Jakarta. Several illegal routes in the Indonesia-Papua New Guinea's land border areas have made Papua Province prone to illegal border crossers, according to an immigration officer.
Residents living along the Indonesia-PNG border areas are among the illegal border crossers, Head of Papua Province's Immigration Office Novianto Sulastono stated.
"Referring to reports, there are several illegal routes inside the Indonesia-PNG border areas," he noted in a press statement that ANTARA quoted here on Monday.
The administrative areas of Jayapura City and the districts of Keerom, Pegunungan Bintang, Merauke, and Boven Digoel lie along the Indonesia-PNG land border.
The immigration authority face difficulties in stopping the arrivals of undocumented border crossers and inflow of illegal goods, including illicit drugs, he pointed out.
Border crossers include smugglers of marijuana reportedly from PNG. This cross-border drug trafficking case should be tackled through a collective endeavor, he affirmed.
Last year, the Papua Immigration Office recorded that 116 foreign nationals had faced legal sanctions and were deported.
"Some 99 of the 116 immigration violators are PNG citizens, while 17 others comprise 14 Chinese nationals, two South Korean nationals, and one US citizen," he remarked.
Currently, Papua Province has immigration offices in Jayapura, Merauke, Timika, and Biak as well as 10 active immigration checkpoints and two cross-border posts, he stated.
Drug smugglers from PNG have become a serious threat to Papua Province.
On March 22, 2021, for instance, the Papua police apprehended two PNG citizens for smuggling marijuana packages into the Indonesian province.
The suspects are identified as Tom Klame, 33, and Gadafi Kuentaw Waropo, 18.
Klame was arrested in the Polimak 1 neighborhood area of Jayapura City, while Waropo was arrested in Many Island of Jayapura Selatan sub-district, Jayapura. Domestic and transnational drug dealers perceive Indonesia as a potential market on account of its vast population and millions of drug users.
The nation has been dragged into a state of emergency over narcotics trade and abuse, with drug trade in the country valued at nearly Rp66 trillion.
Data indicates that people from all societal levels are falling prey to drugs in the country, irrespective of their socio-economic and professional backgrounds. (Antaranews)
Jakarta. The COVID-19 Emergency Hospital (RSDC) Wisma Atlet Kemayoran in Central Jakarta had offered treatment to 2,097 COVID-19 patients until Tuesday at 8 a.m. local time.
"The number of patients has decreased by 104," Head of Information at the Joint Defense Area I Command Marine Colonel Aris Mudian stated here on Tuesday.
Mudian noted that the number of patients in treatment on Monday had reached 2,201. Those who recovered were allowed to return to their homes.
Mudian remarked that the COVID-19 patients were treated at towers four, five, six, and seven for mild symptoms. Meanwhile, the total number of beds in the four towers reaches 5,994. Thus, currently, there are still 3,897 vacant beds.
Overall, the emergency hospital has registered 76,979 patients from March 23 to March 2021. Of the number, 74,778 people were discharged, with 73,934 of them having recovered, 757 people referred to other hospitals, and 87 people having succumbed to the disease.
Meanwhile, Emergency Hospital Wisma Atlet Pademangan recorded 4,670 hospitalized patients on Tuesday morning. That figure was 266 less than the 4,936 patients treated on Monday. The patients were treated in towers eight, nine, and 10. (Antaranews)
Jakarta. The Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) has forecast heavy rains that can be accompanied by lightning and gusty winds in several regions in Indonesia.
According to data compiled by ANTARA from the official BMKG website here on Tuesday, the areas that can potentially experience such weather are Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Riau, Bengkulu, Jambi, South Sumatra, Bangka Belitung Islands, Lampung, Banten, and West Java.
Heavy rains accompanied by lightning and strong winds are also forecast to occur in Central Java, Yogyakarta, East Java, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, East Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, Maluku, and Papua.
Meanwhile, DKI Jakarta is projected to receive rains that can be accompanied by lightning and strong winds, while North Maluku is estimated to experience strong winds.
Moreover, the BMKG has forecast the potential of waves reaching heights of between 2.5 and 4.0 meters in the Arafuru Sea in the south of Merauke at night until tomorrow morning. (Antaranews)
Jakarta. A new algorithm-based study by a group of UK universities has predicted that 63 countries – roughly half the number rated by the likes of S&P Global, Moody’s and Fitch - could see their credit ratings cut because of climate change by 2030.
Researchers from Cambridge University, the University of East Anglia and London-based SOAS looked at a “realistic scenario” known as RCP 8.5, where carbon and other polluting emissions continue rising in coming decades.
They then looked at how the likely negative impact of rising temperatures, sea levels and other climate change effects on countries’ economies and finances might affect their credit ratings.
"We find that 63 sovereigns suffer climate-induced downgrades of approximately 1.02 notches by 2030, rising to 80 sovereigns facing an average downgrade of 2.48 notches by 2100," the study here released on Thursday said.
The hardest hit countries included China, Chile, Malaysia, and Mexico which could see six notches of downgrades by the end of the century, as well as the United States, Germany, Canada, Australia, India, and Peru that could see around four.
“Our results show that virtually all countries, whether rich or poor, hot or cold, will suffer downgrades if the current trajectory of carbon emissions is maintained.”
The study also estimated that as rating cuts usually increase countries’ borrowing costs in international markets the climate-induced downgrades would add $137–$205 billion to countries’ annual debt service payments by 2100.
In an alternative ‘RCP 2.6’ scenario where CO2 emissions start falling and go to zero by 2100, the rating impact would be just over half a notch on average and the combined additional cost would be a more modest $23–34 billion.
As companies’ borrowing costs generally track those of the countries they operate in, their combined annual debt bills were predicted to rise $35.8–$62.6 billion in the higher emissions scenario by 2100 and $7.2–$12.6 billion in the lower one.
"There are caveats. There are no scientifically credible quantitative estimates of how climate change will impact social and political factors," a blog article here released alongside the paper said. "Thus, our findings should be considered as conservative." (Reuters)