PALU, Indonesia: Nearly a week after disaster struck, aid workers raced Thursday to get shelter, food, medicine and other badly needed supplies to the Indonesian port city of Palu, ravaged by a powerful earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 1,400 people.
The Indonesian military was bringing in hundreds more troops to help with search and rescue efforts and keep order among survivors who have grown desperate six days after their lives were thrown into chaos. Hundreds of the injured and other survivors lined up on the tarmac of Palu’s badly damaged airport, hoping to escape aboard military aircraft.
A disaster agency official said the body of a South Korean was among two dead pulled Thursday from the wreckage of the Roa Roa Hotel, which collapsed sideways in a heap of cement and steel.
As help and supplies began arriving, there were other signs of progress: Trucks were hauling in new electricity poles to replace broken ones and restringing the wires. Workers said they intended to repair all the damage to the networks and substations and get them reconnected to the grid within days.
The United Nations announced a $15 million allocation to support relief efforts, saying more than 200,000 people were in dire need of assistance.
More than 70,000 homes are thought to have been wrecked by the quake, demolished by the tsunami or engulfed by mud slides. Thousands of people are sleeping in tents or in rough shelters made from debris, unsure when they’ll be able to rebuild. Many spend their days trying to secure basics like clean water and fuel for generators.
“Please tell the government and the NGOs if they’re really willing to help us with some food please do not give it away through the command posts,” said Andi Rusding, who was huddled with his relatives under a tarpaulin. “It’s better to go directly to each and every tent. Because sometime (the relief goods) aren’t distributed evenly.”
“It’s really difficult to find water and we don’t have a place to shower, but thank God we got some aid from the government, including a medical checkup,” said Masrita Arifin, who was camped out a few hundred meters (yards) from her family’s heavily damaged home.
National disaster agency spokesman Supoto Purwo Nugroho said most of the 1,424 confirmed dead had been buried.The death toll is expected to rise as rescue crews dig and comb through debris after being slowed initially by impassable roads and other damage.
People and heavy machinery were struggling to unearth victims from expanses of earth that surged sideways due to liquefaction, a phenomenon in which an earthquake turns loose, wet soil into quicksand-like mud. Several communities were wiped out as homes suddenly sank into the mire, which has since hardened in the tropical sun.
Many victims might have survived with faster help, said Palu resident Bambang. He told local television he found a friend injured and trapped under debris but was unable to help him. The friend died, leaving a message to have him buried in front of his church, he said.
“He was still alive then, but he died because the evacuation was so slow,” said Bambang, who like many Indonesians uses one name.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said military transport aircraft from India and Singapore had arrived to help in the relief efforts. Marsudi said 18 countries had offered help and the government was still working out arrangements with some countries, including Japan and the United States.
The aircraft will be used to transport supplies and evacuate victims, he said.
National police spokesman Brig. Gen. Dedi Prasetyo said security was being ramped up to ensure law and order after 92 people were arrested for looting goods such as motor oil, tires and farming equipment. Authorities earlier allowed desperate villagers to grab food supplies from shops but warned them not to take other things.
Palu has repeatedly been hit by the quakes and tsunamis that plague much of the Indonesian archipelago. The national disaster agency says more than 148 million Indonesians are at risk in earthquake-prone areas and 3.8 million people also face danger from tsunamis, with at most a 40 minute window for warning people to flee.
Race to get aid to Indonesian quake victims as deaths rise
Race to get aid to Indonesian quake victims as deaths rise
- The Indonesian military was bringing in hundreds more troops to help with search and rescue efforts and keep order among survivors who have grown desperate six days after their lives were thrown into chaos.
- The United Nations announced a $15 million allocation to support relief efforts, saying more than 200,000 people were in dire need of assistance.
British foreign secretary says Europeans ‘keen to continue ongoing discussions’ with Iran
GENEVA: Britain’s foreign secretary said after several hours of talks Friday between top European diplomats and their Iranian counterpart that the Europeans are “keen to continue ongoing discussions and negotiations with Iran.”
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the Europeans were clear in talks in Geneva that Iran “cannot have a nuclear weapon.”
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said that “very serious talks” were held Friday with Iran’s Abbas Araghchi.
The European ministers gave few details and took no questions.
Singer Chris Brown pleads not guilty
- Brown was originally charged with a single count of grievous bodily harm after his arrest in May, but prosecutors subsequently brought an indictment adding two counts: assault causing actual bodily harm and having an offensive weapon, a bottle
LONDON: Grammy-winning singer Chris Brown pleaded not guilty Friday to a charge related to the serious beating of a music producer with a bottle in a London nightclub in 2023.
