VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

A screenshot of director general of information and public communication at the Ministry of Communication and Informatics, Usman Kansong, attending a virtual event on Friday (February 4, 2022). (ANTARA/Screenshot) - 

The government must ensure that information about Indonesia's G20 Presidency permeates all spheres of the society to boost public trust and positive response to Indonesia's leadership of the international forum, a ministry official has said.

"We need to continue to disseminate information to the public, and we also need to translate terms considered foreign or elitist into narratives that can be understood by everyone, including the general public," the Ministry of Communication and Informatics' Director General of Information and Public Communication, Usman Kansong, said during a virtual event on Friday.

Dissemination of G20 information is vital to strengthen public trust and encourage a positive response among residents to Indonesia's Presidency, he reiterated.

"Disseminated information will arouse positive public participation towards Indonesia's G20 Presidency," the director general explained.

As per Presidential Decision No. 18 of 2021, the Communications and Informatics Ministry will be in charge of the communication and media aspects for Indonesia's G20 Presidency, which commenced last December and will conclude by November 2022, he informed.

Indonesia has identified three priority issues for its Presidency of the grouping -- global health architecture, economic transformation through digitization, and transition to sustainable energy resources, Kansong noted.

Indonesia's decision to promote global health issues is aimed at encouraging member states to seek answers to challenges faced by the global healthcare sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, which includes the gap in vaccine availability between major economies and poorer countries, the director general said.

Indonesia also believes that digital transformation would help the global economy recover from the economic downturn caused by the pandemic and transform the global economy in the future, he added.

Indonesia will also utilize the G20 platform to promote the transition from fossil-based energy resources to more sustainable energy sources, he said.

"We must start the transition from fossil-based energy resources into renewable energy resources," Kansong remarked.

The government has decided to utilize electric-powered vehicles during the G20 meetings to demonstrate its commitment to sustainability, he added//ANT

Archive photo—One of the malls in North Jakarta that was found violating the health protocols on January 22, 2022. (ANTARA/Dewa Ketut Sudiarta Wiguna/rst) - 

Jakarta's Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) said it has intensified the supervision of health protocols by targeting public places, business areas, and offices to anticipate an increase in COVID-19 cases.

"We will be focusing on surveillance in places that are prone to crowds," Head of the Jakarta Satpol PP Arifin said on Friday.

Satpol PP will monitor public spaces such as city parks, traditional markets, shopping centers, and tourist areas, he added.

In January 2022, as many as 38,043 Jakarta residents received social work sanctions for not wearing masks and 446 people paid administrative fines that were added to the regional treasury, he informed.

In addition, the agency inspected 6,962 cafes and restaurants to ensure the implementation of health protocols by diners, Arifin said.

Of the total cafes and restaurants monitored, 356 were found to have violated the health protocols in January and had to shell out a fine of Rp10.5 million in total, he informed.

Cafes and restaurants in Jakarta are required to limit operational hours, restrict their seating capacity, and use the PeduliLindungi application, he said.

In addition, in January 2022, the agency also supervised 1,919 offices, of which 155 were taken into account, he said.

Furthermore, Satpol PP supervised 5,885 other business places, he said. As many as 326 places were found violating the health protocols on the gathering of crowds and had to pay a fine of Rp 20 million, he added.

The supervision and disciplinary actions were carried out based on the Governor's Regulation Number 3 of 2021 concerning the Implementation of Regional Regulation Number 2 of 2020 concerning the Prevention of COVID-19 in Jakarta Province, he informed.

Business actors were also asked to comply with the provisions of the health protocols, according to the public activity restriction (PPKM) level as well as the rules for operational hours and capacity restrictions, he said.

The public can also assist the government in conducting surveillance by reporting PPKM violations through the JakLapor feature in the JAKI application, he added.

"Do not harm businesses who have tried to comply with the provisions," Arifin said. 

He also reminded the public not to trick officers in the field since the effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 requires cooperation and awareness from all elements in the society//ANT

Employees work on a production line manufacturing lithium battery products at a factory in Yichang, Hubei province, China, May 28, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer - 

Growth in China's factory activity slowed in January as a resurgence of COVID-19 cases and tough lockdowns hit production and demand, but the slight expansion offered some signs of resilience as the world's second-largest economy enters a likely bumpy new year.

The official manufacturing Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) registered 50.1 in January, remaining above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction, but slowing from 50.3 in December, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Sunday.

Analysts had expected the PMI to fall to 50.

The official results contrasted with those in a private survey https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/chinas-jan-factory-activity-contracts-covid-lockdowns-bite-caixin-pmi-2022-01-30 of mostly small manufacturers in coastal regions, which showed activity fell at the fastest rate in 23 months.

China's economy started last year strong, reviving from a sharp pandemic-induced slump, but it started losing momentum in the summer, weighed down by debt problems in the property market and strict anti-virus measures that hit consumer confidence and spending.

Rising raw material costs and soft demand have also eroded corporate profit margins. Profits at industrial firms rose at their slowest pace in December for more than a year and a half.

With the real estate slump expected to drag on through at least the first half of this year and the emergence of more infectious COVID-19 variants, China's central bank has started cutting interest rates and pumping more cash into the financial system to lower borrowing costs. Further modest easing steps are expected in coming weeks.

