VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

photo : BBC

North Korea has blown up its joint liaison office with the South near the border town of Kaesong, South Korean officials say. The move comes just hours after the North renewed threats of military action against the South.The site, which is in the North's territory, was opened in 2018 to help the two Koreas to communicate.The liaison office has been empty since January due to Covid-19 restrictions. Tensions between North and South Korea have been escalating for weeks, prompted by defector groups in the south sending propaganda into the north. The North Korean leader's sister, Kim Yo-jong, threatened to demolish the office in a "tragic scene" in a statement at the weekend. South Korea's Unification Ministry in Seoul confirmed that at 2:49pm local time there was an explosion at the liaison office. In recent weeks, North Korea has repeatedly condemned the South for allowing propaganda across the border. Defector groups regularly send balloons with leaflets and other items, including USB sticks, into the north. Analysts say Pyongyang may be seeking to create a crisis to increase its leverage as nuclear negotiations with the US are at a standstill. North and South Korea are technically still at war because no peace agreement was reached when the Korean War ended in 1953//BBC

photo : bbc

Colombia's largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), has released six hostages, including two police officers and four civilians. As quoted by BBC.com ( 15/6)  the hostages were handed over to members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in a rural area near the Venezuelan border on Sunday. The left-wing ELN had freed two other civilians on Friday.The releases follow appeals from the rebels for peace talks to be resumed. The government suspended negotiations with the group last year after a bomb attack on a police academy in the capital, Bogotá, killed more than 20 people. President Colombia Iván Duque says the release of all hostages and the end of kidnappings and attacks are pre-conditions for talks. The group is believed to be holding at least 10 more hostages, according to the government//BBC

photo : newvision

Burundi's newly-elected president Evariste Ndayishimiye will be sworn in on Thursday, the foreign ministry announced, in a ceremony fast-tracked by the sudden death of the incumbent, Pierre Nkurunziza. As quoted by AFP.com ( 15/6) Nkurunziza died on June 8 aged 55, of what authorities said was heart failure. According to a medical document seen by AFP, his death came less than two weeks after his wife had been flown to a Nairobi hospital for treatment for coronavirus. The foreign ministry invited diplomats and foreign organisations to "take part in the inauguration ceremony" in the capital Gitega, in a letter sent out on Monday. Ndayishimiye, 52, a former army general and Hutu rebel like his predecessor, had been handpicked by the powerful ruling CNDD-FDD to run in a May 20 presidential election. He won the vote with 68.7 percent, and an opposition bid to have the results overturned due to alleged fraud was overturned just days before Nkurunziza's death//AFP

photo : bangkokpost

Philippine journalist Maria Ressa was convicted Monday of cyber libel and faces up to six years behind bars in a case that watchdogs say marks a dangerous erosion of press freedom under President Rodrigo Duterte. As quoted by AFP.com (15/6) Ressa, 56, and her news site Rappler have been the target of a series of criminal charges and probes after publishing stories critical of Duterte's policies, including his drug war that has killed thousands. The award-winning former CNN journalist was sentenced to up to six years' jail in the culmination of a case that has drawn international concern. It was not immediately clear how long she would actually have to serve if the conviction becomes final, and Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa allowed Ressa to remain free on bail pending an appeal. A defiant Ressa told journalists after the conviction in Manila that her side is going to stand up against any kind of attacks against press freedom//AFP