Mount Agung in Bali erupts
Updated Sunday :
Mount Agung volcano in Bali, the resort island of Indonesia, continued powerful eruptions on Sunday with a column of ash spread by up to four km high, forcing authorities to ban flight in the territory, an official of disaster agency said.
The volcano erupted three times on Sunday morning with the latest eruption spewing the highest height of ash, four km, at 06:20 a.m. local time, spokesman of national disaster management agency Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.
The previous two eruptions on Sunday spread ash by up to 3,000 meters and 2,000 meters high, he added.
The volcanic ash spreads to the east and southeast of the crater, heading to nearby Lombok, a tourism resort in Flores island, the spokesman said.
Planes were banned from flying above the territory as the center of volcanology and geological hazard mitigation (PVMBG) has risen volcano observatory notice for aviation to the highest level, said the official.
Indonesia, Mount Agung in Bali erupted for the second time on Saturday spewing grey volcanic ash as high as 1,500 metres from the crater, disrupting international flights.
The National Disaster Migitation Agency, in a statement, said, there has not been any increase in tremors and volcanic activities since the eruption.
The agency has called for calm among the local community, from which around 25,000 people have been evacuated from the slopes of Agung to hundreds of refuge shelters.
Mount Agung erupted for the first time in 54 years last Tuesday. Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency says the 3014-meter volcano erupted again at around 5:30 PM on Saturday. The agency says the eruption was minor, and a plume of ash rose up to a height of about 1,500 meters.
Government officials say they are not changing the volcano’s alert level from 3, the second highest.
16 international flights were cancelled on Saturday, affecting the country’s tourism industry. They include flights operated by an Australian airliner. Australians top the list of visitors to the island.
Chinese premier leaves for Hungary
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang left Beijing on Sunday morning for an official visit to Hungary and the sixth meeting of heads of government of China-Central and Eastern European Countries in Budapest.
Li made the statement in an article published on the newspaper The Hungarian Times before attending the sixth meeting of heads of government of China and the CEEC on Nov. 26-29 in Budapest and paying an official visit to Hungary.
The premier recalled that the first China-CEEC economic and trade forum was held in Budapest in 2011 and, a year later, the 17 countries established a new trans-regional cooperation platform, called the 16+1 cooperation.
Over the five years, the 16+1 cooperation has been growing and the mechanism improving, bringing about remarkable progress to cooperation in all fields, Li said.
A trade hub established by a Chinese enterprise in Hungary has been acting as a “matchmaker” between Chinese and European businesses, and is poised to further facilitate bilateral trade cooperation as the Belt and Road Initiative continues to unfold, the company’s CEO has said.
The hub, formally known as the Central European Trade and Logistics Cooperation Zone, currently comprises an exhibition center in Budapest, and two logistic parks respectively in the Csepel Port in Hungary and the Bremen Port in Germany, Wu Jiang told Xinhua in a recent interview.
The Chinese businessman, with over 20 years of experience in commerce and logistics in Hungary, said his motive to start the trade service company was to help Chinese enterprises find competent local partners in their exploration for new markets in Europe.
“I have noticed that many Chinese enterprises, often unfamiliar with local languages and laws, spent most of their energy dealing with accountants, lawyers and government agencies when they came here, with only limited time spent on expanding actual business. They could stay for only a year or two, without achieving much breakthrough in business and had to call off their endeavor,” said Wu.
He compared his exhibition center in Budapest as a bridge linking Chinese enterprises with local partners.
Activities at the center, such as exhibitions and bushiness presentations, allow the two sides to find suitable partners in a more efficient way, he said.
Meanwhile, the logistics park in the Csepel Port provides services such as cargo distribution, customs clearance and warehousing, among others, according to Wu.
In the past, the goods used to flow southeastward from the base ports of northwestern Europe such as Hamburg, Bremen and Rotterdam, he noted. With the Chinese Railway Express cargo trains and China-Europe land-sea express coming into operation, the trend is that the goods go from the southeast to the northwest, Wu added.
The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative has brought tangible benefits for businesses in Hungary, noted Wu. “The logistics volume in the park and the whole country has grown very rapidly this year. Our truck fleet is running at its maximum capacity and we have to rent trucks to cope with the trade flow,” he said.
PV Sindhu runner-up in Hong Kong Open title clash
Indian shuttler PV Sindhu has lost the title clash of Hong Kong Open Superseries tournament at Kowloon. She lost the final 18-21, 18-21 against Chinese Taipei Tai Tzu Ying.
Sindhu walked away with silver after finishing her campaign as the runner up.
On Saturday, in the semi-finals, while Sindhu had defeated Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand, Tai beat South Korea’s Sung Ji-hyun.
On Saturday, in the semi-finals, while Sindhu had defeated Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand, Tai beat South Korea’s Sung Ji-hyun.
Two crew members left the ARA ‘San Juan’ before disappearing
Two crew members left the ARA ‘San Juan’ days before the Argentine Navy’s submarine disappeared off the radar in the South Atlantic, spokesman Enrique Balbi said Saturday as cited by media. “45 people boarded the submarine in Mar-del-Plata, but one left in Ushuaia for personal reasons, because of his mother’s illness,” Balbi said, adding that another sailor was replaced after leaving in Ushuaia. A total of 44 crew members have been missing since November 15, as the search operation continues.
