Month: September 2009

Jakarta, September 05: Rescuers in Indonesia continued to search on Saturday as hopes faded for dozens of people missing after a major 7.0-magnitude earthquake, an official said.

The quake, which struck off the south coast of Java on Wednesday, triggered a landslide that buried dozens of people in the village Cikangkareng, 130 kilometres (80 miles) south of Jakarta.

“The quake has killed at least 65 people. The search for dozens of victims continues although their chance of survival is slim,” disaster management agency spokesman Priyadi Kardono said.

Washington, September 05: Former US president George W Bush’s top law enforcer John Ashcroft could be sued and held personally responsible for the wrongful detention of a US “terror” witness, a federal court of appeals said.

Placing responsibility on the shoulders of US officials in the Bush administration, and specifically Ashcroft, who was attorney general at the time, the judge at the ninth circuit court of appeals in Boise, Idaho ruled on Friday in favour of Abdullah al-Kidd, an American citizen who brought the complaint.

Moscow, September 05: The militant described as the mastermind of an attack that badly wounded the head of Russia’s Ingushetia region has been killed after a shootout with Russian forces, reports said on Saturday.

Rustam Dzortov was suspected of planning the June 22 car bomb attack on Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, the former paratroop commander appointed by the Kremlin to bring control to increasingly violent Ingushetia.

Sydney, September 05: Australia decided to support East Timorese independence many months before a referendum in 1999, but publicly maintained the line that it should remain part of Indonesia, a report said on Saturday.

In an interview for a book about modern Australian politics, former conservative prime minister John Howard said he had believed East Timor’s independence was “inevitable”.

But “one had to be careful about handling that publicly,” Howard told author Paul Kelly.

Urumqi, September 05: China’s official Xinhua News Agency says the Communist Party chief of the western city of Urumqi has been fired after five people died in protests over a series of hypodermic needle attacks.

Xinhua did not give a reason for the Li Zhi’s removal on Saturday. But protesters have called for his resignation, amid anger at poor security in the city.

The needle attacks, that authorities have blamed on Muslim separatists, have unnerved the city amid fears of a renewed outbreak of communal violence after ethnic rioting two months ago left nearly 200 people dead.

Washington, September 05: U.S. President Barack Obama announced measures on Saturday to encourage Americans to save more money for retirement, a move the White House said would put the economy on a stronger footing in the future.

Obama, in his weekly radio and Internet address, said the government would enact rules making it easier for small businesses to let workers automatically enroll in individual retirement accounts and 401(k) retirement plans. The measures do not require congressional approval and most will take effect immediately.

Sudan, September 05: Tribesmen killed 20 people, including a chief and his family, in an attack on a south Sudan village in the latest violence in the oil-producing territory, the South Sudan army said on Saturday.

An army spokesman accused former foreign minister Lam Akol, now the leader of a breakaway political party, of arming the attackers from his Shilluk tribe. Akol dismissed the accusation.

The Shilluk tribesmen attacked the village of Bony-Thiang in Nile state on Friday morning, killing civilians of the Dinka tribe, the army said.