Archive September 3, 2025

In the worst case of widespread food poisoning linked to President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship food program to help pregnant women and children, 400 children in Indonesia’s western Bengkulu province became ill after receiving free school meals, according to an investigation that was launched.

As President Prabowo arrived in Beijing, China for events observing the end of World War II and days after widespread antigovernment protests erupted, Indonesian cities and towns were swept up in fear.

According to Vice Governor Mian of Bengkulu Province, authorities will launch an investigation into the source of the illness.

Mian, who goes by a single name, promised to temporarily suspend operations at this kitchen while we looked into the areas where the weaknesses were.

The BGN [National Nutrition Agency] investigation team and the authorities are in charge of this, he said.

The program’s director, Dadan Hindayana, the head of the National Nutrition Agency, told the Reuters news agency that the kitchen had only recently begun operating and that staff had been requesting information while waiting for results from food tests.

Authorities plan to reach 83 million recipients by year-end, spending a total of 171 trillion rupees ($10.52 billion) for the program since its launch, and the program has quickly grown to include more than 20 million recipients.

The president started the program in January, but hundreds of people had already been affected by food poisoning.

In Central Java, 365 people received free school meals last month. Laboratory tests revealed that the outbreak was the result of poor sanitation, according to local media reports.

According to a video handout from the local government, children between the ages of 4 and 12 were taken to a local hospital to complain of stomach pain starting last Thursday as part of the most recent mass illness in Bengkulu.

According to China’s CCTV, Prabowo was seen attending a military parade hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Wednesday to honor the 80th anniversary of Japan’s end of World War II.

In the midst of widespread unrest, Prabowo decided to visit China despite the ongoing street protests there. He then briefly rethought his decision to visit.

According to reports from civic organizations and officials, 20 people are now believed to have died in protests over the weekend, according to a report from The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

The UN called for inquiries into Indonesia’s security forces’ alleged use of excessive force against demonstrators in Geneva on Monday.

In response to widespread protests against parliamentary seats, austerity measures, and alleged use of excessive or excessive force by security forces, UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said, “We are closely following the spate of violence in Indonesia.”

Second seed Carlos Alcaraz defeated Czech Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in the US Open semifinals at Arthur Ashe Stadium despite not conceding a set at Flushing Meadows.

Alcaraz put on yet another almost flawless performance on Tuesday, firing off 28 winners with the palm of his hand. Novak Djokovic, a 24-time major champion, and Taylor Fritz, a fourth-seed in the US, will be his opponents next.

Lehecka is one of the few players to defeat Alcaraz this season, having already triumphed in the Doha quarterfinals, but the Spaniard couldn’t help but watch as his forehand winner zipped past on match point.

Alcaraz said, “This is going to be really tough” when you show the opponent you’re fresh, you can play two, three, more hours, you can play long rallies.

I’m fresh, I’m really good physically, and I’m a good person because of how I walk between points. I believe it’s crucial to convey to the opponent that they will sweat a lot and will need to run a lot if he wants to beat me.

Alcaraz broke in the first game, but a pair of Lehecka double faults helped him win, and in the 10th game, the Spaniard won a thrilling cat-and-mouse game by passing a backhand winner past the Czech.

Lehecka became apparent agitated as he went down another break with a double fault in the seventh game, but the 2022 champion kept the momentum going in the second set when he converted a break point at the net in the first game.

Alcaraz&nbsp grinned in disbelief as he drilled a number of precise shots to set the break point in the seventh game of the final set, but Lehecka held on.

Alcaraz used his golf swing to delight fellow Spaniard and 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia, who was present, as he rallied 12-shots to win the ninth game.

He said, “I just played a really, almost, perfect match.” “I’m just feeling great and determined to make it.”

The five-time major champion, who hasn’t broken one record so far in the tournament, may try to avoid thinking about it while he regains the top spot in the world over Jannik Sinner from Italy.

He said, “I don’t want to put pressure on myself if I think about the number one spot too much, and that’s what I don’t want to do.”

Donald Trump has dismissed concerns that China’s growing military might threaten the country, citing Washington’s unmatched military might.

The US president responded to a radio interview on Tuesday by asking if he was concerned about a China-Russia axis attacking the country.

Trump told conservative pundit Scott Jennings, “We have the strongest military in the world by far.”

They never engage in military combat against us. That would be the worst thing they could ever do, in my opinion.

Trump also expressed disappointment with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his failure to reach a peace deal with Kyiv. He campaigned on the promise of ending Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Trump said, “We will be doing something to help people live, and I am very disappointed in President Putin.”

“It’s not a question of Ukraine,” he said. It improves people’s lives.

Trump’s remarks come as China and Russia have been boosting their cooperation in an effort to change the world order being led by Western nations.

Chinese Presidents Xi Jinping and Putin took turns expressing criticism of what they thought was Washington’s undue dominance over the world at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit earlier this week in Tianjin.

Putin attended China’s largest military parade ever on Wednesday to commemorate Japan’s anniversaries in World War II. This was widely thought to be a demonstration of Xi’s growing influence on the international stage.

Trump refuted suggestions that the parade should be seen as a US challenge during a White House press conference on Tuesday.

He responded, “I don’t see that at all, no.”

The Department of Justice provided the thousands of pages of the Epstein case, according to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Tuesday, and the documents were redacted to remove “victim identities and any child sexual abuse material.”

Republican Representative Thomas Massie and Democratic Representative Ro Khanna both continued to demand what Khanna put forth as “the full release of the Epstein files and justice for the survivors.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi would have to release all of the Justice Department’s unclassified Epstein records, including those held by the FBI and US attorneys’ offices, under Massie and Khanna’s “full release” proposal.

On Wednesday morning, Massie and Khanna planned to support their request for the full release of the case’s files by holding a press conference with some of the victims of Epstein.

Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson expressed his concern for Massie’s petition because it lacked language to protect the identities of those who were sexually abused by Epstein.

Johnson also claimed that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s work, which had released thousands of pages of files on Monday, caused the petition for the full release of the Epstein files to be “moot.”

Johnson said, “We’re at this point, and I believe we’re at the desired outcome here.”

The committee questioned convicted Epstein aide Ghislaine Maxwell in a deposition and subpoenaed the Justice Department and Epstein’s estate for information.

No credible evidence has been found that Epstein had blackmailed prominent figures, according to a memo from the Justice Department and FBI in July.

Many people, including prominent conservatives in Trump’s support base, who had been urging the release of all Epstein-related documents, a promise made by Trump during his re-election campaign, surprised by that announcement.

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in July, the majority of Americans, including Trump’s Republicans, think his administration is keeping information from the Epstein case a secret.

Through his financial dealings and charitable contributions, Epstein was connected to a sizable number of well-known politicians and businesspeople.

On August 10, 2019, he was discovered dead in his New York City jail cell, where he was being held while a sex trafficking trial was pending. His death was declared a suicide.

On Wednesday, September 3, 2018, this is how things are going.

Fighting

• In the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine, Governor Serhiy Lysak wrote on Telegram that Russian drone attacks and shelling had caused the deaths of three people and injured five others.
• According to Governor Ivan Fedorov, two people were killed in the Polohivskyi district’s attack by Russian forces, which attacked 578 of the country’s Zaporizhia region’s 18 settlements.
• According to local officials, one person was killed in separate Russian attacks in Kherson, one more person was killed in the Kyiv region, and one more person was killed in Donetsk, according to the Kyiv Independent news outlet.
• Three people were hurt by a Ukrainian drone in the Belgorod village of Proletarsky, according to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
• According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, Russian forces seized the Ukrainian settlement of Fedorivka in the Donetsk region, according to Russian state news agency TASS.
• Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s ambassador at large, claimed 12 people were killed and almost 100 were hurt in recent Ukrainian attacks on Russia.
• According to TASS, Russia’s defense ministry reported that its forces shot down 158 Ukrainian drones in a 24-hour period.
• Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, claimed that Russia is deploying new troops along some front line lines. In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy stated that “Putin refuses to be forced into peace.”
• The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the only way to guarantee safety at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is to allow the country to withdraw its troops right away.

diplomacy and politics

Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, claimed that Moscow and Washington had come to terms with the conflict by listening to Russia’s justifications for the invasion of Ukraine.
• In an interview, US President Donald Trump stated, “We will be doing something to help people live,” and I am deeply disappointed in President Putin.
• Recep Tayyip Erdoan, the president of Turkey, claimed that Zelenskyy and Putin “are not yet prepared” for a leaders’ meeting to discuss the possibility of a solution to the war.
• Putin stated at Chinese talks that Russia has “never objected” to Ukraine’s membership in the European Union, telling Slovakia’s prime minister Robert Fico. This is another issue for NATO, according to Putin, who stated, “We consider this unacceptable for ourselves.”

Energy

Gazprom, a gas giant owned by the Kremlin, reported that Russia and China had agreed to advance a new pipeline to supply China with gas from Eastern Siberia. In response to Russia’s ongoing conflict with Ukraine, the EU has announced its intention to stop purchasing Russian gas until 2027.
• Following a meeting with Putin on Tuesday, Fico announced that Russian gas supplies to Slovakia via the TurkStream pipeline are gradually increasing to 4 billion cubic meters.