting. ANTARA/HO-Marine and Fisheries Affairs Ministry/sh - 

The Marine and Fisheries Affairs Ministry has planned to establish seaweed farming villages in the eastern regions of Indonesia, as part of efforts to develop the top commodity in the fisheries sub-sector.

"The government will develop seaweed villages starting next year in Southeast Maluku and East Sumba," the ministry's Director General of Fish Farming Tb Haeru Rahayu said in a statement here on Sunday.

The development of the new seaweed farming will not set aside the existing farms. In fact, the government will connect them with private companies and funding institutions for further development, Rahayu said.

According to Rahayu, two out of three breakthrough program of the ministry to boost development in marine and fisheries industry in Indonesia are centered in fish farming sub-sector.

The program are development of fish farming for export supported by marine and fisheries research as well as the development of local wisdom-based fish farming villages.

"Seaweed has a bright prospect, but it needs a holistic approach to all stakeholders including the government, academicians, business operators, media and the public," he said.

The ministry has targeted to increase seaweed production from 9.78 million tons in 2019 to 12.3 million tons in 2024.

To reach the target, the ministry has designed a working plan to increase productivity and open new seaweed farming.

The ministry has worked closely with the Kalimajari Foundation, a Bali-based NGO working on sustainable cacao and seaweed development, to help farmers in the provinces of East Nusa Tenggara, Papua, and West Papua with technology to increase production.

"In addition, strategy, supply and distribution system of seaweed will also be improved and at the same time involving private seaweed seeds intermediary for sustainable seed sources," Rahayu said//ANT