VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Myanmar's junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing - 

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar’s junta chief, arrived in Jakarta on Saturday for a summit of Southeast Asian leaders centred on the crisis in his country.

Myanmar General Min Aung Hlaing, who led the military takeover that sparked turmoil in his country, arrived in Jakarta on Saturday for a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders seeking try to forge a path to end the violence in the impoverished nation. 

The ASEAN Summit will discuss several issues, including the political crisis in Myanmar. 

On Saturday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and the Sultan of Brunei, the current chair of ASEAN, were to be joined by leaders and foreign ministers from most of the 10-country group, which also includes Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Laos.

According to Channel News Asia protests were expected around ASEAN's downtown headquarters, which is being ringed by heavy security. The meeting was to be closed to media.

The general's expected involvement has angered activists, human rights groups and a shadow government of ousted Myanmar lawmakers, which was not invited to the talks.

"The crisis initiated by a murderous and unrepentant Myanmar military has engulfed the country, and will cause severe aftershocks - humanitarian and more - for the entire region," Amnesty International said ahead of the meeting.

"The Indonesian authorities are duty-bound to investigate Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other Myanmar military officials who may join his delegation to Jakarta," it added.

Few analysts expected major breakthroughs from the meeting, saying instead it was a chance to bring Myanmar's military to the bargaining table and pave the way for a possible resolution//VOI

Formula One F1 - Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Japan - October 13, 2019. General view during the race. REUTERS/Issei Kato - 

The Japanese Grand Prix will remain at Suzuka until at least the end of the 2024 season after Formula One and circuit owners announced a three-year contract extension on Saturday.

The figure of eight track south-west of Nagoya first hosted a Formula One race in 1987 and has provided the decider for 11 drivers' championships.

"This extension is part of our long-term commitment to growing the sport in Asia, and we are pleased to be able to continue our successful relationship with Mobilityland," said Formula One chief executive Stefano Domenicali in a statement.

Mobilityland is a subsidiary of Honda.

Japan has a new young talent in 20-year-old rookie Yuki Tsunoda, the country's first grand prix driver since 2014. Red Bull's engine partners Honda are leaving the sport at the end of this season, however.

Tsunoda scored points on his F1 race debut with Red Bull-owned AlphaTauri when he finished ninth in Bahrain last month.

He spoke afterwards about going to Suzuka with his father to watch the race, and being a fan of double world champion Fernando Alonso who is still on the grid with Renault-owned Alpine.

The circuit, which did not host a race last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will celebrate its 60th anniversary next year.

This year's grand prix has been pencilled in for Oct. 10//CNA

Minister of National Development Planning and head of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), Suharso Monoarfa, and Riau Islands Governor Ansar Ahmad observe the landing point for the construction of the Batam-Bintan bridge on Friday (April 23, 2021) (Ogen) - 

The Indonesian government will only provide Rp3.4 trillion for the construction of 2,134 km of the 7,685-km bridge linking the islands of Batam and Bintan, Minister of National Development Planning, Suharso Monoarfa, disclosed on Friday.

"The government will only bear the (cost of) construction of the 2,134-km bridge from Kabil, Batam City, to Tanjung Sauh," he said.

Due to insufficient funds, the government will offer the project for the construction of the remaining 5,561-km stretch of the bridge, starting from Tanjung Sauh, Buau Island, to Bintan, to private companies, he added.

Thus, the 7,685-km bridge, touted as a national strategic project, will be built if investors are ready to build the remaining 5,561 km of the bridge, he added.

"The bridge will be built under a public-private partnership scheme," he said.

The politician from the United Development Party (PPP), who also heads the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), said he is optimisticthat the construction of the Batam-Bintan bridge will kick off in 2022 or 2023.The central government is in the process of finalizing the detailed engineering design (DED) of the bridge and will issue a tender for its construction, Monoarfa added, but refused to divulge the auction value of the project.

"Hopefully, the construction of the bridge may be started before 2024," he continued.

Monoarfa said he believes the bridge will have a significant impact on regional and national economic growth.Meanwhile, Riau Islands Governor Ansar Ahmad estimated that about seven thousand vehicles would ply on the bridge every day//ANT

A man is screened before entering a COVID-19 vaccination clinic in Montreal on Apr 21, 2021. (Photo: Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press via AP) - 

A surge in COVID-19 cases means Canada is at a critical juncture, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday (Apr 23), while an expert panel said AstraZeneca's vaccine could now be offered to more people.

The number of daily cases has doubled this month to 8,600 as a third wave rips across Canada and health officials said they could jump again to more than 15,000 by the end of April unless stricter measures were taken as new coronavirus variants spread.

"There are more contagious and more dangerous variants out there. The situation is critical," said Trudeau, who together with his wife Sophie later received their first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

"Vaccine doses continue to be the good news we all need in what has become a very tough spring," said Trudeau.

Separately, Canada's national panel on immunisation said AstraZeneca's vaccine could now be used in those above 30. Citing reports of rare cases of blood clotting it had previously recommended doses only be given to those 55 and older.

Shelley Deeks, the panel's vice chair, told reporters that the public health benefits of inoculating as many people as fast as possible far outweighed any risks. So far, four people in Canada have developed the clots, but none were fatal.

Several provinces had already lowered the minimum age for recipients of the vaccine to 40.

British Columbia on Friday imposed restrictions to limit non-essential travel between three regions.

"The new variant strains are infecting more people and resulting in record levels of hospitalisations," public safety minister Mike Farnworth said in a statement.

Trudeau, saying it was important to plan for the future, said Ottawa had struck a deal with Pfizer for 35 million booster doses in 2022 and 30 million in 2023.

He also said his government had identified 100 federal healthcare workers who could be sent to help Ontario, which is struggling to cope with a worsening third wave and accuses Ottawa of not doing enough to tackle new, more highly transmissible variants.

Health officials told a briefing that if people cut the number of personal contacts by 20 per cent to 30 per cent, the number of new daily cases could drop to around 4,500.

"We are still in a tight race between vaccines and variants," said Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam.

Canada has so far recorded a total of 23,822 deaths and 1,155,834 cases of COVID-19//CNA