“I suppose it won’t [cause a retaliation] and [such attacks] can be anticipated,” Teddy told journalists in Jakarta on Friday. “[However] staying vigilant is a must for everyone,” he went on.

(Read also: Pro IS cleric gets death for inspiring terror attacks in Indonesia)

Aman, the de facto leader of Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), a local affiliate of the IS terror group, was found guilty of inciting several terror attacks in Indonesia and was given a death sentence by the South Jakarta District Court in a hearing on Friday.

The judges found him responsible for inciting others to carry out at least five terror attacks in Indonesia, including the Thamrin attacks in Central Jakarta in 2016 and the Kampung Melayu bombings in East Jakarta last year. Aman’s teachings were behind the terror attacks, the judges said.

Aman denied that he was involved in the attack, despite admitting that he had urged his followers to go to Syria to join the IS in its quest to establish a global caliphate.

The annual Yulin dog meat celebration opened without a hitch on Thursday, a day after a South Korean court announced it had ruled that the slaughtering of dogs for meat was illegal.

Activists say the ruling could pave the way for the outlawing of dog meat consumption in South Korea, but there is less progress in China where advocates fear their tactics have been counterproductive.

Eating dog to mark the summer solstice is a tradition in China’s Guangxi region, where the festival has been held since 2009 to mark the occasion in the town of Yulin.

Despite rumours last year that Yulin authorities would ban dog meat sales altogether, many restaurants advertised the controversial offering this week with the veiled moniker of “fragrant meat”.

Carcasses were on display for purchase in the city’s open-air markets — though there were fewer of them than in previous years, locals said.

The Dongkou wet market downtown bustled with shoppers meandering past piles of dogs laid out atop butcher stalls for them to inspect. Others hung from hooks, their faces locked in a rigid grimace.

Market workers pulled in cartfuls of dead dogs while sweaty men blow-torched the fresher carcasses to remove any remaining fur. On the street, a man transported two live mutts in a cage on the back of his scooter.

As police patrolled outside the market premises, one woman bought a full dog for 662 yuan ($102), saying she would eat it with her family to celebrate the summer solstice.

“It’s very tasty,” another local surnamed Chen told AFP, insisting “they’re all strays — strays and pets are different”.

Chen did not consider it cruel to consume the meat during what the Chinese zodiac system deems the Year of the Dog, quipping: “don’t you eat chicken in the year of the rooster, and pork in the year of the pig?”

But vendors were more discreet than usual.

They cooked in narrow alleys or inside their restaurants instead of preparing dog dishes in front of patrons, ushering diners inside and not serving outdoors.

Mao dog ban 

Thousands of dogs are butchered during the event, the animal protection organisation Humane Society International estimates — a fraction of the more than 10 million consumed each year in China.

Animal rights activists have typically attended the festival to purchase ill-fated dogs and save them from slaughter, said Qiao Wei, an activist from the Si Chuna Qiming Animal Protection Centre.

But now they feel that working to establish a general ban on the dog meat trade would be much more effective.

“We have no hope that we can bring change just by going to Yulin,” he said. Simply buying dogs “doesn’t help”.

International animal rights groups concur, saying that focusing so intensively on dog meat consumption in just one city at an annual event risks becoming counterproductive.

“It would be far better to have a holistic campaign that works collaboratively across the country, engaging the government and public to acknowledge animals as our friends, not food,” said Jill Robinson, founder of the Hong Kong-based Animals Asia Foundation.

Chinese leader Mao Zedong had banned dog ownership for being bourgeois, but the ranks of China’s rising middle-class are now full of proud and loving dog owners.

This year, the foundation set up an online portal where Chinese citizens can report restaurants that operate illegally.

Tipsters have already flagged some 1,300 restaurants in 153 cities, with over 200 of them shut down, forced to stop selling the meat, or issued warnings, said Robinson.

Before the festival, animal protection groups from around the world submitted a letter with 235,000 signatures to Beijing, calling for the event’s abolishment.

Changing ways 

The tide appears to be turning against dog meat consumption elsewhere in Asia, and Chinese animal lovers like Zhang Huahua, a 62-year-old retired lecturer-turned-activist, sense change is in the air.

Zhang came to Yulin all the way from her home in the southern province of Guangdong to submit a letter with recommendations to the local government.

Her hope is to save dog lives by changing the system itself.

