The Balongan plant has a refining capacity of about 1,25,000 barrels of crude oil a day. More than 900 people from a nearby village were evacuated after a massive fire broke out early Monday at the Pertamina Balongan Refinery in Indonesia’s West Java province, officials said.About 20 people were injured, including refinery workers and several villagers who suffered burns while passing through the area, the local disaster mitigation agency said.Nicke Widyawati, Chief Executive Officer of state-owned oil and gas corporation Pertamina, said fire-fighters were still battling the blaze and attempting to cool down the area to prevent it from spreading.The…
Author: Mike Harrison
The ship was successfully re-floated at 4.30 a.m. local time on March 29. The stranded container ship blocking the Suez Canal for almost a week was re-floated on Monday and is currently being secured, Inchcape Shipping Services said, raising expectations the vital waterway will soon be reopened. The ship was successfully re-floated at 4.30 a.m. local time and was being secured at the moment, Inchcape, a global provider of marine services, said on Twitter.Ship-tracking service VesselFinder has changed the ship’s status to under way on its website.The 400-metre long Ever Given became jammed diagonally across a southern section of the…
Chiefs of Defense of a dozen countries, including the U.S., issued a joint statement condemning the use of lethal force against unarmed people by the Myanmar armed forces and associated security services. U.S. President Joe Biden has expressed outrage over the recent killings of innocent people by the security forces in Myanmar, where military junta overthrew a democratically elected government.“It’s terrible. It’s absolutely outrageous. And based on the reporting I’ve gotten, an awful lot of people have been killed totally unnecessarily,” Mr. Biden said on Sunday.He was responding to questions about the recent deaths of innocent people in a protest…
North Korea on Monday accused the United Nations of a “double standard” over its reaction to the North’s recent missile launches, warning it of a serious consequence.Last week, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea in a defiance of UN resolutions that ban such launches by North Korea. The UN Security Council subsequently adopted a resolution to renew the mandate of UN experts monitoring sanctions against North Korea.Some experts say North Korea’s missile launches, the first of their kind in a year, were aimed at applying pressure on the new U.S. government of President Joe Biden. “It…
The international human rights group said Ms. Callamard’s four-year term as secretary general begins on Monday. Agnes Callamard, who led a United Nations’ investigation into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, has been appointed the new leader of Amnesty International.The international human rights group said Ms. Callamard’s four-year term as secretary general begins on Monday.Ms. Callamard, a French human rights expert, has previously led free-speech organization Article 19 and directs the Global Freedom of Expression Project at Columbia University. As the U.N.’s special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, she investigated the killing of Khashoggi, who entered the…
Chennai’s P.M. Soorya and Puducherry’s Navneeth Kumar annexed the overall title in the TVS Eurogrip MMSC Motorcycle Endurance race at the MMRT here on Sunday. The pair also topped the Pro-Stock 301-400cc category while completing 55 laps over two hours. Finishing second a minute in arrears were pole-sitters from Hyderabad, Satyanarayana Raju and Sahil Shetty, while the team of Abhimanyu Gautam and R. Anand was third with 54 laps.A. Anfal and Subramani Gandan, completing 52 laps, won in the Stock 165cc category, restricted to those under 15 years of age. Lani Zena Fernandez and Arpitha Bhat emerged champions in the…
According to Nikkei Asia — Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand had sent representatives for the annual parade held in the capital Naypyitaw Amid the crackdown by the military on protesters in Myanmar following the February 1 coup, India is one of the countries that attended the Armed Forces Day parade on March 27, it has been learnt.“As the norm, the Defence Attache at the Embassy would attend the parade. It is so as diplomatic ties are still on with Myanmar,” two official sources independently said, referring to a series of reports that India was one of…
The president of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), Raninder Singh, assured a merit-based selection of the Indian shooting team for the Tokyo Olympics, when he addressed the media at the end of the World Cup here on Sunday.“The selection will be purely based on merit. The interest of the nation would be foremost when fielding the best shooters in each event. We have all data available. We will take an informed decision,” asserted the NRAI president. The selection committee meeting is expected to be held on April 3 or 4. It was also announced that there would be…
Utah’s Donovan Mitchell scored 35 points and handed out seven assists as the Jazz posted a 126-110 victory over Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday.Jordan Clarkson came off the bench to add 28 points and Rudy Gobert added 16 points and 14 rebounds for Utah, who pushed the lead to as many as 30 in the third quarter.Clippers down SixersLos Angeles Clippers, chasing Utah and Phoenix Suns in the West, won a fifth straight game, 122-112 over the Eastern Conference-leading Philadelphia 76ers.Kawhi Leonard led the Clippers with 28 points, Paul George added 24 and Terrence Mann chipped in 23 off the bench.In…
Lewis Hamilton produced another stunning demonstration of his supreme racing talent on Sunday to resist a charging Max Verstappen and win a thrilling season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.The defending seven-time champion defended with supreme skill over the closing laps in his Mercedes to hold off the Red Bull driver and claim a record-stretching 96th Formula One victory.Hamilton came home seven-tenths of a second ahead of the Dutchman, who was forced to hand back the race lead in the closing laps after passing the champion with a move that had taken him off the track and beyond the limits. As expected, Hamilton…