09/03/2026

MONDAY | MAR 9, 2026

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‘China-US dialogue vital for global stability’

Jakarta, several regions hit by floods JAKRTA: Floods affected 105 residential areas and 19 roads in Jakarta following heavy rain over the weekend, while several other regions across Indonesia were also hit by floods and extreme weather. According to the National Disaster Management Agency the flooding affected parts of West, South and East Jakarta, with water levels ranging from 20cm to 170 cm in several locations. In West Jakarta, 26 residential areas were affected with water levels between 20cm and 100cm, while 22 residential areas in South Jakarta were inundated, with the worst flooding reaching 170cm in Cipete Utara and Pela Mampang. “In East Jakarta, 57 residential areas were affected with water levels ranging from 25cm to 160cm,” said Data, Information and Disaster Communication Centre head Abdul Muhari . He said flooding was also reported in Serang Regency, Banten, affecting 160 households across four villages following two days of heavy rain. In Parigi Moutong Regency, Central Sulawesi, he said floods affected 391 households in Moutong Tengah and Moutong Utara villages. Meanwhile, he said floods in Bima Regency, West Nusa Tenggara, affected 527 houses, two schools and three government offices, and caused one bridge to collapse. He said that flooding was also reported in South Tangerang City, Banten, where 660 houses and two roads were flooded in Jurangmangu Barat and Pondok Kacang Timur villages, with water levels ranging from 10 cm to 40 cm. – Bernama Tugboat sinks, 3 Indonesian sailors missing JAKARTA: Three Indonesian crew members are missing after the United Arab Emirates-flagged tugboat Musaffah 2 sank in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, Jakarta’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. There have been numerous attacks on ships navigating the Strait of Hormuz since the US-Israeli war on Iran started on Feb 28. The Musaffah had seven crew members from Indonesia, India and the Philippines, the ministry said, adding that four survived and three others, all Indonesians, are missing. Before it sank, an explosion triggered a fire, the statement said, adding that an investigation is ongoing by local authorities. The security firm Vanguard said the tugboat was struck by two missiles while attempting to provide assistance to the Malta-flagged container ship Safeen Prestige . That ship was struck by a missile on Wednesday, Vanguard said in a statement. “One Indonesian survivor is receiving burn treatment at a hospital in the city of Khasab, Oman. The other three Indonesians are still missing,” the Indonesian ministry said. Another Indonesian national, who was at the location of the incident, is now safe on a different vessel. – AFP

faced this much scrutiny since the Cold War, said Yasser Nasser, a historian at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. “In some senses it is existential in that it reveals that Chinese economic commitments or commitments to arms deals, for example, do not translate to directly confronting the US or preventing interventions as, for example, it did during the Vietnam War.” Wang appeared to take a swipe at Trump’s foreign policy ambitions. “If China, like some traditional major powers, was keen on carving out spheres of influence in its neighbourhood, stoking bloc confrontation, or even shifting problems onto its neighbours, would Asia still be as stable as it is today?” Wang said. He did not name the US. Wang sought to project China’s economy as a stabilising force, in contrast to Trump’s military assertiveness. “A hard fist is not the same as a hard reason. The world cannot return to the law of the jungle. Resorting to force at every turn does not prove one’s might.” – Reuters

o Beijing readies for meeting of leaders

BEIJING: US-China dialogue is vital to preventing globally damaging miscalculations, China’s top diplomat said yesterday, ahead of a highly anticipated summit this month between leaders Xi Jinping and Donald Trump. “Failure to engage between the two nations would only lead to misunderstandings and misjudgments, escalating toward confrontation and harming the world,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a press conference on the sidelines of an annual parliament meeting in Beijing. With the US president focused on the war he and Israel launched against Iran, analysts are watching for signs that his visit to meet Xi will go ahead. China has not previously announced the summit between the leaders of the world’s biggest economies, expected for the end of the month. “The agenda for high-level

exchanges is on the table,” Wang said. “What is required is for both sides to make thorough preparations to create a conducive environment to manage existing differences,” he said, without giving further details. On Iran, Wang urged a halt to military operations, saying the war that should not have happened and that the use of force was not a way to resolve issues. He did not go beyond Beijing’s previous condemnations and expressions of concern, despite reports Tehran had neared a deal to buy supersonic anti-ship missiles from Beijing. Trump’s pursuit of a “Donroe Doctrine” – his rebranding of a 19th century policy asserting Washington’s zone of influence in the Americas – is crashing into Xi’s flagship Belt and Road and Global Security initiatives, which have been decades in the making and carry significant personal political investment for the Chinese leader.

Wang ... A hard fist is not the same as a hard reason. – REUTERSPIC Trump has also threatened military action against Colombia and Mexico and said Cuba’s communist regime “looks like it’s ready to fall” on its own, raising questions for Latin American countries over how their China ties might protect them if put to the test. China’s foreign policy has not

Nepal centrist party heads for landslide win JHAPA: Nepal’s centrist RSP party of rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah had secured a majority in the direct parliamentary elections, partial official results showed yesterday and was heading for a landslide according to official trends. The 35-year-old’s Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was also leading in proportional

representation vote, according to results declared and election commission trends. The vote was the first since September 2025 youth anti corruption protests toppled the government. Shah himself had on Saturday defeated the veteran four-time prime minister KP Sharma Oli, whose Marxist-led government was ousted in the violence last year, in his own seat. His victory over the 74-year-old Oli, and his rise from the capital’s mayor to potential prime minister, marks one of the most dramatic results in recent Nepali politics. Elections on Thursday chose a new 275-member House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament, with 185 seats chosen directly, and 110 by a proportional representation vote. On Saturday morning, there were 125 of the direct elections declared: RSP dominating with 98, Nepali Congress 14 and the Maxists of now defeated Oli trailing with seven. Former Maoist guerilla commander Pushpa Kamal Dahal, a three-time prime minister, won his seat, with his party holding three in total. Trends showed that Shah’s RSP was also leading in 27 of the remaining 40 constituencies in the direct elections. In the proportional representation

Shah greeting police officers as he holds a document certifying his parliamentary seat win on Saturday. – REUTERSPIC

sunglasses and waving from the sunroof of a car in a victory parade through cheering crowds who chanted “Balen” as he is better known. Shah, who did not make a speech, won over three times more votes than Oli, who congratulated the winner, wishing him “a smooth and successful five-year tenure”. – AFP

Commission spokesman Narayan Prasad Bhattarai. “Results of all direct votes are expected by end of today, the PR (proportional representation) votes will take a few more days.” The first-time parliamentary lawmaker Shah toured the streets of his new constituency on Saturday evening, wearing his signature dark

vote, RSP were leading with nearly half of the counted votes but final results could take several more days. Nepali Congress, the largest party in the past coalition government, also saw its new leader, Gagan Thapa, defeated by RSP. “Counting is moving forward smoothly in all remaining constituencies,” said Election