JAKARTA (CNA) – Indonesia may delay rolling out its carbon tax on coal power plant emissions, officials said on Friday, as authorities have yet to finalise details a week before its April 1 start date.
Under a sweeping law passed in October, Indonesia introduced a new levy for coal power plant operators of IDR30,000 (USD2.09) per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) for emissions above a set limit.
Indonesia, the world’s eighth-largest greenhouse gas emitter, has launched the highly-anticipated carbon tax as part of efforts to phase out the dirty fuel and reach net-zero emissions by 2060. The tax will also be the basis for setting up a carbon market by 2025.
Top officials are taking into account global “dynamics” like inflation and the war in Ukraine, official with Finance Ministry’s Fiscal Policy Office Hadi Setiawan said in a virtual seminar
on Friday.
“We might hear soon the result of (ministerial) discussions, whether we are still going with April 1 or whether there could be some delays,” Hadi said.
Rolling out the carbon tax will make Indonesia the fourth country in Asia to introduce such a rule but analysts expect opposition from industries that have warned of implementation problems and higher power costs that could undermine manufacturing competitiveness.
Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populous country where coal powers 60 per cent of electricity use, has trialled the tax for 32 operators. Emissions caps were set at 0.918 tonne CO2e per megawatt hour for power plants with a capacity above 400 MW, 1.013 tonne CO2e for plants with 100 MW-400 MW and 1.094 tonne for mine-mouth plants with the same capacity.
Further details of the trial were not available but a senior Energy Ministry official said the emission caps were not yet final.
Smoke and steam billows from the coal-fired power plant owned by Indonesia Power, next to an area for Java 9 and 10 Coal-Fired Steam Power Plant Project in Suralaya, Banten province, Indonesia. PHOTO: CNA
KYIV, UKRAINE (AP) – A Russian airstrike last week that blasted open a theatre being used as a shelter in the suffering city of Mariupol killed about 300 people, Ukrainian authorities said, marking what could be the war’s deadliest known attack on civilians yet.
The death toll announced on Friday fuelled allegations that Moscow is committing war crimes by killing civilians, whether deliberately or with indiscriminate fire.
Russia, meanwhile, seemed to signal an important shift in its war objectives with an announcement that it plans to focus its forces on eastern Ukraine.
United States (US) officials said Russian troops appeared to have halted for now their ground offensive aimed at capturing the capital, Kyiv, and were concentrating more on gaining control of the Donbas region in the country’s southeast.
However, British defence officials reported yesterday that the Russian military continues to besiege a number of other major Ukrainian cities, including Kharkiv and Chernihiv in the north.
“It is likely Russia will continue to use its heavy firepower on urban areas as it looks to limit its own already considerable losses, at the cost of further civilian casualties,” the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense said in its latest intelligence briefing on the war.
Satellite image showing the aftermath of the airstrike on the Mariupol Drama theatre, Ukraine and the area around it. PHOTO: AP
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again appealed to Russia to negotiate an end to the war, but pointedly said he would not give up any Ukrainian territory for the sake of peace.
“The territorial integrity of Ukraine should be guaranteed,” he said in a nightly video address to the nation. “That is, the conditions must be fair, for the Ukrainian people will not accept them otherwise.”
Mariupol, a strategically located port city in southeast Ukraine, has been under attack for almost the entire war. For days, the Mariupol government was unable to give a casualty count for the March 16 bombardment of the grand, columned Mariupol Drama Theatre.
In an attempt to ward off an attack on the theatre, where hundreds of people were sheltering, the word “CHILDREN” was printed in Russian in huge white letters on the ground outside.
The city government cited eyewitnesses when it announced the death toll on its Telegram channel. But it was not immediately clear how witnesses arrived at the figure or whether emergency workers had finished excavating the ruins.
US President Joe Biden’s national security advisor Jake Sullivan said the theatre bombing was an “absolute shock, particularly given the fact that it was so clearly a civilian target”. He said it showed “a brazen disregard for the lives of innocent people” in the besieged port city.
