Indonesia's Sinabung volcano erupts again

12/28/2017 - 2:40:12 PM

Indonesia's Sinabung volcano in northern Sumatra province erupted again on December 27.

Sinabung volcano erupted on December 8 (Source: VNA)

According to Indonesia's Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation, the eruption, the most violent since August this year, occurred at 15:36 local time, and lasted for eight minutes.

The eruption sent hot clouds and ash into the sky as far as 4.6 kilometres. Volcanic ash also fell on several villages around the volcano.

However, there were no casualties from the eruption, according to the country's disaster management agency.

Residents were advised to stay away from the danger zone around the volcano and magma flows amid recent rainy weather. Villages within seven-kilometre red zone have been evacuated.

Mount Sinabung also erupted in September 2013.

All activities within the three-kilometre area around the volcano have been banned since Indonesian authorities imposed the highest alert on the volcano in 2015.

Source: VNA

Removing “bottlenecks” in global problems

The Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the world’s leading developed and emerging economies (G20) recently held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil emphasised the need to reform global governance institutions, especially the United Nations Security Council. The meeting is also an opportunity for G20 to find solutions to a series of hot issues facing the world, such as poverty, climate change, and conflict.

ASEAN FMs issue statement on maintaining, promoting stability in maritime sphere in Southeast Asia

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers on December 30 issued a statement on maintaining and promoting stability in the maritime sphere in Southeast Asia.

Optimistic signals of the world economy

The world economy has overcome a challenging year, but has proven more resilient than expected. The Financial Times (UK) commented that 2023 was a positive year for the world economy as the economic surprise index collated by Citigroup shew that actual data have underwhelmed economists’ predictions for much of the past months. These economic trends are the basis for optimism about the world economy in 2024.