After Jakarta attacks, Indonesian police arrest 3 militants, hunt for others

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Jakarta, Jan 15 (Reuters): Indonesian police arrested three suspected militants in a pre-dawn raid and hunted down others across the country on Friday, a day after an attack by Islamic State suicide bombers and gunmen in the heart its capital Jakarta.
Just seven people were killed in Thursday's late-morning siege near a busy shopping district despite multiple blasts and a gunfight, and five of the dead were the attackers themselves.
Nevertheless, it was the first time the radical group has targeted the country with the world's largest Muslim population, and the brazenness of the attack suggested a new brand of militancy in a country more used to low-level strikes on police.
Police chiefs across the country were put on high alert, some embassies in Jakarta were closed for the day and security was stepped up on the resort island of Bali, a draw for tourists from Australia and other Asian countries.
Chief security minister Luhut Pandjaitan confirmed media reports that three people suspected of plotting an attack were arrested at a house in the city of Depok, just south of Jakarta.
However, Metro TV quoted Depok's police chief as saying that the men - which it described as a bomb-maker, a firearms expert and a preacher - were not linked to the Jakarta attack.
Raids were also under way across other parts of Java and other islands to round up suspected militants.
”Now we are sweeping in and outside Java, because we have captured several members of their group, and have identified them,” National Police spokesman Anton Charliyan said.
Returning to the area outside Jakarta's oldest department store, Sarinah, where Thursday's attack unfolded, the city's police chief said the rise of Islamic State was a cause for serious concern.
”We need to strengthen our response and preventive measures, including legislation to prevent them ... and we hope our counterparts in other countries can work together because it is not home-grown terrorism, it is part of the ISIS network,” Tito Karnavian said, using another acronym for the Syria-based group.
Pandjaitan, the security minister, said his office was working with parliament to make changes to legislation that would allow preemptive arrests.
Islamic State said in its claim of responsibility that“a group of soldiers of the caliphate in Indonesia targeted a gathering from the crusader alliance that fights the Islamic State in Jakarta”.
Police confirmed that Islamic State was responsible and named an Indonesian militant, Bahrun Naim, as the mastermind.
Indonesia has seen attacks by Islamist militants before, but a coordinated assault by a team of suicide bombers and gunmen is unprecedented and has echoes of the sieges seen in Mumbai seven years ago and in Paris last November.

US asks China to rein in North Korea

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WASHINGTON/SEOUL: The United States called on China to end “business as usual” with its ally North Korea after Pyongyang defied world powers by saying it had tested a hydrogen bomb, while South Korea prepared to retaliate by broadcasting propaganda across the border. South Korea, which has grown increasingly close to China in recent years, said its foreign minister would speak with his Chinese counterpart later on Friday. US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday he had made clear in a phone call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that China’s approach to North Korea has not succeeded. US Navy Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin, commander of the 7th Fleet based in Yokosuka, Japan, says the Navy is watching North Korea closely after the country conducted its fourth nuclear test. Aucoin told reporters on Friday morning that the Navy has ships in the area and is monitoring very closely, and added that he could not be more specific. He says, “We want them to abandon any nuclear activities and comply with the international commitments and obligations. Until they do that they’re not going to achieve prosperity, they’re not going to achieve the security they desire. They’re going to live in isolation.” Aucoin spoke aboard the USS Ronald Reagan at the Yokosuka naval base. “China had a particular approach that it wanted to make, that we agreed and respected to give them space to implement that,” Kerry told reporters. “Today in my conversation with the Chinese I made it very clear that has not worked and we cannot continue business as usual.” China is the North’s main economic and diplomatic backer, although relations between the two Cold War allies have cooled in recent years. China’s foreign ministry said after the call with Kerry that Beijing was willing to communicate with all parties, including the United States. “Wang Yi stressed that China has staunchly dedicated itself to the goal of the peninsula’s denuclearisation and to maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a short statement. South Korea’s foreign ministry had requested a phone call with Wang since directly after North Korea announced on Wednesday it had tested a hydrogen bomb, the South’s Yonhap News Agency said. However, the call had been delayed due to China’s “internal scheduling,” it said, citing an unnamed official. South Korea’s propaganda broadcasts by loudspeaker across the heavily militarised border, known to infuriate the leadership of isolated North Korea, were due to begin at noon on Friday. The last time Seoul deployed the speakers, in retaliation for a landmine blast in August that wounded two South Korean soldiers, it led to an armed standoff and exchange of artillery fire. South Korea heightened military readiness to its highest level at locations near the loudspeakers, and Seoul vowed to retaliate against any attack on the speakers. The South Korean city of Paju, which sits along the border with North Korea, suspended tours of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) at the military’s request. Seoul had also raised South Korea’s cyber security alert level. Yonhap also reported that North Korea had boosted troop deployments and raised its surveillance of the South. Wednesday’s test angered both the United States and China, which was not given prior notice, although the US government and weapons experts doubt Pyongyang’s assertion that the device it exploded was a hydrogen bomb. The vast majority of North Korea’s business dealings are with China, which bought 90 per cent of the isolated country’s exports in 2013, according to data compiled by South Korea’s International Trade Association.

