VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta. Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth’s husband and a pivotal figure in the British royal family for almost seven decades, has died aged 99, Buckingham Palace said on Friday.

The Duke of Edinburgh, as he was officially known, had been by his wife’s side throughout her 69-year reign, the longest in British history. During that time he earned a reputation for a tough, no-nonsense attitude and a propensity for occasional gaffes.

“It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen announces the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,” the palace said in a statement.

“His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle. Further announcements will be made in due course. The Royal Family join with people around the world in mourning his loss.”

A Greek prince, Philip married Elizabeth in 1947. He went on to play a key role in modernising the monarchy in the post-World War Two period, and behind the walls of Buckingham Palace was the one key figure the queen could turn to and trust.

“He has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years,” Elizabeth said in a rare personal tribute to Philip, made in a speech marking their 50th wedding anniversary in 1997.

“I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim, or we shall ever know.”

Philip spent four weeks in hospital earlier this year for treatment for an infection and to have a heart procedure, but returned to Windsor in early March. He died just two months before he was to celebrate his 100th birthday.

Flags at Buckingham Palace and at government buildings across Britain were lowered to half-mast. No details about his funeral were disclosed yet, but ceremonies are likely to eschew the grand displays of pomp that often follow royal deaths.

That would reflect Philip’s well-known aversion to drama, and it is unlikely there will be a state funeral or that his body will lie in state.

The prince’s charm and disinclination to tolerate those he regarded as foolish or sycophantic earned him a position of respect among some Britons. But to others, his sometimes brusque demeanor made him appear rude and aloof. He was a delight to newspaper editors keen to pick up on any stray remark at official events.

The former naval officer admitted he found it hard to give up the military career he loved and to take on the job as the monarch’s consort, for which there was no clear-cut constitutional role.

“Like the expert carriage driver that he was, he helped to steer the royal family and the monarchy so that it remains an institution indisputably vital to the balance and happiness of our national life,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. (Reuters)

Jakarta. The Philippines’ health ministry on Friday reported 401 new coronavirus deaths, the highest single-day spike in fatalities since the start of the pandemic, and 12,225 additional infections.

In a bulletin, the ministry said total confirmed cases had risen to 840,554, while confirmed deaths had reached 14,520. It said 213 cases previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation. (Reuters)

Jakarta. Japan made sure that language warning against excess currency market volatility remained in place when G20 finance leaders made a rare tweak to their message on exchange-rate moves, said officials with knowledge of the deliberations.

In the first communique compiled since U.S. President Joe Biden took office, finance leaders of the Group of 20 major economies called for the need for currency moves to reflect “underlying” economic fundamentals.

It also noted that flexible currency moves can “facilitate the adjustment” of economies. Removed was a line stressing the need for “stable” exchange rates, which was inserted under the former administration of Donald Trump, who repeatedly sought to talk down the dollar to give U.S. exports a trade advantage.

Some market players saw the change as reflecting new U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s belief that markets should determine currency moves.

“It was reflection of Yellen’s belief in market-oriented exchange rates,” said Daisaku Ueno, chief foreign exchange strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. “Japan and other countries made no objection as it was not meant to change the G20 stance on currencies.”

Finance Minister Taro Aso said the new language was a clarification, not a change, to the G20’s stance, in a sign of Tokyo’s alarm over any repercussion the new language could cause in what has been a comfortable market environment for Japan.

“We can’t rule out the chance some countries may forcefully devalue their currencies that deviate fundamentals. That’s not good,” Aso told reporters on Friday, stressing the new language was intended to remind the group’s emerging-market members of the risk of manipulating currency moves.

What Japan did defend was language warning against “excessive volatility or disorderly movements,” which Tokyo policymakers interpret as a tacit nod for them to step in to prevent sharp yen rises that hurt its export-reliant economy.

“If exchange rates must reflect economic fundamentals, we need to correct markets when currency moves deviate from fundamentals,” the official said. “We had no reason to drop (the language).”

Another official said intervention won’t be entirely ruled out if rapid yen moves persisted.

To be sure, the chance of currency intervention is low with the dollar around 109.54 yen on Friday, comfortably above the 100 level that markets see as Tokyo’s line-in-the-sand.

But keeping markets on guard remains a priority for Japan, which has a long history of jawboning investors or directly intervening in currency markets to address unwelcome yen spikes.

The current market calm may have been the key reason the G20 policymakers decided to tweak the language in the first place, some Japanese policymakers say.

“No one is facing heated issues regarding currencies now. That made it easier to tweak the language,” one of the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment publicly. (Reuters)

Jakarta. Hong Kong said on Friday it will delay shipments of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine this year amid mounting concerns over possible links between the shot and very rare cases of blood clots.

The Chinese-ruled city had ordered 7.5 million doses from the British-Swedish company, which were scheduled to arrive in the second half of 2021.

Health Secretary Sophia Chan said the global financial centre had a sufficient supply of vaccines, with a total of 15 million doses of Germany’s BioNTech and China’s Sinovac - the only two vaccines available in the city.

“Even if we have signed a pre-purchase agreement with AstraZeneca, we believe that AstraZeneca vaccines will not need to be supplied to Hong Kong this year, so as not to cause a waste when the vaccine is still in short supply globally,” Chan said.

The government was considering buying a new type of vaccine that may offer better protection, she added.

More than 700,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered to the city’s 7.5 million population so far, a figure Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said was unsatisfactory.

The sluggish take-up comes amid dwindling confidence in the Sinovac vaccine and fears of adverse reactions, while BioNTech vaccines were temporarily halted due to packaging defects.

Earlier on Friday, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his country doubled its order of the Pfizer Inc COVID-19 vaccine. Until late Thursday, Australia based its vaccination programme largely on AstraZeneca.

The Philippines and South Korea have suspended the use of AstraZeneca shots for people under age 60.

Italy on Wednesday joined France, the Netherlands, Germany and others in recommending a minimum age for recipients of AstraZeneca’s shot, and Britain said people under 30 should get an alternative.

Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said on Thursday the country was in talks with China on getting as many as 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to plug a gap in deliveries caused by delays in the arrival of AstraZeneca shots.

European and British regulators said on Wednesday they had found possible links between AstraZeneca’s vaccine and very rare cases of blood clots, but reaffirmed the vaccine’s importance in protecting people against COVID-19.

Hong Kong has registered more than 11,500 coronavirus cases, with 205 deaths. (Reuters)