President Yudhoyono to visit Mentawai on Thursday

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

October 27, 2010 (KATAKAMI / THE JAKARTA POST) --- President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will visit Mentawai at 9 a.m. on Thursday to meet with tsunami victims.

Yudhoyono is now in Padang, West Sumatra.

Presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said Wednesday Yudhoyono will not go to Yogyakarta, but he asked Vice President Boediono to do so.

"President would return to Hanoi to attend the ASEAN chairman handover ceremony as Indonesia will take over the leadership from Vietnam," he said as quoted by kompas.com

Monday's tsunami has killed 311 people in Mentawai.

Gubernur Sumbar : KorbanTsunami Mentawai Yang Meninggal Dunia 311 Orang

President Dmitry Medvedev has license to drive Kamaz truck

Medvedev has license to drive Kamaz truck

October 27, 2010 (KATAKAMI / RIA NOVOSTI) --- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has a license to drive a Kamaz truck, a Kremlin spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

"The president, who is seriously into driving, has the special license necessary for truck driving," Natalia Timakova said.

On Tuesday, during his visit to the Kamaz plant in Tatarstan, Medvedev took a test drive of a vehicle set to participate in the next Dakar rally in January 2011. The president drove 30 kilometers to the airport.

His navigator was the driver of the Russian Dakar rally team and record holder at the rally, Vladimir Chagin.
The president gave medals to the drivers, navigators and mechanics of the team at a workshop in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan's second city.

"I have handed out state awards in various situations, but never inside a Kamaz," Medvedev joked.
ASTRAKHAN, October 27 (RIA Novosti)

We've been in Afghanistan, we didn't like it - Russia's NATO envoy

We've been in Afghanistan, we didn't like it - Russia's NATO envoy

October 27, 2010 (KATAKAMI / RIA NOVOSTI) --- Russia's envoy to NATO on Wednesday dismissed reports that Russian troops could be sent back to Afghanistan two decades after the Soviet Union's Red Army was forced out by U.S.-backed mujahedeen.

"We've already been in Afghanistan and we didn't like it much," Dmitry Rogozin told RIA Novosti.
The UK newspaper The Guardian said on Tuesday the proposal was on the table ahead of a landmark Russia-NATO summit in Lisbon next month.

The paper said Moscow and Brussels were discussing joint initiatives including "the contribution of Russian helicopters and crews to train Afghan pilots, possible Russian assistance in training Afghan national security forces, increased co-operation on counter-narcotics and border security, and improved transit and supply routes for NATO forces."

"Maybe someone wants Russia to supply cannon fodder to Afghanistan," Rogozin went on.

The Soviet Union was involved in a bitter decade-long conflict in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. A million Afghan civilians and fighters are estimated to have lost their lives during the fighting. Some 15,000 Soviet soldiers also perished, and the return of Russian soldiers to the country would also be extremely unpopular in Russia.

The war had a profound impact on the Soviet Union, and has been cited as one of the key factors in the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Rogozin also said that Russia-NATO cooperation in Afghanistan consisted of training for Afghan and Pakistan police involved in the fight against drugs, transit and "the implementation of the so-called helicopter package."

Russia is competing for a U.S. tender to supply Mi-17 helicopters to Afghanistan.

Russian crews will train Afghan pilots, but not in Afghanistan, Rogozin said. He also said that the issue of improved transit arrangements "has never been raised."

BRUSSELS, October 27 (RIA Novosti)

Former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner dies

UNASUR general secretary Nestor Kirchner (L) talks to his wife, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner as they pose for a family picture before the beginning of an extraordinary UNASUR summit in support of Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa in Buenos Aires on October 1, 2010 (JUAN MABROMATA/AFP/Getty Images)

October 27, 2010 (KATAKAMI / BBC) --- Argentina's former president, Nestor Kirchner, has died, after reportedly suffering a heart attack.

Mr Kirchner, 60, who had been operated on in September for heart problems, died in the southern Argentine city of El Calafate, local media reported.

His wife, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, is the current president of the country.

Mr Kirchner served as president from 2003 to 2007, and was being tipped to stand for election again in 2011.

He had remained a member of the Argentine congress and secretary general of the South American regional grouping, Unasur.

But he had been dogged by ill health and had undergone two major operations in 2010 alone.

In February Mr Kirchner had surgery to remove a blockage in his carotid artery, which carried blood from the heart to the brain.

He had a second operation in September, when routine tests revealed a blocked coronary artery.

Mr Kirchner was given an emergency angioplasty after complaining of numbness in his legs.

President Yudhoyono cuts short his Vietnam visit

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

October 27, 2010 Hanoi, Vietnam (KATAKAMI / ANTARA) - Visiting Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has to cut short his working trip and return to Jakarta on Wednesday.

The president made the decision to return to Indonesia following a volcanic eruption in Central Java on Tuesday and earthquake-triggered tsunami in West Sumatra on Monday.

The president was forced to immediately return to Jakarta to monitor for himself the direct impact of the two separate natural disasters on the local people.

