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UAE to develop $500 million tourism resort in Indonesia’s Aceh

The UAE is to develop several major infrastructure projects in Indonesia, including a multimillion-dollar tourism resort in its westernmost Aceh province. (Pixabay)
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Updated 06 March 2021
ISMIRA LUTFIA TISNADIBRATA
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UAE to develop $500 million tourism resort in Indonesia’s Aceh

  • Series of business agreements were signed during a Jakarta visit of UAE Energy and Infrastructure Minister Suhail Al-Mazroui
  • They are part of a $22.9 billion investment deal inked during Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s Abu Dhabi visit in January last year
Updated 06 March 2021
ISMIRA LUTFIA TISNADIBRATA

JAKARTA: The UAE is to develop several major infrastructure projects in Indonesia, including a multimillion-dollar tourism resort in its westernmost Aceh province, top Emirati and Indonesian ministers have confirmed.

A series of business agreements were signed by the two nations during a Jakarta visit of UAE Energy and Infrastructure Minister Suhail Al-Mazroui on Friday. The agreements are a part of a $22.9 billion deal signed during Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s Abu Dhabi visit in January last year. The investment deal, also covering energy, infrastructure and mining, is seen as the biggest in Indonesia’s history.

The tourism resort development project, which according to Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Pandjaitan is valued at between $300 million and $500 million, is expected to start in Aceh Singkil district in May.

Aceh, a semi-autonomous province on the northwest tip of Sumatra Island, is the only region in Muslim-majority Indonesia that imposes Shariah.

“I think within two months’ time, we can see the progress of this project in the Singkil area,” Pandjaitan said during a joint conference with Al-Mazroui.

While authorities have not revealed more details, in response to a question by Arab News, Al-Mazroui said that some islands off the main coast of Aceh have been identified for the resort.

“Hopefully the team will finalize (it) and then we will be moving to the next stage of having some definitive agreements,” he said.

The project agreement was signed by Aceh Governor Nova Iriansyah and Amine Abide, executive director of Murban Energy, a UAE company whose investment portfolio includes the development of luxury resorts in the Maldives and Seychelles.

According to a statement by the Indonesian Ambassador to the UAE, Husin Bagis, one of the considerations for developing the project in Aceh is that it is only five hours away from the UAE by plane. He said that Abide had visited nine islands in the Aceh Singkil district that were shortlisted for the project.

Among the agreements inked in Jakarta, which Al-Mazroui said are follow-ups to those signed in Abu Dhabi last year, is a $1.2 billion deal between UAE’s logistics company Dubai Port (DP) World and Indonesia’s Maspion group to develop a port and an industrial zone in Gresik, East Java.

Other deals signed on Friday, Panjaitan said, included an agreement between Indonesia’s state-owned weapons manufacturer Pindad and UAE’s small-arms manufacturer Caracal to develop assault rifles, drones and defense system technologies.

LuLu Group International is also expected to enter the Southeast Asian country, as its president director also signed a property lease agreement on Friday to open a hypermarket on the outskirts of Jakarta.

Minister Al-Mazroui hinted that other deals may also follow in the wake of the newly forged economic ties between the UAE and Indonesia. 

“Some new deals have been considered, which was not discussed before, and this is the nature of the relationship,” he said.

Al-Mazroui is the first high-level government official from the UAE to visit Indonesia since the signing of a bilateral safe travel corridor agreement in July last year.

He and members of his delegation are in Indonesia to attend a series of events during Indonesia-Emirati Amazing Week, held in Jakarta, Solo, Bandung and Surabaya on March 1-8.

Topics: UAE Indonesia Aceh tourism

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Man in jail for nearly four decades for murder acquitted by London court

Updated 5 min 24 sec ago
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Man in jail for nearly four decades for murder acquitted by London court

Updated 5 min 24 sec ago
Peter Sullivan was sentenced to life in 1987 for the murder of 21-year-old Diane Sindall
“Our client Peter Sullivan is the longest-serving victim of a miscarriage of justice in the UK,” said his lawyer

LONDON: A man who has spent nearly 40 years in jail for murder had his conviction overturned by a London court on Tuesday after advancements in DNA testing techniques cast doubt on his guilt.

Peter Sullivan, believed to be the victim of the longest miscarriage of justice in Britain, was sentenced to life in 1987 for the murder of 21-year-old Diane Sindall, who was found dead after leaving her place of work in the northwest England town of Bebington, close to Liverpool, the previous year.