The Ukrainian Parliament’s human rights commissioner said soon after the attack that more than 1,300 people had taken shelter in the theatre, many of them because their homes were destroyed. The building had a basement bomb shelter, and some survivors did emerge from the rubble after the attack.
JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA (AFP) – The Saudi Arabian Formula One (F1) Grand Prix will continue “as planned” despite an attack by Yemeni rebels on an oil facility which set off a huge fire visible from Jeddah’s street circuit.
Flames ripped through the Aramco oil refinery and drivers even smelt the fire during the opening practice run.
Drivers held nearly four hours of meetings with team bosses and F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and managing director Ross Brawn into the early hours yesterday on whether to go ahead with the race.
“It’s not for me to say, right now,” was all Britain’s George Russell, representative of the drivers’ union, would say, while several team bosses gave assurances that “We race”.
“Ready and totally focussed for tomorrow’s qualy!” Mexican driver Sergio Perez of Red Bull tweeted after the meetings ended at 2.20am, apparently confirming the decision to race today.
Domenicali had earlier insisted the weekend would continue as planned.
“Formula 1 has been in close contact with the relevant authorities following the situation that took place today,” an F1 spokesman said after the second practice session.
Smoke rises from the burning oil depot in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. PHOTO: AP
“The authorities have confirmed that the event can continue as planned and we will remain in close contact with them and all the teams and closely monitor the situation.”
Domenicali and Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the newly elected president of the sport’s ruling body the International Motoring Federation (FIA), met with drivers and team bosses to try to reassure them.
“We have received total assurance on safety and security here, for the country and for the families,” Domenicali said after this first meeting.
“We have all put safety first to protect this area and the city where we are going,” he said.
“The question is who are these rebels targetting? It is the economic infrastructure not civilians and not this track. We have high level assurance that this is a secure place and nothing is going to happen,” added Ben Sulayem.
World champion Max Verstappen was one of the first drivers to be aware of the drama unfolding while he guided his Red Bull through the first practice session.
“I smell burning – is it my car?” said the Dutchman on his team radio.
The attack was part of a wave of assaults ahead of the seventh anniversary of a coalition’s military intervention against the Huthis in Yemen, a country in the grips of a major humanitarian crisis.
The coalition fighting the rebels confirmed the Jeddah oil plant attack.
“They are trying to impact the nerve-centre of the world economy,” the coalition said in a statement.
“These attacks have no impact on life in Jeddah,” it added.
Early yesterday, the coalition said it had carried out retaliatory strikes against Yemen’s Sanaa and Hodeida.
Meanwhile, on the track, Charles Leclerc topped the final practice times for Ferrari ahead
of Verstappen.
The 24-year-old Monegasque driver and early-season leader of the embryonic championship clocked a best lap in one minute and 30.074 to outpace the Dutchman by nearly two-tenths.
NEW YORK (AP) – With fuel prices approaching USD5 a gallon at some New York City gas stations, drivers for Uber and Lyft and the city’s taxi fleets are demanding rate surcharges to help offset the rising cost of keeping cars on the road.
A group of upset taxi drivers rallied on Friday at a New York City gas station, where regular gasoline had surpassed USD4.60 a gallon.
On Tuesday, drivers are planning to deploy a caravan across the Brooklyn Bridge to midtown Manhattan to deliver their grievances to Uber executives.
The spike in gasoline prices recently prompted ride-hailing app companies Uber and Lyft to temporarily hit passengers in many cities with a small surcharge to help drivers – who pay for their own fuel. But they declined to apply the surcharge in New York City.
“Over just the past few weeks alone, the price of gasoline has gone up by over 30 per cent,” said Executive Director Bhairavi Desai of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which organised the gas station rally.
“Money that they would normally take home for rent, groceries and medicine, they’re now having to spend on gasoline. That burden needs to be spread out; it should not just be on the drivers alone.”
Taxi drivers rally at the Shell gas station in New York. PHOTO: AP
Government agencies, especially departments under the Ministry of Development (MoD) should adopt a culture of data-sharing of geospatial information to improve public services, said Deputy Minister of Development Dato Seri Paduka Ar Haji Marzuke bin Haji Mohsin at the Continuous Professional Development Seminar yesterday, held in conjunction with Global Surveyors’ Day 2022.
