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More than 130,000 flee menacing Bali volcano
BALI, Indonesia (AP) -- More than 130,000 people have fled the region around the Mount Agung volcano on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali, fearing it will soon erupt, an official said Thursday.
The disaster mitigation agency's command post in Bali said the number of evacuees has swelled to about 134,200. The figure is more than double the estimated population within an immediate danger zone but people further away are leaving too.
Those who have fled are scattered in more than 500 locations across the island famed for its beaches, lush green interior and elegant Hindu culture, taking shelter in temporary camps, sports centers and other public buildings.
The volcano has been at its highest alert level since Friday, sparking the massive exodus of villagers. Thousands of cows left behind by rural communities are also being evacuated.
The exclusion zone around the mountain extends as far as 7.5 miles from the crater in places.
"I was very worried about the situation" said Nyoman Suarta, who was leaving a village a few kilometers outside the official no-go radius. "So I decided to get out to save myself with my stuff and my pet," he said, carrying a cage housing a bird.
Agung, which dominates the landscape in the northeast of the island, last erupted in 1963, killing more than 1,100 people. It remained active for about a year.
Volcanologists say the past week's dramatic escalation in tremors indicates an eruption is more likely than not, but they can't say with certainty when it will happen.
"I would definitely be following the advice to stay outside the exclusion zone," said Heather Handley, an assistant Earth sciences professor at Sydney's Macquarie University. The increase in tremors suggests an eruption is "imminent," she said.
China orders North Korean business closed under UN sanctions
BEIJING (AP) -- China on Thursday ordered North Korean-owned businesses to close, cutting foreign revenue for the isolated North under U.N. sanctions imposed over its nuclear and missile programs.
China is North Korea's main trading partner, making Beijing's cooperation essential to the success of sanctions aimed at stopping the North's pursuit of weapons technology. China, long North Korea's diplomatic protector, has gone along with the latest penalties out of growing frustration with leader Kim Jong Un's government.
North Korean businesses and ventures with Chinese partners must close within 120 days of the U.N. Security Council's Sept. 11 approval of the latest sanctions, according to the Ministry of Commerce. That would be early January.
North Korean companies operate restaurants and other ventures in China, helping to provide the North with foreign currency. North Korean laborers work in Chinese factories and other businesses.
Also Thursday, China's foreign ministry appealed for dialogue to defuse the increasingly acrimonious dispute between U.S. President Donald Trump's government and North Korea.
"The Korean Peninsula nuclear issue is related to regional peace and stability," ministry spokesman Lu Kang said. "Breaking the deadlock requires all relevant parties to show their sincerity."
IS reclusive leader rallies followers in purported new audio
CAIRO (AP) -- The leader of the Islamic State group urged followers to burn their enemies everywhere and target "media centers of the infidels," according to an audio recording released Thursday that the extremists said was by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The reclusive leader of IS, who has only appeared in public once, also vowed to continue fighting and lavished praise on jihadis despite their loss of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in July.
The recording was released by the IS-run al-Furqan outlet, which has in the past released messages from al-Baghdadi and other top figures of the extremist group. The voice in the over 46-minute-long audio sounded much like previous recordings of al-Baghdadi. His last previous purported message was released in November, also in an audio recording.
"You soldiers of the caliphate, heroes of Islam and carriers of banners: light a fire against your enemies," said al-Baghdadi, a shadowy cleric who has been surrounded by controversy since the terror group emerged from al-Qaida in Iraq, its forerunner.
Russian officials said in June there was a "high probability" that al-Baghdadi had died in a Russian airstrike on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Raqqa, the group's de facto capital. U.S. officials later said they believed he was still alive.
Al-Baghdadi's whereabouts are unknown but he is believed to be in IS' dwindling territory in eastern Syria. The IS-held cities of Raqqa and Deir el-Zour are under siege and likely too dangerous for him to hide in. Some IS leadership is believed to have gone to the nearby town of Mayadeen, and the group still holds a stretch of the Euphrates River from Deir el-Zour to the Iraqi border, as well as remote desert areas along the border.