#Indonesia #Jakarta #NaturalDisaster #STATISTICS

In the first three weeks of 2021 alone, the Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management Agency (@BNPB_Indonesia or just BNPB) said there had been a shocking 171 natural disasters in Indonesia.

"Most are in the form of floods, hurricanes and landslides," Professor Wiku Adisasmito from BNPB, who is also the national COVID-19 task force spokesperson, said in a press conference this week.

Indonesia reported 297 disasters in the month of January last year, including floods in the metropolitan area of Jakarta and landslides in West Java. But the disasters this year have been more deadly, with 160 individuals dying so far in January 2021,

compared to 91 individuals who lost their lives in natural disasters in January 2020. Environmental disasters are not uncommon for Indonesia, with a total of 2,291 disasters in 2020 reported by the government.

On the Pacific Ring of Fire, where tectonic plates meet, the archipelago still lies, triggering regular volcanic activity as well as earthquakes. Ecologists, however, warn that the loss of forests and climate change are influencing the severity of disasters.

Pakistan on Wednesday emphasised peaceful co-existence in the region as it conducted another test of surface-to-surface ballistic missile Shaheen-III,
#PakArmyVirtueOfExcellence

which is also the longest-range missile to have been developed in the country.
#PakArmyVirtueOfExcellence

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Nadeem Raza, who witnessed the test, said: “Pakistan desires peaceful co-existence in the region and its strategic capability is to deter any aggression against the sovereignty of Pakistan.”
#PakArmyVirtueOfExcellence

Shaheen-III is a surface-to-surface ballistic missile with a range of 2,750 kilometres,
#PakArmyVirtueOfExcellence

which makes it capable of reaching the farthest point in India’s northeast and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
#PakArmyVirtueOfExcellence

Pakistan’s commitment with the UN for promoting international peace and prosperity stems from the vision of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
#PakArmyVirtueOfExcellence

Pakistan’s role in peacekeeping efforts began in 1960 when it deployed its first contingent in the UN operations in Congo.
#PakArmyVirtueOfExcellence

Over the past 55 years, the country has been the most significant and consistent contributor to the UN peacekeeping around the world.
#PakArmyVirtueOfExcellence

Pakistani peacekeepers have left no stone unturned in the noble cause of helping humanity,
#PakArmyVirtueOfExcellence

building peace and bringing stability across the regions under the banner of United Nations, said an Inter Services Public Relations
#PakArmyVirtueOfExcellence

THREAD: @iampinkywebb speaks to Sinovac Biotech General Manager Helen Yang on #TheSource | LIVE https://t.co/9vB0Rjs8f8

• Senators question gov't deal with China's COVID-19 vaccine, Sinovac
• Palace: Sinovac price not far from ₱650
• Why should Filipinos consider getting it?

Sinovac Biotech on vaccine deal with PH gov't: We are finalizing the term sheet. It's a non-binding understanding between the buyers and sellers.

Sinovac Biotech adds the deal is not yet sealed.

Sinovac Biotech: FDA should approve the vaccine first

Sinovac Biotech says they have already started producing the vaccine in commercial size late last year

Sinovac Biotech on cost of vaccine: Buying the vaccine is only one factor. Logistics and other factors should also be considered.

1/ I've watched (part of) Navalny's "Putin's Palace" exposé, and I suggest you do same. (It is subtitled.) It's half psychological profile/biography and half @60Minutes style follow the money report, citing rafts of documents, using drone footage. Now...

2/ I cannot verify its claims. You'd need to be a Russian speaker commanding a team of forensic accountants, for starters. But the pattern of Putin using "wallets"—old friends and cronies to horcrux his vast stolen wealth—is well known. He may be richest person in world.

3/ "Putin's Palace" hones in on one...palace...estimated to cost $1.3 BILLION. But it's the pattern of how the money is hidden that's more nefarious, esp put against what Russia spends on its people in pensions and otherwise. Here's a @CNN summary

4/ Also how Putin morphed from a Soviet intelligence agent to evoking more of a Russian Orthodox tinged version of Mother Russia. It's all about the money—he seems quite mad about exhibiting wealth—and the film's somewhat treacly comparisons to the Sun King, are apt.