The deputy minister said up-to-date geospatial data is needed in planning and to further accelerate decision making in all land development and construction projects.
“On this occasion, I also recommend that government agencies, especially departments under the MoD adopt a culture of data sharing or sharing of geospatial information so that the provision of services to the public is more up-to-date and detailed.
“With the rapid development of information communication technology at present, the way and culture we work has been greatly influenced by the latest technology through various platforms,” said the deputy minister.
He said the MoD through the Survey Department recently started the ‘Aerial Photography, Airborne LiDAR Acquisition and Geospatial Mapping of Brunei Darussalam’ project aiming to update the existing geospatial data.
Dato Seri Paduka Ar Haji Marzuke said the influence and culture as well as the quality of work must change to be in line with current priorities to improve services.
ABOVE & BELOW: Deputy Minister of Development Dato Seri Paduka Ar Haji Marzuke bin Haji Mohsin presenting a diploma to a BIG member; and the deputy minister in a group photo with the participants. PHOTOS: AZLAN OTHMAN
He said the Survey Department has work instructions drafted by its officers and licensed land surveyors which must be followed for each survey work to ensure consistency and accuracy.
He said it is hoped that these improvement efforts will be successful in overcoming the weaknesses that have been identified and will further improve the department’s level of service of to the public.
The Continuous Professional Development was jointly organised by Survey Department and Brunei Institution of Geomatics (BIG). This seminar featured three technical papers – The first paper was presented by a Senior Surveyor in Cadastral Survey Division and BIG Professional Member Haji Muhammad Hifney bin Haji Abdul Rahman.
He presented on ‘Potential of Using Satellite Altimetry for Sea Level Study in Brunei Darussalam’.
The paper was also presented during the FIG Working Week in Hanoi, Vietnam and the 15th Southeast Asia Survey Congress (SEASC) in Darwin, Australia in 2019 and won the Best Abstract Award during the 15th SEASC from the Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute, Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Commission.
The second presenter was by a Surveyor from the Geodetic Division of the Survey Department and BIG applicant Muhammad Abdul Hadi bin Haseri. His paper was on the ‘Assessment of Local Geoid in Brunei Darussalam’ focussing on analysing orthometric height difference between Mean Sea Level and GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System).
The third presenter was from Brunei Shell Petroleum Company Sdn Bhd Head of Geomatic and Metocean and BIG applicant Mark Beloeil-Smith. His presentation ‘Where Am I?’ discussed basic knowledge and understanding on how a position is made, confirmed and validated – a fundamental knowledge to all geomaticians or surveyors.
The seminar also saw the diploma presentation by the guest of honour to newly promoted members and new members joining BIG as professional and graduate members.
MEXICO CITY (AP) – Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Friday brushed off comments by a senior United States (US) military official who said there are more Russian spies in Mexico than anywhere else in the world.
That was an apparent reference to Russia’s huge embassy in Mexico City, which has a decades-old reputation for being an espionage hub.
Responding to a question, López Obrador said Mexico was nobody’s colony and didn’t send spies abroad. But those were two things that head of US Northern Command General Glen VanHerck had not mentioned.
VanHerck said on Thursday before the US Senate Armed Services Committee that “the largest portion of the GRU members is in Mexico right now. Those are Russian intelligence personnel”.
The GRU is Russia’s main foreign military intelligence agency.
“Mexico is a free country, independent and sovereign, we are not a colony of Russia, China or the US,” López Obrador said. “We don’t go to Moscow to spy on anybody, nor do we go to Beijing to spy on what they are doing. We don’t go to Washington, not even to Los Angeles.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. PHOTO: AP
We don’t get involved in that,” he said.
Despite Mexico’s enormous commercial ties to the US, the country has traditionally tried to preserve a measure of independence and non-alignment in foreign policy, and many Mexicans have long seen Russia and Cuba as counterbalances to US dominance.
For example, members of Mexico’s Congress drew a rebuke from US Ambassador Ken Salazar this week when they formed a Mexico-Russia “friendship committee”. The idea of Mexico drawing closer to Russia or splitting with the US on the issue is something “that can never happen”, Salazar said.