Turkey troops kill 17 militants in Iraq

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BAGHDAD: Turkish troops stationed in neighbouring Iraq killed 17 Daesh militants during a second attack by the militant group in less than a month, state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Friday. Turkey’s Bashiqa camp near the Iraqi city of Mosul, which Daesh has controlled since June 2014, came under assault late on Thursday night, Anadolu said. No Turkish soldier was hurt during ensuing clashes.  “There was an exchange of fire around the Bashiqa camp and Daesh launched an attack which was repelled,” a Turkish government source said. Separately, the US-led coalition launched 23 air strikes against Daesh in Iraq and three in Syria on Thursday, the task force leading the operation said in a statement. The coalition said 22 strikes in Iraq were coordinated with that nation’s government against Daesh targets, and one strike was against inoperable coalition equipment. The strikes included seven in the Daesh stronghold of Mosul and six in Ramadi, where Iraqi troops drove out most of the militants last week after a hard-fought offensive, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement on Friday. In Mosul, the strikes destroyed four Daesh tactical units, six fighting positions, four assembly areas, a bunker and a tunnel. In Ramadi, they destroyed 16 fighting positions, 13 heavy machine guns and a dozen improvised explosive devices and denied militants access to terrain, the coalition said. Other strikes in Iraq hit near Al Qaim, Sinjar, Haditha, Irbil, Kisik, Qayyarah and Sultan Abdallah, it said. The coalition said air strikes in Syria included two near Ayn Isa, where they destroyed three fighting positions and suppressed a third, and near Manbij, where a strike destroyed three staging areas. Meanwhile, Daesh spokesman Abu Muhammad Al Adnani has reportedly been wounded in an air strike in Iraq’s western province of Anbar, a military statement said on Thursday. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report. “There are confirmed reports that the so-called terrorist Abu Muhammad Al Adnani the spokesman of the Daesh terrorists was wounded in an air strike in the region of Barwana,” the military statement said. Adnani lost “a large amount of blood” in the attack a few days ago, before being moved to the northern city of Mosul, Daesh’s capital in Iraq, the statement added. More than 100 Daesh fighters were killed in and around Barwana this week by air strikes aimed at helping the Iraqi army repel militant offensives near the city of Haditha, according to the US-led coalition. Adnani is a Syrian from Idlib who pledged allegiance to Daesh’s predecessor Al Qaeda more than a decade ago and was once imprisoned by US forces in Iraq, according to the Brookings Institution. William McCants, a Brookings scholar who is author of the book “The Daesh Apocalypse,” said if true, Adnani’s wounding could be a significant setback for Daesh. “If he’s incapacitated, Baghdadi has lost a very trusted adviser,” he said by phone, referring to Daesh leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi. “His name has been floated as a possible successor and he’s an effective propagandist.” US Army Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for the coalition bombing Daesh in Iraq and Syria, could not confirm the Iraqi military report but said Adnani had not been targeted by a coalition air strike. Adanani has been the chief propagandist for militant group since he declared in a June 2014 statement that it was establishing a modern-day caliphate spanning large swaths of territory it had seized in Iraq and neighbouring Syria.

Belgium finds Daesh bomb factory

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BRUSSELS: Belgian police have found a Brussels flat where bombs used in the Paris attacks could have been made and where key suspect Salah Abdeslam may have hidden after the massacre, prosecutors said on Friday. Investigators believe explosives used in the Daesh attacks in Paris on Nov.13 may have been made in the apartment that was rented under a false name and where a fingerprint of the key fugitive was found. Police found material that could be used to make explosives, traces of explosive acetone peroxide and handmade belts during a raid on the apartment on Dec.10, federal prosecutors said in a statement on Friday. “During a house search conducted Dec.10 in an apartment on the third floor, Rue Berge in Schaerbeek, material that can be used to fabricate explosives as well as traces of TATP were found,” the prosecutor said in a statement, referring to a type of explosive. “This apartment was rented under a false identity that might have been used by a person already in custody in this case,” the statement added. Agencies

Schools reopen tomorrow

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Mohammed Ibrahim

DUBAI: As many as 414,136 male and female students at the state level will start on Sunday morning the first day of the second semester of the academic year 2015-2016, in all public and private schools which follow the curriculum of the Ministry of Education, kindergartens and adult education.

