Tornadoes batter central US, kill unknown number

The Jakarta Post | Mon, 05/23/2011 9:38 AM | World

 Tornadoes ripped through parts of the Midwest on Sunday killing at least one person in Minneapolis and an unknown number of others in a Missouri town where a hospital was damaged.

Damage was widespread across the south side of Joplin, Missouri. John Campbell, operations director for the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency, confirmed fatalities have been reported, but he did not yet have an exact number or specifics.

Phone communications in and out of the city were largely cut off.

The storm was part of a series that battered the Midwest on Sunday night. Tornado warnings and watches were posted from Texas to Michigan.

In Minneapolis, city spokeswoman Sara Dietrich said the death was confirmed by the medical examiner. She had no other immediate details. Only two of the 29 people injured there were hurt critically.

In Wisconsin, a powerful storm caused significant damage in La Crosse, tearing roofs from homes and sending emergency responders to search damaged buildings for anyone trapped inside, officials said. La Crosse County sheriff's dispatcher Tim Vogel described the damage as "sigificant" but told The Associated Press there were no immediate reports of serious injuries.

Those storms followed a tornado Saturday night that swept through a small eastern Kansas town, killing one person and destroying at least 20 homes, as severe thunderstorms pelted the region with hail that some resients described as the size of baseballs, authorities said Sunday.

Kansas Division of Emergency Management spokeswoman Sharon Watson identified the victim as Don Chesmore, 53, of Reading. He was in a mobile home that flipped. He was taken to a hospital in Emporia, where he was pronounced dead

Police assign 1,500 officers to secure FPI rallies in Central Jakarta

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 02/18/2011 9:29 AM | Jakarta

Jakarta Police plans to dispatch up to 1,500 police officers to secure the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta during rallies the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) is planning to stage on Friday at noon.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Baharudin Djafar said some of the police personnel would come from Central Jakarta Police office.

“We're preparing between 1,400 and 1,500 officers. We'll be standing by from [Friday] morning,” Baharudin said Thursday, as quoted by kompas.com.

He added that up to 700 FPI members were anticipated to take part in the rallies.

Asian shares mixed after China central bank move

The Associated Press, Tokyo, Japan | Mon, 01/17/2011 9:58 AM | Business

Asian shares were mixed Monday as investors digested the latest move by China to control interest rates.

China's central bank on Friday raised the amount of money banks must keep on reserve for the seventh time in a year. It ordered state-owned banks to set asde an additional 0.5 percent of deposits as reserves, effective Jan. 20.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slipped 0.3 percent to 24,214.97, the Shanghai Composite index lost 1.3 percent to 2,753.79, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5 percent to 4,779.20.

Benchmarks in New Zealand and Taiwan also retreated Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average rose 0.4 percent to 10,536.74 as banks benefited from a strong showing by U.S. financials before the weekend. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan's biggest bank, rose 0.7 percent.

The optimism was triggered by JPMorgan Chase & Co., which reported that its income soared 47 percent in the fourth quarter. The bank set aside less money to cover bad loans and said it expected to get permission from the Federal Reserve to raise its dividend.

South Korea's Kospi added 0.2 perent to 2,111.27 on strength in high-tech shares.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 55.48 points, or 0.5 percent, to 11,787.38. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 9.48, or 0.7 percent, to 1,293.24.

The Nasdaq rose 20.01, or 0.7 percent, to 2,755.30. U.S. financial markets will be cosed Monday to observe the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. In currencies, the dollar rose to 82.90 yen from 82.80 yen late Friday.

The euro stood at $1.3344 from $1.3385. Benchmark oil for February delivery fell 9 cents $91.45 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 14 cents to settle at $91.54 a barrel Friday.