The volcano, which roared back to life in 2010 after four centuries of silence, has been erupting steadily since 2015, displacing more than 3,000 families.

Wednesday’s eruption “was the biggest eruption this year, given the reach of the pyroclastic flow and the size of the area covered by the ashes”, local disaster agency chief Nata Nail told AFP.

Thousands were affected by the shower of volcanic ashes on the island of Sumatra but no one was severely injured because the dangerous zone was vacated earlier, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency, said.

The eruption sent volanic ash down Sinabung’s slopes, destroying crops and causing misery to hundreds of farmers.

In May last year seven people were killed when Sinabung erupted, while a February 2014 eruption left 16 people dead.

Another Indonesian volcano, Mount Agung on the tourist paradise of Bali, has also been rumbling since September, forcing the evacuation of 140,000 people living nearby and prompting the closure of the island’s international airport.

Indonesia, the world’s most active volcanic region, lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent volcanic and seismic activities.//AFP

Visitors from the four countries wanting to enter or stay in Laos within 15 days do not need a visa, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release.

The move is part of the government’s campaign to attract more foreign visitors during Visit Laos Year.

More people from these four countries came to Laos last year, despite an overall drop of 10 percent in total visitor numbers last year compared to 2015.

Collectively, some 17,510 citizens of Scandinavian countries visited Laos in 2016, an increase from the 16,468 visitors recorded the year before.

Director General of the Tourism Marketing Department, Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr Soun Manivong, welcomed the move.

He said many countries had introduced incentives to attract foreign tourists as part of similar initiatives.

For instance, Indonesia waived the one-year visa requirement for ordinary passport holders from more than 30 countries during Visit Indonesia Year 2015.

Meanwhile, Malaysia reduced the landing fees for shuttle flights landing at its airports when the country launched Visit Malaysia Year.

“Many countries have introduced incentives to boost visitor numbers during promotional campaigns,” Mr Soun said.

He said the ministry had asked the government, via the National Committee for Visit Laos Year 2018 chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone, to waive the visa requirement for targeted countries.

In addition to the one-year visa exemption for nationals of Scandinavian countries, Laos has signed bilateral visa exemption agreements (long-term agreements) for ordinary passport holders from 11 countries, including Mongolia and Russia.

Benefiting from similar agreements are citizens of the other nine Asean member countries, namely Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Laos has also offered unilateral visa exemptions (long-term exemptions) to ordinary passport holders from Japan, Republic of Korea, Switzerland and Luxembourg.

The government expects that Visit Laos Year 2018 will attract at least 5 million foreign visitors next year, an increase from the 4.8 million tourists expected in the whole of 2017.

Plastic straws and food packaging are strewn between sunbathers, while surfers bobbing behind the waves dodge waste flushed out from rivers or brought in by swirling currents.

“When I want to swim, it is not really nice. I see a lot of garbage here every day, every time,” Austrian traveler Vanessa Moonshine explains.

“It’s always coming from the ocean. It’s really horrible,” she adds.

Often dubbed a paradise on earth, the Indonesian holiday island has become an embarrassing poster child for the country’s trash problem.

The archipelago of more than 17,000 islands is the world’s second biggest contributor to marine debris after China, and a colossal 1.29 million metric tons is estimated to be produced annually by Indonesia.

The waves of plastic flooding into rivers and oceans have been causing problems for years — clogging waterways in cities, increasing the risk of floods, and injuring or killing marine animals who ingest or become trapped by plastic packaging.

The problem has grown so bad that officials in Bali last month declared a “garbage emergency” across a six-kilometre (3.7-mile) stretch of coast that included popular beaches Jimbaran, Kuta and Seminyak.

Officials deployed 700 cleaners and 35 trucks to remove roughly 100 tons of debris each day to a nearby landfill.

“People with green uniform were collecting the garbage to move it away but the next day I saw the same situation,” said German Claus Dignas, who claimed he saw more garbage with each visit to the island.

“No one wants to sit on nice beach chairs and facing all this rubbish,” he added.

Bali’s rubbish problem is at its worst during the annual monsoon season, when strong winds push marine flotsam onto the beach and swollen rivers wash rubbish from riverbanks to the coast, according to Putu Eka Merthawan from the local environment agency.

“This garbage does not come from people living in Kuta and nearby areas,” he told AFP.

“It would be suicidal if Kuta people were doing it.”

– War on waste –

Some 72 kilometres from Kuta, Mount Agung has been threatening to erupt for two months, prompting tourists to cancel visits and displacing tens of thousands of villagers living within a 10 kilometre-radius of the volcano’s crater.

But the island’s waste problem is no less of a threat, said I Gede Hendrawan, an environmental oceanography researcher from Bali’s Udayana University.

