VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Japanese Emperor Naruhito on Thursday said working with developing countries will be key to solving global issues like climate change, as he prepared to travel to Indonesia on his first state visit since his enthronement in 2019.

He also acknowledged the "difficult time" in relations with the country in an apparent reference to Japan's wartime occupation of the Dutch West Indies.

Naruhito, the grandson of Emperor Hirohito in whose name Japan fought World War Two, is Japan's first monarch born after the war. He will be joined on the trip to Indonesia by his wife, Empress Masako.

"Working with new and developing countries is becoming increasingly important to resolve global issues such as climate change, energy, and food," he said at a news conference held at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

Noting that this year marks 50 years of relations between Japan and the Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN, he said he hoped to see a further deepening of ties between Japan and ASEAN chair Indonesia as he embarks on his tour from Saturday.

At the press conference, Naruhito spoke of hearing about his parents' wartime experiences and said that he would inherit their dedication to peace.

"There was a difficult time in our relations with Indonesia," Naruhito said, adding that his heart hurt when he thinks of the many lives lost and the suffering and pain of the war.

Indonesia, then a Dutch colony, was controlled by Japanese forces between 1942 and the end of the war in August, 1945. It declared independence days after the conflict ended.

"I think it's important to nurture a love of peace, as we deepen our understanding of history without forgetting those who passed," he said. (Reuters)

Indian police filed charges of sexual harassment and criminal intimidation on Thursday against the chief of the country's wrestling federation, a powerful member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), following complaints made by female wrestlers.

Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastav read out the charges at a court hearing in the capital New Delhi.

A police source said last week more than 155 people have been questioned in the investigations against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, a member of parliament from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party. The investigations followed months of complaints by the country's top wrestlers, including several Olympic and Asian Games medallists.

In an interview on Wednesday to local media, Singh rejected all allegations against him.

The wrestlers began a sit-in protest against the lack of action in April and were briefly detained by police in New Delhi as they cleared the site the following month.

Images of the athletes being dragged away and carried off in buses went viral, sparking criticism from top athletes and opposition politicians.

The wrestlers also threatened to throw their medals into the Ganges - India's holiest river - before agreeing to meet Home (Interior) Minister Amit Shah and later the sports minister.

Amid mounting outrage, the wrestlers suspended their protest after Sports Minister Anurag Thakur promised a June 15 deadline to conclude the probe into Singh. (Reuters)

The U.S. expects a "transformational moment" in India ties during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's upcoming trip to Washington, President Joe Biden's national security adviser said as he downplayed chances for a diplomatic breakthrough in China when U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits next week.

"Secretary Blinken's trip to China will be a significant event, but it’s likely not even the most significant event of next week when it comes to US foreign policy," Jake Sullivan said at a briefing in Tokyo.

Blinken will travel to Beijing on June 18 and 19, before Modi arrives in Washington on Thursday. Biden has made deepening ties with India a cornerstone of his efforts to contain China's expanding influence, with his administration also hoping to persuade India, which maintains some security and economic ties with Russia, to buy U.S. military drones.

In China, one of Blinken's objectives will be to manage escalation to ensure that the world's two biggest military powers do not "veer in to conflict," Sullivan said. "Vigorous competition requires vigorous diplomacy," he added.

That visit to Beijing will be the first by a high-ranking official since Biden took office in January 2021, and comes after he postponed a trip in February after a suspected Chinese spy balloon flew through U.S. airspace.

In Japan, Sullivan met his counterparts from Japan, South Korea and the Philippines for talks on regional security.

He met with South Korea’s Cho Tae-yong and Japan’s Takeo Akiba on Thursday to discuss arrangements for a trilateral leaders meeting in the U.S. in the "coming months". He praised efforts by Tokyo and Seoul to improve their sometimes fraught relations as tensions with China and North Korea grow.

"The progress that has been made in ROK (Republic of Korea) and Japan ties and that strengthening of the bilateral relationship has had a profound impact on the strengthening trilateral relationship between our countries," he said.

After their meeting on Thursday, North Korea fired two short-range missiles off its east coast after Pyongyang warned of a response to military drills staged by South Korea and the U.S. earlier in the day. (Reuters)

The U.N. children's agency said it was holding discussions with Afghanistan's ruling Taliban over "timelines and practicalities" for a possible required handover of its education programmes and that classes would continue in the meantime.

Aid officials say that the Taliban had signalled international organisations could no longer be involved in education projects, in a move criticised by the U.N. but not yet confirmed by Afghan authorities.

UNICEF said it had received assurances from the education ministry that its community-based classes, which educate 500,000 students, would continue while they discussed the matter.

"As the lead agency for the education cluster in Afghanistan, UNICEF is engaged in constructive discussions with the de facto Ministry of Education and appreciates the commitment from the de facto minister to keep all ... classes continuing while discussions take place about timelines and practicalities," UNICEF's Afghanistan spokesperson, Samantha Mort, told Reuters.

"In order to minimise disruption to children's learning, it is imperative that any handover to national NGOs is done strategically and includes comprehensive assessment and capacity building."

A spokesperson for the Taliban did not respond to request for comment. The Ministry of Education has not publicly confirmed the policy.

The Taliban, who took power in 2021, have closed most secondary schools to girls, stopped female students attending universities and stopped many Afghan women working for aid groups and the United Nations in accordance with their strict interpretation of Islamic law.

International organisations have been heavily involved in education projects, and UNICEF made an agreement with the Taliban to run community classes before they took over the country.

Two humanitarian sources told Reuters this month that aid agencies had been told provincial authorities had been directed to stop the involvement of international organisations in education projects, possibly within weeks.

The U.N. spokesperson in New York said the move would be a "horrendous step backwards".

UNICEF runs many community-based classes including for 300,000 girls, often in homes in rural areas.

The Taliban took over Afghanistan after a 20-year insurgency against U.S.-led forces with a speed and ease that took the world by surprise. (Reuters)