JAKARTA: At least 73 people have been killed after an earthquake struck Indonesia's West Sulawesi province on Friday, the disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) said on Sunday, the latest in a string of disasters to hit the Southeast Asian country.More than 820 people were injured and over 27,800 left their homes after the 6.2 magnitude quake, BNPB spokesman Raditya Jati said. Some sought refuge in the mountains, while others went to cramped evacuation centres, witnesses said.Police and military officers have been deployed to crack down on looting in several parts of the region, Jati added.An emergency response status, intended to help rescue efforts, has also been put in place for two weeks, he said.Dwikorita Karnawati, the head of Indonesia's meteorological, climatology and geophysical agency (BMKG), has said that another quake in the region could potentially trigger a tsunami.Straddling the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, Indonesia is regularly hit by earthquakes. In 2018, a devastating 6.2-magnitude quake and subsequent tsunami struck the city of Palu, in Sulawesi, killing thousands.Just two weeks into the new year, the world's fourth-most populous country is battling several disasters.Floods in North Sulawesi and South Kalimantan province each have killed at least five this month, while landslides in
Populist Sadyr Japarov, a nationalist politician who was released from prison amid protests that overthrew Kyrgyzstan's president last year, has been elected as his replacement
NASA isn’t paranoid. Someone is after them. Again. And things were finally going so well. President George W. Bush’s Vision for Space Exploration and the Constellation Program put NASA on a glorious path: complete the International Space Station, replace the aging Space Shuttle, return to the Moon no later than 2020, and send a crewed mission to Mars. NASA was elated. Then came President Barack Obama, who within days of taking office launched the Augustine Commission, a hand-picked “independent” demolition squad charged to “review,” discredit, and kill his predecessor’s “Vision for Space.” NASA was devastated — mentally, emotionally, and fiscally. Forget a Shuttle replacement. Forget a return to the Moon, and forget Mars. NASA was forced to rely on Russian rockets launched from Russian facilities for the next 12 years just to access the International Space Station. Enter President Donald J. Trump and a New Hope, a New Beginning, a Brighter Future for all Mankind. Within his first year in office, President Trump resurrected the National Space Council and signed Space Policy Directive 1, calling for NASA to fast-track plans to return to the Moon and establish a lunar colony as a test bed for deep-space missions to Mars. He