“Garbage is aesthetically disturbing to tourists, but plastic waste issue is way more serious,” he told AFP.

“Microplastics can contaminate fish which, if eaten by humans, could cause health problems including cancer.”

Indonesia is one of nearly 40 countries that are part of UN Environment’s Clean Seas campaign, which aims to halt the tide of plastic trash polluting the oceans.

As part of its commitment, the government has pledged to reduce marine plastic waste by 70 percent by 2025.

It plans to boost recycling services, curb the use of plastic bags, launch cleanup campaigns and raise public awareness.

Still, the scale of the problem facing Indonesia is huge, due to its population of more than 250 million and poor waste processing infrastructure.

Hendrawan, who says both locals and tourists are responsible for the island’s rubbish problem, urged authorities to invest more resources to tackle the problem.

“The Bali government should spare more budget to raise people’s awareness to take care of local rivers, not to dump waste,” he said.

“The central government should boost the campaign to reduce use of plastic packaging and ban free plastic bags at convenient stores.”

The new direct international flights are part of AirAsia’s strategy to boost connectivity in line with the Sarawak government’s tourism efforts.

AirAsia Bhd commercial head Spencer Lee said the two new direct flights reflected its commitment towards expanding the market in Sarawak.

Commending AirAsia, Sarawak Tourism Board chairman Datuk Abdul Wahab Aziz said it augured well for the development of the tourism industry in Sarawak and the world.

“We hope and look forward to more international connectivity in the years to come,” he said.

The daily flight from Kuching to Shenzhen is at 10.45pm with the return flight at 3.50am the next day.

On Mondays, Wednesdays, Fri­days and Sundays, there will be flights from Singapore to Bintulu at 9.10am with the return flight at 11.25am.

In an opinion piece in the New York Times, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said some 90 percent of Pyongyang’s export earnings had been cut off by a series of international sanctions after the Trump administration “abandoned the failed policy of strategic patience”.

Tensions have escalated dramatically on the Korean peninsula this year after the isolated but nuclear-armed regime staged a series of atomic and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests — and as US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un traded personal insults.

Washington wants North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme and has spearheaded three rounds of UN sanctions against the isolated regime, restricting crucial exports of coal, iron, seafood and textiles from the cash-starved state.

Pyongyang has hit out at those sanctions, calling the latest round “an act of war”, and has vowed to never give up its nuclear programme.

In his piece Tillerson said “a door to dialogue remains open” for Pyongyang but warned “until denuclearization occurs, the pressure will continue”.

At the same time he called on China — Pyongyang’s only major ally — to “do more” to pressure North Korea.

Trump’s administration has been dogged by allegations his campaign team colluded with Russia to help him win last year’s election.

Addressing relations with Moscow, Tillerson said the Trump administration had “no illusions about the regime we are dealing with” and that they were “on guard against Russian aggression”.

But he added that Washington needed to “recongize the need to work with Russia where mutual interests intersect” citing Syria civil war where the two countries have backed opposing sides but pushed for peace talks.

On Iran he struck a less conciliatory tone.

“The flawed nuclear deal is no longer the focal point of our policy toward Iran,” he warned. “We are now confronting the totality of Iranian threats.”

He also defended his cuts to the State Department and USAID budget, saying they were designed to “address root problems that lead to inefficiencies and frustrations”.

Critics say Tillerson’s first year in office has seen scores of key diplomatic posts go unfilled, embassies hampered by cuts and many veteran staff leave the foreign service altogether.

The announcement came as the hyper-wired South emerged as a hotbed for cryptocurrency trading, accounting for some 20 percent of global bitcoin transactions — about 10 times its share of the world economy.

The new rules announced by Seoul include a ban on opening anonymous cryptocurrency accounts and new legislation to allow regulators to close virtual currency exchanges if necessary.

“Officials share the view that virtual currency trading is overheating irrationally … and we can no longer overlook this abnormal speculative situation,” the government said in a statement.

All anonymous accounts currently in use will be closed next month, it added.

The policy package also includes stepping up crackdowns on money laundering activities and financial fraud — including price manipulation — using digital currency trades.

“We will … resolutely respond to such crimes by slapping maximum sentences possible on offenders,” it said, vowing to “leave all policy options open, including closure of a cryptocurrency exchange when deemed necessary.”

The announcement came two weeks after Seoul banned its financial firms from dealing in virtual currencies, most notably bitcoin, as their prices soared, sparking concerns of a bubble largely fuelled by retail speculators.

About one million South Koreans, many of them small-time investors, are estimated to own bitcoin. Demand is so high that prices for the unit are around 20 percent higher than in the US, its biggest market.

