JERUSALEM – Smoldering trashcans and broken glass littered Jerusalem streets Friday morning as police prepared for a fourth day of rioting by ultra-Orthodox Jews enraged at the arrest of a mentally ill Hasidic woman who authorities say was starving her child.
Security forces armed with water cannons and backed by mounted units battled through the night protesters hurling bricks and bottles and blocking main thoroughfares with piles of garbage.
"We don't have weapons, we don't have tanks, we don't have policemen or jails," Shmuel Pappenheim, a spokesman for the protesters, told Israel Army Radio Friday. "But we are sending in our army to save a family, to save a Jewish mother who is raising five children with love and warmth."
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told The Associated Press that 18 police officers were injured and 50 protesters were arrested during the overnight street battles and extra police had been drafted into the city from other districts.
The woman, who has not been named, is due to appear in court in Jerusalem later Friday morning. Rosenfeld said police will ask that she be sent for psychiatric examination.
Hadassah Hospital where her three-year-old son is recovering from malnutrition says the mother suffers from a condition known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy, in which a person deliberately makes another sick.
The mother is suspected of denying her child food.
Jerusalem police chief Aharon Franco told the radio that it was her family and lawyers' opposition to a psychiatric evaluation which had hampered her possible release so far and Haaretz newspaper quoted him as saying that if they agreed in court Friday there was a possibility she could be freed the same day.
Her release could defuse at least some of the tension on the streets of ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods.
"It all depends on how the court hearing goes," Rosenfeld said.
Tensions between authorities and ultra-Orthodox Jews, who make up a third of Jerusalem's residents, have been high since voters replaced an ultra-Orthodox mayor with a secular candidate in a November election.
In recent weeks, ultra-Orthodox Jews and authorities have clashed repeatedly over a decision by Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat to open a municipal parking lot on the Sabbath. Ultra-Orthodox Jews oppose the idea because driving is forbidden on the Sabbath.
The Jewish Sabbath begins Friday at sundown and a failure to resolve the case of the arrested mother by then would exacerbate ultra-orthodox resentment.
During this week's disturbances, City Hall cut off municipal services to some ultra-Orthodox areas, mainly sanitation, after its workers were attacked.
Friday, July 17, 2009
2nd furlough begins as Calif. budget talks stall
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Most state government workers are staying home for the second time this month while Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and top lawmakers work to close California's $26.3 billion budget deficit.
Without a balanced spending plan, the state was operating in a lopsided manner as the recession drags down tax collections. The projected deficit amounts to more than a quarter of the state's general fund, and to conserve cash, the state has begun issuing IOUs to contractors and government workers are being furloughed three days a month.
A state-sponsored children's health insurance program planned to stop enrolling new clients Friday, the first time that the Healthy Families program has done so since it started in 1997. And at least one more major bank was scheduled to stop accepting the state's IOUs.
California's budget impasse brought rebuke Thursday from state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, who warned that further delays on resolving the state deficit will threaten the state's ability to build schools, highways and levees.
Lockyer said the state's recent credit-rating downgrade could jeopardize its ability to secure financing for infrastructure projects, which would hurt businesses, local governments and ultimately, taxpayers.
"Give Californians and the world a pleasant surprise for once: Balance the budget now, and get back to the work of getting our state back to work," Lockyer said in a statement.
It was not clear if a meeting would be called Friday. The governor didn't meet with Democratic lawmakers on Thursday.
Schwarzenegger is in disagreement with state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and state Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, over how the state should repay $11 billions to schools once the economy recovers.
The Democrats said Schwarzenegger could guarantee future money for schools with a statutory change. But the governor's administration disagreed, saying such a change would require voter approval.
Education advocates prefer to get the repayment pledge in writing because they feel the governor hasn't always made good on his promises. Back in 2005, the administration agreed to repay $2.9 billion to public education after the state's largest teachers union accused Schwarzenegger in a lawsuit of taking school funding and refusing to pay it back.
"Our position is that there should be some legislative clarification on what's owed and when it will be repaid to schools," said Sandra Jackson, a spokeswoman for the California Teachers Association, considered one of the most influential forces in California politics.
