VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

 German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on Wednesday he does not expect hurdles to moving ahead with a planned global tax reform at a G20 meeting in Venice this weekend.

"Everything will happen very quickly now," Scholz, who is running as Social Democrat chancellor candidate in Germany's elections in September, told Reuters in an interview.

"The goal is very ambitious: we want to have everything ready already so that it becomes international practice in 2023," he added.

Last week, 130 countries, representing more than 90% of global GDP, backed the biggest changes to cross-border corporate tax in more than a generation with new rules on where companies are taxed and a tax rate of at least 15%. read more

The package goes to G20 finance ministers next to give political endorsement at a meeting on Friday and Saturday in Venice. Tax havens, to which some global corporations have moved their profits, would lose out.

"We are talking about a lot of additional money for Europe and for Germany," Scholz said. "It's really about billions," he added, without giving exact figures.

"Then the main thing is to make sure we end the practice of tax avoidance that has crept in over the last years and decades," he said. "We will put an end to that. The tax-cutting race will come to an end."

Nine countries that did not sign the global tax overhaul backed by 130 others were the low-tax EU members Ireland, Estonia and Hungary as well as Peru, Barbados, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Kenya.

"I am convinced that in the end we will manage to get European countries to all agree on these rules together," Scholz said. "From my point of view, they would apply in any case."

Scholz described the global minimum tax as a breakthrough and the biggest reform in decades.

The minimum corporate tax does not require countries to set their rates at the agreed floor but gives other countries the right to apply a top-up levy to the minimum on companies' income coming from a country that has a lower rate.

If a German corporation abroad paid only 2% on its profits, for example, it could be challenged in the future: "Then we'll just take the rest," Scholz said. (Reuters)

 Taliban insurgents on Wednesday reached the entry points to the capital of Afghanistan's northwestern Badghis province, officials said, causing panic among local people and prompting prisoners to break out of the city's prison.

Provincial governor Husamuddin Shams told Reuters the Taliban had attacked the city of Qala-e-Naw from three directions in the morning and Afghan security forces were fighting them back.

"They entered some parts of the city, but later on the enemy was faced with a strong reaction," he said. "Right now, after around two hours of clashes in the city, the enemy is forced to retreat."

Local officials described a state of panic.

"Qala-e-Naw was in a state of disarray as security forces and people do not know what to do now," said Abdul Aziz Bek, head of Badghis provincial council.

"More than 200 prisoners in the central prison of the Badghis broke the prison gate and escaped," said Bek.

As foreign force withdraw from Afghanistan after almost 20 years, Taliban fighters are swiftly gaining ground across towns in the north and western provinces, forcing soldiers to surrender and civilians to flee.

Shams said other districts of Badghis outside the capital were in the hands of the Taliban as security forces evacuated.

Afghan defence minister Bismillah Mohammadi said in a statement the war was entering a "difficult" stage and security forces were "defending Afghanistan and our compatriots with all their might and resources under all circumstances."

Negotiations between Afghan government and Taliban negotiators in Qatar have failed to make substantive progress in recent months, though the warring sides have been holding meetings in recent days.

Iran on Wednesday told Taliban and Afghan government representatives it stood ready to help end the crisis in Afghanistan, urging the country's people and politicians to make "difficult decisions" about its future. read more

Hosting a meeting of Afghan government representatives and a high-level Taliban political committee, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said "committing to political solutions is the best choice". (Reuters)

 Indonesia reported on Wednesday more than 1,000 coronavirus deaths in a day for the first time, as a surge in infections overwhelmed parts of the hospital system in densely populated Java and with portable oxygen supplies running out in six towns.

The spike in fatalities comes amid concerns about the new outbreak spreading across the archipelago, prompting authorities to monitor daily cases and bed occupancy in 43 areas deemed "red zones" and urge strict implementation of mobility curbs.

"This is to suppress infections, to prevent a big surge like what's happening in Java," Airlangga Hartarto, Indonesia’s chief economic minister, told reporters.

The world’s fourth most populous nation has implemented its tightest restrictions so far on Java and Bali islands after an exponential jump in COVID-19 cases, fuelled by the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant, first identified in India.

Still, with bigger outbreaks now occurring in places like Papua and Sumatra, regional leaders have been urged to implement curbs, including ensuring offices and malls operate at 25% capacity, and restaurants and malls close by 5 pm.

On Wednesday, Indonesia reported 34,379 infections and 1,040 deaths, both records, with fatalities up nearly six-fold from the daily number at the end of May.

With criticism growing over Indonesia's response, an alliance of non-governmental organisations, including Amnesty International Indonesia and the Legal Aid Institute, called on the government to apologise for mishandling the COVID-19 crisis.

Authorities on Wednesday threatened to revoke licences of companies staying open and issued guidelines on office capacity for critical businesses after raiding dozens of companies for flouting rules.

FRAGILE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

The spike in cases has fueled a growing sense of anxiety about Indonesia's fragile healthcare system and its capacity to handle an unfolding health crisis.

On social media, messages pleading for help to find oxygen tanks and hospital beds have circulated, as hospitals across Java edge closer to full capacity.

The government has set up an oxygen refilling station in Jakarta to supply hospitals and said that all oxygen produced in the country will be diverted for medical use.

But stocks of portable oxygen had run dry in six cities on Java by Wednesday, including Yogyakarta and Solo, according to M. Hendry Setiawan, an official at the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU).

Authorities have warned people against hoarding oxygen tanks and medical equipment, with more patients being treated, and sometimes dying, at home because they can’t find a hospital bed.

"Hospitals should be accepting patients that have tested positive because my brother has been rejected...and we don't know if we can take care of him at home," said Harfan Dani, 35, a resident queuing to buy oxygen.

This week, the health minister promised to boost telemedicine services for those isolating at home with milder symptoms, and add up to 8,000 more hospital beds.

But doctors have questioned how they can staff new facilities, with thousands of healthcare workers forced to isolate after contracting the respiratory disease, despite being vaccinated. read more

Australia pledged on Wednesday to donate oxygen-related equipment, test-kits and 2.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca (AZN.L)vaccine. (Reuters)

Haitian President Jovenel Moise was shot dead by unidentified attackers in his private residence overnight in an "inhuman and barbaric act" and his wife was injured, Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph said on Wednesday.

He said the police and army had the security situation under control but gunshots could be heard throughout the capital after the attack, which occurred amid a rising wave of politically linked violence in the impoverished Caribbean nation.

With Haiti politically divided, and facing a growing humanitarian crisis and shortages of food, there are fears of widespread disorder. The Dominican Republic said it was closing the border it shares with Haiti on the island of Hispaniola.

"The President was injured and succumbed to those injuries," Joseph said in an interview with Radio Caraibes.

Port-au-Prince had been suffering an increase in violence as gangs battle one another and police for control of the streets.

The bloodshed is driven by worsening poverty and political instability. Moise faced fierce protests after taking office as president in 2017, with the opposition accusing him this year of seeking to install a dictatorship by overstaying his mandate and becoming more authoritarian - charges he denied.

"All measures are being taken to guarantee the continuity of the state and to protect the nation," Joseph said.

Moise had ruled by decree for more than a year after the country failed to hold legislative elections and wanted to push through a controversial constitutional reform.

The U.S. Embassy said in a statement it would be closed on Wednesday due to the "ongoing security situation".

The United States had on June 30 condemned what it described as a systematic violation of human rights, fundamental freedoms and attacks on the press in Haiti, urging the government to counter a proliferation of gangs and violence. read more

Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader held an emergency meeting early on Wednesday about the situation but had yet to issue a statement. (Reuters)