The death of Novilia Sjafri Bachtiar comes as fatalities from the coronavirus reach record highs in Indonesia, one of the countries where the Sinovac vaccine has been most widely used.
Kumparan news service said Novilia had died of the coronavirus. Sindonews quoted an official of state-owned pharmaceuticals company BioFarma as saying she had been buried according to Covid-19 protocols.
State enterprises minister Erick Thohir posted a message on Instagram mourning her “huge loss” at BioFarma, which is making the vaccine. He did not give the cause of her death.
“She was lead scientist and head of dozens of clinical trials done by BioFarma, including Covid-19 vaccine clinical trials in cooperation with Sinovac,” he said.
“It has been produced and injected into tens of millions people in Indonesia, as part of our effort to be free from this Covid-19 pandemic.”
BioFarma did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the death of Novilia, who was in her early fifties.
The infection and deaths of health workers in Indonesia who had received the Sinovac vaccine has added to questions over its effectiveness in preventing hospitalization and death.
According to independent data group Lapor Covid-19, 131 healthcare workers, mostly vaccinated with the Sinovac shot, have died since June, including 50 in July.
Indonesia reported more than 1,000 coronavirus deaths in a day for the first time on Wednesday and a record 34,379 infections. The latest wave of infections has been driven by the Delta variant, first identified in India.
Last month, Sinovac spokesman Liu Peicheng told Reuters preliminary results showed the vaccine produced a three-fold reduction in neutralizing effect against the Delta variant.
Haiti’s security forces have killed four members of a group of “mercenaries” who assassinated President Jovenel Moïse in his home, police chief Leon Charles has said.
“The police is still in combat with the assailants,” Charles said in a televised briefing late on Wednesday, “We blocked them en route as they left the scene of the crime. Since then, we have been battling with them.” Two of the attackers had been detained. Of the rest he said: “They will be killed or captured”.
Haiti’s communications secretary, Frantz Exantus, had earlier said police had arrested the “presumed assassins” without providing any further details. Three police officers held hostage by the suspected gunmen were freed late Wednesday, Charles said.
The killing of Moïse earlier on Wednesday, and the wounding of his wife, was expected to bring more chaos to the unstable Caribbean country already beset by gang violence, soaring inflation and protests by opposition supporters who accused Moïse of increasing authoritarianism.
Interim prime minister Claude Joseph said the police and military were in control of security. The poorest country in the Americas, Haiti has a history of dictatorship and political upheaval.
Speaking on a local radio station, Claude Joseph confirmed that Moïse, 53, had been killed, saying the attack was carried out by an “armed commando group” that included foreigners.
Members of the Haitian police force and forensics teams look for evidence outside the presidential residence after the killing of Jovenel Moïse. Photograph: Valerie Baeriswyl/AFP/Getty Images
In a televised national address, Joseph declared a state of emergency across the country, and made a call for calm. “The situation is under control,” he said.
In a later interview with the Associated Press, Joseph called for an international investigation into the assassination, said that elections scheduled for later this year should be held and pledged to work with Moïse’s allies and opponents alike.
“We need every single one to move the country forward,” Joseph said. He alluded to enemies of the president, describing him as “a man of courage” who had opposed “some oligarchs in the country, and we believe those things are not without consequences.”
According to the Haitian ambassador to Washington, Bocchit Edmond, Moïse’s killers claimed to be members of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as they entered his guarded residence.
“This was a well-orchestrated commando attack,” Edmond told the Guardian. “They presented themselves as DEA agents, telling people they had come as part of a DEA operation.”
In videos circulating on social media, a man with an American accent is heard saying in English over a megaphone: “DEA operation. Everybody stand down. DEA operation. Everybody back up, stand down.”
Residents reported hearing gunshots and seeing men dressed in black running through the neighbourhood.
“It could be foreign mercenaries, because the video footage showed them speaking in Spanish,” Edmond said. “It was something carried out by professionals, by killers … But since the investigation has been just been opened, we prefer to wait on legal authorities to have a better assessment of the situation. We don’t know for sure, with real certainty, who’s behind this.
“This is an act of barbarity. It’s an attack on our democracy,” he said.
Edmond said he had asked the White House on Wednesday morning for US help in identifying and capturing the killers.
“We need a lot more information,” Joe Biden said later at the White House, calling the killing “very worrisome”.
In a written statement, the US president offered condolences and assistance. “We condemn this heinous act, and I am sending my sincere wishes for first lady Moïse’s recovery,” the statement said. “The United States offers condolences to the people of Haiti, and we stand ready to assist as we continue to work for a safe and secure Haiti.”
