VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Former president of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed is in intensive care after the Male bombing AFP/Ahmed SHURAU - 

Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed remained in intensive care on Saturday (May 8) as security services stepped up the hunt for the attackers, who allegedly used a remote control bomb on the democracy pioneer and climate activist.

The 53-year-old, who remains the Indian Ocean country's number two leader, is recovering from 16 hours of surgery to remove shrapnel from his lungs, liver, chest, abdomen and limbs after the attack on Thursday night.

"The improvised explosive device was triggered using a remote control," an MNDF official told reporters in the capital Male.

Police say they have identified four suspects seen close to the attack, but no arrests had been made.The Maldives is expecting Australian Federal Police officers to join the investigation on Saturday in addition to two experts from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih thanked Nasheed's medical team and said he prayed for his "quick recovery and return - stronger and steadier than ever".

Nasheed is a democracy pioneer in the Maldives who ended decades of one-party rule in the archipelago and became its first democratically elected president in 2008.

He is also known internationally as a champion for battling climate change and rising sea levels that he says threaten to submerge the nation of 1,192 tiny coral islands.

Nasheed was barred from contesting a 2018 presidential election because of a terrorism conviction after he was toppled in a military-backed coup in February 2012.

There has been no claim of responsibility, but his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) officials alleged political interests may have been involved.

Nasheed had been vocal on the need to bring to justice some 72 suspects in a US$90 million theft case dating from the tenure of former strongman president Abdulla Yameen//CNA

China's Long March 5B rocket took off from the southern island of Hainan. (File photo: AFP) - 

A large segment of a Chinese rocket is expected to make an uncontrolled re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere on the weekend, but Beijing has downplayed fears and said there is a very low risk of any damage.

A Long March 5B rocket launched the first module of China's new space station into Earth's orbit on Apr 29. Its 18-tonne main segment is now in free fall and experts have said it is difficult to say precisely where and when it will re-enter the atmosphere.

Re-entry is expected to be around 11pm GMT on Saturday (7am on Sunday, Singapore time), according to the Pentagon, with a window of plus or minus nine hours either side.

Chinese authorities have said most of the rocket components would likely be destroyed on re-entry."The probability of causing harm ... on the ground is extremely low," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters on Friday.

Although there has been fevered speculation over exactly where the rocket - or parts of it - will land, there is a good chance any debris that does not burn up will just splash down into the ocean on a planet made up of 70 per cent water.

"We're hopeful that it will land in a place where it won't harm anyone," said Pentagon spokesman Mike Howard.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier said that the US military had no plans to shoot it down, and suggested that China had been negligent in letting it fall out of orbit.

"Given the size of the object, there will necessarily be big pieces left over," said Florent Delefie, an astronomer at the Paris-PSL Observatory.

"The chances of debris landing on an inhabited zone are tiny, probably one in a million."

In 2020, debris from another Long March rocket fell on villages in the Ivory Coast, causing structural damage but no injuries or deaths//CNA

The devastating wave of COVID-19 infections sweeping India has already impacted the meeting with the European Union, forcing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to scrap plans to fly to Portugal. (File photo: AFP/Prakash SINGH) - 

The European Union (EU) and India are expected to further bolster warming ties on Saturday (May 8) by relaunching long-stalled trade talks and agreeing to work together against the pandemic battering the South Asian giant.

The devastating wave of COVID-19 infections sweeping India has already impacted the meeting by forcing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to scrap plans to fly to Portugal for in-person talks.

But the 27-nation bloc and the world's largest democracy remain determined to capitalise on growing momentum for tighter relations fuelled by shared concerns over the rising might of China.

"There is a positive dynamic because there is a convergence of interests," a European diplomat told AFP.

EU countries have sent medical equipment and drugs worth an estimated €100 million (US$120 million) to India as part of international efforts to help it fight against the flood of COVID-19 cases.

The focus on the virus at the summit will be on making sure the two vaccine-producing powerhouses can maintain global supplies - as well as on trying to plan together to tackle future pandemics.

"We obviously need together to continue our efforts to ramp up production, secure the necessary raw materials, and keep supply chains open," a senior EU official said.

"Leaders are going to commit to work together to better prepare for and respond to global health emergencies - and this clearly includes strengthening and reforming the World Health Organization."But Europe's main economic power Germany has already poured cold water on the efforts by insisting patent protection must remain in place while drug firms ramp up production.

While the pandemic casts a long shadow over the summit, the key announcement expected is the restarting of talks on a free trade agreement that have been suspended since 2013.

Negotiations were halted eight years ago after getting stuck on issues including cutting tariffs and access for Indian workers to Europe.

It remains to be seen if India is now willing to drop an approach viewed as deeply protectionist by the EU to seal a deal this time round//CNA

Indonesian tourism and Creative economy Ministry "Kick Off" International Conference Event at 5 DSP (Birkom) - 

The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy / the Tourism and Creative Economy Agency (Kemenparekraf / Baparekraf) conducted a kick off event for the International Conference or International Conference in 5 Super Priority Destinations (DSP) as an effort to promote the potential of Meeting, Incentive, Convention and Exhibition (MICE) Tourism for accelerating the revival of the post-pandemic tourism sector and creative economy (parekraf).

According to a Realease received by Voice of Indonesia in Jakarta, Friday (7/5/2021), The Deputy for Tourism Products and Activities for the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy / Baparekraf Rizki Handayani in his statement explained that his party has prepared a strategy to support the development of 5 DSPs where several strategies are implemented based on the three pillars of the Ministry of Tourism in the future, namely innovation, adaptation, and collaboration.

"With innovation we must be able to create new parekraf products, besides that we must be able to adapt to the application of strict and disciplined health protocols, and collaborate with related Ministries / Agencies, embracing the business world, local governments, educational institutions, communities, and the media. "He said.

Rizki conveyed that this activity was in order to increase the potential of the 5 DSPs and he considered collaboration to be very important. Kick off International Conference at 5 DSP, he said, was a form of collaboration between Kemenparekraf and PT. Kompas Media Nusantara, which has been launched since April 28, 2021 through a zoom platform with the signing of the parliament agreement as a symbol of the MoU of the two parties.