INDONESIA
US names JAD terror group
The US has designated an Indonesian radical network behind an attack in Jakarta as a terrorist group and announced sanctions on four militants in an effort to disrupt Islamic State (IS) group operations and recruitment in Australia and Southeast Asia. The US Department of State on Tuesday said it had designated the IS-affiliated Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) as a terrorist group, which in practice prohibits US citizens being involved with it and enables the freezing of any property in the US. JAD militants are believed responsible for an attack in January last year in the Indonesian capital that killed eight people, including the attackers. The US Department of the Treasury announced sanctions against two Australians, both previously believed killed in the Middle East, and two Indonesians, one of whom is in prison in Indonesia.
MALAYSIA
Sarawak chief dies
The veteran chief minister of the state of Sarawak yesterday died of a heart attack, in a fresh blow for Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was counting on him to help secure victory in upcoming elections. Adenan Satem, 72, was one of Najib’s closest allies, whose popularity helped the ruling Barisan Nasional alliance secure a landslide victory in the Sarawak state elections last year. Najib was counting on Adenan to help him in a general election that he is expected to call this year. Najib is mired in a multibillion-dollar graft scandal involving state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad. The fund is being investigated in at least six countries, including the US, Singapore and Switzerland. Najib has denied wrongdoing.
AUSTRALIA
Mercury soars above 40°C
Sydney temperatures topped 40°C yesterday, with beaches packed, bushfire warnings issued and people urged to stay hydrated. Some towns in the northwest of New South Wales (NSW) could reach 47°C tomorrow, the Bureau of Meteorology said. Authorities issued a total fire ban for several areas across the state, while Surf Life Saving NSW warned of an increased risk of dehydration as temperatures soared. “Lifeguards and lifesavers have been extremely busy over the last few weeks and we are urging the public to do what they can to help lessen the load by taking some responsibility for their own safety,” Surf Life Saving NSW manager Andy Kent said. New South Wales has had a balmy summer, but it has been marred by tragedy with more than 20 drownings in backyard pools, waterways or the ocean since Christmas Day.
NIGERIA
Aid groups ‘misusing funds’
Borno State Governor Kashim Shettim on Tuesday accused aid agencies, including UNICEF, of profiting from funds meant to help refugees from Boko Haram, and said they should leave the country. The criticism follows President Muhammadu Buhari’s charges that the UN and private agencies are exaggerating a massive humanitarian crisis created by the northeastern militant uprising to boost funding. For months, children and others have been dying of starvation there. The UN last month launched an appeal for US$1 billion, warning that tens of thousands of children will die this year without critically needed aid. Shettima said that only eight of 126 registered agencies “are actually providing humanitarian services.” He said the rest are “using the name of Borno to make money, and enriching themselves.”
CANADA
Trudeau shuffles Cabinet
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has shaken up his Cabinet less than two weeks before US president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration as president. Trudeau on Tuesday named Chrystia Freeland as foreign minister amid worries that Trump will renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement. Freeland was trade minister when she oversaw last year’s ratification of the Canada-EU free-trade agreement. John McCallum, who oversaw the arrival of more than 39,000 Syrian refugees as immigration minister, is retiring from parliament to become ambassador to China. Somalian refugee Ahmed Hussen was named immigration minister.
UNITED STATES
Lucas chooses Los Angeles
The force, it seems, was with Los Angeles. Star Wars creator George Lucas and his team on Tuesday chose Los Angeles over San Francisco as the home of a museum that will showcase his life’s work and huge film history collection. Organizers announced that the museum would be built in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park. Lucas has been trying to build the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art for nearly a decade and is financing the project by himself with plans to spend more than US$1 billion. It is to house an extensive personal collection that includes 40,000 paintings, illustrations and film-related items.
UNITED STATES
Authorities rescue Honduran
Authorities have rescued a Honduran immigrant who fell about 122m down a steep cliff in southern Arizona. Tohono O’odham police contacted Border Patrol agents at the Three Points Substation on Sunday night about a man in their custody saying his traveling partner was left behind in the Baboquivari Mountains because of a broken ankle. Agents and an air crew located the man late on Monday, but were unable to locate a safe approach on foot. An Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter lowered a trooper-paramedic, who stabilized the unidentified man before transporting him to hospital.
UNITED STATES
Drug ‘gifts’ land man in jail
A passenger flying from Los Angeles International Airport to Ohio last month was not toying around when he checked a bag with packages gift-wrapped in Christmas paper, authorities said. The Yuletide bundle included nearly 6kg of heroin with a street value of more than US$2 million, federal prosecutors said on Tuesday as the man was charged with drug trafficking. James Mitchell, 25, checked a duffel bag on a Dec. 10 flight to Cincinnati, Ohio, but neither he nor the bag made the trip, court records showed. The bag was intercepted by a Transportation Security Administration officer who found the gift-wrapped cache of heroin inside. Mitchell was arrested more than a week later at his home and remains in custody.
UNITED STATES
Woman freed after abortion
A Tennessee woman initially accused of attempted murder for unsuccessfully using a coat hanger to try to abort a 24-week-old fetus has been released after spending more than a year in jail, law enforcement officials said on Tuesday. Anna Yocca, 32, was arrested after the botched abortion attempt in 2015 that led to complaints by pro-abortion activists in a state where no provider offers the procedure after a fetus reaches 16 weeks. In a plea deal with prosecutors, Yocca pleaded guilty on Monday to a charge of attempting to procure a miscarriage, according to the Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was