Republican legislators said they wanted to concentrate on the current problem — the funding shortfall for the fiscal year that began July 1 — rather than future scenarios.
Most state agencies, including the Department of Motor Vehicles, will be closed Friday but state prisons, hospitals, police and firefighters were operating, along with and parks and jobless centers. Healthy Families, which offers reduced-cost medical coverage to low-income children, was scheduled to close to new enrollment.
Advocates fear as many as 570,000 children would be denied access to health coverage.
"Every possible opportunity must be taken advantage of and every avenue must be exhausted before taking the drastic and devastating step of denying health care to children," said Wendy Lazarus, founder of The Children's Partnership, in a statement.
Friday also marked the last day Citigroup Inc. planned to accept IOUs after extending the deadline by one week.
Bank of the West and some credit unions have said they will continue to accept IOUs but JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., and Wells Fargo & Co. and other major banks have already stopped honoring California's warrants.
Without a balanced spending plan, the state was operating in a lopsided manner as the recession drags down tax collections. The projected deficit amounts to more than a quarter of the state's general fund, and to conserve cash, the state has begun issuing IOUs to contractors and government workers are being furloughed three days a month.
A state-sponsored children's health insurance program planned to stop enrolling new clients Friday, the first time that the Healthy Families program has done so since it started in 1997. And at least one more major bank was scheduled to stop accepting the state's IOUs.
California's budget impasse brought rebuke Thursday from state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, who warned that further delays on resolving the state deficit will threaten the state's ability to build schools, highways and levees.
Lockyer said the state's recent credit-rating downgrade could jeopardize its ability to secure financing for infrastructure projects, which would hurt businesses, local governments and ultimately, taxpayers.
"Give Californians and the world a pleasant surprise for once: Balance the budget now, and get back to the work of getting our state back to work," Lockyer said in a statement.
It was not clear if a meeting would be called Friday. The governor didn't meet with Democratic lawmakers on Thursday.
Schwarzenegger is in disagreement with state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and state Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, over how the state should repay $11 billions to schools once the economy recovers.
The Democrats said Schwarzenegger could guarantee future money for schools with a statutory change. But the governor's administration disagreed, saying such a change would require voter approval.
Education advocates prefer to get the repayment pledge in writing because they feel the governor hasn't always made good on his promises. Back in 2005, the administration agreed to repay $2.9 billion to public education after the state's largest teachers union accused Schwarzenegger in a lawsuit of taking school funding and refusing to pay it back.
"Our position is that there should be some legislative clarification on what's owed and when it will be repaid to schools," said Sandra Jackson, a spokeswoman for the California Teachers Association, considered one of the most influential forces in California politics.
Republican legislators said they wanted to concentrate on the current problem — the funding shortfall for the fiscal year that began July 1 — rather than future scenarios.
Most state agencies, including the Department of Motor Vehicles, will be closed Friday but state prisons, hospitals, police and firefighters were operating, along with and parks and jobless centers. Healthy Families, which offers reduced-cost medical coverage to low-income children, was scheduled to close to new enrollment.
Advocates fear as many as 570,000 children would be denied access to health coverage.
"Every possible opportunity must be taken advantage of and every avenue must be exhausted before taking the drastic and devastating step of denying health care to children," said Wendy Lazarus, founder of The Children's Partnership, in a statement.
Friday also marked the last day Citigroup Inc. planned to accept IOUs after extending the deadline by one week.
Bank of the West and some credit unions have said they will continue to accept IOUs but JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., and Wells Fargo & Co. and other major banks have already stopped honoring California's warrants.
Health care overhaul bill has its ups and downs
WASHINGTON – Up one day. Down the next. Sometimes legislation to remake the nation's health care system moves in both directions at once.
President Barack Obama's top domestic priority is on an unpredictable, midsummer trajectory as the White House and Democrats struggle to bring the complex, controversial issue to a vote in both houses before lawmakers leave town for their August break.