This comes after the winter vacation, which began in Dec.20 and lasted for three weeks, within three semesters being applied by the MoE.

The second semester is scheduled to continue until March 27, when the Spring holiday starts for two weeks. The third semester will kick off at April 10.

The summer vacation for students starts on June 23, while teaching staff, technical and administrative staff will start their vacation on July 10.

Total of 16,500 cameras in 225 schools installed
BY EMAN SROUR
ABU DHABI: The Abu Dhabi Educational Council (Adec) completed the installation of about 9,300 surveillance cameras in 137 schools across the emirate so far. The Information and Communication Technology Department at Adec is still following up installation of other 7,200 camera in 118 public schools. This is scheduled to be completed during the current academic year. This comes as part of a project aims to support security and safety, and to control the conduct of students. The total number of surveillance cameras that have been installed within the project reached 16,500 cameras in 255 schools in the emirate The IT department is following the installation of the cameras in the rest of the schools, according to specific stages. The first phase was carried out last year in high schools and mix-schools. These schools are in an immediate need of surveillance cameras, to uphold security efforts and safety by deterring any unwelcome behaviour from students. Meanwhile, the next phase will include the primary and preparatory schools, and kindergartens. The cameras were installed in the yards, walkways, entrances and exits of the schools. The recordings are kept for a period of six months only. This step gained a big welcome from the educational field, as it comes within measures considered to strengthen the stability of the schools and procedures of security, safety and follow-up of students’ behaviours.

Monsoon floods hit north India, 200 villages under water

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At least 21 people killed and thousands left homeless as rain causes landslides and floods in India's Uttarakhand and north eastern states, say officials.

Floods triggered by heavy rains have inundated nearly 200 villages in northern India, killing at least 21 people and leaving thousands homeless, officials said on Sunday, as forecasts for more rain prompted fresh flood warnings.

The latest rain has caused landslides and floods in many parts of India and neighbouring Nepal, where at least 90 people have been killed since Thursday, according to the latest government update.

More rain is now forecast in the state of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand in the Himalayas, resulting in new flood warnings.

“Nearly two hundred villages have been hit by the flood which has taken at least 21 lives,” said Alok Ranjan, chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh.

The river Rapti that threads through densely populated parts of the state was running above the danger mark, another official said.

India’s annual rains have picked up from early August after the worst start in five years for the June-September monsoon season raised fears of widespread drought in the sub-continent.

There were concerns that a slow start to the monsoon season would trim cane output in the world’s second-biggest sugar producing nation, but a late revival in rains resulted in higher acreage being planted.

However, fresh floods in North India have now raised fears of damage to the cane crop.

“Sugarcane is at high risk due to floods as water logging can damage the crop,” Sudhir Panwar, president of farmers’ body Kisan Jagriti Manch said by telephone from Lucknow, capital of Uttar Pradesh.

According to the latest assessment of the Indian Sugar Mills Association, the country’s sugar output could rise 4 per cent to 25.3 million tonnes in 2014/15, the fifth surplus year in a row, because of higher cane yields in other major producing states of Maharashtra and Karnataka.

(Khaleej Times)

Istanbul is the headquarters of Muslim Brotherhood: Report

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The documents reproduced by the UAE-based Arabic daily Al Roya say that the relationship between Turkey and the Brotherhood has a “profound dimension”.

Documents of the Muslim Brotherhood meetings have revealed that its permanent headquarters is based in the Turkish city of Istanbul since 2006, an Arabic daily has reported.

The documents reproduced by the UAE-based Arabic daily Al Roya say that the relationship between Turkey and the Brotherhood has a “profound dimension”. They mirror the deep relationship between Turkey’s Justice and Development political party with the banned organisation.

The documents unearthed the deliberations and outcome of the International Muslim Brotherhood’s meetings from May 29 to June 3, 2008. The minutes of the meetings showed the magnitude of the role played by Istanbul groups in the organisation.

As per the documents, the last significant meeting held in Istanbul was its 29th meeting, dating back to September 2008, when representatives and members of the organisation from across the Arab countries were present.

