VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

International observers monitoring the election conduct at a polling station in Jimbaran, Badung District, Bali, Wednesday (February 14, 2024). ANTARA/Ni Putu Putri Muliantari/nbl.

VOInews, Jakarta: International observers monitored the election conduct at Polling Station No. 13, operated by an all-woman team, in Jimbaran Village, Badung District, Bali, under the General Elections Commission's (KPU's) Election Visit Programme.

Zahir Hassan, a Malaysian Parliament member who participated in the monitoring group, commended the election conduct observed in Bali. He also highlighted the high participation of women at the polling station.

“I am also convinced that the election conduct proceeded well, smoothly, and transparently because of the presence of the candidates' representatives (as witnesses),” Hassan stated here on Wednesday.

He also admitted to being amazed that Indonesian voters received five different ballot papers to vote for the president-vice president pair and members of the House of Representatives (DPR), Regional Representative Council (DPD), and regional legislatures at the province and city and district levels.

“In comparison, Malaysian voters will receive at most two ballot papers at one election. I think it is huge, and it will be a huge success if (the election is) organized properly,” the observer from Malaysia stated.

House of Representatives (DPR) Secretariat General’s deputy for parliamentary proceedings, Suprihatini, remarked that the observer group comprising 11 representatives from international organizations visited Polling Station No. 13 in Badung.

Meanwhile, the other group of observers in Bali monitored the election conduct at Polling Station No. 29 in Ungasan Village, also in Badung District, and at Polling Station No. 9 in Penglipuran Village, Bangli District.

“In total, 33 observers from 17 countries and international parliamentary organizations (observed the election in Bali),” Suprihatini revealed.

Moreover, Jimbaran village-level election organizing chief I Wayan Muliwan spoken of sensing pride that foreign observers monitored the election conduct in the village.

“The monitoring (allows) them to understand our election system, especially at the polling station operated by an all-women team that emphasized gender equality where men and women are not discriminated by their capability,” Muliwan stated.

Apart from the election conduct, the official also expressed hope that international observers would also spotlight Bali’s natural beauty when they return to their home country.

Source: ANTARA

A man stands in the ruins of a building that was destroyed during Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 14, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)

VOInews, Jakarta: The leaders of Australia, Canada and New Zealand on Thursday warned Israel against a potentially "catastrophic" ground ofensive in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, amplifying a growing chorus of international concern.

Urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "not to go down this path", the trio of Commonwealth nations issued a rare joint statement expressing deep and growing worry about Israel's prosecution of the months-long war.

"About 1.5 million Palestinians are taking refuge in the area, including many of our citizens and their families," the group of US allies said. 

"An expanded military operation would be devastating. We urge the Israeli government not to go down this path. There is simply nowhere else for civilians to go."

In the face of mounting international pressure and a death toll that Gaza authorities say has now topped 28,000, Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead.

He has promised Israeli forces will soon conduct a "powerful" operation in Rafah -- a city filled with countless Gazans displaced by fighting elsewhere in the territory.

Israel believes that Hamas operatives responsible for the October 7 attacks that killed around 1,160 people in Israel are holed up in the area, along with some of an estimated 130 hostages seized by the Palestinian Islamist group.

Source : AFP

FILE PHOTO: EU flag and TikTok logo are seen in this illustration taken, June 2, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration - 

Voinews, Brussels - ByteDance-owned social media platform TikTok said on Wednesday it will ramp up its fight against fake news and covert influence operations in the run-up to European Parliament elections in June with a local language app in all 27 countries.

Tiktok said the individual local language "election centres" build on work it first started in 2021, which accelerated last year when Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia and Spain went to the polls.

Quoted from CNA News, The app is designed to better inform Europeans about the electoral process.

Governments and politicians around the world are concerned about the spread of misinformation and the use of AI-generated deepfakes to influence elections and especially the role of social media platforms.

Some 30 per cent of European Parliament lawmakers use TikTok, the company said.

"Next month, we will launch a local language Election Centre in-app for each of the 27 individual EU member states to ensure people can easily separate fact from fiction," TikTok's head of trust & safety EMEA Kevin Morgan said in a blogpost.

"Working with local electoral commissions and civil society organisations, these Election Centres will be a place where our community can find trusted and authoritative information," he said.

The company worked with news checkers to produce educational videos about the electoral process and misinformation via the election centres during national elections in previous years.

Morgan said TikTok, which currently works with nine fact-checking organisations in Europe, plans to expand its fact-checking network and launch nine additional media literacy campaigns this year.

It will introduce dedicated covert influence operations reports in the coming months to increase transparency and accountability//(CNA-VOI)

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attends a bilateral meeting with Kenyan President William Ruto at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Japan, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024. Shuji Kajiyama/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo - 

Voinews, Tokyo - In a world first, Japan auctioned sovereign climate transition bonds on Wednesday although the bonds met with slightly weaker-than-expected demand.

Quioted from CNA News, Climate transition bonds are a relatively new class of bonds which aim to fund shifts by companies, or in this case a government, to having a lesser impact on the environment.

They are distinct from green bonds where the proceeds are earmarked for a specific project or are focused on the profile of the issuer.

The sale of 800 billion yen ($5.3 billion) in 10-year transition bonds was the first in Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's plan to sell 20 trillion yen of climate bonds over the next decade to help the nation with its goal of cutting greenhouse gases to zero by 2050.

The proceeds are expected to go towards projects such as low-cost wind power generators and airplanes that use alternative fuels.

The bonds were priced to yield 0.74 per cent on Wednesday, with pricing somewhat lower than expected. Yields on the bonds were 0.655 per cent a day earlier in the so-called "when-issued" market, which is a market for securities yet to be issued. Yields on bonds move inversely to prices.

"I would say expectations prior to the auction were too high. Still the yield on climate bonds was little lower than the yield for 10-year JGBs, which means the bonds enjoyed a premium," said Keisuke Tsuruta, a fixed income strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

Regular 10-year Japanese government bonds were yielding 0.755 per cent on Wednesday.

Japan's finance ministry plans to sell 800 billion yen of five-year transition bonds on Feb. 27, which will be followed by 1.4 trillion yen of transition bonds in the fiscal year starting in April//(CNA-VOI)