A half dozen legislators from López Obrador’s Morena party joined almost 20 other allied Congress members on Wednesday in creating the committee almost a month after Russian troops invaded Ukraine.
Morena Congressman Armando Contreras Castillo said, “We are always ready to do everything we can to increase the friendship, relations and co-operation between Mexico and Russia in every aspect of the world and life.”
Mexico has refused to send any aid to Ukraine or impose sanctions on Russia, but did co-sponsor a United Nations resolution condemning the invasion.
The mansion that holds the Russian Embassy in Mexico City is far out of scale to the limited trade ties between the countries and has long been thought to be a hub for spies.
SANAA, YEMEN (AP) – A coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen unleashed a barrage of airstrikes on the capital and a strategic Red Sea city, officials said yesterday. At least seven people were killed.
The overnight airstrikes on Sanaa and Hodeida – both held by the Houthis – came a day after the rebels attacked an oil depot in the Saudi city of Jeddah, their highest-profile assault yet on the Kingdom.
A spokesman for the coalition Brigardier General Turki al-Malki said the strikes targetted “sources of threat“ to Saudi Arabia, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency.
He said the coalition intercepted and destroyed two explosives-laden drones early yesterday.
He said the drones were launched from Houthi-held oil facilities in Hodeida, urging civilians to stay away from oil facilities in the city.
Footage circulated online showed flames and plumes of smoke over Sanaa and Hodeida.
A passenger airplane flies over a smoldering fire at a Saudi Aramco oil depot after a Yemen Houthi rebel attack in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. PHOTO: AP
The escalation is likely to complicate efforts by the United Nations special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, to reach a humanitarian truce during the month of Ramadhan in early April.
It comes as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) plans to host talks late this month. The Houthis however have rejected Riyadh – the Saudi capital where the GCC is headquartered – as a venue for talks, which are expected to include an array of Yemeni factions.
Yemen’s brutal war erupted in 2014 after the Houthis seized Sanaa. Months later, the coalition launched a devastating air campaign to dislodge the Houthis and restore the internationally recognised government.
The conflict has in recent years become a regional proxy war that has killed more than 150,000 people, including over 14,500 civilians. It also created one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
Friday’s attack targetted the same fuel depot that the Houthis had attacked in recent days – the North Jeddah Bulk Plant that sits just southeast of the city’s international airport and is a crucial hub for Muslim pilgrims heading to Makkah.
In Egypt, hundreds of passengers were stranded at Cairo International Airport after their Jeddah-bound flights were cancelled because of the Houthi attack, according to airport officials.
The kingdom’s flagship carrier Saudia announced the cancellation of two flights on its website. The two had 456 passengers booked.
Several Brunei Association of Hotels (BAH) members attended a two-day course on ‘Islamic Values on Customer Services in the Tourism Industry of Brunei’ at the Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism (MPRT) recently.
Each BAH member also brought along a hotel staff to participate in the course. Religious Teachers University College of Seri Begawan (KUPU SB) Syariah Faculty Dean Dr Haji Noralizam bin Haji Aliakbar touched on Islamic values in customer services.
Meanwhile, Hajah Cynthia of SEAMEO Voctech covered key components of customer service, Islamic value in hospitality and the introduction to customer service.
Participants engaged in group work and discussion, and were awarded with certificates upon completing the course. Participating hotel included – Mulia Hotel, Higher Hotel, Lanes Hotel Tutong, V Plaza Hotel Kuala Belait and The Abode Resort and Spa Temburong.
Brunei Association of Hotels (BAH) members and hotel staff with certificates after completing a two-day course. PHOTO: LYNA MOHAMAD
MADRID (AFP) – Spain on Friday offered a rebate and a one-time cash payment to end a truckers’ strike over soaring fuel prices that has led to food shortages in supermarkets nationwide.
But the main trucker group behind the protests rejected them as insufficient and vowed to keep up its work stoppage.
The government offer includes a rebate of EUR0.20 per litre of fuel and a one-time EUR1,250 payment per truck, Transport Minister Raquel Sanchez told reporters, adding that the total cost to the state would be around EUR1 billion.