He applied to the Criminal Cases Review Commission — an independent body that investigates potential miscarriages of justice — in 2021, raising concerns about his police interviews, bite-mark evidence presented in his trial, and what was said to be the murder weapon, the commission said in a statement.

The commission then obtained DNA information from samples taken at the time of the offense and found that the profile did not match that of Sullivan. His case was then sent to London’s Court of Appeal, which quashed the conviction on Tuesday based on the new evidence.

“This is an unprecedented and historic moment. Our client Peter Sullivan is the longest-serving victim of a miscarriage of justice in the UK,” his lawyer told reporters outside the court.

Reading a message from Sullivan, the lawyer said: “What happened to me was very wrong, but it does not detract or minimize that all of this happened off the back of a heinous and most terrible loss of life.”

Sullivan had applied to the CCRC questioning DNA evidence in 2008, but forensic experts advised at the time that any further testing would be very unlikely to produce a DNA profile.

The techniques used in the testing that led to his case being referred were not available at the time of his first application, the CCRC said.

Merseyside Police, which reopened the investigation in 2023, said there was no match for the DNA identified on the national DNA database, adding that they were committed to doing “everything within our power” to find to whom it belonged.

“The truth shall set you free ... As we advance toward resolving the wrongs done to me, I am not angry, I am not bitter,” Sullivan said in his message.

Over 84,000 people affected by Somalia floods since mid-April: UN

Updated 16 min 15 sec ago
AFP
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Over 84,000 people affected by Somalia floods since mid-April: UN

  • “Since mid-April, flash floods caused by heavy seasonal rains have killed 17 people and affected over 84,000 people in several areas,” OCHA said
  • “Critical infrastructure has been damaged“
Updated 16 min 15 sec ago
AFP

NAIROBI: More than 84,000 people have been affected by flash floods in Somalia since mid-April, the United Nations said Tuesday, leaving at least 17 people killed.

The Horn of Africa is one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change, and extreme weather events are becoming increasingly frequent and intense.

“Since mid-April, flash floods caused by heavy seasonal rains have killed 17 people and affected over 84,000 people in several areas,” UN humanitarian agency OCHA said.

The figure includes people who have displaced, lost shelter, now have a lack of access to humanitarian assistance, or suffer water shortages.

Jubaland, Hirshabelle, South West, Galmudug, Puntland states and Banadir region — which includes capital Mogadishu — were most impacted, OCHA said, leaving more than 8,100 people displaced.

“Critical infrastructure has been damaged,” it added, noting that water points had been submerged and almost 200 latrines were destroyed.

It comes just days after torrential rain in southeastern Banadir killed at least nine people and affected approximately 24,600 others.

“The rains significantly impacted internally displaced people,” OCHA said, citing local authorities.

According to the UN report, meteorologists have warned that more rain is expected in the coming days across southern and central Somalia.

Somalia was hit by intense floods in 2023. More than 100 people were killed and over a million displaced after severe flooding caused by torrential rains linked to the El Nino weather pattern.

Topics: Somalia flooding UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

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Harvard loses another $450 million in grants in escalating battle with Trump administration

Updated 13 May 2025
AP
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Harvard loses another $450 million in grants in escalating battle with Trump administration

  • A federal antisemitism task force said Harvard will lose grants from eight federal agencies
  • Harvard has faced escalating sanctions from the White House after becoming the first US university to openly defy the government’s demands to limit pro-Palestinian activism
Updated 13 May 2025
AP

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration is cutting another $450 million in grants to Harvard University a day after the Ivy League school pushed back against government allegations that it’s a hotbed of liberalism and antisemitism.

In a letter to Harvard on Tuesday, a federal antisemitism task force said Harvard will lose grants from eight federal agencies in addition to $2.2 billion that was previously frozen by the Trump administration.

The letter said Harvard has become a “breeding ground for virtue signaling and discrimination” and faces a “steep, uphill battle” to reclaim its legacy as a place of academic excellence.

“There is a dark problem on Harvard’s campus, and by prioritizing appeasement over accountability, institutional leaders have forfeited the school’s claim to taxpayer support,” the letter said.

It was signed by officials at the Education Department, Health and Human Services and the General Services Administration.

University officials did not immediately provide comment on the letter.