According to the documents, following Egypt’s revolution that uprooted the Muslim Brotherhood and overthrew the then president Mohammed Mursi from power, Turkey “became the den” in hosting the camps of the organisation’s cadres in Europe and Egypt.

The unearthing of the documents coincides with the malicious Turkish media campaign against the UAE.

The organisation lost steam after the Egyptian interim government declared it a terrorist group, following which Arab countries, spearheaded by GCC countries, declared it as a terrorist group as well. The Turkish media launched a defamatory drive against the UAE after the country declared the organisation a terrorist group.

(Khaleej Times)

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait to abide by UN blacklisting of citizens

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Two of the blacklisted men were Saudis wanted by Riyadh for links to militants, while two others were Kuwaitis, including a prominent cleric accused of links to Nusra Front.. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait agreed to comply with a United Nations resolution aimed at stopping financing for Islamist militant groups in Syria and Iraq after four of their nationals were named among a group blacklisted by the international body. The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Friday intended to weaken the Islamic State - an Al Qaeda splinter group that has seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria and declared a caliphate - and Al Qaeda’s Syrian wing, Nusra Front. Riyadh this year declared the Islamic State group and the Nusra Front terrorist organisations, imposing prison terms for giving them moral or material support, and has mobilised its clerics to preach against private donations to militants. The Islamic State has long been blacklisted by the Security Council, while Nusra Front was added earlier this year. Both groups are designated under the UN Al Qaeda sanctions regime. Gulf media said that two of the blacklisted men were Saudis wanted by Riyadh for links to militants, while two others were Kuwaitis, including Sheikh Hajjaj bin Fahd Al Ajmi, a prominent cleric accused of links to Syria’s Al Qaeda branch, the Nusra Front. “Kuwait will abide by the UN Resolution 2170 and implement all its terms,” Kuwait’s UN ambassador Mansour Ayyad Al Otaibi said in a statement carried by state news agency KUNA on Saturday. Under Friday’s resolution, the six people will be subject to an international travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo. It asks UN experts - charged with monitoring violations of the council’s Al Qaeda sanctions regime - to report in 90 days on the threat posed by Islamic State and Nusra Front, and on details of their recruitment and funding. The London-based Asharq Al Awsat said the two Saudis, Abdul Mohsen Abdallah Ibrahim Al Charekh and Abdelrahman Mouhamad Zafir al Jahani, were on two lists of wanted militants issued in 2009 and in 2011. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors casualties in fighting in Syria, has said that Charekh was killed near the Syrian coastal city of Latakia in March. Jahani was believed to be at large somewhere outside Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Abdullah Al Mualami, also said Riyadh was “committed to implementation” of the resolution. Both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have recently tightened laws aimed at preventing citizens from involvement in foreign conflicts and instructed mosque preachers to abide by government policies during their sermons. The Kuwaiti government last month ordered non-governmental public welfare associations to refrain from involvement in politics and shut down branches of some associations. In Saudi Arabia, Muslim Sharia courts have issued a series of verdicts jailing people for going to fight abroad or collecting funds for militants. (REUTERS)

India face humiliating loss against England

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Indian batting order collapsed like a pack of cards for 94 runs to lose the match by an innings and 244 runs, their third heaviest loss in history.

The Indian cricket team underwent a dramatic collapse to be bowled out for merely 94 runs in their second innings, suffering a humiliating consecutive innings defeat in only three days and lose the five-match Test series 1-3 to England at The Oval on Sunday.

The hosts put on 101 runs in the morning to take their total to 486 runs with a first innings lead of 338. In reply, the Indian batting order collapsed like a pack of cards for 94 runs to lose the match by an innings and 244 runs, their third heaviest loss in history.

Only three Indian batsmen reached double figures -- Cheteshwar Pujara (11), Virat Kohli (20) and Stuart Binny (25 not out). English medium pacer Chris Jordan, playing in only his fourth Test, achieved career-best figures of 4/18 in 4.2 overs while Man of the Series James Anderson took 2/16 from his eight. Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes chipped in with a wicket each.

India's woes continued in the morning as they failed to bowl out the hosts, who resumed at 385/7. The English lower order came out with the intent of scoring as many runs in the quickest time to plunder the ineffective Indian bowlers, who got hammered all over the ground.

Man of the match Joe Root (149 not out) started the day at 92 not out and brought up his fifth Test century. Post achieving his second hundred of the series, Root started accelerating and while doing so dragged an Ishant Sharma delivery to the stumps while batting on 110.

He was on his way to the pavilion when replays showed that Ishant's left foot was over the line, making the delivery illegal and Root was lucky to return to the crease.