“The vast majority of truckers want and need to work. With this agreement we are offering them the possibility to do so,” she said after talks with transport associations which represent the bulk of the sector.
Drivers and truck owners belonging to a group called Platform for the Defence of Transport have since March 14 been blocking roads and ports to draw attention to the rise in fuel prices, fuelled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The strike has disrupted supply chains in several industries and caused sporadic shortages of perishable food such as eggs and dairy products in the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy.
The group, which did not take part in the talks with the government, swiftly rejected the measures.
The strike has disrupted the supply chain in many industries. PHOTO: AFP
ATLANTA (AP) – Trae Young had 33 points and 15 assists, Danilo Gallinari added 25 points and the Atlanta Hawks held on to beat the Golden State Warriors 121-110 yesterday.
Klay Thompson finished with 37 points, hitting a season-high nine three-pointers, and Jordan Poole scored 24 for the Warriors, who have dropped four of five. Poole and Thompson each had 22 points in the first half.
Golden State, third in the Western Conference, was coming off a rousing win at Miami on Wednesday before faltering against the Hawks. Atlanta, the number 10 team in the East, had dropped two of three.
A left corner three by Kevin Huerter padded the lead, and Young followed with a straightaway three to make it 119-100 and put the game out of reach with 53.7 seconds remaining.
Young’s finger-roll gave Atlanta its first double-digit lead at 84-73 midway through the third, and Young followed with a straightaway three to make it 98-83 in the closing seconds of the period. Delon Wright’s three-pointer put Atlanta up by 18 entering the fourth.
“The last two minutes (of the second quarter) were kind of a disaster,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. “We turned the ball over, took some tough shots. They got out in transition, hit some 3s and I thought that carried to the second half.
“They felt more confident and they dominated that third quarter. That was the key stretch. From the two-minute mark of the second and into the third, they took over the game.”
Atlanta Hawks forward Danilo Gallinari shoots over Golden State Warriors guard Gary Payton. PHOTO: AP
Atlanta took charge of the game at the end of the second and throughout the third as they outscored Golden State 43-16, but the Warriors weren’t done. They trimmed the lead to five on Gary Payton II’s tip-in with 5:37 remaining and to three on Payton’s putback with 3:45 left.
That was as close as Golden State would get.
Young had two assists, hit a three and knocked down four free throws after the Warriors pulled within three.
“We knew what we needed to do is get stops,” Young said. “They went on a run, hit some tough 3s and contested 3s. Late in the game, it comes down to getting stops and executing down the stretch. We did a good job of doing that. Klay hit some tough shots, but it was good to get some stops.”
The Warriors were without two-time MVP Stephen Curry, their leading scorer who is nursing a left foot sprain. Injuries kept forward John Collins, the Hawks’ second-leading scorer and rebounder, and guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, their third-leading scorer, sidelined.
Atlanta, which never trailed in the second half, has won 15 of 18 at home.
“There’s still time for us to get that rhythm, get that mojo back and a game like this – coming out with that focus and playing with that attitude that’s necessary – we can certainly can get that going,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said.
Thompson’s straightaway three gave the Warriors their first double-digit lead at 50-39 early in the second. He improved to five of six on 3s with another straightaway that made it 65-56 at the 2:39 mark of the period, but Atlanta, ending the half on a 13-2 run, got a three-point play from Young in the closing minute to lead 69-67 at intermission.
Golden State was up 42-36 at the end of the first quarter as Poole scored 15 and Thompson 11.
Second-year Warriors centre James Wiseman, the second overall pick of the 2020 draft, is out for the remainder of the season as he recovers from right knee surgery last April.
Wiseman has missed the entire season, but he averaged 17.3 points with 9.7 rebounds and 1.67 blocks in 21 minutes playing three games for the G League Santa Cruz Warriors this month. Kerr said the knee is structurally sound but still has swelling.
“It makes the most sense to go this route,” Kerr said.
“Again, I feel terrible for James. He’s been through so much already in just two seasons, but his long-term health is good.
“The knee looks sound. It’s just a decision that we feel makes the most sense his own best interest and our interest as well.”