"President Yudhoyono has made up his mind to return to Indonesia on Wednesday," Minister/State Secretary Sudi Silalahi told the newsmen in Hanoi, Vietnam, earlier in the day.

Sudi said the president was scheduled to directly head to Mentawai, West Sumatra, to obtain the first hand information about Monday`s powerful earthquake which was followed by a deadly tsunami.

President Yudhoyono and his entourage arrived in Hanoi on Tuesday evening for a state visit to attend the 17th Asean Summit.

The president`s party included the Chief Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa, the Minister/State Secretary Sudi Silalahi and the Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.
Yudhoyono would start his activities in Vietnam on Tuesday by paying a state visit, which was at the invitation of Vietnamese President Nguyen Ming Triet.

The president made the state visit in connection with the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Vietnam, which fall on December 30, 2010.

According to the presidential spokesman for foreign affairs Teuku Faizasyah, the visit would focus on increasing the cooperation in the fields of politics, law, security, economy, development, social and tourism.

But at about 7.55 on Wednesday morning, the members of the presidential entourage were asked to pack their belongings and get ready to leave the hotel.

Consequently the Indonesian head of state had to cancel a number of his agenda in the visit to Hanoi, Vietnam.(*)

President Yudhoyono to return early

Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (C) and his wife Kristiani Herawati (R) attend a wreath laying ceremony at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi October 27, 2010. Yudhoyono is in Vietnam for the 17th ASEAN Summit that will take place from October 28 to 30. (Getty Images / REUTERS/Luong Thai Linh/Pool )

October 27, 2010 HANOI (KATAKAMI / THE STRAITS TIMES)  - INDONESIAN President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in Hanoi for an Asean summit, will return home early on Wednesday because of deadly natural disasters at home, an Asean source said.

'It's true. At midday' he will leave, the source told AFP.

Dr Yudhoyono arrived in Hanoi on Tuesday for an official visit with Vietnamese leaders before the summit of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) on Thursday, and the follow-up East Asia Summit Saturday with six regional partner nations.

A 7.7-magnitude quake that struck late on Monday near the Mentawai Islands off Sumatra island triggered a tsunami that has killed at least 112 people and left hundreds more missing.

Another 25 people have died on Java island after the Mount Merapi volcano erupted. --


AFP

Indonesia : Journalist died in Mount Merapi

Yuniawan Wahyu Nugroho (Wawan)

October 27, 2010 (KATAKAMI / THE JAKARTA POST) --- Yuniawan Wahyu Nugroho (Wawan), an editor with the vivanews.com news portal, was killed while conducting reportage at the erupted Mount Merapi in Yogyakarta on Tuesday night.

Vivanews.com reported that Dompet Dhuafa Disaster Management Center found Yuniawan dead near a house, which belongs to Mount Merapi guardian Ki Surakso Hargo aka Mbah Maridjan, in Kinahrejo hamlet, Umbulharjo village, Cangkringan, Sleman.

Yuniawan was allegedly killed by hot ash which spewed from the erupted volcanic mountain.

Yuniawan was scheduled to interview Mbah Maridjan on Wednesday.

Mbah Maridjan was also reportedly died from the hot ash. However, no official confirmation was available.

Indonesia : Mbah Maridjan, Mount Merapi guardian’s death confirmed

Ki Surakso Hargo (Mbah Maridjan)

October 27, 2010 (KATAKAMI / THE JAKARTA POST) --- Presidential special staff for disaster mitigation Andi Arief confirmed Wednesday the death of Mount Merapi guardian Ki Surakso Hargo or Mbah Maridjan.

Andi said that as of 10:15 a.m., the Tuesday’s eruption had claimed 26 casualties and injured 13 people. Mbah Maridjan was among 19 casualties that had been identified.

Mbah Maridjan was found dead at his house in Umbulharjo village, Cangkringan of Sleman, on Wednesday morning, in form of sujud (kneeling with a face down on the floor during praying) and covered with collapsing walls and trees.

Indonesia Fights on Two Fronts as Tsunami, Eruption Toll Rises

Rescuers carry the body of a victim of Mount Merapi eruption in Kaliadem, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2010. A volcanic eruption and a tsunami killed scores of people hundreds of miles apart in Indonesia, spasms from the Pacific "Ring of Fire," which spawns disasters from deep within the Earth. (Getty Images / AP Photo/Slamet Riyadi)

Indonesia (KATAKAMI / THE JAKARTA GLOBE / BLOOMBERG) --- Rescuers searched for survivors of a tsunami in Indonesia’s remote west while aid workers headed for the site of a volcano eruption as the death toll from the two disasters hours apart rose to more than 130.

The toll from the Oct. 25 tsunami that hit the Mentawai Islands off the west coast of Sumatra reached 112 with 152 missing as of 10 p.m. on Tuesday night, Ade Edward, head of operations at the West Sumatra Regional Disaster Management Agency, said. At least 24 died in the eruption of Mount Merapi in Central Java.

“The areas are remote and communication is difficult,” Edward said by phone today. “Our officials over there are supposed to report at least every hour.”

In central Java, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Jakarta, Red Cross Indonesia workers are treating people who were burned or otherwise injured after the Mt. Merapi volcano erupted three times, spewing superheated ash into the air and killing at least 24 people.