Stability will trump everything ahead of a once-in-five-years Communist Party congress this year, with policymakers looking to ward off a sharper slowdown that could undermine job creation.

RISKS OF EASING, COVID CURBS

But such easing carries risks, as other global central banks like the U.S. Federal Reserve are preparing to raise interest rates, which could spur potentially destabilising capital outflows from emerging markets like China.

The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday cut its China 2022 growth forecast to 4.8per cent, from 5.6per cent previously, reflecting the property woes and the hit to consumption from strict COVID-19 curbs.

"Industrial activity slowed due to weak domestic demand," said Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management. "The service sector is also affected adversely by the outbreaks in many cities."

"The weak PMI indicates the policy easing measures from the government have not yet been passed to the real economy... We expect the government will step up policy supports in coming months, particularly through more fiscal spending."

A sub-index in the official PMI for production stood at 50.9, down from 51.4 in December, while new orders fell to 49.3 from 49.7.

While China's new COVID-19 cases have been low compared with many other countries, a surge of infections since late December in the manufacturing hub of Xian forced many auto and chip makers to shut operations. Production has gradually returned to normal as the city emerged from a lockdown.

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd last month temporarily adjusted operations at its Xian manufacturing facilities for NAND flash memory chips, but it said on Wednesday that production has returned to normal.

Output in Tianjin, which battled an outbreak of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, was also affected.

At the same time, the government is trying to limit industrial air pollution levels ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics, starting on Friday. China has told steel mills in northern regions to cut production until mid-March.

A survey on China's sprawling services sector also showed growth slowing in January, as virus containment measures hit consumer sentiment.

China's official composite PMI, which combined manufacturing and services, stood at 50.1 in January compared with 52.2 in December.

China's economy grew 4.0per cent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, its weakest expansion in one and a half years//CNA

People shovel snow during a major snowstorm on Jan 29, 2022 in Stony Brook, New York. (Photo: Getty Images/AFP/Andrew Theodorakis) - 

Blinding snow whipped up by powerful winds pummelled the eastern United States on Saturday (Jan 29), as one of the strongest winter storms in years triggered transport chaos and power outages across a region of about 70 million people.

Major cities like New York and Boston bore the brunt of the blizzard, which the National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed intensified on Saturday into a "bomb cyclone" - characterised by the explosive power of rapid drops in atmospheric pressure.

The heaviest-hit parts of New York and Massachusetts received 61cm of snow by early evening, with more than 95,000 homes in Massachusetts reported without power.

Cold weather stretched as far south as Florida, where the NWS warned of "scattered to isolated falling iguanas from trees" as plunging temperatures temporarily paralysed the large lizards.

Residents in towns and cities across the eastern seaboard were urged to avoid all unnecessary travel for a second night of whiteout conditions, with additional snowfall expected to be heaviest across New England.

In Long Island, officials said a woman had been found dead in her car by a snowplough operator.

Salt machines and snowploughs crawled along the streets of New York City, where Central Park was covered in 19cm of snow and regional train lines were partially shut down.

In Times Square, the famous neon billboards formed glowing halos in the snowy air. But the frigid temperatures did not stop Robert Burck, a Times Square fixture known as the "Naked Cowboy".

Wearing only his underwear, a cowboy hat and cowboy boots, he strolled through the nearly empty tourist hotspot, strumming his guitar.

"It's fantastic," one undaunted tourist, Gonzalo Vazquez of Spain, told AFP in Times Square. "It's like skiing, surrounded by lights and awesome LED screens."

In the trendy Cobble Hill neighbourhood in Brooklyn, the sidewalks were almost deserted and many businesses were closed. But the few who did brave the elements smiled as they wished each other, "Happy snow day!"

New York and the neighbouring state of New Jersey plus Virginia, Maryland and Delaware declared emergencies for all or part of the states.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said the storm's perils were not over yet, warning residents on Saturday that "the most dangerous phase of the storm is now".

"Please continue to avoid any unnecessary travel while our crews are working to clear the roads," she said.

In Boston where a snow emergency was declared, Mayor Michelle Wu tweeted a reminder on Saturday "to stay off the roads if you can".

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker said there had been "serious whiteout conditions for most of the midday today", and that there was still "pretty limited visibility out there".

Eric Calessandro, a homeowner in the town of Marshfield near Boston said he had just lost power, but was optimistic his 8,000-watt generator would pull him through.

He said he "should be able to bear it out for a couple days without power", adding that he had stocked up on food and water in advance.

Boston Public Works said 900 snowploughs were hard at work on the city streets.

Plough driver Mark Burns, working in Boston's South Shore area, said the snow had gotten heavy: "It was supposed to be light and fluffy, but it's a little wet now."

More than 3,500 flights were cancelled for Saturday traveling within, into or out of the United States, according to flight tracker FlightAware, and just over 1,000 flights have already been cancelled for Sunday.

Cancellations on Friday totalled more than 1,450.

The blizzard comes on the heels of a similar winter storm that blanketed a swath of eastern North America - from Georgia to Canada - just two weeks ago, cutting power to thousands of homes and also disrupting thousands of flights//CNA