Seoul also warned on Thursday that most cryptocurrencies are being traded in the country at prices far higher than elsewhere in the world, blaming factors including “blind speculation”.

In a case highlighting the risks of cryptocurrency, a Seoul virtual currency exchange declared itself bankrupt last week after being hacked for the second time this year.

The Youbut exchange became the first South Korean cryptocurrency exchange to close after the hacking attack that stole 17 percent of its assets.

There have been numerous warnings about a possible blowout in the bitcoin market.

Bank of Japan governor Haruhiko Kuroda said last week that the price surge of the virtual currency was “abnormal,” while Singapore’s central bank advised investors to “act with extreme caution”.

The vice president of the European Central Bank has also expressed concern about the relentless rise in the value of bitcoin and the potential risk accompanying the trend.

Heads turn and drivers cannot fail to notice when the 38-year-old moonwalks across busy intersections, avoiding rickshaws and trucks in the centre of Indore, a city of two million people.

“I have been a Michael Jackson fan for years and copied his moonwalk step to halt traffic 12 years ago,” Singh told Agence France-Presse. “Initially, people were surprised, but it worked wonders over the years and has gained popularity,” he said.

“It’s a tiring task maintaining traffic amid noise pollution and reckless motorists but moonwalking amuses commuters and drivers,” Singh added, after another tiring day seemingly gliding backwards across the street.

Singh claims the number of traffic violations at the high court intersection where he spends most days has fallen over the years. An Indian university is studying his methods to see whether he has cut traffic jams too.

India’s city streets are notorious the world over for gridlock. Drivers, already battling crater-pocked roads and faulty traffic signals, often take out their anger on police trying to keep cars moving and pedestrians safe.

Singh said some of India’s younger drivers have paid for their recklessness with their lives.

“I have picked up the bodies of over 40 youngsters after accidents over the years and I feel terrible,” he said. “I just want youngsters to stay safe and follow rules.”

Singh’s colleagues were initially apprehensive when he used moves popularised by the late King of Pop to attract attention and manage traffic but they have since warmed to his unorthodox tactics, and he now gives moonwalking lessons to fellow officers.

“My parents are very proud of me for doing my job with extreme passion and with an innovative twist that includes Michael Jackson’s step,” he said. – AFP

Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/news/regional/2017/12/28/indias-moonwalking-traffic-cop-turns-heads/#j9ELifdwMhAEr7HY.99

The traffic police patrol car was photographed illegally parked on the roadside in front of Menara Usahawan at Precinct 2 in Putrajaya on Wednesday (Dec 27).

The photo, which has since gone viral, showed the right front tyre of the white car being clamped while three uniformed policemen were seen standing around the vehicle.

The vehicle was unclamped after the policemen paid the fine.

This festive season, many people are planning to hang out at one of the popular countdown parties around town. But Thapanat Thongprasit is preparing to visit a Bangkok temple, where chanting is his mission.

“I have been chanting at a temple on New Year’s Eve for the past five years, after getting so bored hanging out and drinking for years,” a 33-year-old IT salesman said.

Former journalist Pensri Chaleekul does the same thing.

“I was sick of hangovers, I wanted to change my life. So I persuaded my gang to chant at a temple,” said Pensri, also 33.

“At first you might need friends to come along. When you’ve practised more, you can do it at home.”

They both agreed that chanting creates a means of directly accessing higher states of consciousness, and that it is good to enter the year with a peaceful mind.

Chanting in the New Year has become a trend among urban people, thanks in part to promotion from the Culture Ministry.

Culture Minister Vira Rojpoj-chanarat said the campaign kicked off in 2005.

“Since then, more and more people have joined each year,” he said. “We aim to encourage the young generation to join these religious activities. Instead of going out for a party and drinking alcohol, let’s go to the temple and chant to welcome the New year with a peaceful spirit and mind.”

Vira said that the chants were for the monarchy and nation, and for devout Buddhists themselves.

He added that the campaign also aimed to reduce the number of accidents caused by drunk partygoers, as Thailand now tops the road-death list on the World Atlas website. The leading causes of accidents every year are drunk driving and speeding.

In 2017, nearly 20 million devotees chanted in the New Year at 23,577 temples and 879 non-Buddhist monasteries throughout the Kingdom and abroad, according to the Culture Ministry.

This year the ministry, along with more than 20 religious institutes, will host New Year chanting throughout the Kingdom. In Bangkok, the ministry will host the campaign called “Wai Phra 10 Wats” or “Make Merit at 10 Temples”.

The 10 royal temples are under the patronage of the Chakri Dynasty from King Rama I to King RamaX. They are Wat Pho, Wat Arun, Wat Ratcha Orasaram, Wat Benchamabophit, Wat Bowonniwet, Wat Ratchabophit, Wat Suthat, Wat Benchamabophit, Wat Phra Ram 9 Kanchanaphisek and Wat Wachiratham Sathit.