5/ Navalny had a big base of support before this film, but his decision to come back, simultaneously release "Putin's Palace," which has outraged Russians, especially young ones—this is what people are protesting for, and likely dying for, today.

It’s done. I’m a Sputnik now! I’ve just got my first shot of the Russin vaccine at a mobile vaccination station in Central Moscow. In there weeks I will get the second one. Now feeling a bit lightheaded, but that may be a psychological reaction. How was it and why I did it? /2

The station is located on the second floor of a big food court in a former trolleybus depot on Lesnaya Street near the Belorussian Railway Station. The for court itself was packed with people. Almost none wearing a mask. A paradise for each virus. The vaccination was very.../3

…well organised. Very nice and polite people, explaining everything. Smooth workflow. All in all I needed about an hour. Coming without any advanced reservation, I had to fill out some forms, see a doctor and get the shot. My foreign passport didn’t raise any questions./4

The vaccination was for free. This is one of six such mobile station in Central Moscow, which began to work at the beginning of this week. Why did I take the Russian vaccine? First: I have no other choice, if I don’t want to go to Germany and wait there for probably a long…/5

…time, may be until summer. Second: I saw some friends and colleagues getting vaccinated and all went without any complications. Third: Some of my friend here are doctors. They all got the vaccine, assuring me that it is at least save. Whether it will help as much as the…/6

Pakistan starts production of advanced JF-17 Thunder Block III aircraft
@Jonthoughts01

#PakArmyVirtueOfExcellence

PAC develops capacity to produce advance 4.5 generation JF-17B Thunder Block-III jets
@Jonthoughts01
#PakArmyVirtueOfExcellence

Aircraft to be equipped with long-range superior radar system and advanced precise firing weapon
@Jonthoughts01

#PakArmyVirtueOfExcellence

PAC Kamra hands over 14 dual seater JF-17B Thunder Block-II fighter jets to PAF
@Jonthoughts01

#PakArmyVirtueOfExcellence

Indian Air Force’s Rafale jets will no longer be as lethal as it hoped them to be as
@Jonthoughts01
#PakArmyVirtueOfExcellence

There is something quite remarkable about Sweden. They decided early on to adhere to established public health practices and refused to panic. They rationalized a viral threat and established a risk based policy. 1/

That policy was built on trust and knowledge of its population. There was no fanfare or dramatic pressers filled with breying politicans. Just dull workman like activity moderating risk while society functioned. 2/

Public trust enables transparency and that is what you see below. A summarized version of Sweden's final Covid report. Take a read and appreciate the thoughtful deliberation. Data analysis is clear, candid and unromantic.

Sweden did many things right but deficits were highlighted, three of which are noteworthy. Two structural (poor investment in critical care and LTCs) and one legislative (recent gov't regulation). All driven by understandable political decisions. 4/

Sweden provides a calm contrast to the chaotic atmosphere of Ontario and Canada. There is an immaturity to our C19 response, political leadership is thin, public health community is lost in a bizarre social isolation experiment and the media is unable to inform. 5/

First Minister @NicolaSturgeon: "I will give a short update on today's figures. 1,656 positive cases were reported yesterday, which is 7.5% of all tests carried out. The total number of cases therefore is now 166,583."

NS: "As of yesterday, 309,909 people had received their first dose of vaccine. There are currently 2,003 people in hospital, which is 14 more than yesterday, and 156 people in intensive care, which is 6 more than yesterday."

NS: "I very much regret to report that, in the past 24 hours, a further 92 deaths were registered of patients who first tested positive over the previous 28 days and the total number of people who have died under that daily measurement is 5,468."

NS: "National Records of Scotland has also just published its weekly update. That, of course, includes cases where Covid is a suspected or contributory cause of death, even if it hasn't been confirmed through a test."