Brown, 36, wearing a blue suit, white shirt and black-rimmed glasses, was arraigned in London’s Southwark Crown Court on one count of attempting to unlawfully and maliciously cause grievous bodily harm with intent.
Brown’s friend and fellow musician Omololu Akinlolu, 39, who performs under the name “Hoody Baby,” pleaded not guilty to the same charge.
Prosecutors previously said Brown and Akinlolu assaulted producer Abe Diaw at a bar in the Tape nightclub in the swanky Mayfair neighborhood in February 2023. Brown allegedly launched an unprovoked attack on Diaw and hit him several times with a bottle and then punched and kicked him.
The attack was caught on surveillance camera in front of a club full of people, prosecutors said.
Brown was originally charged with a single count of grievous bodily harm after his arrest in May, but prosecutors subsequently brought an indictment adding two counts: assault causing actual bodily harm and having an offensive weapon, a bottle.
When a court clerk asked Brown how he pleaded to the grievous bodily harm count, he replied: “Not guilty ma’am.”
Brown did not enter pleas on the additional counts and was ordered to return to court July 11 to face those charges after wrapping up the European leg of his world tour. His trial was scheduled for Oct. 26, 2026.
The singer of “Go Crazy,” “Run It,” and “Kiss Kiss” was released last month on a 5 million-pound ($6.75 million) bail, which allowed him to start his “Breezy Bowl XX” tour earlier this month.
Following his release after almost a week in jail, Brown posted on Instagram: “FROM THE CAGE TO THE STAGE!!! BREEZYBOWL.”
Brown, who quickly rose to stardom as a teen in 2005, won his first Grammy for best R&B album in 2011 for “F.A.M.E.” and then earned his second in the same category for “11:11 (Deluxe)” earlier this year.
UN’s Guterres urges ‘give peace a chance’ in Israel-Iran conflict
- Guterres said there were “moments when the directions taken will shape not just the fate of nations, but potentially our collective future“
- Rafael Grossi, IAEA’s head, outlined Israeli attacks on nuclear facilities at Natanz, Isfahan and Arak
NEW YORK: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Friday that expansion of the Israel-Iran conflict could “ignite a fire no one can control” and called on both sides and potential parties to the conflict to “give peace a chance.”
The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency, speaking at the same United Nations Security Council session, warned that attacks on nuclear facilities could result in the release of radiation “within and beyond boundaries” of Iran, and called for maximum restraint.
Guterres said there were “moments when the directions taken will shape not just the fate of nations, but potentially our collective future.”
“This is such a moment,” he said.
He said expansion of the conflict would “ignite a fire that no one can control” and added: “We must not let that happen.”
“To the parties to the conflict, the potential parties to the conflict, and to the Security Council as the representative of the international community, I have a simple and clear message: give peace a chance,” Guterres said.
The Security Council session took place as European foreign ministers met their Iranian counterpart on Friday hoping to test Tehran’s readiness to negotiate a new nuclear deal despite there being scant prospect of Israel ceasing its attacks soon.
Israel has repeatedly bombed nuclear targets in Iran and Iran has fired missiles and drones at Israel as a week-old air war escalated with no sign yet of an exit strategy from either side.
The White House said on Thursday US President Donald Trump would make a decision within the next two weeks whether to get involved on Israel’s side. Iran said on Friday it would not discuss the future of its nuclear program while under attack by Israel.
Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, said his country sought genuine efforts to dismantle Iran’s nuclear capabilities from Friday’s meeting between European and Iranian ministers, not just another round of talks
“We have seen diplomatic talks for the last few decades, and look at the results,” he told reporters.
“If it is going to be like another session and debates, that’s not going to work.”
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, outlined Israeli attacks on nuclear facilities at Natanz, Isfahan and Arak.
He said the level of radioactivity outside Iran’s Natanz site has remained unchanged and at normal levels, indicating no external radiological impact on the population or the environment there.
However, he said that within the facility there was both radiological and chemical contamination. He said the IAEA was not aware of any damage at Iran’s Fordow plant at this time.
An attack on Iran’s Bushehr plant would be most serious, he said: “It is an operating nuclear power plant and hosts thousands of kilograms of nuclear material.”
“I want to make it absolutely and completely clear: In the case of an attack on the Bushehr nuclear power plant, a direct hit would result in a very high release of radioactivity to the environment,” Grossi said.
“Similarly, a hit that disabled the only two lines supplying electrical power to the plant could cause its reactor’s core to melt.”
He said any action against the Tehran nuclear research reactor will also have severe consequences, “potentially for large areas of the city of Tehran and its inhabitants.”
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Dorothy Camille Shea, said the United States “continues to stand with Israel and supports its actions against Iran’s nuclear ambitions.”