In South Korea, where one million dogs are believed to be eaten annually, a court ruled that meat consumption was not legitimate grounds for killing canines, after an animal rights group accused a dog farm operator of slaughtering dogs “without proper reasons” and violating building and hygiene regulations.

Last April, Taiwan banned the consumption, purchase and possession of both dog and cat meat, with offenders facing a fine of up to Tw$250,000 ($8,170).

But many in Yulin viewed the news with a shrug.

“They can do what they want,” said a resident surnamed Huang, who nonetheless wasn’t fond of the taste of dog himself.//AFP

    A tone-deaf sartorial decision — or a hidden message from the first lady? And if so, to whom?

The images of Melania Trump sporting the olive green khaki jacket as she boarded a flight to Texas — which immediately went viral — surfaced as the White House struggles to calm international anger over the practice of splitting migrant children from their parents.

Asked about the military-style jacket with large white brush-style lettering — apparently sold for $39 at Zara, according to the Daily Mail which first spotted the odd choice of outfit — the first lady’s spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said “there was no hidden message.”

“It’s a jacket,” Grisham said. “After today’s important visit to Texas, I hope the media isn’t going to choose to focus on her wardrobe.”

“#SheCares #ItsJustAJacket” Grisham tweeted later on, as speculation swirled online.

But the president’s take on the jacket told a decidedly different story: “‘I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?’  written on the back of Melania’s jacket, refers to the Fake News Media,” Donald Trump tweeted shortly after his wife’s return.

“Melania has learned how dishonest they are, and she truly no longer cares!”

When she arrived in McAllen, Texas the first lady had changed out of the controversial garment into a cream button-up safari-style jacket.

But upon returning to the White House she sported the jacket once more, despite stifling heat and humidity in the Washington region.

Melania Trump’s unannounced trip to a youth shelter for migrants and a Border Patrol processing center came one day after President Donald Trump made a sudden decision to end the practice of splitting immigrant families that has left more than 2,300 minors separated from their parents or guardians.

Images and recordings of distressed children held in enclosures akin to cages have sparked global fury.

The first lady herself called for political compromise to end the stripping of children from their parents — the result of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy against illegal border crossings, in effect since May.

It was not the first time Melania Trump raised eyebrows for her fashion choices when out in the field: last year she wore needle-thin high stiletto heels to observe the devastation wrought by Hurricane Harvey.//AFP

Fans who have always wondered why Chang is so health conscious , found out when the actor released a series of books recently. In the books, there are some photos of Chang which showed a distinct scar along his abdomen.

It was then revealed that the 10cm-long scar was the result of a surgery he had to undergo three years ago in order to donate his liver to his father.

During an interview in Taiwan, Chang said: “Given another choice, I would have made the same decision. Even if you ask me 10 times over, my decision will still remain the same.”

The Taipei-born actor was only 22 when his father was diagnosed with liver cancer. When test results showed that he was a match, he decided to donate his liver to his father.

“If I didn’t do it, then my dad would have had only three months left. That is why I didn’t give it that much thought. So, I just nodded my head and agreed to it,” he explained further.

The surgery took 45% of his liver. His gallbladder was also removed.

To put things into perspective, here’s a brief explanation about the functions of the gallbladder and liver and their roles in the digestive system.

The liver produces bile which is stored in the gallbladder. Bile is a liquid which helps to digest fatty foods. Without the gallbladder acting as storage, the bile just flows directly into the intestines when it is produced by the liver. While the liver does make enough bile post-surgery, more than half the patients who have had their gallbladder removed still have trouble digesting fat.

So, those who have had surgery to remove their gallbladder or part of their liver, have to watch their diet very carefully.

What this means is that the young actor has to maintain a clean diet and lead a healthy lifestyle. According to Chang, he does his best to keep to a strict regime.

He is in bed before midnight and clocks in eight hours of sleep every night. He maintains a regular fitness regime. He avoids greasy fare, deep-fried dishes, salty food and sugary drinks. He drinks two litres of water everyday. He keeps his meals light and bland, and often vegetarian.

If his workload is too heavy, Chang says his body does protest. “I had to go shoot a drama in China less than a week after I was discharged from hospital. When filming extended till late at night, I felt like I was about to ascend to the heavens,” he remembered.

The dashing actor has starred in Taiwanese dramas such as Prince Of Wolf (2016), The Man From The Future (2017) and My Dear Boy (2017) as well as mainland Chinese dramas Stay With Me (2016) and Be With You (2017).

