VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta. The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has forecast sunny and cloudy weather in most regions of Indonesia on Thursday.

According to the BMKG forecast, the weather will be sunny and cloudy in the areas of Banda Aceh, Serang, Bengkulu, Yogyakarta, Jakarta, Bandung, Padang, Palembang, Medan, Denpasar, Makassar, Sofifi, and Jayapura.

Other regions to also experience similar weather, include Jambi, Semarang, Surabaya, Pontianak, Palangkaraya, Pangkal Pinang, Tanjung Pinang, Lampung, Gorontalo, Banjarmasin, Samarinda, Mataram, Kupang, Mamuju, Palu, Kendari, Manado, Ambon, and Manokwari.

Meanwhile, foggy weather is likely to occur in Pekanbaru, but light rains are forecast to occur in Tanjung Selor. (Antaranews)

Jakarta. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday met Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and the country’s army chief for talks on the troubled peace process in Afghanistan, where both countries have long histories of involvement.

It was the first time a Russian foreign minister had visited Pakistan in nine years and comes at a sensitive time for neighbouring Afghanistan with peace talks making little headway and a deadline looming for the United States to withdraw its forces.

Khan highlighted the importance of a negotiated political settlement to the war in Afghanistan during the meeting, according to a statement from his office.

“Pakistan appreciated Russia’s efforts in promoting the Afghan peace process through the hosting of the recent meeting...in Moscow,” the statement said, referring to a recent summit on the peace process that Pakistan attended.

They also discussed economic relations, the COVID-19 pandemic and progress on a major gas pipeline project.

Lavrov also met Pakistan’s army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, at army headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi, according to a statement from the military.

“During the meeting, matters of mutual interest including enhanced defence and security cooperation, regional security, particularly Afghan Peace Process were discussed,” the statement said.

In the 1980s, Pakistan and the United States were the main supporters of the Islamist fighters who battled occupying Soviet forces.

Now, Russia is concerned about Afghan instability spilling over into central Asia as the United States seeks to extricate itself from a war in Afghanistan against the Islamist Taliban.

Russia hosted an international conference on Afghanistan in Moscow last month at which the participants, including the United States, China and Pakistan, issued a statement calling on the warring Afghan sides to reach a peace deal and curb violence.

“A common concern is the situation in Afghanistan,” Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Lavrov’s visit to Pakistan.

“We look forward to an early finding of a constructive solution in order to end the civil war in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan through agreements on the formation of an inclusive government with the participation of the Taliban movement.”

The United States signed an agreement with the Taliban last year allowing it to withdraw its forces in exchange for a Taliban guarantee to prevent international terrorism.

But fighting between the U.S.-backed Afghan government and the Taliban still rages.

The United States is pushing for an interim Afghan government between the two sides as a May 1 deadline approaches for it to withdraw its forces under the pact.

President Joe Biden has said that date will be hard to meet despite Taliban threats of more violence if it is not. (Reuters)

Jakarta. A joint China-World Health Organization (WHO) study into COVID-19 has provided no credible answers about how the pandemic began, and more rigorous investigations are required - with or without Beijing’s involvement, a group of international scientists and researchers said on Wednesday.

The joint study, released last week, said the likeliest transmission route for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, involved bats and other wildlife in China and southeast Asia. It all but ruled out the possibility it had leaked from a laboratory.

In an open letter, 24 scientists and researchers from Europe, the United States, Australia and Japan said the study was tainted by politics.

“Their starting point was, let’s have as much compromise as is required to get some minimal cooperation from China,” said Jamie Metzl, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank, who drafted the letter.

The letter said the study’s conclusions were based on unpublished Chinese research, while critical records and biological samples “remain inaccessible”.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanon Ghebreyesus said last week China had withheld data.

Liang Wannian, China’s senior COVID-19 expert, denied this and appeared to rule out any further joint investigations in China, saying the focus should shift to other countries.

Metzl said the world might have to “revert to Plan B” and conduct an investigation “in the most systematic way possible” without China’s involvement.

China has rejected allegations that SARS-CoV-2 leaked from a research laboratory in Wuhan, the city where COVID-19 was first identified.

The joint China-WHO study said the lab leak was “extremely unlikely”, saying there was “no record” that any laboratory had kept SARS-CoV-2-related viruses. Tedros said more research was required to “reach more robust conclusions”.

Metzl said China should disclose information that would allow the lab hypothesis to be disproved.

“China has databases of what viruses were being held... there are lab notes of the work that was being done,” he said, “There are all kinds of scientists who are actually doing the work and we don’t have access to any of those resources, or any of those people.” (Reuters)

Jakarta. A joint team of police, customs, and excise officers foiled a trans-national drug ring's attempt to smuggle 50 kg of crystal methamphetamine by boat into East Aceh district, Aceh province and arrested four persons.

During the drug raid, law enforcement personnel also seized a 30-GT boat, Aceh Police chief, Insp.Gen.Wahyu Widada, informed here on Wednesday.

"The smuggling operation was conducted through the East Aceh waters. The boat carried two sacks containing 50 packs of crystal meth with a total weight of 50 kg," he said.

The raid, carried out recently, also resulted in the apprehension of four suspects, identified by their initials as ZK, KR, ZR, and ZK, he added.

They were picked up from different places around East Aceh district, he said, adding that they had been assigned different tasks in the drug-trafficking operation.

ZK was nabbed in Bagok neighborhood, KR was arrested in Idi Tunong neighborhood, while ZK and ZR were apprehended in Idi Rayeuk neighborhood, he informed.

ZK, KR, and ZR were tasked with monitoring the situation on land and roads, while ZK was the boat's skipper and responsible for transporting the illicit drug package, he said.

East Aceh district remains prone to drug crimes committed by local residents with links to cross-border drug rings.

ANTARA has reported on frequent attempts to smuggle crystal methamphetamine into Aceh from Malaysia for trade inside and outside the province.

Last year, for instance, Aceh police launched two drug operations in East Aceh, which led to the seizure of 141 kg of crystal meth and the arrest of 15 suspects.

Besides smuggling crystal meth packages into the province, drug criminals in Aceh are also cultivating cannabis in certain areas.

On Tuesday, officers from the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) set fire to nine hectares of cannabis plantations in North Aceh district.

More than 70 thousand cannabis plants reaching 30 to 250 centimeters in height were burned to the ground in the operation.

The total weight of the destroyed cannabis plants was recorded at 35 tonnes, according to the agency.

Domestic and transnational drug dealers see Indonesia as a potential market due to its vast population and millions of drug users.

Drug trade in the nation is valued at nearly Rp66 trillion.

Data indicates that people from all societal levels are falling prey to drugs in the country, irrespective of their socio-economic and professional backgrounds. (Antaranews)