JAKARTA: Indonesia warned yesterday it is reviewing cooperation with Canberra over claims President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s phone was tapped, demanding that Australia do more to make amends after its leader refused to apologise.
In a series of angry tweets, Yudhoyono said ties with Canberra had been damaged and “deplored” what he described as a lack of remorse on the part of the Australian prime minister.
His outrage over reports that his phone and those of his wife and ministers were targeted by Australian spies came a day after Indonesia recalled its ambassador from Canberra in protest.
Indonesia is “reviewing the bilateral cooperation because of Australia’s hurtful action,” Yudhoyono said in a tweet, referring to the accounts of spying in documents leaked by Edward Snowden to Australian media.
Singapore holds first Toilet Day
SINGAPORE: Singapore called yesterday for greater efforts to improve sanitation in developing countries as it celebrated the inaugural UN World Toilet Day, an initiative by the cleanliness-obsessed island republic.
Grace Fu, second minister for the environment and water resources, told a conference on the subject that 80 percent of an estimated 2.5 billion people without access to basic sanitation worldwide live in Asia.
The United Nations estimates that 1.1 billion people around the world defecate in the open, and almost 2,000 children die every day from preventable diarrhoeal diseases.
Poor sanitation and water supply also result in economic losses estimated at $260bn annually in developing countries, according to the UN.
Rare tea may fetch HK$1m
HONG KONG: Rare teas more than half a century old will take centre stage at Hong Kong’s first tea auction, with a prized narcissus oolong variety expected to fetch HK$1m ($129,000), organisers said yesterday.
More than 40 lots of vintage tea leaves from private collectors in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan will feature in the sale on Saturday, with the oldest dating back to the 1950s. Agencies