Semporna, a town in eastern Sabah, is a world famous diving haven and revenue from diving activities reached about USD55.3mil (RM221.85mil) a year, Dr Johanna Zimmerhackel of the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) told the Sabah Sharks and Rays Forum 2018 in Kota Kinabalu on Thursday (June 21).

Of this, shark diving made up USD16.6mil (RM66.6mil) and taxes collected from this amounted to USD3.6mil (RM14.44mil), she said.

The balance comes from various economic spin off activities such as hotels, restaurants, transport etc

“Protecting sharks and rays or maintaining their state or increasing them is the key message of the study,” said Dr Zimmerhackel.

This was the result of an updated study to assess the current economic value of the shark-diving industry in Semporna, following the 2012 Shark Tourism Economic Valuation Study, that was led by the AIMS.

“There are many different conservation strategies, and setting up a shark sanctuary is one of them,” said Dr Zimmerhackel.

She said while a study is needed to see whether a shark sanctuary would be the most feasible conservation strategy for Sabah, it could improve the diving experience of shark divers who are at risk of taking their tourism receipts elsewhere if the shark situation in Sabah continues to dwindle.

However, the situation is not so simple, as sharks and rays are part of the diet of traditional communities around Semporna, and are often the by-catch by fishermen.

Research at Pulau Mabul by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) found that the Bajau Laut (sea gypsies) traditionally dry shark meat and turn them into salted fish for their own consumption.

UTM tourism research head Prof Amran Hamzah said rays have also been traditionally part of the Suluk community’s diet in a dish called tiyula itum (black soup).

“The general reaction from the locals is denial, general apathy, or saying that (killing of sharks and rays) is a ‘one-off’ spectacle and that it did not involve protected species,” said Prof Amran.

He said there is a need to educate local communities on the importance of conserving sharks and rays and also to elevate responsible tourism as an alternative source of income for them.

Other groups at the forum also underlined that the new government should review existing laws on shark protection.

WWF-Malaysia marine policy manager Shantini Guna Rajan said the review could mean regulating sustainable exploitation or completely protecting a species by including it in the list of legislation.

“Most importantly, the federal and Sabah state government must sit together to discuss how to review the regulations,” said Shantini at.

The forum saw local, regional and international top campaigners discussing legal advances in protecting these sea creatures plus research and awareness raising efforts in Sabah.

Semporna is the most important hotbed in Sabah for both tourism and fishing of sharks, and the east coast district has been a focal point for researchers and campaigners.

Youth NGO Green Semporna co-founder Adzmin Fatta said it is crucial to empower the youth to change the culture in their communities.

“This doesn’t mean banning eating shark meat entirely but there needs to be a balance between conservation, livelihood and culture.

“Green Semporna has been doing awareness raising work and shark education projects in Semporna.

“We have appointed 32 young shark ambassadors from secondary schools there to promote shark conservation among their peers and communities,” said Adzmin.

The forum happening on June 21 and June 22 in Kota Kinabalu carries the theme “Exploring Synergies between Fisheries, Conservation and Tourism”.

It is jointly organised by Land Empowerment Animals People (Leap), WWF-Malaysia and Sabah Sharks Protection Association (SSPA).

It is supported by the Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry, Sabah Fisheries Department and Kota Kinabalu City Hall.

The annual Yulin dog meat celebration opened without a hitch on Thursday, a day after a South Korean court announced it had ruled that the slaughtering of dogs for meat was illegal.

Activists say the ruling could pave the way for the outlawing of dog meat consumption in South Korea, but there is less progress in China where advocates fear their tactics have been counterproductive.

Eating dog to mark the summer solstice is a tradition in China’s Guangxi region, where the festival has been held since 2009 to mark the occasion in the town of Yulin.

Despite rumours last year that Yulin authorities would ban dog meat sales altogether, many restaurants advertised the controversial offering this week with the veiled moniker of “fragrant meat”.

Carcasses were on display for purchase in the city’s open-air markets — though there were fewer of them than in previous years, locals said.

The Dongkou wet market downtown bustled with shoppers meandering past piles of dogs laid out atop butcher stalls for them to inspect. Others hung from hooks, their faces locked in a rigid grimace.

Market workers pulled in cartfuls of dead dogs while sweaty men blow-torched the fresher carcasses to remove any remaining fur. On the street, a man transported two live mutts in a cage on the back of his scooter.

As police patrolled outside the market premises, one woman bought a full dog for 662 yuan ($102), saying she would eat it with her family to celebrate the summer solstice.