The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority will provide free buses to take people from temple to temple on December 31 and January 1 from 8am to 4.30pm.

The Culture Ministry will host the official chanting at Wat Arun on the Chao Praya River. However, most temples in Bangkok and main temples in rural areas will also preserve the tradition.

During the New Year Festival, the National Museum in Bangkok will display 10 ancient Buddha statues to allow people to pay their respects. Other national museums throughout the Kingdom will also showcase rare Buddha statues with exhibitions running from Saturday to January 31, 2018.

Cooperation on religion

Since the campaign began, the ministry has extended its religious cooperation into the rest of Asia.

More than 100 Thai temples around the globe, along with a dozen other Buddhist temples in Asia, will join the religious activities. Among them are Myanmar’s Shwedagon Pagoda, Indonesia’s Borobudur Temple, Malaysia’s Wat Match-imawat, Phra That Luang Temple in Lao, Japan’s Asakusa Temple, the Royal Thai Monastery in Nepal, Sri Lanka’s Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic and China’s White Horse Temple.

Early this month, Vira and Phra Sophonvachirabhorn, the vice rector for Foreign Affairs at Mahachula-longkongrajavidyalaya University, went to Cambodia to call for cooperation on religion, especially in regards Buddhism.

They met Deputy Prime Minister Men Sam An, Minister of Culture and Religion Him Chhem, Supreme Patriarch of the Thammayut order Samdech Preah Sanghareach Bour

Kry and the venerable monk Sumedhadhipati Non Nget.

“Following Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, we persuaded Buddhist monks in Cambodia to join our religious campaign of chanting in the New Year,” Vira said.

“We will ask our monks to join with the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh for chanting. Reciting is a kind of dhamma practice. The more we chant, the more we practise dhamma,” venerable monk Sumedhadhipati Non Nget, abbot of Wat Botumvatey in Phnom Penh, told The Nation.

    Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto wept and hugged her son after being found not guilty of smuggling crystal methamphetamine, a rare outcome in a country where hundreds of people have been sentenced to death for drugs offences in recent years.

“I’m happy now that I’m free,” said the 54-year-old, as she was ushered out of the courtroom after the verdict.

But prosecutors have indicated they want to appeal the acquittal, her lawyer said, meaning Exposto won’t be able to go back home yet and there is still a chance she could be sentenced to death.

She was arrested in December 2014 while in transit at Kuala Lumpur airport with 1.1 kilos (2.4 pounds) of the drug stitched into the compartment of a backpack she was carrying.

The mother of four argued she did not know about the hidden stash of “ice”. She said she had been fooled into carrying the bag after travelling to China to see someone she met online called “Captain Daniel Smith”, who had claimed to be a US serviceman.

Anyone caught with at least 50 grams (1.75 ounces) of crystal meth is considered a trafficker in Muslim-majority Malaysia, and death by hanging is mandatory in the case of a conviction.

However handing down his verdict at the High Court in Shah Alam, outside Kuala Lumpur, Judge Ghazali Cha accepted the defence’s argument that Exposto did not know the bag contained drugs and acquitted her.

“I agree with the defence lawyer that the accused did not have knowledge about the drugs,” he said.

“I believe that at that time her (Exposto) feelings of love towards ‘Captain Daniel Smith’ overcame everything, including her own husband, her family and her future.”

– Hundreds on death row –

Exposto’s lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah welcomed the verdict but said he was surprised at prosecutors’ intention to appeal as the judge had sided firmly with the defence. Prosecutors have 14 days to lodge the challenge.

After engaging in a long online romance, Exposto had travelled to Shanghai to see “Smith”.

But she did not succeed in meeting her supposed love interest while there and ended up being given a bag by a stranger, who asked her to take it to Melbourne.

When she arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport to change flights, she mistakenly went through immigration as she was unfamiliar with the airport.

She voluntarily offered her bags for customs inspection and the drugs were discovered.

There are at least 900 people on death row in Malaysia, officials have said, but executions have been rare in recent years.

Malaysian lawmakers voted last year to amend legislation so that capital punishment is no longer mandatory in drug-trafficking cases.

But the changes have not yet come into force as they must be passed by the upper house, meaning that in the case of a conviction in Exposto’s case, the judge would have had to impose the death penalty.

Two Australians were hanged in Malaysia in 1986 for heroin trafficking — the first Westerners to be executed in the country — in a case that strained relations.

In 2013 Dominic Bird, a former truck driver from Perth, was acquitted of drug trafficking charges after he was allegedly caught with 167 grams of crystal methamphetamine.//AFP