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Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Minister, Abdul Halim Iskandar.  (ANTARA FOTO/Ist)

Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Minister, Abdul Halim Iskandar, said the Village Fund (DD) program carried out from 2015 to 2020 was able to raise the economy and village equity in the country.

"Including being able to stretch the village income and expenditure budget (APBDes)," he said in a virtual speech on ‘Seven Years of Village Law’, originating from Jakarta on Friday.

In 2014, the total APBDes for all villages in Indonesia amounted to Rp20 trillion. Meanwhile, village funds, which were first disbursed to villages in 2015, reached Rp21 trillion. By 2015, the APBDes of each village in Indonesia had jumped from an average of Rp250 million to Rp500 million.

This condition has made villages favored by many because the rate of village fund disbursal has stimulated district, city, and provincial governments to increase financial assistance and village fund allocations, Iskandar said.He said that before 2015, the total village fund allocation stood at around Rp1 trillion per year. However, now it has increased to more than Rp33 trillion per year, he added.

"It has increased 33 times," the minister remarked.

Not surprisingly, in the seven years of the Village Law, village income and expenditure budgets (APBDes) have increased six-fold to touch Rp121 trillion in 2020, he informed.

Village funds, as stipulated in Law Number 6 of 2014, actually have a similar mechanism to the allocation of village funds, which was implemented in 2010, he added.

“Allocation of village funds is the obligation of local governments, especially districts and cities, to distribute annually to villages,” Iskandar said.

Meanwhile, Minister of Finance (Menkeu), Sri Mulyani Indrawati, has said village funds were intended to finance administration at the village level to support community development.Over the past seven years, the government's village fund allocation has grown rapidly. Village fund allocation stood at Rp20.8 trillion in 2015 and tripled to Rp72 trillion by 2020/2021//ANT

A graphic shows data on COVID-19 active cases as of Friday (January 15, 2021). (Satgas Penanganan COVID-19)

Indonesia added 7,491 recoveries and 12,818 fresh COVID-19 infections in a single day, according to data from the Task Force for COVID-19 Handling, released on Friday.

With this, the total tally of COVID-19 cases in the country reached 882,418, while the number of recoveries touched 718,696. Meanwhile, with 238 people succumbing to the infection in a single day, the death toll climbed to 25,484, data from the task force showed.

In the 24 hours ending at 12 p.m. WIB (Western Indonesia Time) on Friday, the total number of specimens examined in 566 laboratories across the country for the presence of coronavirus reached 72,957. The specimens were taken from 49,466 people. Thus, 8,206,401 specimens from 5,475,700 people had been examined as of Friday.

West Java recorded the highest number of fresh COVID-19 cases (3,095), followed by Jakarta (2,541), Central Java (1,993), East Java (1,198), and South Sulawesi (649).

All the country's 34 provinces reported a rise in the number of positive cases, with West Sulawesi recording the lowest infections (2 cases).

The number of suspected COVID-19 cases under monitoring reached 66,573, while the number of COVID-19 patients under surveillance touched 882,418//ANT

Chief of the public information bureau of the public relations division at the National Police, Brig. Gen. Rusdi Hartono (center), during a press conference at the Police Hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta on Wednesday (January 13, 2021). (ANTARA/ Anita Permata Dewi) 

The Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team of the National Police has received DNA samples of all passengers of the crashed Sriwijaya Air flight SJ-182.

"In total, we have received 140 DNA samples for 62 victims. So, we have received DNA samples for all victims," chief of the public information bureau of the public relations division at the National Police, Brig. Gen. Rusdi Hartono, said at a press conference at the Police Hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta on Friday.

Based on the manifest, the plane was carrying 50 passengers and 12 crew members. Of the total passengers, 40 were adults, seven were children, and three were infants.

As of Friday evening, the DVI team has received 155 body bags, while the bodies of 17 of the 62 passengers and crew members have been identified.The bodies of Okky Bisma, Khasanah, Fadly Satrianto, Asy Habul Yamin, Indah Halimah Putri, Agus Minarni, Ricko, Ihsan Adhlan Hakim, Mia Trasetyani, Yohanes Suherdi, Pipit Priyono, Supianto, Toni Ismail, Dinda Amelia, Isti Yudha Prastika, Putri Wahyuni, and Rahmawati have been identified so far.

The bodies of four passengers — Okky Bisma, Asy Habul Yamin, Fadly Satrianto, and Ricko — have been handed over to their families.

The Sriwijaya Air flight SJ-182, bearing the registration number PK-CLC, lost contact onJanuary 9, 2020 at 2:40 p.m. Western Indonesia time (WIB) shortly after take-off and crashed between Lancang Island and Laki Island, Thousand Islands, DKI Jakarta. The flight was traveling on the Jakarta-Pontianak route//ANT

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (R) shakes hands with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden during a meeting in Trudeau's office on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, December 9, 2016. REUTERS/Chris Wattie/File Photo

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's swift embrace of US president-elect Joe Biden illustrates the degree to which Canada, one of America's closest allies, is looking forward to turning the page on the Donald Trump era.

Trudeau was the first world leader to congratulate Biden when he was declared the winner of the November election, and now hopes to be the first - or one of the first - to meet with the new president after he takes office on Wednesday (Jan 20).

Mired in a long-running diplomatic dispute with China and weighing a possible snap election this year, Trudeau has much riding on his relationship with Biden.

Canada shares a land border only with the United States, which is by far its top export market, and it has often been the first foreign trip for a new US president.Canada's relationship with the United States "went from the very best it probably ever was to near the worst it ever was," said Bruce Heyman, Obama's last ambassador to Canada.Now Trudeau and other allies are counting on Biden to re-engage on the world stage, in part to contain a "more assertive and sometimes problematic China", Trudeau said in Thursday's interview.

Domestic politics is also in play in Trudeau's eagerness to renew US ties with a potential election in 2021.

Trudeau will want "to create a sense among Canadians (that) you've got to keep Trudeau because these guys click, and this is the opportunity to really be engaged with the Americans and kick this to the next level," said Chris Sands, head of the Canada Institute at the Washington-based Wilson Center//CNA