Indonesia said yesterday it would probably strengthen anti-terrorism regulations to prevent attacks such as last week's bomb blast at a Jakarta hotel, as the US ambassador warned more attempts at attacks were likely. \nChief security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters the Cabinet would debate the issue tomorrow, but added the world's most populous Muslim nation would not copy draconian security laws used by its neighbors. \nAnti-terrorism regulations were introduced in the wake of last October's Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreigners, but are not as far reaching as laws used in Singapore and Malaysia. \nAuthorities have blamed the Bali and hotel bombings as well as others over the past year on militant Muslims linked to the regional Jemaah Islamiah group and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda. \n"The main idea of the government is to revise the current law. Particularly, we will study whether the current regulation is accommodating enough or not," Yudhoyono told reporters. \nHowever, the government has "no thought" to "plagiarize the ISA [internal security acts] of Singapore and Malaysia." \n"The government is not as stupid as that, because our conditions are different, the substance is different," he said. \nThere have been calls by some officials for Indonesia to follow the Singapore and Malaysian examples of draconian internal security laws since the Aug. 5 bombing at the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, which killed 12 people and wounded up to 150. \nBut civil rights groups and some legislators have responded angrily to suggestions the government might seek to revive laws similar to those used by former autocrat Suharto during his 32 years of iron rule that ended in 1998. \nUS envoy to Jakarta Ralph Boyce said he had warned Americans to expect more attempts at terror attacks. \nIn remarks to reporters who asked him about a meeting of US citizens in the heavily guarded embassy complex earlier, Boyce said a theme of his comments was that "we believe it likely there will be further attempts" by militants at such attacks. \nHe said he also suggested to those at the gathering that if they left the meeting more concerned or even more frightened than when they came they would have got the message. \nThe meeting itself was off the record to the media. \nWashington has already issued several warnings, most recently on August 8, of terrorist threats in Indonesia, and said places where Americans and other foreigners gather or reside are potential targets. \nWhile all but one of those who died in the Aug. 5 Marriott attack were Indonesians, the hotel was viewed as a Western symbol, and had been used by the US embassy for various events. \nAustralia issued a warning yesterday for its citizens to avoid all international hotels in Jakarta after new intelligence found the capital could be under threat of further attacks.
PHOTO: AP
Two-year-old Xu Haoyang (徐灝洋) has likely just months to live — but the only medicine that can help his rare genetic condition is not found anywhere in China and closed borders due to the COVID-19 pandemic mean that he cannot travel for treatment. Instead, his desperate father, Xu Wei (徐偉), has created a home laboratory to create a remedy for the boy himself. “I didn’t really have time to think about whether to do it or not. It had to be done,” the 30-year-old said from his DIY lab in an apartment building in southwestern Kunming. Haoyang has Menkes syndrome, a genetic disorder
BURNING, LOOTING: The demonstrators called for Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare to step down over failure to deliver infrastructure, among other complaints Solomon Islands police yesterday fired tear gas in the capital, Honiara, as crowds of protesters set fire to buildings, including a police station, and looted shops in an eruption of anger at the government, Radio New Zealand (RNZ) reported. The protest was led by people from the Pacific nation’s largest island, Malaita Province, about 120km from the capital. They were demanding that Solomon Island Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare step down over failure to deliver promised infrastructure among other complaints, RNZ said. The protest began peacefully, but most schools and businesses in Honiara were closed by the afternoon as crowds tried to enter the
MOBS, TEAR GAS: Anti-government protests deteriorated and led to looting and arson, as the Pacific nation’s PM said he regretted a return to the country’s ‘dark days’ Rioters torched buildings in the Solomon Islands’ capital of Honiara yesterday, targeting the city’s Chinatown district in a second day of anti-government protests. Eyewitnesses and local media reported that crowds had defied a government lockdown to take to the streets. Live images showed several buildings engulfed in flames and plumes of thick black smoke billowing high above the capital. It followed widespread disorder on Wednesday, when demonstrators attempted to storm parliament and depose Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare. Businesses operated by Honiara’s Chinese community were looted and burned, prompting Beijing’s embassy to express “serious concerns” to the Solomons’ government. The embassy “made representations
IMBALANCE: An annual survey found that 48 percent of people eat either too little or too much, resulting in them being overweight, obese or underweight Nearly half the world’s population suffer from poor nutrition linked to too much or not enough food, a global assessment said yesterday, with wide-ranging impacts on health and the planet. The Global Nutrition Report (GNR), a yearly survey and analysis of the latest data on nutrition and related health issues, found that 48 percent of people currently eat either too little or too much — resulting in them being overweight, obese or underweight. At current rates, the world would fail to meet eight out of nine nutrition targets set by the WHO for 2025, it said. These include reducing child wasting (when
RSS