JAKARTA: Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, held on Tuesday the first public trial run of its $3 billion mass rapid transit (MRT) system aimed at improving transport conditions in a city suffering some of the worst traffic jams in the world.
The MRT, which is officially due to open on March 26, was developed with Japanese expertise and funding, and is a center-piece of an infrastructure boom under President Joko Widodo, who is seeking re-election in April.
Dozens of excited residents, many of them students, rode in the shiny, air-conditioned carriages, tested the ticketing machines, and wandered through the stations.
“I’m impressed that it’s like any foreign country, like Singapore!” said Mika, a 23-year-old student, who registered weeks ago for the trial run.
But some passengers complained that facilities in some stations and feeder lines had not been finished.
“Some of the supporting infrastructure ... for pedestrians and passengers is very incomplete,” said Irfan, 40, who had brought his son along for the subway ride.
Construction workers in hard hats were racing to finish up walkways and other facilities in some stations.
The first phase is a 16-km stretch that runs partially underground from south to central Jakarta along one of the city’s main thoroughfares. The train takes about 30 minutes, compared with more than an hour by car in regular traffic.
Construction of the second line — an 8-km stretch that ends in north Jakarta — is underway and it should be operational by 2025.
Ticket prices have been set at an initial 10,000 rupiah (70 cents) and the trains can carry more than 28,000 passengers a day.
Delayed for more than 20 years, the project was finally launched in 2013, with the first line originally scheduled to open in 2018.
As well as its awful traffic jams, Jakarta regularly suffers from floods and earthquakes and the MRT was built to withstand such disasters, said Silvia Halim, construction director of PT MRT, the Indonesian-Japanese consortium that is developing the network.
“We have used the reference of standards from Japan,” Halim said. “The structure of the tunnel and the viaduct can hold up against a magnitude of 8 or equivalent.”
Flood barriers have been installed to protect the underground stations from inundation, she said.
Indonesians get first chance to ride subway in traffic-clogged capital
Indonesians get first chance to ride subway in traffic-clogged capital
- The MRT, which is officially due to open on March 26, was developed with Japanese expertise and funding
- But some passengers complained that facilities in some stations and feeder lines had not been finished
Philippine groups seek impeachment of Vice President Duterte
- Complaint filed on grounds of grave misconduct and constitutional violations
The daughter of firebrand former President Rodrigo Duterte has been embroiled in a bitter row with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and is the subject of an enquiry into her spending by the House of Representatives. She denies wrongdoing.
Monday’s complainants included civil society and religious leaders, as well as former government officials critical of her father.
“The Vice President has reduced public office to a platform for violent rhetoric, personal enrichment, elitist entitlement and a shield for impunity,” Teresita Quintos Deles, one of the complainants, said in a statement.
A representative of the Akbayan opposition party endorsed the complaint in the Philippine House of Representatives.
Duterte’s office said requests for comment had been relayed to the vice president.
The impeachment bid is the latest twist in a high-profile row among three of the Philippines’ highest office-holders, after the collapse of a powerful alliance between their families led to Marcos’ landslide win in the 2022 election.
“This impeachment is not just a legal battle but a moral crusade to restore dignity and decency to public service,” said Leila de Lima, a spokesperson for the complainants and a staunch critic of an anti-narcotics campaign run by Duterte’s father.
The complaint accused Duterte of violating the Philippine constitution by refusing to attend hearings on her budget which violated the system of checks and balances, and graft, both as vice president’s office and when she was the education minister.
It also accused her of gross incompetence and dereliction of duty.
Sara Duterte recently said she had contracted someone to kill Marcos, his wife and House Speaker Martin Romualdez, the president’s cousin, if she herself were to be killed. Later she said the remarks had been taken out of context.
On Friday, in remarks that drew criticism from some lawmakers, Marcos said any impeachment complaint against his estranged vice president would only distract Congress and not help people.
The Philippines’ lower chamber of congress is dominated by allies of Marcos, which could allow her impeachment to go through the lower chamber before an impeachment trial in the Senate.
Germany’s Scholz announces Ukraine military aid in visit to Kyiv
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made an unexpected visit to Kyiv on Monday
- His second second since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago
BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made an unexpected visit to Kyiv on Monday, vowing his country would remain Ukraine’s biggest supporter in Europe and promising delivery this month of military aid worth $683 million (€650 million).