Harvard has faced escalating sanctions from the White House after becoming the first US university to openly defy the government’s demands to limit pro-Palestinian activism and end diversity, equity and inclusion practices.

Trump, a Republican, has said he wants Harvard to lose its tax-exempt status, and the Department of Homeland Security has threatened to revoke the school’s eligibility to host foreign students.

Last week, the Education Department said Harvard will receive no new federal grants until it meets the government’s demands.

The Trump administration has demanded Harvard make broad leadership changes, revise its admissions policies and audit its faculty and student body to ensure the campus is home to many viewpoints.

The demands are part of a pressure campaign targeting several other high-profile universities. The administration has cut off money to colleges including Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University, seeking compliance with Trump’s agenda.

Harvard is suing to block the federal funding freeze.

Harvard President Alan Garber disputed the government’s allegations in a Monday letter, saying Harvard is nonpartisan and has taken steps to root out antisemitism on campus. He insisted that Harvard is in compliance with the law, calling the federal sanctions an “unlawful attempt to control fundamental aspects of our university’s operations.”

The government’s letter on Tuesday said Harvard has repeatedly failed to address racial discrimination and antisemitism on campus. It cited the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision striking down Harvard’s use of race in the admissions process, along with a recent internal report at Harvard detailing cases of antisemitic harassment.

___ Collin Binkley has covered Harvard for nearly a decade — most of the time living half a mile from its campus.

Topics: Trump Returns pro-Palestinian Harvard grants

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Bulgarian parliament rejects president’s euro referendum proposal

Updated 13 May 2025
Reuters
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Bulgarian parliament rejects president’s euro referendum proposal

  • Kiselova said it did not comply with several articles of the Bulgarian constitution
  • The constitutional court has previously rejected a petition for a referendum on joining the euro
Updated 13 May 2025
Reuters
Kiselova said it did not comply with several articles of the Bulgarian constitution
The constitutional court has previously rejected a petition for a referendum on joining the euro

SOFIA: The speaker of the Bulgarian national assembly Nataliya Kiselova has dismissed President Rumen Radev’s proposal for a national referendum on adopting the euro, saying it violated the constitution, the BTA news agency reported on Tuesday.

On Monday, Radev had suggested a referendum on Bulgaria’s plans to adopt the euro next year with the question: “Do you agree that Bulgaria should introduce the single European currency ‘euro’ in 2026?” His proposal was criticized by the government, with one minister saying it was an attempt to sabotage its efforts to join the single currency.

Sending back the proposal, Kiselova said it did not comply with several articles of the Bulgarian constitution and related European Union treaties, and was inconsistent with rulings from the country’s constitutional court.

The constitutional court has previously rejected a petition for a referendum on joining the euro.

The government aims to adopt the euro next January, pending confirmation from the European Commission and the European Central Bank in June that all membership criteria have been met.

Economists say that Bulgaria, whose lev currency has long been pegged to the euro, would attract more foreign investment if it adopted the single currency and would secure credit ratings upgrades that could cut its debt financing costs.

However, Bulgarians are split on the euro’s adoption, with concerns that it might lead to price hikes, similar to what occurred in Croatia when it switched to the euro in 2023.

Germany’s Merz: EU to tighten sanctions on Russia if no progress on Ukraine this week

Updated 13 May 2025
Reuters
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Germany’s Merz: EU to tighten sanctions on Russia if no progress on Ukraine this week

  • Merz said EU leaders had agreed with Zelensky that he could take part in talks with Russia
  • “I believe more compromise and more concessions are no longer reasonable“
Updated 13 May 2025
Reuters

BERLIN: The European Union is ready to impose tougher sanctions on Russia if progress on ending the war in Ukraine is not made this week, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday, adding a new package of sanctions was prepared.

“We are waiting for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s agreement and we agree that if there is no real progress this week, we want to work together at European level for a significant tightening of sanctions,” Merz said at a news conference with his Greek counterpart.

“We will be looking at other areas, such as the energy sector and also the financial market,” he said.

Merz said EU leaders had agreed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that he could take part in talks with Russia in Istanbul this week on the condition that Russian bombardment and attacks on civilians in Ukraine must stop.

While saying he admired Zelensky’s willingness to compromise if it could help a ceasefire, Merz added:

“I believe more compromise and more concessions are no longer reasonable,” said Merz.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the EU must be at the center of any peace settlement.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky Friedrich Merz EU

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