Days after a powerful earthquake rocked Indonesia’s resort island of Lombok, killing more than 160 people and sending thousands of tourists fleeing, its beach strip stands eerily empty, with shops and hotels closed.
Any hotels still open are refusing guests out of safety concerns, while nearby restaurants and dive shops lie vacant in what is usually one of their busiest months of the year, reeling from the devastation of tourism caused by the quake.
“It went from high season just a…
Facebook apologises after congratulatory balloons decorate posts about deadly Lombok quake
Facebook apologised after users posting about a deadly earthquake in Indonesia on the social media platform saw their messages decorated with images of balloons and confetti.
A 6.9 magnitude quake struck the tourist island of Lombok on Sunday, killing at least 164 people and leaving thousands homeless, according to the government-run Antara news agency.
Many Indonesian speakers wrote messages on Facebook using the word ‘selamat’ – which can mean ‘safe’ but also…
Landowners, operators recommit to Electronic Communications Code
UK landowners, telecommunications operators and the government will work collaboratively to implement the revised Electronic Communications Code (‘new Code’) and deliver the UK’s digital connectivity ambitions.
As foreign tourists go home, 70,000 locals left homeless by Indonesia earthquake
More than 70,000 people have been left homeless in the deadly earthquake that hit Lombok island, forced to sleep in makeshift shelters and lacking food, medicine and clean water, authorities said Wednesday.
The shallow 6.9-magnitude quake killed at least 105 people and triggered panic among locals and tourists on Lombok on Sunday, just a week after another tremor surged through the holiday island and killed 17.
Some 236 people have been severely injured in the latest quake, with tens of…
Thousands displaced by Laos floods at risk from ‘moving’ landmines
Thousands of people in Laos, whose homes were swept away when a dam burst, are sheltering in areas contaminated by landmines, humanitarians said, as floods and mud hamper aid delivery.
The United Nations said this week that 34 people were reported dead, 97 were missing and 6,000 had been evacuated due to flash floods that followed the collapse of a hydropower dam in Laos last month.
Attapeu Province in southern Laos is “highly contaminated” by unexploded ordnance, it said, with…
Increase to USS member pension contributions ‘to meet deficit’
Member contributions to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) are to increase by 3.7 percentage points by 2020, in order to ensure that accrued benefits will be able to be paid in full.
Rescuers pull people alive from rubble as aftershocks hit Indonesia’s Lombok
Rescuers in Lombok are still pulling people out alive from the rubble two days after a deadly earthquake struck the Indonesian island, causing widespread damage and panic.
The 6.9-magnitude quake that struck early on Sunday evening killed 98 people, injured more than 236 others, and destroyed thousands of homes.
Search and rescue teams have been working to access those in the worst-affected areas, close to the epicentre in northern Lombok.
In the northern village of Lading-Lading the local…
US moves to suspend legal bid for 1MDB luxury yacht as Malaysia takes possession
The US Justice Department wants to suspend its legal efforts to take possession of the superyacht Equanimity, impounded as part of a hunt for assets linked to the multibillion dollar 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.
Indonesia handed over the US$250 million Equanimity to Malaysia on Monday.
The US Justice Department, which had sought custody of Equanimity as part of its anti-kleptocracy investigation into 1MDB, said proceedings in the US courts should be suspended until it finds out…
US fintech report offers chance to compare with UK and Europe
ANALYSIS: A recent report has highlighted areas of similarity as well as differences in the way US authorities are responding to the rise of fintech in comparison to counterparts in the UK and Europe.
Hiroshima mayor warns of threat of rising nationalism as Japan marks anniversary of US atomic attack
A bell tolled Monday in Hiroshima as Japan marked 73 years since the world’s first atomic bombing, with the city’s mayor warning that rising nationalism worldwide threatened peace.
The skies over Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park were clear, just as they were on August 6, 1945, when an American B-29 bomber dropped its deadly payload on the port city dotted with military installations, ultimately killing 140,000 people.
Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, standing at the park near…