Journalists gather next to police officers standing guard near the private residence of Haiti’s president Jovenel Moise after he was shot dead by gunmen in Port-au-Prince, Haiti Photograph: Reuters
The UN Security Council condemned the assassination and called on all parties to “remain calm, exercise restraint and to avoid any act that could contribute to further instability.”
In a statement the 15-member council also called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. The council is due to be briefed on the killing in a closed-door meeting on Thursday.
The attack took place at Moïse’s house in the Pelerin 5 district of Pétionville, a wealthy area with sometimes substantial and leafy villas in the hills above the capital, Port-au-Prince, with a reputation for being safe. It is an area critics of Moïse said he was loth to leave.
“Around one o’clock in the morning, during the night of Tuesday 6 to Wednesday 7 July 2021, a group of unidentified individuals, including some speaking Spanish, attacked the private residence of the president and fatally injured the head of state,” Joseph said in a statement quoted in the media.
Edmond said that Moïse’s three children were safe but his wife, Martine, was seriously wounded in the attack and was being taken to a hospital in Miami on Wednesday.
The attack happened barely 24 hours after Moïse had named a new prime minister, Ariel Henry, to take charge as head of the government and prepare the country for presidential elections in the next two months.
Moïse, a former entrepreneur, was the anointed political successor of the former president Michel Martelly. The assassination is likely to plunge the impoverished Caribbean nation into further turmoil after several years marked by political unrest and violence.
The US embassy said it would be closed on Wednesday owing to the “ongoing security situation”. “We’re still gathering information,” the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, said on MSNBC. “We’re still assessing right now.”
“It’s a horrific crime,” Psaki added in an interview with CNN. “We stand ready and stand by them to provide any assistance that’s needed.”
Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, said: “I am shocked and saddened at the death of President Moïse. Our condolences are with his family and the people of Haiti. This is an abhorrent act and I call for calm at this time.”
As details of the assassination emerged, the Colombian president, Iván Duque, called on the Organisation of American States to send an urgent mission to “protect the democratic order in Haiti”.
Moïse’s time in office was marked by an increase in political instability, allegations of corruption and a long-running dispute about when his period in office should end. He had been ruling by decree for more than a year after the country failed to hold legislative elections and he wanted to push through controversial constitutional changes.
There have been intermittent periods of protests and street violence and a rise in gang violence, some of it tied to political parties.
Instability has been exacerbated by the Petrocaribe scandal, a controversy that arose from a scheme to buy discounted oil from Venezuela on cheap credit. The idea was to free up funds for social schemes, but the money was pocketed by politicians.
Earlier this year amid allegations by Moïse of a coup attempt that planned to “murder him” and fresh protests, he moved to protect his position, ordering the arrest of 23 people including a supreme court judge and a senior police official, while declaring he was “not a dictator”.
Opponents had also accused Moïse’s government of fuelling political violence by providing gangs with guns and money to intimidate his adversaries.
The Caribbean country – the world’s first black republic after its revolution against French rule – has a history marked by poverty, authoritarian rule, political instability and external interference including a long US occupation. It has struggled to rebuild since a devastating earthquake in 2010 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the country’s central bank, has shut down a software firm over suspected involvement in cryptocurrency transactions. The central bank also warned organizations not to “provide premises, commercial display, advertising … and other services for cryptocurrency-related business activities.”
China’s central bank warned companies on Tuesday against assisting cryptocurrency-related businesses as it shut down a software firm over suspected involvement in crypto transactions, AFP reported.
The Beijing office of China’s central bank ordered the closure of a software firm called Beijing Qudao Cultural Development. The central bank alleged that the company had been involved in providing software services for cryptocurrency transactions.
The central bank claims that the shutdown was necessary “to prevent and control the risk of speculation in virtual currency transactions, and protect the safety of the public’s assets.”
The bank also warned organizations not to “provide premises, commercial display, advertising … and other services for cryptocurrency-related business activities.”
The PBOC recently instructed financial and payment institutions not to provide cryptocurrency-related services to customers.
The announcement came shortly after provinces in China, including Sichuan, Inner Mongolia, and Qinghai, shut down cryptocurrency mining farms, causing miners to move their operations abroad.
What do you think about China shutting down a software firm over suspected involvement in crypto transactions? Let us know in the comments section below.
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The man who beat an Asian woman to the ground then kicked her in the head in a brutal, caught-on-camera hate attack in Midtown earlier this week was arrested by police early Wednesday morning, cops said.
Brandon Elliot, 38, was arrested at about 2 a.m. Wednesday and hit with a number of charges, including assault as a hate crime and attempted assault as a hate crime, police said.
