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Thousands displaced by Jakarta deadly floods – Asia-Pacific – Al Jazeera English
Thousands displaced by Jakarta deadly floods – Asia-Pacific – Al Jazeera English.
![]() Indonesia is regularly affected by deadly floods and landslides during its wet season [EPA]
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Several Indonesians have been killed and thousands displaced by deadly floods in Indonesia’s capital.
More than 10,000 Indonesians have fled their homes in the capital due to flooding that has left five dead, an official said on Sunday, with people using rubber dinghies and wading through waist-deep water to reach safer ground. “So far 10,530 people in Jakarta have been displaced by floods caused by heavy rains,” disaster agency official Tri Budiarto said. Buildings in some parts of the capital, which has a population of 10 million and is regularly afflicted by floods during the six-month rainy season, were half submerged, with roads blocked in many areas.
Five people have so far been killed in the past week due to flooding, officials have said previously. Budiarto confirmed the toll and said those killed had either died by drowning or being electrocuted. However the floods were yet to reach the same level as last year when the central business district was left under water. Sulawesi damage On the archipelago’s northern Sulawesi island the death toll from flash floods and landslides rose to 19. Around 40,000 people were still displaced following flash floods and landslides on the island earlier in the week, local disaster agency chief Christian Laotongan said. “The floods have subsided but houses were wrecked, and furniture and belongings were damaged, so people have not been able to return,” he added. Rescuers on Saturday recovered the body of a woman from a landslide in Tomohon city, Laotongan said, bringing the death toll in the area to 19. Indonesia is regularly affected by deadly floods and landslides during its wet season. Environmentalists blame logging and a failure to reforest denuded land for exacerbating the floods. |
Indonesia recalls Canberra ambassador over Yudhoyono phone tapping attempt | World news | theguardian.com
Indonesia has recalled its ambassador to Australia following Guardian Australia’s revelations that Australian spy agencies attempted to listen to the private phone calls of the Indonesian president and targeted the phones of other senior figures in Jakarta, including his wife.
The Indonesian foreign minister, Marty Natalegawa, confirmed on Monday that he and the president had contacted the ambassador in Canberra and told him to return to Jakarta for “consultations”. He added that Indonesia was reviewing all information-sharing agreements between the two nations, a damning move given the new Australian government’s pledge to combat people-smuggling in the region.
Natalegawa said any tapping of Indonesian politicians’ personal phones “violates every single decent and legal instrument I can think of – national in Indonesia, national in Australia, international as well”.
He added: “It is nothing less than an unfriendly act which is already having a very serious impact on bilateral relations.”
Natalegawa said summoning the ambassador was “not considered a light step” but was the “minimum” that could be done to “consolidate the situation”.
“The ball is very much in Australia’s court,” he said, calling for an official, public explanation from Canberra.
He expressed frustration at the response he had received from the Australian capital, adding he would be speaking with the Australian foreign minister, Julie Bishop, later on Monday. Natalegawa dismissed any suggestion that phone surveillance was “common practice between countries”, saying: “I have news for you: we don’t do it, we certainly should not be doing it among friends.”
Natalegawa said he would be examining whether the phone tapping revelations were in violation of the Lombok treaty signed by the two nations in 2006, which aimed to enhance bilateral security co-operation.
The foreign minister, known for his reserved demeanour, spoke in an unusually forthright manner. He said he would be “quite flabbergasted” if tapping the private phone calls of the president had relevance to Australia’s security interests.
“I need quite desperately an explanation how a private conversation involving the president of the Republic of Indonesia, involving the first lady of the Republic of Indonesia, how they can even have a hint, even a hint of relevance impacting on the security of Australia,” he said.
Earlier on Monday, the deputy Australian ambassador to Indonesia, David Engel, was called to the foreign ministry for talks. After a 20-minute meeting, he described talks as “very good”.
Canada’s current account gap widens in second quarter | Canada | Reuters
Canada’s current account gap widens in second quarter | Canada | Reuters.
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