First Rabi Ray Memorial Lecture
RABI RAY MEMORIAL COMMITTEE
Invites you to the
First Rabi Ray Memorial Lecture
by
Medha Patkar
Adviser, National Alliance of People’s Movements
on
People’s Movements and the Constitutional Vision
Chair
Prof. Muchkund Dubey
President, Council for Social Development
Sunday, 26 November 2017 at 6.00 p.m.
India International Centre, C. D. Deshmukh Auditorium
40, Max Mueller Marg, New Delhi
Commemorating the birthday of socialist leader, former Speaker, Lok Sabha
and great crusader for the rights of the marginalised
Tea: 5.15 p.m.
(Please be seated by 5.45 p.m.)
Sarada Charan Mohanty Prafulla Samantara Manoranjan Mohanty Suhas Borker Debaprasad Ray
President Adviser Working President Convener Secretary
Rabi Ray Memorial Committee, Lohia Academy, Bhubaneswar 751005
RSVP:lohiaacabbsr@gmail.com
Nobel literature academy shaken by #MeToo sex scandal wave
The Swedish Academy, which awards the Nobel Literature Prize, has been rattled by a sex scandal as several members, their wives and daughters accused an influential person with close ties to the prestigious institution of assault.
The #MeToo wave exposing sexual misconduct which began in Hollywood has shaken artistic, media and political circles in Sweden, one of the most gender equal countries in the world, as thousands of women have spoken up and campaigned against harassment.
Sweden´s prestigious literary scene was drawn into the fray on Tuesday when newspaper of reference Dagens Nyheter published the testimony of 18 women claiming to have been assaulted or raped by one of the most influential figures in Stockholm´s cultural scene.
The accused man´s name has not been published in the media due to Swedish laws on the presumption of innocence. But his identity is generally known by the public as he is a high-profile person in cultural circles and his name has appeared in online chat forums discussing the issue.
The man did not respond to AFP´s request for a comment, though he told Dagens Nyheter he was innocent.
Married to a writer with “close links to the Swedish Academy”, the man runs a cultural club showcasing exhibitions, readings and performances by both the cultural elite and hopefuls — including Nobel literature laureates — and dubbed by some as “the Academy´s living room”.The club was partly funded by the Academy.
The alleged sexual assaults occurred between 1996 and 2017, some of them in the club´s premises, according to Dagens Nyheter.
Several women spoke openly, allowing the newspaper to reveal their identities, and their stories were corroborated by eyewitnesses, the paper said.
One of them claims to have been raped in an apartment in a posh Stockholm neighbourhood.
“Everyone knows and everyone has always known,” that he was attacking young women, she says.
The women said they remained silent out of fear of jeopardising their careers because of the man´s connections and close relations with leading publishers, producers, directors and composers.
After a “crisis meeting” on Thursday evening, the Swedish Academy announced that it was cutting all ties with the accused, whom it had funded and allowed to manage an apartment it owns in an upscale Paris neighbourhood.
The Academy said in a statement that during the meeting, “it emerged that members of the Academy, daughters of Academy members, wives of Academy members and staff of the Academy have experienced unwanted intimacy or inappropriate behaviour” by the man.
The prominent institution said it would launch an internal inquiry to find out if the man “has had any direct or indirect influence on the Academy´s prizes, scholarships, and fundings of any kind”.
Culture Minister Alice Bah Kuhnke said she regretted honouring him with the 2015 Order of The Polar Star, awarded to members of the Swedish royal family and foreigners for services to Sweden.
PEMRA bans News channels,Facebook, Twitter and Instagram not accessible in Pakistan
News channels and social media remained suspended in Pakistan on Sunday after being shut down by the government a day earlier.
Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) on Saturday and ordered to take all news channels off air. Prior to this decision, PEMRA had directed news channels to ensure the security of their staff while the situation persisted; in light of which, Geo News as per its tradition of responsible reporting was and continues to abide by the rules.
Earlier, PEMRA had barred media from live coverage of Islamabad operation under Media Code of Conduct 2015.
In a press release, the Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) strongly condemned the unilateral closure of news channels by the government. The All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) expressed concern over the sudden closure of television channels and their transmission
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are also not accessible in Pakistan, while YouTube can only be accessed via the mobile application. Access has also been blocked to the live stream pages of major news channels in Pakistan.
Protesters renewed violence early Sunday morning as they resorted to arson and pelted stones at police, a day after authorities commenced an operation to clear Faizabad Interchange of the sit-in that had paralysed the federal capital for weeks.
The protesters began pelting stones at policemen and set fire to five motorcycles and a car belonging to the police near I-8 sector earlier today, police said.
On Saturday, a protester was killed while over 250 people including 90 policemen and FC personnel, as protests took a violent turn in the capital. Around 8,000 security officials took part in the operation aimed at dispersing the protesters with the help of tear gas and water cannons.