Elliot lives in a nearby hotel that serves as a homeless shelter, according to cops.
A racist attacker beat an Asian woman in Midtown on Monday morning in a suspected hate-driven attack.DCPI
He allegedly beat a 65-year-old woman after hurling anti-Asian statements at her on West 43 Street near Ninth Avenue on Monday morning, cops said.
Several witnesses from a nearby residential building — including workers employed there — did nothing to stop the beating, video of the assault shows.
Staff members were suspended by the building management after the attack — and the lack of response — drew national outrage.
“The staff who witnessed the attack have been suspended pending an investigation in conjunction with their union,” a statement by building management said. “The Brodsky Organization is also working to identify a third-party delivery vendor present during the incident so that appropriate action can be taken.”
On Tuesday, the victim’s daughter’s boyfriend told The Post that her attacker “locked eyes” with her — then beat her so mercilessly that “she wasn’t there” after the first blow.
“She said he was walking towards her and he locked eyes with her,” said the woman’s daughter’s boyfriend, who gave his first name, Luca. “She tried to avoid him, like how people do when you walk in New York City, but he came right for her. After the first hit, she wasn’t even there. I can’t see how she got up from that.”
The victim was rushed to NYU Langone Hospital, where she was listed in stable condition, authorities said.
Elliot was being held at a Midtown police precinct pending his arraignment.
Police in Indonesia say a recently married couple were behind a bombing attack on a church during which Palm Sunday services were underway.
The Associated Press reported that police officials said the couple detonated explosive devices manufactured inside pressure cookers after being confronted by guards outside of the church on Sunday, wounding several people and killing themselves.
The unidentified couple were suspected to have links to Islamist militants in the region identified as Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, according to police. They were reportedly married just six months ago. Police told the AP that their identities, which were not made public, were confirmed from DNA evidence.
One of the attackers was reportedly suspected to have had links to a previous attack carried out by Jemaah Anshorut Daulah that also targeted a local Christian church in 2019 that killed nearly two dozen people.
Jemaah Anshorut Daulah is one of several Islamist militant groups active in Indonesia and is allied with the Islamic State (ISIS), according to the United Nations Security Council.
In a statement Sunday, the State Department condemned the attack, which it called an “affront to the tolerance and diversity that the Indonesian people uphold.”
LONDON (AP) — A police officer has been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and murder in connection with a woman who went missing in London last week, Britain’s Metropolitan Police said. The force said Wednesday the fact that the man is a serving police officer is “shocking and deeply disturbing.”
The force said the man, who is in his 40s, was arrested late Tuesday in Kent, southeast of London, as part of the investigation into the disappearance of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive who vanished while walking home from a friend’s apartment in south London on March 3.
Police said the suspect was a serving officer in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, and was responsible for patrolling diplomatic premises.
He was first arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, and on Wednesday he was “further arrested on suspicion of murder and a separate allegation of indecent exposure.”
The officer wasn’t on duty at the time of Everard’s disappearance. Police didn’t say whether he knew Everard. The force said he was arrested along with a woman in her 30s, who was held on suspicion of assisting an offender. Both suspects remained in custody.
“This is a serious and significant development in our search for Sarah and the fact that the man who has been arrested is a serving Metropolitan Police officer is both shocking and deeply disturbing,” Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave said.
Detectives were searching a locations in London and a house and woodland in Kent following the arrest of the officer and the woman. The officer has been taken into custody at a London police station.
A suspected asteroid streaked though the skies over northern Vermont on Sunday, moving so fast and creating so much force that it rattled buildings on the ground, according to NASA.
The “fireball” was spotted by hundreds of sky-watchers around 5:38 p.m., NASA said on Facebook. It first appeared at 52 miles above Mount Mansfield State Forest before traveling 33 miles through the upper atmosphere and burning up 33 miles above Orleans County.
Commenters on NASA’s Facebook posts — from Vermont, New Hampshire and on the Canadian side of the border in Quebec — described hearing a “rumble” or “sonic boom” at the time the fireball was shooting through the sky. Some even said their houses shook during the incident.
The likely asteroid fragment traveled at 42,000 miles per hour and began to break up when the difference in pressure created by the vacuum behind the speeding object “exceeded its structural strength,” NASA said, causing a sound wave that sensitive seismometers detected in the area.
Using the infrasound measurements created by these seismic instruments, NASA calculated the object’s size as 10 pounds and six inches in diameter.
“The space rock fragmented violently, producing a pressure wave that rattled buildings and generated the sound heard by those near the trajectory,” NASA said.