“We need more masks, tents, and medicine to treat burn injuries,” Oka Wahid, a spokesman at Red Cross Indonesia’s Yogyakarta branch, said by phone. “We also need food because more people from villages near Merapi are coming down to evacuation point.”

There were 1,360 people from five villages heading to the evacuation center in Yogyakarta, he said.

The 7.5-magnitude temblor struck the Kepulauan Mentawai region of Indonesia, about 240 kilometers (150 miles) from Padang, the provincial capital of West Sumatra, and 640 kilometers from Singapore at 9:42 p.m. local time Oct. 25, the US Geological Survey said. The quake triggered a 3-meter (10- foot) tsunami that that reached 400 meters inland, the agency said yesterday.

A 7.6-magnitude earthquake in the same area in October 2009 left more than 1,000 people dead in Padang, many of whom were buried in mudslides and the rubble of collapses buildings. Less than a month earlier, a magnitude-7 temblor south of Java on Sept. 2 left 82 people dead.

A tsunami generated by a magnitude-9.1 earthquake off northern Sumatra in December 2004 left about 220,000 people dead or missing in 12 countries around the Indian Ocean.

Mount Merapi death toll rises to 25

Paramedics lay out the bodies of victims of the Mount Merapi eruption at a a hospital in the ancient city of Yogyakarta October 27, 2010. Mount Merapi, one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes, spewed out clouds of ash and jets of searing gas on Wednesday in an eruption that has killed at least 25 people and injured 14. (Getty Images / REUTERS/Stringer )

Yogyakarta (KATAKAMI / ANTARA) - The number of dead victims of Mt Merapi eruption rose Wednesday morning from 19 to 25, a health official said.

Public Relations officer of Dr Sardjito hospital in Yogyakarta, Heru Trisno Nugroho said on Wednesday that dead victims and the injured ones were now at the hospital.

He said the dead victims at Dr Sardjito hospital totaled 25 and those suffering from burns were recorded at 15.

Head of Sleman Health Service Mafirindati said earlier that all of the dead victims were found when rescuers combed the nearest village to the Indonesian most active volcano.

Ki Surakso Hargo, popularly known as Mbah Maridjan

It was earlier reported that fifteen people were dead in Mount Merapi`s hot clouds on Tuesday with four of them found inside and 12 others outside the home of Mt Merapi caretaker Ki Surakso Hargo, popularly known as Mbah Maridjan.

Mbah Maridjan was also killed in the disaster.

Mount Merapi erupted on Tuesday evening, spewing hot clouds several times.

"Between 5.02 p.m. and 5.34 p.m. the volcano spewed hot clouds four times and right now hot clouds are coming out of the volcano again and again," Head of the Vulcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Centre Surono said.(*)

15 killed as Indonesia volcano spews hot ash

A rescuer carries an elderly woman to a temporary shelter as she is evacuated from her home on the slope of Mount Merapi, in Pakem, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2010. Indonesia's most volatile volcano started erupting Tuesday, after scientists warned that pressure building beneath its dome could trigger the most powerful eruption in years. (Getty Images / AP Photo/Slamet Riyadi) 

 

Jakarta, Oct 26 (KATAKAMI / Indiatalkies.com) – At least 15 people were killed and 13 injured Tuesday after a volcano on Indonesia’s Java island erupted, spewing clouds of hot ash, local television reported.

Metro TV said thousands of people were moved by trucks and cars after Mount Merapi started spewing hot ash and volcanic rocks just before dusk, a day after authorities upgraded an alert status to the highest level.

Television footage showed residents, most wearing masks, being taken away in trucks with windscreens covered by dust.

‘This is an initial phase of an eruption,’ said Subandrio, head of the Volcanic Technology Development and Research Centre in Yogyakarta, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.

Metro TV reported that 15 badly burned bodies were found near the house of Mbah Marijan, the man known as the keeper of the mountain, who had refused to leave his home.



Yuniawan Wahyu Nugroho ( VIVANews.Com)


It said one of them was a journalist ( Yuniawan Wahyu Nugroho from VIVANews.COM) who climbed the mountain to interview Marijan.

An Indonesian Red Cross official said 13 people were injured and were being treated in a hospital.
Officials could not be reached immediately to confirm the report of deaths.

Vulcanologist Surono said three explosions were heard at around 6 p.m. (1100 GMT) and Merapi spewed clouds of black smoke 1,500-metre into the sky.

On Monday authorities began moving children and elderly people to some of the 60 emergency shelters after scientists upgraded the alert status as lava flowing down the cone’s slopes reached 4.5 km.

Tents, blankets and plastic sheeting were distributed to dozens of evacuation points around Yogyakarta and Central Java provinces, said Arief Setyo Hadi, an official with the Indonesian Red Cross.

Officials estimated up to 40,000 people were living in the endangered areas.

The 2,968-metre volcano last erupted in 2006, killing two people. Its most deadly eruption on record occurred in 1930 when 1,370 people were killed.

At least 66 people were killed in a 1994 eruption.