“It’s very tasty,” another local surnamed Chen told AFP, insisting “they’re all strays — strays and pets are different”.

Chen did not consider it cruel to consume the meat during what the Chinese zodiac system deems the Year of the Dog, quipping: “don’t you eat chicken in the year of the rooster, and pork in the year of the pig?”

But vendors were more discreet than usual.

They cooked in narrow alleys or inside their restaurants instead of preparing dog dishes in front of patrons, ushering diners inside and not serving outdoors.

Mao dog ban

Thousands of dogs are butchered during the event, the animal protection organisation Humane Society International estimates — a fraction of the more than 10 million consumed each year in China.

Animal rights activists have typically attended the festival to purchase ill-fated dogs and save them from slaughter, said Qiao Wei, an activist from the Si Chuna Qiming Animal Protection Centre.

But now they feel that working to establish a general ban on the dog meat trade would be much more effective.

“We have no hope that we can bring change just by going to Yulin,” he said. Simply buying dogs “doesn’t help”.

International animal rights groups concur, saying that focusing so intensively on dog meat consumption in just one city at an annual event risks becoming counterproductive.

“It would be far better to have a holistic campaign that works collaboratively across the country, engaging the government and public to acknowledge animals as our friends, not food,” said Jill Robinson, founder of the Hong Kong-based Animals Asia Foundation.

Chinese leader Mao Zedong had banned dog ownership for being bourgeois, but the ranks of China’s rising middle-class are now full of proud and loving dog owners.

This year, the foundation set up an online portal where Chinese citizens can report restaurants that operate illegally.

Tipsters have already flagged some 1,300 restaurants in 153 cities, with over 200 of them shut down, forced to stop selling the meat, or issued warnings, said Robinson.

Before the festival, animal protection groups from around the world submitted a letter with 235,000 signatures to Beijing, calling for the event’s abolishment.

Changing ways

The tide appears to be turning against dog meat consumption elsewhere in Asia, and Chinese animal lovers like Zhang Huahua, a 62-year-old retired lecturer-turned-activist, sense change is in the air.

Zhang came to Yulin all the way from her home in the southern province of Guangdong to submit a letter with recommendations to the local government.

Her hope is to save dog lives by changing the system itself.

In South Korea, where one million dogs are believed to be eaten annually, a court ruled that meat consumption was not legitimate grounds for killing canines, after an animal rights group accused a dog farm operator of slaughtering dogs “without proper reasons” and violating building and hygiene regulations.

Last April, Taiwan banned the consumption, purchase and possession of both dog and cat meat, with offenders facing a fine of up to Tw$250,000 ($8,170).

But many in Yulin viewed the news with a shrug.

“They can do what they want,” said a resident surnamed Huang, who nonetheless wasn’t fond of the taste of dog himself.

The women said in their complaint they were performing a play to raise awareness about human trafficking in the largely tribal Khunti district of Jharkhand state on Tuesday when they were abducted.

The assailants shot videos of the attack and threatened the women if they went to the police.

The women worked for the non-governmental organisation Asha Kiran which is supported by a local Christian missionary group, police officer Rajesh Prasad said.

“We have been questioning several people,” Prasad told AFP.

Police have also rounded up some supporters of Pathalgadi, an anti-establishment self-rule movement popular in several tribal villages.

Pathalgadi supporters resent outsiders and do not allow them to enter or settle in their area.

Khunti is also a hotbed of Maoists, armed guerrillas who have been waging a decades-long insurgency mainly for land rights.

Prasad said the women had undergone medical tests and that police were awaiting the results.

India has been in the global spotlight since the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a woman on a New Delhi bus sparked angry protests.

But the number of sex attacks has grown since then with some 39,000 rape cases reported nationally in 2016.

Jharkhand has especially been in the spotlight after three teenagers were raped and burnt alive in separate incidents last month.

Altantuya Shaariibuu was shot dead and her body blown up with military-grade plastic explosives near Kuala Lumpur.

The murder was the most shocking aspect in a scandal involving allegations that an associate of recently toppled Prime Minister Najib Razak arranged huge kickbacks for the purchase of French submarines in 2002.

The case captivated Malaysia for years and there have long been allegations that Najib — defence minister at the time of the deal — and his wife Rosmah Mansor were involved. They have steadfastly denied the claims.

Two government bodyguards were convicted of the killing and sentenced to death. One subsequently fled to Australia, where he is in detention, and maintains he was ordered by “important people” to carry out the murder.