“A nice little firework, courtesy of Mother Nature.”
ROYAL OAK, Mich. – A barricaded gunman situation in Royal Oak ended Saturday night when the suspected gunman was shot by police and rushed to a hospital.
According to authorities, police responded to a report of a domestic dispute between a father and his adult son at a home in the 2700 block of Oliver Road at about 2 p.m. Police said the 34-year-old son was intoxicated and assaulted his father, who called 911.
Neighbors said the man was ex-military and was believed to be suffering from post traumatic stress disorder when he assaulted his father.
Police added he was heavily armed, wearing body armor and barricaded himself inside the Royal Oak residence.
Police said they made phone contact with the son and made repeated attempts to convince him to peacefully surrender. Police said they could hear gunshots coming from inside the house and the suspect made threats to shoot officers.
Police set up a perimeter and urged in the area — on Galpin and Glenview avenues and Oliver and Glenwood roads — to shelter in place, stay away from windows and take cover in basements if possible.
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Police said at about 4 p.m., the Oakland County SWAT Team arrived, took over the situation and continued to negotiate with the man inside.
After about two and a half hours of no contact, police said they used a SWAT robot and drone to break through the door and search the house.
Authorities said communication was reestablished with the suspected gunman after the drone was disabled.
“There was a lady out there with the police department who was talking to Jason, She was saying, ‘Jason, come out with your hands up,’” said neighbor Ted Boiteau.
“That’s what it sounded like,” Carol Boiteau said.
“She was trying to talk him out,” Ted Boiteau said. “This went on for quite awhile and while she was talking, we heard a gunshot.”
“And then everything was quiet,” Carol Boiteau said.
The gunshot came from police at 8:28 p.m.
According to authorities, the suspected gunman emerged from the house at about 8:30 p.m., pointed a rifle at law enforcement officers and a member of the SWAT team shot him.
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Police said deputies and the Royal Oak Fire Department administered aid to the man and he was rushed to the Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak.
As of 10 p.m., the suspected gunman was still alive at the hospital. His parents are expected to be OK.
The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Royal Oak Police Department at 248-246-3456.
More: Oakland County News
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A passenger jet en route to Honolulu has landed safely at Denver International Airport after it experienced an engine failure that caused parts of the plane to rain down on neighbourhoods near where it took off.
Officials with Denver International Airport confirmed to CNN that United Airlines Flight 328 took off from the airport on Saturday but then had to return after experiencing engine difficulties. The pilot was safely able to land the plane back at the airport.
During a press briefing on Saturday, a Broomfield Police Department spokesperson confirmed there has been no reports of injuries on the ground from the falling debris. “I’m shocked looking at this debris field … the fact that we are getting no reports of any injuires is shocking. It’s amazing,” the spokesperson said.
A loud boom was heard by residents on the ground near the airport following takeoff on Saturday.
Police in Broomfield, Colorado, a northern suburb of Denver, then reported that they received calls from residents of large pieces of plane debris landing in the yards of nearby neighbourhoods.
Several images shared by the Broomfield Police Department showed large pieces of the plane littered in front of several homes in the Northmoor and Red Leaf neighbourhoods, including one that appeared to depict a large piece of the engine. Plane debris was also located at Commons Park.
“The plane landed safely at DIA. We still haven’t received reports of any injuries,” the police department tweeted.
One resident on the ground shared an image of the airplane flying overhead, and it showed what looked to be the right engine on fire.
Then a video shared online by a passenger on the plane depicted a damaged right engine as the jet made its emergency landing. Passengers onboard were heard in the video cheering after the plane safely landed.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released a statement following the incident.
“A Boeing 777-200 operated by United Airlines returned to Denver International Airport and landed safety Saturday after experiencing a right-engine failure shortly after takeoff. The FAA is aware of reports of debris in the vicinity of the airplane’s flight path. The passengers deplaned on Runway 26-Right and were bused to the terminal,” the statement read.
“The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate. The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide additional updates. United Flight 328 was flying from Denver to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu when the incident occurred,” the statement continued.
No injuries were reported inside the plane upon landing and passengers had to evacuate directly onto the airport tarmac. They were then shuttled back to the terminal from the tarmac.
Broomfield police have implored residents in the area to not move or touch any plane debris if it landed near their homes. “The @NTSB wants all debris to remain in place for investigation,” the police department tweeted.
The police department was now working with NTSB to help rope off areas where the debris has landed and respond to any impacted residents. A spokesperson confirmed there were reports of some damage to homes, but could not answer yet to the extent of that damage.