“We can no longer ignore that Iran has all that it needs to achieve a nuclear weapon,” she said.
China and Russia demanded immediate de-escalation.
Russia’s UN ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya, said Israel’s actions risked pulling third countries into the conflict and internationalization of the conflict must be avoided.
He said targeting of what he called Iran’s peaceful civilian nuclear facilities was “liable to plunge us into a hither to unseen nuclear catastrophe.”
Iran says its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes. Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons. It neither confirms nor denies this.
Greek coast guard says over 600 migrants rescued from 2 fishing boats
- The first fishing boat, carrying 352 people, was spotted overnight about 55 kilometers south of the tiny island of Gavdos
- The second was found 90 kilometers south of the island of Crete with 278 people on board
ATHENS: More than 600 migrants were rescued overnight and early Friday from two wooden fishing boats found sailing miles (kilometers) from the southernmost part of Greece, the country’s coast guard said.
The first fishing boat, carrying 352 people, was spotted overnight about 30 nautical miles (35 miles, 55 kilometers) south of the tiny island of Gavdos, the coast guard said. Passengers were rescued by a ship from the European border patrol agency FRONTEX, aided by a coast guard patrol boat and four other vessels.
The second was found 50 nautical miles (about 60 miles, 90 kilometers) south of the island of Crete with 278 people on board. The passengers were picked up by a passing Portuguese-flagged cargo ship. In both cases, the migrants were transported to Crete.
There was no immediate information on the nationalities of those on board the two fishing boats.
Another two boats carrying migrants were located in the same area on Thursday, the coast guard said. One, carrying 73 men, was found south of Gavdos and another with 26 people, including one woman and three minors, was found near the coast of southern Crete.
The coast guard said those on the smaller boat told authorities they had set sail the previous evening from Tobruk in Libya, and had each paid smugglers either 4,000 euros ($5,500) for their passage to Greece. Two Sudanese teenagers, one aged 16 and the other 19, were arrested on suspicion of migrant smuggling after other passengers identified them as having been operating the boat.
Greece has been on one of the preferred routes into the European Union for people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia for decades.
Arrivals from neighboring Turkiye to the east and the Libyan coast to the south spiked last year, with Greece recording more than 60,000 people arriving — the vast majority by sea — in 2024, compared to just over 48,000 the previous year, according to figures from the UN refugee agency.
As of June 15 this year, a total of 16,290 arrivals were recorded, with more than 14,600 of those by sea.
With authorities closely patrolling the eastern sea border with Turkiye to prevent migrant boats reaching nearby Greek islands, smugglers appear to be increasingly opting for the much longer and riskier Mediterranean Sea crossing from the north African coast to the southern tip of Greece, using larger boats into which they can cram more people.
Health officials issue warnings as UK bakes in the first heat wave of 2025
- Temperatures are expected to peak at 34 degrees Celsius
- The UK Health Security Agency has issued an amber heat health alert covering all of England
LONDON: British health officials are warning people across the country to take precautions when out in the sun as the UK bakes under its first heat wave of the year.
Temperatures are expected to peak at 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit) in some parts of eastern England on Saturday following a week of unusually warm weather, according to the national weather agency the Met Office. That’s about 12 C (22 F) higher than normal for this time of year.
The UK Health Security Agency has issued an amber heat health alert covering all of England because of increased health risks for people over 65 and those with heart and lung problems.
“Heat can result in serious health outcomes across the population, especially for older adults or those with pre-existing health conditions,” Dr. Agostinho Sousa, head of the UKHSA, said in a statement. “It is therefore important to check on friends, family and neighbors who are more vulnerable and to take sensible precautions while enjoying the sun.”
Saturday is expected to be the hottest day of the heat wave, with temperatures falling slightly on Sunday and dropping back into the more normal temperatures next week, the Met Office said. The heat alert is currently scheduled to remain in effect until Monday morning.
Unusually, temperatures in London this week have been higher than in many parts of Western Europe. That’s because the high temperatures are not the result of hot air moving north from the Iberian Peninsula or North Africa as is often the case, the Met Office said.
Instead, this weather system originated in air high over the Atlantic Ocean south of Greenland. As it approaches the UK, it descends toward ground level, causing it to warm rapidly, Chief Meteorologist Matthew Lenhert said.
That said, it has been plenty hot in Europe too. Aviation enthusiasts attending the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, north of Paris, this week sought the shade of a Boeing 777’s wing, cooling off as temperatures hovered in the low 30s C (mid-80s F.)
Met Office scientists this week published research showing that climate change is increasing the likelihood of extreme high temperatures in the UK The chance of temperatures exceeding 40 C (104 F) is now more than 20 times higher than it was in the 1960s, the researchers said.
