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- Hundreds evacuated from fire at Indonesian oil refinery
- WHO report says animals likely source of Covid-19
- Thousands flee into Thailand following Myanmar air strikes
- Suicide bomb hits Palm Sunday Mass in Indonesia, 20 wounded
| Hundreds evacuated from fire at Indonesian oil refinery Posted: 28 Mar 2021 11:37 PM PDT JAKARTA, Indonesia — At least 500 people were being evacuated from a nearby village after a massive fire broke out at the Pertamina Balongan Refinery in Indonesia's West Java province. Residents of Balongan village were moving to two evacuation centers on Monday. Authorities urged residents to stay calm and keep away from the fire. Four residents injured while passing through the area suffered burns and were being treated at the Indramayu regional hospital. Pertamina officials said the cause of the fire was not clear, but there was lightening and heavy rain at the time the massive fire broke out. Television reports showed explosions and thick plumes of black smoke and orange flames filling the sky. "We did a normal shutdown to control the flow of oil and stop the blaze from expanding," Ifki Sukarya, corporate secretary of Subholding Refining Petrochemical PT Kilang Pertamina Internasional, said in a press statement. (AP)  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| WHO report says animals likely source of Covid-19 Posted: 28 Mar 2021 11:15 PM PDT BEIJING — A joint WHO-China study on the origins of Covid-19 says that transmission of the virus from bats to humans through another animal is the most likely scenario and that a lab leak is "extremely unlikely," according to a draft copy obtained by The Associated Press. The findings were largely as expected and left many questions unanswered. The team proposed further research in every area except the lab leak hypothesis. The report's release has been repeatedly delayed, raising questions about whether the Chinese side was trying to skew the conclusions to prevent blame for the pandemic falling on China. A World Health Organization official said late last week that he expected it would be ready for release "in the next few days." The AP received what appeared to be a near-final version on Monday from a Geneva-based diplomat from a WHO-member country. It wasn't clear whether the report might still be changed prior to its release. The diplomat did not want to be identified because they were not authorized to release it ahead of publication. The researchers listed four scenarios in order of likelihood. They concluded that transmission through a second animal was likely to very likely. They evaluated direct spread from bats to humans as likely, and said that spread through "cold-chain" food products was possible but not likely. The closest relative of the virus that causes Covid-19 has been found in bats, which are known to carry coronaviruses. However, the report says that "the evolutionary distance between these bat viruses and SARS-CoV-2 is estimated to be several decades, suggesting a missing link." It said that highly similar viruses have been found in pangolins, but also noted that mink and cats are susceptible to the Covid virus, which suggests they could be carriers. The report is based largely on a visit by a WHO team of international experts to Wuhan, the Chinese city where Covid-19 was first detected, from mid-January to mid-February. Peter Ben Embarek, the WHO expert who led the Wuhan mission, said Friday that the report had been finalized and was being fact-checked and translated. "I expect that in the next few days, that whole process will be completed and we will be able to release it publicly," he said. (AP)  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Thousands flee into Thailand following Myanmar air strikes Posted: 28 Mar 2021 09:11 PM PDT YANGON, Myanmar — Thai authorities along the country's northwestern border braced themselves Monday for a possible influx of more ethnic Karen villagers fleeing new airstrikes from the Myanmar military. Myanmar military aircraft carried out three strikes overnight Sunday into Monday, according to Free Burma Rangers, a humanitarian relief agency that delivers medical and other assistance to villagers. The strikes possibly injured one person but caused no apparent fatalities, a member of the agency said. Earlier Sunday, an estimated 3,000 people crossed the river dividing the two countries into Thailand's Mae Hong Son province following two days of aerial attacks. Video shot that day shows a group of villagers, including many young children, resting in a forest clearing inside Myanmar, having fled their homes. They carried their possessions in bundles and baskets. In Sunday's previous attacks, Myanmar military aircraft dropped bombs on a Karen guerrilla position in an area on the Salween River in Karen state's Mutraw district, according to workers for two humanitarian relief agencies. Two guerrillas were killed and many more were wounded in those attacks, said a member of the Free Burma Rangers. On Saturday night, two Myanmar military planes twice bombed Deh Bu Noh village in Mutraw district, killing at least two villagers. The attacks may have been retaliation for the Karen National Liberation Army, which is fighting for greater autonomy for the Karen people, attacking and capturing a government military outpost on Saturday morning. According to Thoolei News, an online site that carries official information from the KNU, eight government soldiers including a second lieutenant were captured in the attack and 10 were killed, including a lieutenant colonel who was a deputy battalion commander. The report said one Karen guerrilla had been killed. The tension at the frontier comes as the leaders of the resistance to last month's coup that toppled Myanmar's elected government are seeking to have the Karen and other ethnic groups band together and join them as allies, which would add an armed element to their struggle. The airstrikes mark an escalation in the increasingly violent crackdown by the Myanmar government against opponents of the Feb. 1 military takeover. At least 114 people across the country were killed by security forces on Saturday alone, including several children — a toll that has prompted a U.N. human rights expert to accuse the junta of committing "mass murder" and to criticize the international community for not doing enough to stop it. The Security Council is likely to hold closed consultations on the escalating situation in Myanmar, U.N. diplomats said Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of an official announcement. The council has condemned the violence and called for a restoration of democracy, but has not yet considered possible sanctions against the military, which would require support or an abstention by Myanmar's neighbor and friend China. The coup, which ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government, reversed years of progress toward democracy after five decades of military rule. It has again made Myanmar the focus of international scrutiny as security forces have repeatedly fired into crowds of protesters. As of Sunday, at least 459 people have been killed since the takeover, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which has tallied deaths it was able to verify. The true toll is thought to be higher.