The visit, his second since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago, signals Germany’s support at a time of uncertainty ahead of President-elect Donald Trump taking the reins at the White House and as Russian forces make territorial gains.
Scholz will hold talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is set to push NATO to invite Ukraine to join the military alliance at a meeting in Brussels this week.
The German chancellor’s visit also comes as he faces a tough battle for re-election at a snap vote in February after his coalition collapsed in November.
His own record on supporting Ukraine has been under scrutiny both from those who wanted him to do more to help Kyiv and, on the other side, those voters who want Germany to pull back from sending weapons and aid to Ukraine.
“Germany will remain Ukraine’s strongest supporter in Europe,” Scholz wrote on X.
At the meeting with Zelensky, he said he would “announce further military equipment worth €650 million, which is to be delivered in December.”
Bangladesh court acquits ex-PM Khaleda Zia’s son in 2004 deadly grenade attack
- Tarique Rahman, others were found guilty in 2018 of targeting a rally held by supporters of PM Sheikh Hasina, who led opposition at the time
- The ruling comes as the country suffers political tension after Hasina fled to India in August following a mass uprising that killed hundreds
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s High Court on Sunday acquitted former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s son, Tarique Rahman, and overturned a verdict against him over a deadly 2004 grenade attack on a political rally.
The ruling comes at a critical time as the South Asian country suffers political tension after long-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country to India in August following a mass uprising that left hundreds dead. Rahman serves as the acting chairperson of Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party while in self-exile in London, and he could become Bangladesh’s next leader if his party is voted into power.
Rahman and 48 others were found guilty in 2018 in the attack targeting a rally held by supporters of Sheikh Hasina, who led the opposition at the time, leaving two dozen people dead and wounding about 300 others. A court sentenced 19 of them to death while Rahman got life in prison, with Zia’s party accusing the ruling of being politically motivated.
A two-member judge panel scrapped Sunday the entire 2018 ruling for all 49 men, following an appeal lodged by the defendants. Shishir Monir, a defense lawyer, told reporters the court declared the trial and verdict “illegal”.
“As a result, all defendants have been acquitted,” he said.
Zia, who ruled the country as prime minister between 2001-2006, and Hasina are the country’s most powerful politicians and long-time rivals.
Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus has been chosen as the country’s interim leader since Hasina’s escape, but authorities have been struggling to enforce order amid mob justice, chaos and claims of systematic targeting of minority groups, particularly Hindus, which Yunus said are “exaggerated.”
Hasina’s Awami League party blasted the court ruling in a Facebook post on Sunday, saying it wasn’t “Yunus’ Kangaroo court” and that the people of Bangladesh would be the ones trying those responsible for the attacks.
Zia’s party welcomed Sunday’s ruling.
The attorney general’s office can appeal the ruling in the country’s Supreme Court.
The Yunus-led government has not declared any timeframe for the next election, but Rahman and his party want the new election sometime soon. Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami party, which shared power with Zia’s party in 2001-2006 with important portfolios in the Cabinet, said it wants to allow the Yunus-led government to stay in power to bring in reforms in various sectors before a new election.
Hasina faces charges of crimes against humanity for deaths during the summer’s student-led uprising. The interim government has sought help from Interpol to arrest Hasina. It is not clear if India will respond to any request from Bangladesh for Hasina’s extradition under a mutual treaty.
Australian police arrest 13 people and seize a record 2.3 tonnes of cocaine from a fishing boat
- The drugs had a sale value of $494 million and equaled as many as 11.7 million street deals if they had reached the country of 28 million people
- The smugglers made two attempts to transport the drugs to Australia by sea from a mothership floating hundreds of kilometers offshore
WELLINGTON: Australian police seized a record 2.3 tonnes of cocaine and arrested 13 people in raids after the suspects’ boat broke down off the coast of Queensland, authorities said Monday.
The drugs had a sale value of 760 million Australian dollars ($494 million) and equaled as many as 11.7 million street deals if they had reached the country of 28 million people, federal police said in a statement.
Investigators told reporters in Brisbane that the drugs were transported from an unidentified South American country.