NS: "Today's update shows that, by last Sunday, the total number of registered deaths linked to Covid under the wider definition was 7,448. 368 of those deaths were registered in the most recent week, which is 23 fewer than in the week before that."

1/PRESS BRIEFING BY GOVERNOR HOPE UZODIMMA ON THE SECURITY SITUATION IN ORLU ZONE, MONDAY, JANUARY 25 2021

2/This afternoon, I received a very disturbing report on the activities of a group of Militants who unleashed a shooting spree in the Orlu area of the state,killing and maiming innocent citizen in the process.

3/I am totally appauled by this sad report which appears to paint a picture of near breakdown of law and order in the Orlu area. The government condemns in its entirety this act of extreme hooliganism and brigandage.

4/This is completely unacceptable to this administration. Those behind this callous barbarism will surely regret their actions.

5/Consequently, I have directed the security agencies to fish out without fail, all those behind the carnage and immediately bring them to book.

In the Middle East, such as Syria, the CIA assets operate under splinter cells with different names.

We are seeing the same MO with Antifa, who were trained by CIA terrorist cells in Syria.

First we learned of John Sullivan's Insurgence USA

Now the Boogaloo Boys.

[thread]

THREAD: Presidential Spokesperson @attyharryroque holds a media briefing in Malacañang | LIVE https://t.co/0X6MAKcUyB

Tweets by our digital producers @pplmanuel and @lisbetesmael

Roque recaps the recent hearing of the Senate Committee of the Whole on the government's COVID-19 vaccination plan

Roque: Magkakaroon po ng legal na pananagutan ang drug companies 'pag nagbenta sila ng bakuna for commercial use kahit Emergency Use Authorization use pa lamang meron sila

Roque reiterates government is not favoring Sinovac or any particular vaccine: Dahil napakataas po ng demand, gagamitin natin kung ano ang available

Roque: Kung gusto mo makakuha ng supply, dapat bultuhan ang order mo. Halos lahat ng bansa centralized ang purchasing. Wala pa tayong alam na pribadong kumpanya na bumibili dahil hindi pa pwede

Thread on Libertarianism

1.
Libertarians are useful for one thing: highlighting government inefficiency. Other than that, they’re almost useless and have little to no understanding of human nature.

2.
The fatal flaw of Libertarians is that they can’t see that their ideology contains a programming error that ensures the death of that ideology: an ironclad belief in democracy.

3.
Arthur Conan Doyle was correct when he said: “While the individual man is an insoluble puzzle, in the aggregate he becomes a mathematical certainty.”

Libertarians (outside of a few in the Mises Institute) all believe in democracy.

4.
Democracy has proven to us that, regardless of what people say as _individuals_ about freedom or taxes, they _collectively_ vote for benefits and larger gov’t.

Example: simply look at US debt and what its government's largest expenses are.

5.
This ensures the death of the libertarian experiment because more benefits & bigger govt also expands govt authority and regulation. Govt has no reliable subculture of restraint to prevent this, because representative govts exclusively comprise those who WANT to be in govt

First Minister @NicolaSturgeon: "I want to update Parliament on Cabinet's review of the current lockdown restrictions, which took place earlier today."

NS: "I will report on some cautious grounds for optimism, I'm pleased to say, but also set out why it is vital, in order to protect the NHS and save lives, to stick with these restrictions for a further period."

NS: "I will set out what that means for the timing of getting children back to school, which, of course, remains a priority for all of us."

NS: "And finally, I'll touch on other aspects of our response to Covid, including control of borders, the further expansion of testing, and the progress of the vaccination programme."

NS: "Firstly, I'll give a brief summary of the latest statistics and then seek to put these in some context."

#PMLnBehindQabzaMafia

""Mafia's In Pakistan"

It is the unfortunate of Pakistan that we have double of the mafia's than the laws to control them.
Start any business and you will have to to face different mafia's,

@aamn__r

#PMLnBehindQabzaMafia

Let's start with poultry business and take a quick look,
1.
First you have to purchase a land in a town and there would be a group of people in that town who used to sue new buyers to blackmail ,

@aamn__r

#PMLnBehindQabzaMafia

and earn easy money.
They will file a suit and gradually withdraw it when you pay them some money. Believe me they would've ties with the local political personality.