(AP)  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Suicide bomb hits Palm Sunday Mass in Indonesia, 20 wounded Posted: 28 Mar 2021 06:11 PM PDT MAKASSAR, Indonesia — Two attackers believed to be members of a militant network that pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group blew themselves up outside a packed Roman Catholic cathedral during a Palm Sunday Mass on Indonesia's Sulawesi island, wounding at least 20 people, police said. Rev. Wilhelmus Tulak, a priest at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in Makassar, said he had just finished celebrating Palm Sunday Mass when a loud bang shocked his congregation. He said the blast went off at about 10:30 a.m. as a first batch of churchgoers was walking out of the church and another group was coming in. He said security guards at the church were suspicious of two men on a motorcycle who wanted to enter the building and when they went to confront them, one of the men detonated his explosives. Police later said both attackers were killed instantly and evidence collected at the scene indicated one of the two was a woman. The wounded included four guards and several churchgoers, police said. National Police Chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo told reporters when he visited the crime scene late Sunday that the two attackers are believed to have been members of the militant group Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State group and was responsible for deadly suicide bombings on Indonesian churches in 2018. He said one of the attackers was believed to have links to a church bombing in the Philippines. The attack a week before Easter in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation came as the country was on high alert following December's arrest of the leader of the Southeast Asian militant group, Jemaah Islamiyah, which has been designated a terror group by many nations. Indonesia has been battling militants since bombings on the resort island of Bali in 2002 killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists. Attacks aimed at foreigners have been largely replaced in recent years by smaller, less deadly strikes targeting the government, police and anti-terrorism forces and people militants consider as infidels. Police have identified one of Sunday's attackers only by his initial, L, who they believe was connected to a 2019 suicide attack that killed 23 people at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral in the Philippine province of Sulu, Prabowo said. He said the two attackers were linked to a group of suspected militants arrested in Makassar on Jan. 6, when a police counterterrorism squad shot and killed two suspected militants and arrested 19 others. Members of the squad were initially supposed to arrest the two slain men for their alleged role in the Philippine suicide bombing. He said on Sunday police arrested four suspected militants believed to have links with the attackers in a raid in Bima, a city on Sumbawa island in East Nusa Tenggara province. "We are still searching other members of the group and I have ordered the Densus 88 to pursue their movement," Prabowo said, referring to Indonesia's elite police counterterrorism squad. Indonesia's last major attack was in May 2018, when two families carried out a series of suicide bombings on churches in the city of Surabaya, killing a dozen people including two young girls whose parents had involved them in one of the attacks. Police said the father was the leader of a local affiliate of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah. President Joko Widodo condemned Sunday's attack and said it has nothing to do with any religion as all religions would not tolerate any kind of terrorism. "I call on people to remain calm while worshipping because the state guarantees you can worship without fear," Widodo said in a televised address. He offered his prayers to those injured and said the government would cover all costs of medical treatment. He said he had ordered the national police chief to crack down on any militant network that may be involved. At the end of Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, which opened Holy Week ceremonies at the Vatican, Pope Francis invited prayers for the victims of violence. He cited in particular "those of the attack that took place this morning in Indonesia, in front of the Cathedral of Makassar.'' "We join with Pope Francis in praying for the victims of this horrendous attack," said a statement emailed to The Associated Press by the Archdiocese of Washington. In Atlanta, where the archdiocese is home to many Asian communities, Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer said in a statement that "As we enter today into the holiest week of the year, we grieve once again for the victims of senseless violence. I join in prayer for those killed and injured in the suicide bombing in Indonesia." A video of the scene of the attack obtained by The Associated Press showed body parts scattered near a burning motorbike at the gates of the church. At least 20 people were wounded in the attack and had been admitted to hospitals for treatment, said Mohammad Mahfud, the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs. Indonesia has been on high alert since police in December arrested Jemaah Islamiyah leader Aris Sumarsono, also known as Zulkarnaen. Over the past month the country's counterterrorism squad has arrested about 64 suspects, including 19 in Makassar, following a tipoff about possible attacks against police and places of worship. Jemaah Islamiyah was once considered the preeminent terror network in Southeast Asia, but has been weakened over the past decade by a sustained crackdown. In recent years, however, a new threat has emerged in militants who fought with the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria and returned to Indonesia or those inspired by the group's attacks abroad. (AP)  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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