INDONESIA
Jakarta faces more rain
Authorities yesterday told Jakarta residents to brace for more heavy downpours after record rains triggered flooding and landslides that killed at least 66 people in and around the capital last week. “There is still potential for mid to heavy rainfall with lightning, thunder and strong winds” in greater Jakarta in the coming weeks, the national weather bureau said in a statement. At least two people in Jakarta’s west were hospitalized yesterday after the collapse of a five-story building, which officials said might have been caused by a build-up of rainwater. Thousands of people are still staying in cramped Jakarta shelters.
UNITED STATES
Turnpike crash kills five
Five people were killed and about 60 were injured on the Pennsylvania Turnpike early Sunday morning, when a loaded bus went out of control on a hill and rolled over, setting off a chain reaction that involved three tractor-trailers and a passenger car. The injured victims, ranging from seven to 67 years old, are all expected to survive, although two patients remain in critical condition, authorities said on Sunday afternoon. The crash, which happened at 3:40am on a mountainous and rural stretch of the interstate about 50km east of Pittsburgh, shut down the highway in both directions for several hours.
PHILIPPINES
Duterte eyes evacuations
President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the military to prepare equipment to help evacuate Filipinos in the Middle East in case open hostilities erupt. He held an emergency meeting on Sunday with defense officials to discuss how US-Iran tensions could impact on the safety of Filipinios citizens, especially those in Iran and Iraq. In a televised speech yesterday, Duterte said he was considering calling Congress for a special session to ensure that there are stand-by funds in case Filipinos have to be repatriated. “We, Filipinos, are really in grave peril,” Duterte said in a speech. “I am nervous. Iran seems to be bent on a retaliation which I think will come. It’s a matter of time.”
SINGAPORE
Prosecutions ‘coincidence’
It was a coincidence that the first few cases brought under a new fake news law that took effect on Nov. 25 last year were against political figures and parties, Minister of Communications and Information S Iswaran told parliament yesterday. “The first few POFMA [Protection From Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act] actions appear to have been issued against individuals that are either politicians or affiliated with political parties, or political parties. I would say that that is a convergence, some might say an unfortunate convergence, or coincidence,” he said. “But whatever the case may be, that is the situation today but it does not mean that is going to be the situation going forward.”
ITALY
Probe fines negligence
An investigation by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport into the deadly collapse of a bridge operated by holding company Atlantia has shown “serious and unforgivable acts of negligence,” la Repubblica newspaper yesterday quoted Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte as saying. Conte said the government was nearing a decision on whether to revoke Atlantia’s motorway concession over the August 2018 bridge collapse that killed 43 people in Genoa. “At the stage of the analysis ... I can say that it is evident someone made mistakes and is responsible for serious and unforgivable acts of negligence,” he said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At 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
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese