World
Indonesian mothers go to court over tainted cough syrup scandal
Jakarta, Indonesia – 5-year-old Shena has been in hospital since September. Her eyes transfer slowly when her mom calls her identify however she is in any other case virtually fully unresponsive.
Her mom, Desi Permata Sari, says Shena’s issues began when she fell ailing with a fever. Involved, she took her daughter to the emergency division of a Jakarta hospital. Medical doctors performed blood exams and despatched them dwelling with paracetamol syrup.
“I gave her the drugs for 2 days, then she threw up and likewise mentioned that she couldn’t urinate. I initially thought she may be dehydrated,” Desi mentioned.
“She was a wholesome, sensible woman. Abruptly this all occurred simply due to drugs. I’m devastated.”
Shena was admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit. Her mom mentioned she was a contented, talkative baby who favored swimming and studying, and had even realized to recite the Quran on the age of 4.
Now, she is combating for her life.
“Earlier on, she had heavy inside bleeding. She was having seizures, and blood was popping out from her nostril and mouth, and sores throughout her scalp. She was in a coma for one-and-a-half months. She was bleeding nonstop for 3 weeks and he or she was simply skin-and-bone,” Desi mentioned.
“Which mom’s coronary heart wouldn’t break…to see my wholesome woman who used to run round… now she will solely lie down and he or she wants a respiration help. They needed to make a gap in her throat. She drinks by a tube.”
This week, Shena cried throughout a physiotherapy appointment. It was the primary time in months her mom had heard her make any sound.
“I used to be so grateful that she will cry. It made me so blissful as a result of in any other case her situation is unresponsive.”
The medical emergency has had a devastating impact on the entire household.
With Desi caring for Shena in hospital and her husband working lengthy hours as a safety guard, and likewise spending most of his spare time by his daughter’s bedside, their son has needed to transfer in with a relative.
The household has drained their financial savings to pay for Shena’s medical care, and the price of travelling back and forth from the hospital. He earns about $300 a month. They’ve began consuming smaller meals since Shena was admitted to hospital, to save cash.
“My husband doesn’t relaxation. He goes backwards and forwards to work, then he comes right here to take care of Shena. Our financial savings are gone. She wants so many issues which aren’t coated by public medical health insurance,” she mentioned.
“To start with, I simply wished to be hit by a automobile as a result of I’m so devastated. However I’ll struggle for her, irrespective of how lengthy it takes. I’ve to struggle for my daughter.”
‘I’ll by no means transfer on’
Desi and her husband are a part of a category motion swimsuit launched by 25 households, suing authorities businesses and pharmaceutical corporations after their kids grew to become critically ailing from taking contaminated medicines.
Nearly 200 kids have died from acute kidney damage since final 12 months and greater than 100 have been injured.
Authorities later discovered two elements usually present in antifreeze and brake fluids – ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol – have been linked to the kids’s circumstances. The scandal in Indonesia got here as dozens of youngsters in The Gambia have been reported to have died after taking equally contaminated merchandise.
The households are suing the well being and finance ministries, the medicine regulator, and several other pharmaceutical corporations and suppliers.
One of many legal professionals for the mother and father, Tegar Putuhena, advised Al Jazeera in addition they need the Ministry of Well being to categorise the acute kidney damage outbreak attributable to the syrups as an “extraordinary occasion”, so all remedy bills can be coated by the federal government.
“For these kids nonetheless being handled now, there are a lot of therapies that aren’t coated by public medical health insurance. The federal government is popping a blind eye to it as if they’ve supplied the whole lot,” he mentioned.
On the first listening to on Tuesday, a procedural step the place administrative documentation was checked, Desi sat within the packed courtroom with three different moms.
They held palms and wept collectively as they waited for proceedings to start.
Amongst them was Siti Suhardiyati, the mom of Umar Abu Bakar who died two months earlier than his third birthday and Solihah, the mom of four-year-old Azqiara who cherished to skate and sing. She died simply days after ingesting the poisonous drugs.
And Safitri Pusparani, 42, sporting a yellow shirt with the phrases “my son is my hero” printed on it.
Panghegar died in October.
She confirmed Al Jazeera a video of him, taken a month earlier than his demise. It was Panghegar’s eighth birthday.
“It’s my birthday, yippee!” he squealed, grinning on the digital camera.
“I don’t need my son to only be a statistic with out motion. He’s my hero. We have to make modifications so this doesn’t occur once more,” Safitri mentioned.
“As a mom, you may’t ask, when will you cease being unhappy? When will you progress on? I’ll by no means transfer on. With time, I don’t assume it would damage any much less however I’ll be taught to adapt to the fact, that I’m a mom who misplaced her son.”
A number of of the mother and father initially expressed doubts concerning the class motion. Many are nonetheless deep of their grief or caring for kids who now have debilitating accidents.
However Safitri is satisfied it’s the proper path and the mother and father hope different affected households will be a part of them.
“That is in all probability going to be an extended highway and it in all probability received’t be a simple one. Regardless of the threat, we’ve to be robust and we’ve to see it by,” she mentioned.
“It isn’t nearly my baby. If we maintain quiet, different kids could also be victims sooner or later.”
World
US Supreme Court's slow pace on immunity makes Trump trial before election unlikely
World
Bolivia grapples with aftermath of failed coup attempt as nation strives to restore stability
- Bolivia has been left reeling after troops, led by General Juan José Zúñiga, briefly seized the presidential palace in La Paz during an attempted coup.
- Military forces seized control of La Paz using armored vehicles and tear gas against protesters.
- Authorities arrested Zúñiga as his soldiers retreated from central La Paz.
Calm returned to Bolivia’s capital on Thursday after troops led by a top general stormed the presidential palace, then quickly retreated, tumultuous scenes that threatened to pitch the long-troubled South American democracy into chaos.
The nation of 12 million watched in shock and bewilderment Wednesday as Bolivian military forces appeared to turn on the government of President Luis Arce, seizing control of the capital’s main square with armored personnel carriers, crashing a tank into the palace and unleashing tear gas on protesters who flooded the streets.
The country’s army chief, Gen. Juan José Zúñiga, addressed a scrum of TV reporters from the palace, vowing to “restore democracy,” replace the cabinet, and free political prisoners.
BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT SURVIVES FAILED COUP, CALLS FOR ‘DEMOCRACY TO BE RESPECTED,’ ARMY GENERAL ARRESTED
But as opposition leaders condemned the apparent coup attempt, it became clear that the coup had no meaningful political support. Arce refused to relent and named a new army commander, who immediately ordered troops to stand down, ending the rebellion after just three chaotic and head-snapping hours. Hundreds of Arce’s supporters rushed the square outside the palace, waving Bolivian flags, singing the national anthem and cheering.
“Here we are, firm, in the presidential palace, to confront any coup attempt,” Arce said after facing down Gen. Zúñiga, calling on Bolivians to mobilize in defense of democracy.
Authorities swiftly arrested Zúñiga as his soldiers retreated from central La Paz, crushing the apparent coup attempt and defusing the latest crisis in a country wracked by a bitter political rivalry and economic crisis.
“Their goal was to overturn the democratically elected authority,” Government Minister Eduardo del Castillo told journalists in announcing the arrests of Zúñiga along with an alleged co-conspirator, former navy Vice Adm. Juan Arnez Salvador.
BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT WARNS ‘IRREGULAR’ MILITARY DEPLOYMENT UNDERWAY IN CAPITAL, RAISING COUP FEARS
The short-lived rebellion followed months of mounting tensions between Arce and his one-time ally, former President Evo Morales. Bolivia’s first Indigenous president, Morales remains a global leftist icon and towering figure in national politics years after mass protests that prompted him to resign and flee in 2019 — an ouster his supporters view as a coup.
Since returning from exile, Morales has staged a dramatic political comeback. Threatening to challenge Arce in 2025 primaries, Morales has sparked an unprecedented rift in their ruling socialist party. The feud has paralyzed efforts to resolve a spiraling economic crisis, with the country’s foreign currency reserves diminishing, its natural gas exports plummeting and its currency peg collapsing.
As police in riot gear set up blockades outside the presidential palace, Bolivians — though no stranger to political conflict in a country that has witnessed some 190 coups by one count — thronged ATMs, formed long lines outside gas stations and emptied shelves in grocery stores and pharmacies.
Flanked by the newly appointed military chiefs late Wednesday, Defense Minister Edmundo Novillo sought to reassure the rattled public and shed light on what had happened.
The turmoil began earlier this week, Novillo said, when Arce dismissed Zuñiga in a private meeting Tuesday over the army chief’s threats to arrest Morales if he proceeded with his presidential bid in 2025. In their meeting, Novillo said that Zuñiga gave officials no indication he was preparing to seize power.
“He admitted that he had committed some excesses,” Novillo said of Zuñiga. “We said goodbye in the most friendly way, with hugs. Zuñiga said that he would always be at the side of the president.”
The frantic palace takeover began hours later. Tailed by armored vehicles and supporters, Zuñiga burst into government headquarters and declared that he was sick of political infighting. “The armed forces intend to restore the democracy,” he said.
Members of the country’s fragmented opposition, which Zuñiga claimed to support, rejected the coup before it was clear it had failed. Former interim President Jeanine Áñez, detained for her role in Morales’ 2019 ouster, said that soldiers sought to “destroy the constitutional order” but appealed to both Arce and Morales not to run in the 2025 elections.
The mutiny by a lifelong member of the military with a low political profile stirred confusion. Just before his arrest, Zúñiga claimed that President Arce himself had asked the general to storm the palace in a ploy to boost the embattled leader’s popularity.
“The president told me: ‘The situation is very screwed up, very critical. It is necessary to prepare something to raise my popularity,’” Zúñiga quoted the Bolivian leader as saying.
Justice Minister Iván Lima denied Zúñiga’s claims, insisting the general was lying to justify his actions. Prosecutors will seek the maximum sentence of 15 to 20 years in prison for Zúñiga on charges of “attacking the constitution,” he said.
Analysts said that, more than anything, Wednesday’s events underscored the weakness of Bolivia’s democratic institutions.
“This grants control to the military and erodes democracy and is an important signpost that the problems of the 2019 coup have not been addressed,” said Kathryn Ledebur, director of the Andean Information Network, a Bolivia-based research group. “Bolivia’s democracy remains very fragile, and definitely a great deal more fragile today than it was yesterday.”
World
Caribbean braces for ‘very dangerous’ Hurricane Beryl
DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,
Storm begins to shut down southeast Caribbean amid urgent pleas from government officials for people to take shelter.
Much of the southeast Caribbean is on alert as Beryl strengthens into the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season, with forecasters warning of a “very dangerous” Category 3 storm.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Beryl – churning in the Atlantic Ocean about 675km (420 miles) east of Barbados – at 12:30 GMT on Sunday was expected to bring “life-threatening winds and storm surge” when it reaches the Windward Islands early on Monday.
Barbados, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada were all under hurricane warnings, while tropical storm warnings or watches were in effect for Martinique, Tobago and Dominica, the NHC said in its latest advisory.
Cars were seen lined up at filling stations in the Barbadian capital, Bridgetown, while supermarkets and grocery stores were crowded with shoppers buying food, water and other supplies. Some households were already boarding up their properties.
Beryl is now only the third Category 3 hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic in June, following Audrey in 1957 and Alma in 1966, according to hurricane expert Michael Lowry.
“Only five major [Category 3+] hurricanes have been recorded in the Atlantic before the first week of July. Beryl would be the sixth and earliest this far east in the tropical Atlantic,” Lowry posted on X.
‘Devastating wind damage expected’
The NHC said by about 5am (09:00 GMT) on Sunday, Beryl’s maximum sustained wind speed had increased to nearly 100mph (160kmph) with higher gusts. Such a powerful storm forming this early in the Atlantic hurricane season – which runs from early June to late November – is extremely rare, experts said.
“Hurricane conditions are expected in the hurricane warning area beginning early on Monday,” the NHC said, warning of heavy rain, flooding and storm surge that could raise water levels as much as 9 feet (2.7 metres) above normal.
“Devastating wind damage is expected where the eyewall of Beryl moves through portions of the Windward Islands,” the NHC added, indicating wind speeds in some locations could be 30 percent stronger than those listed in their advisory.
Beryl is likely to pass just south of Barbados early on Monday and then head into the Caribbean Sea as a major hurricane on a path towards Jamaica. It is expected to weaken by midweek but remain a hurricane as it heads towards Mexico.
Forecasters warned of a life-threatening storm surge in areas where Beryl will make landfall, with up to 6 inches (150mm) of rain for Barbados and nearby islands.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in late May that it expects this year to be an “extraordinary” hurricane season, with up to seven storms of Category 3 or higher.
The agency cited warm Atlantic Ocean temperatures and conditions related to the weather phenomenon La Nina in the Pacific for the expected increase in storms.
Extreme weather events including hurricanes have become more frequent and devastating in recent years as a result of climate change.
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