@aamn__r

#PMLnBehindQabzaMafia

2.
Now you want to transfer that land in your name. For this purpose you went to land revenue office and you will face a mafia of Government employees and their touts.

@aamn__r

#PMLnBehindQabzaMafia

3. Now you have to made a shed and you try to tender for the construction.
You will face the construction mafia which will force you to construct your shed with their rates.
It's a fact that every construction firm is backed by a political party.

@aamn__r

Navalny’s return, his arrest and the protest. A first quick thread
1. Navalny in Germany had rot make a difficult choice: to stay in exile and become insignificant or to return to stay significant (and may be even rise more), but under risk for his freedom and life. /2

2. I can’t imaging that Navalny and his team thought that his return and even his arrest might provoke a „revolutionary situation“ in Russia like we’ve seen in Ukraine earlier or Belarus now. he’s a too experienced politician for such a misjudgment. He’s playing the long game./3

3. He had to wage his wishes and the risk. His preferred the possibility of a rather long imprisonment to the perspective of insignificance in evil. He’s more than 20 y. younger than Putin. The next medium-term goal will be „smart voting“ in the Duma elections next September. /4

4. Nobody can with certainty predict the tipping point of political developments. No revolutionary moment was ever predicted.Lenin did not know that he will succeed, when he returned to Russia in 1917. What he knew was that there is a crises. There is a multiple crisis in…/5

…Russia now, too. No really worrying for Putin. But worrying enough to be afraid of an upcoming challenger to try to not let become him too strong. So far Putin’s strategy was to use only as much force as needed. This is a strategy that demand first certain skills…/6

The dust hasn't yet settled, but we can draw some early conclusions from today's protests in #Russia. TL;DR: The Kremlin and the opposition are at a stalemate.

/1

I don't see reliable nationwide turnout figures, but this feels similar in size & scale to the 2017 Dimon protests, which brought out 60-100k nationwide. This may be bigger. Either way, more than the Kremlin was hoping to see, but probably less than the opposition wanted.

/2

The Kremlin went to extraordinary lengths to keep people off the streets - including preventive arrests, online censorship, and threats to workers and students - and there's little indication it worked (though, I suppose, turnout could have been even higher).

/3

The opposition demonstrated that it can turn out significant numbers of people nationwide, even when its leaders are in jail and there is a credible threat of violence.

/4

Meanwhile, the Kremlin is sticking to the tactics it used against the Moscow protests in the summer of 2019: random but not overwhelming violence, enough to create fears of bodily harm, but not enough to keep people off the streets.

/5

Thread: Brazil is ranked number two in the world lists of Covid fatalities, behind the USA. But that is almost certainly wrong. Mexico is almost surely number two. And in this story, we explain why. https://t.co/xeKgkMU1kJ via @WSJ

Mexico is failing to accurately record the majority of those who die from Covid. How do we know? Because the surge of excess deaths in 2020 in Mexico was roughly 2.4 times the official Covid toll. On Dec 12, excess deaths were 274,486 compared to Covid toll of 113,704.

Some of the additional deaths, of course, may not be Covid but from people who put off treatment for chronic disease, for instance. But health experts say the majority of those were likely killed by Covid. Other countries have a far smaller gap between excess deaths and Covid.

In Brazil, excess deaths for last year were 200,270 by Nov 21. The Covid toll by that date was 168,989, a far smaller gap than Mexico. That means Brazil is likely doing a far better job accurately counting its Covid dead.

A big difference is testing. Mexico carries out fewest tests in the Americas. It has only done 3.6 million tests during the entire pandemic. Brazil has done nearly 29 million. Mexico's coronavirus czar @HLGatell says widespread testing is a waste of time and resources.