The arrests on Saturday and Sunday followed a monthlong investigation after a tipoff that the Comancheros motorcycle gang was planning a multi-ton smuggling operation, Australian Federal Police Commander Stephen Jay said.
The smugglers made two attempts to transport the drugs to Australia by sea from a mothership floating hundreds of kilometers (miles) offshore, Jay said. Their first boat broke down, and the second vessel foundered on Saturday, leaving the suspects stranded at sea for several hours until police raided the fishing boat and seized the drugs, he said.
The mothership was in international waters and was not apprehended, Jay said.
Authorities have seized more than one ton of cocaine before, Jay said, but the weekend’s haul was the biggest ever recorded in Australia.
Those charged are accused of conspiring to import the drug into Australia by sea and were due to appear in various courts on Monday. The maximum penalty under the charge is life in prison.
Some were arrested on the boat while others were waiting on shore to collect the cocaine, police said. Two were under age 18 and all were Australian citizens, they said.
“Australia is a very attractive market for organized criminal groups to send drugs such as cocaine,” Jay said.
Over 40 people hospitalized in Georgia during protests over the suspension of EU talks
- Georgia’s Interior Ministry said Sunday that 27 protesters, 16 police and one media worker were hospitalized
- Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze warned that ‘any violation of the law will be met with the full rigor of the law’
TBILISI: A third night of protests in the Georgian capital against the government’s decision to suspend negotiations to join the European Union left 44 people hospitalized, officials said Sunday.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the parliament Saturday night, throwing stones and setting off fireworks, while police deployed water cannons and tear gas. An effigy of the founder of the governing Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili — a shadowy billionaire who made his fortune in Russia — was burned in front of the legislature.
Georgia’s Interior Ministry said Sunday that 27 protesters, 16 police and one media worker were hospitalized.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze warned that “any violation of the law will be met with the full rigor of the law.”
“Neither will those politicians who hide in their offices and sacrifice members of their violent groups to severe punishment escape responsibility,” he said at a briefing Sunday.
He insisted it wasn’t true that Georgia’s European integration had been halted. “The only thing we have rejected is the shameful and offensive blackmail, which was, in fact, a significant obstacle to our country’s European integration.” The government’s announcement came hours after the European Parliament adopted a resolution criticizing last month’s general election in Georgia as neither free nor fair.
Kobakhidze also dismissed the US State Department’s statement Saturday that it was suspending its strategic partnership with Georgia. The statement condemned Georgia’s decision to halt its efforts toward EU accession.
“You can see that the outgoing administration is trying to leave the new administration with as difficult a legacy as possible. They are doing this regarding Ukraine, and now also concerning Georgia,” Kobakhidze said. “This will not have any fundamental significance. We will wait for the new administration and discuss everything with them.”
Kobakhidze also confirmed that Georgia’s ambassador to the US, David Zalkaliani, had become the latest of a number of diplomats to stand down since the protests started.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and enlargement commissioner Marta Kos released a joint statement Sunday on the Georgian government’s decision to suspend negotiations.
“We note that this announcement marks a shift from the policies of all previous Georgian governments and the European aspirations of the vast majority of the Georgian people, as enshrined in the Constitution of Georgia,” the statement said.
It reiterated the EU’s “serious concerns about the continuous democratic backsliding of the country” and urged Georgian authorities to “respect the right to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, and refrain from using force against peaceful protesters, politicians and media representatives.”
The ruling Georgian Dream party’s disputed victory in the Oct. 26 parliamentary election, which was widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s aspirations to join the EU, has sparked major demonstrations and led to an opposition boycott of parliament.
The opposition has said that the vote was rigged with the help of Russia, Georgia’s former imperial master, with Moscow hoping to keep Tbilisi in its orbit.
Speaking to The Associated Press on Saturday, Georgia’s pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili said that her country was becoming a “quasi-Russian” state and that Georgian Dream controlled the major institutions.
“We are not demanding a revolution. We are asking for new elections, but in conditions that will ensure that the will of the people will not be misrepresented or stolen again,” Zourabichvili said.
The EU granted Georgia candidate status in December 2023 on condition that it meet the bloc’s recommendations, but put its accession on hold and cut financial support earlier this year after the passage of a “foreign influence” law widely seen as a blow to democratic freedoms.