Altantuya’s father visited Malaysia this week. He met new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who backed re-opening the investigation, and lodged a fresh police report about the murder.

“I can confirm we are reopening investigations,” national police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun was cited as saying by The Star newspaper.

“We will conduct our duties without fear or favour.”

Eric Paulsen, head of local rights group Lawyers for Liberty, told AFP that Najib should be among the new witnesses to be interviewed by the police.

“We want to know why Altantuya was killed and who ordered her killing,” he said.

Malaysians broke the six-decade stranglehold on power of Najib’s coalition at elections last month, and voted in a reformist alliance headed by 92-year-old Mahathir.

Altantuya was the mistress of Najib’s associate, Abdul Razak Baginda, and was alleged to have demanded a cut in the submarine deal for translating during negotiations.

Abdul Razak was cleared in 2008 of abetting the murder.

The bodyguard who fled to Australia, Sirul Azhar Umar, recently said he is willing to assist any new government investigation into the case, a potential major breakthrough.

Heavily armed police guarded the hearing at a Jakarta court — which had earlier found Abdurrahman guilty of masterminding the attack that killed four — as it ordered his execution.

“(The defendant) has been proven to have committed a criminal act of terrorism,” said judge Akhmad Jaini, who also cited Abdurrahman’s involvement in other attacks for handing down the death penalty.

“He will be sentenced to death.”

The convicted terror mastermind, who sat on a defendant’s chair in the middle of the courtroom, appeared bored with the proceedings and showed little reaction to the sentence.

Executions are carried out by firing squad in the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country, which has long struggled with Islamist militancy.

In 2002, bombings at the resort island of Bali killed over 200 — mostly foreign tourists.

It was Indonesia’s worst-ever terror attack.

The assault in the capital two years ago saw security forces battle gun-toting militants near the cafe where a suicide bomber detonated his explosives.

Last month, prosecutors demanded that Abdurrahman be handed a death sentence for his role in the attack, which was the first claimed by IS in Southeast Asia.

Considered the de facto head of all IS supporters in Indonesia, Abdurrahman — believed to be 46 — is also the spiritual leader of local extremist network Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).

Authorities have said JAD was involved in the 2016 attack and a recent wave of suicide bombings in Indonesia’s second-biggest city Surabaya.

Two families — including girls aged nine and 12 — blew themselves up at churches and a police station last month, killing 13.

Authorities have not charged Abdurrahman — who was already in jail on a separate terror conviction — over the Surabaya attacks.

Despite being imprisoned since 2010, Abdurrahman has recruited militants to join IS, is thought to have been in communication with leaders of the jihadist group, and is the main translator for IS propaganda in Indonesia, according to analysts and authorities.

Although President Donald Trump reversed course, signing an executive order on Wednesday to end the practice following domestic and international outrage, Washington State on Thursday said it will lead a coalition of states legally challenging “the policy of forced family separation on the US southern border.”

Despite Trump’s order, there was no immediate plan in place for family reunification.

“We have no way to predict from one day to the next what this president’s policies or intentions are,” Washington state Governor Jay Inslee said in a statement.

“These cruel policies and this executive order are un-American and create chaos, fear and uncertainty. Washington continues to stand ready to ensure this president is held accountable.”

In an effort to staunch the flow of tens of thousands of migrants from Central America and Mexico arriving at the southern boundary every month, Trump in early May ordered that all those crossing the border illegally would be arrested, and their children held separately as a result.

Nearly all of the arriving families, and many others, have officially requested asylum, citing the incessant violence in their home countries.

Trump’s executive order “does nothing to reunify families already torn apart by the Trump Administration’s policy,” the Washington state attorney general’s office said.

“Second, the order is riddled with so many caveats as to be meaningless,” it said in a statement.

The states’ lawsuit, which was expected to be filed Thursday, will allege the Administration “has violated the constitutional due process rights of the parents and children by separating them as a matter of course and without any finding that the parent poses a threat to the children,” the attorney general’s office said.

It also called the federal policy discriminatory because it only targets the southern border, and says the administration has violated US asylum laws by turning people away at ports of entry.

Ten states and the District of Columbia are so far set to join Washington State in the suit.

The northwestern state of Washington has been one of the most aggressive, along with California and New York, in taking legal action against Trump’s administration, including over its effort to block migrants from several Muslim-majority countries.

Trump’s administration has in turn taken California to court challenging its legislation that restricts local police and businesses from cooperating with immigration authorities.