The 23-year-old Yorkshireman took advantage of the situation and increased the scoring rate, suddenly raising his strike rate to a staggering 90.3. In total, he hammered 18 boundaries and a six in his 165-ball knock to bring up his third highest Test score.

He was given good support by left hander Stuart Broad who also played a quick cameo of 37 off just 21 balls to propel England to a strong total.

Night watchman Chris Jordan put on only one run on the board Sunday before getting out for 20 and last man in James Anderson also scored only one more run before being found leg before wicket by Ravichandran Ashwin.

England were bowled out shortly after an hour's play but not before taking a massive first innings lead.

Pacer Ishant was the pick of the Indian bowlers clinching 4/96 including two wickets on Sunday while offie Ashwin wrapped up the England innings to end with figures of 3/72.

After having been bowled out for a dismal 148 on Day 1 in their first outing, India started their second innings in disastrous fashion losing both openers Murali Vijay (2) and Gautam Gambhir (3) at the stroke of lunch.

After a brief rain delay and lunch, Pujara and Kohli then put together the Indian innings highest partnership of only 21 runs for the third wicket before Pujara was caught behind. Thereon, English pacers kept picking up wickets at regular intervals and it looked like the Indian batsmen had no resistance to offer.

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who has been India's second highest run-getter of the series, also got out for a duck after which it was only a matter of time before the hosts embarrassed the visitors even more.

(IANS)

VP: Make passengers smile with your service

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Shaikh Mohammed inspects Emirates’ Airbus A380 Concourse 3, , the world’s first dedicated facility at the Dubai International Airport that is home to the airline’s growing fleet of super jumbos.

His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, urged the staff at the Dubai International Airport to “show good conduct” and to leave the passengers with a smile of satisfaction on their faces, “reflecting genuine Arab generosity and hospitality”. This, he said, will elevate the UAE’s prominent standing in regional and international circles.

“Welcoming guests of the country with a sweet smile and pleasant words, and assisting whoever needs help — children, patients and the elderly — promotes the genuine essence of our hospitable people and contributes to attracting tourists to our country to know our heritage and culture,” Shaikh Mohammed affirmed.

Shaikh Mohammed made these comments on Sunday while inspecting the Emirates’ Airbus A380 Concourse 3, the world’s first dedicated facility at the Dubai International Airport that is home to the airline’s growing fleet of super jumbos.

Shaikh Mohammed, accompanied by Shaikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, and other senior officials, got a first hand look at the quality of world-class services and facilities provided by the airport authorities to inbound and outbound travellers at the Dubai airport.

Warm welcome

Shaikh Mohammed began his tour at the Departures Hall at Concourse 3, where he inspected Emirates’ check-in counters, baggage screening facilities and passport counters. He interacted with passport officers, urging them to “accord a warm welcome” to travellers.

He then took the internal monorail connecting Concourse 3 to Concourse A, where the passengers board the superjumbo Airbus A 380. He toured the different facilities there and expressed satisfaction at the services being provided for the convenience of travellers.

Shaikh Mohammed shuttled back to the Arrivals Hall at Concourse 3, where he inspected the baggage handling tracking system.

He expressed satisfaction at the level of existing coordination between the Emirates Group and the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA). The new smart travel system, which will be introduced early next year, will help travellers process departure procedures at Emirates’ counters without the need for any immigration counters or officers.

Acting Director-General of the GDRFA Major-General Obeid bin Muhair told Shaikh Mohammed that more than one million passengers passed through the Dubai Airport since the Eid Al Fitr holiday.

Concourse D

Shaikh Mohammed and his accompanying delegation also stopped at Concourse D, currently under construction as part of the airport’s latest expansion plans to increase capacity. Once operational by the fourth quarter of 2015, the terminal will leverage the airport capacity to accommodate 92 million passengers.

Shaikh Mohammed was briefed by Khalifa Al Zafeen, the CEO of Dubai Airports, about the design, components and state-of-the-art facilities of the terminal, which will have the capacity to welcome 18 million passengers and 17 planes (Boeing 777 and Airbus A-380).

The Dh4 billion Concourse D, Al Zafeen said, will be 700 metres long and 47 metres wide and will be connected with Terminal 1 via a 350-metre elevated rail link.

Shaikh Mohammed expressed satisfaction with the progress of work on the ambitious project, which he considers an extension of the airport’s modernisation plan.

He emphasised on the need to complete the project as scheduled, with a firm commitment to the highest standards of security, safety and provision of all forms of convenience to travellers of all nationalities.

(WAM)