Early Friday, the House Ways and Means Committee voted to approve the tax provisions of the House bill, which would impose $544 billion in new taxes over the next decade on families making more than $350,000 a year. Two other House committees worked methodically on separate parts of a bill that would cost roughly $1.5 trillion, which Speaker Nancy Pelosi has vowed to pass by the end of the month.
But Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., one of the key senators at work on the issue, said Obama "is not helping us" with his opposition to a new tax on health benefits.
Senate Democratic leaders recently shot down the tax approach, but Baucus, who chairs the Finance Committee, still favors it as a way to pay for a health overhaul. The head of the Congressional Budget Office weighed in strongly in support of the benefits tax Thursday but Obama's opposition makes it that much more difficult for Baucus to revive it.
A bipartisan group of senators said they wanted time beyond the president's early August deadline to pursue an agreement.
And CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf said of the legislation so far, "We do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount. And on the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health care costs."
Slowing the rate of growth for health care spending is one of Obama's twin goals for health care, alongside expanding health care to the millions who now lack it.
At its core, the effort involves a requirement for insurance companies to offer policies to all willing buyers, and bars them from charging higher premiums on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions. Legislation would rely on government subsidies to make insurance more available for lower-income individuals and families, and use tax increases as well as cuts in Medicare and Medicaid to pick up the cost.
"I will not defend the status quo," the president said Thursday in New Jersey, where he used a political fundraising appearance for Gov. Jon Corzine to make his latest plea for congressional action.
But a few hundred miles away, all was not well for the president and his allies.
Elmendorf's remarks gave ammunition to Republican critics of the bill.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said the budget director's warning should be "a wake-up call," adding, "instead of rushing through one expensive proposal after another, we should take the time we need to get things right."
The CBO director's assessment also underscored concerns that moderate to conservative House Democrats known as Blue Dogs have with the bill backed by their leadership. "We cannot fix these problems by simply pouring more money into a broken system," said Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., chairman of the Blue Dogs' health care task force.
Ross and other like-minded lawmakers are demanding changes from Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, one of three panels at work on the measure.
Yet there was good news for Pelosi and the administration in hearing rooms not far away.
Republicans on the House Education and Labor Committee failed on party-line votes to delete major portions of the bill, including provisions for the government to offer insurance coverage and create a new way of shopping for health plans through a purchasing exchange. The votes were 29-19.
Republicans were no more successful in the House Ways and Means Committee, where Democrats shot down GOP amendments to eliminate the government insurance option and delete requirements for employers to provide health care. Republicans also failed on amendments to limit medical malpractice awards, and to prevent the government insurance plan from covering abortions. All the votes were largely along party lines.
The Ways and Means Committee voted 23 to 18 to pass the bill, with three Democrats joining all committee Republicans in voting against the bill.
The situation is no less confusing for Obama's legislation across the Capitol.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved its portion of the legislation on a party-line vote earlier in the week.
But Baucus' Senate Finance Committee is days overdue for a promised public drafting session, with no date set to begin.
Baucus has been negotiating for days with Republicans in hopes of achieving a bipartisan compromise. But time clearly is running short, given Obama's personal request for him to deliver a bill by the end of the week.
Baucus and other negotiators ended talks for the week without agreement. "I think it would be prudent for the president to be patient," said Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, urging Obama to abandon his call for legislation to pass both houses by early August.
The group's task was complicated last week when the Senate Democratic leadership weighed in against a proposed tax on health care benefits.
In one more example of the difficulty of bringing health care legislation to passage, the same tax that those Democrats oppose is seen by Baucus and others as an option that would help achieve the goal of reducing the rapid increases in health care costs. Elmendorf cited that rationale as he recommended the tax in his remarks Thursday.
President Barack Obama's top domestic priority is on an unpredictable, midsummer trajectory as the White House and Democrats struggle to bring the complex, controversial issue to a vote in both houses before lawmakers leave town for their August break.
Early Friday, the House Ways and Means Committee voted to approve the tax provisions of the House bill, which would impose $544 billion in new taxes over the next decade on families making more than $350,000 a year. Two other House committees worked methodically on separate parts of a bill that would cost roughly $1.5 trillion, which Speaker Nancy Pelosi has vowed to pass by the end of the month.
But Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., one of the key senators at work on the issue, said Obama "is not helping us" with his opposition to a new tax on health benefits.
Senate Democratic leaders recently shot down the tax approach, but Baucus, who chairs the Finance Committee, still favors it as a way to pay for a health overhaul. The head of the Congressional Budget Office weighed in strongly in support of the benefits tax Thursday but Obama's opposition makes it that much more difficult for Baucus to revive it.
A bipartisan group of senators said they wanted time beyond the president's early August deadline to pursue an agreement.
And CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf said of the legislation so far, "We do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount. And on the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health care costs."
Slowing the rate of growth for health care spending is one of Obama's twin goals for health care, alongside expanding health care to the millions who now lack it.
At its core, the effort involves a requirement for insurance companies to offer policies to all willing buyers, and bars them from charging higher premiums on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions. Legislation would rely on government subsidies to make insurance more available for lower-income individuals and families, and use tax increases as well as cuts in Medicare and Medicaid to pick up the cost.
"I will not defend the status quo," the president said Thursday in New Jersey, where he used a political fundraising appearance for Gov. Jon Corzine to make his latest plea for congressional action.
But a few hundred miles away, all was not well for the president and his allies.
Elmendorf's remarks gave ammunition to Republican critics of the bill.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said the budget director's warning should be "a wake-up call," adding, "instead of rushing through one expensive proposal after another, we should take the time we need to get things right."
The CBO director's assessment also underscored concerns that moderate to conservative House Democrats known as Blue Dogs have with the bill backed by their leadership. "We cannot fix these problems by simply pouring more money into a broken system," said Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., chairman of the Blue Dogs' health care task force.
Ross and other like-minded lawmakers are demanding changes from Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, one of three panels at work on the measure.
Yet there was good news for Pelosi and the administration in hearing rooms not far away.
Republicans on the House Education and Labor Committee failed on party-line votes to delete major portions of the bill, including provisions for the government to offer insurance coverage and create a new way of shopping for health plans through a purchasing exchange. The votes were 29-19.
Republicans were no more successful in the House Ways and Means Committee, where Democrats shot down GOP amendments to eliminate the government insurance option and delete requirements for employers to provide health care. Republicans also failed on amendments to limit medical malpractice awards, and to prevent the government insurance plan from covering abortions. All the votes were largely along party lines.
The Ways and Means Committee voted 23 to 18 to pass the bill, with three Democrats joining all committee Republicans in voting against the bill.
The situation is no less confusing for Obama's legislation across the Capitol.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved its portion of the legislation on a party-line vote earlier in the week.
But Baucus' Senate Finance Committee is days overdue for a promised public drafting session, with no date set to begin.
Baucus has been negotiating for days with Republicans in hopes of achieving a bipartisan compromise. But time clearly is running short, given Obama's personal request for him to deliver a bill by the end of the week.
Baucus and other negotiators ended talks for the week without agreement. "I think it would be prudent for the president to be patient," said Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, urging Obama to abandon his call for legislation to pass both houses by early August.
The group's task was complicated last week when the Senate Democratic leadership weighed in against a proposed tax on health care benefits.
In one more example of the difficulty of bringing health care legislation to passage, the same tax that those Democrats oppose is seen by Baucus and others as an option that would help achieve the goal of reducing the rapid increases in health care costs. Elmendorf cited that rationale as he recommended the tax in his remarks Thursday.
Space shuttle Endeavour closes in on space station
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Space shuttle Endeavour is closing in on the international space station following a two-day chase.
Before docking at the space station Friday afternoon, Endeavour will perform a backflip so the station crew can photograph its entire surface. NASA wants to see whether the shuttle suffered any significant launch damage. An unusually large amount of foam insulation peeled away from a the fuel tank during Wednesday's liftoff.
Endeavour's thermal tiles were dinged in several places by foam. But that damage is considered minor.
The shuttle and its seven astronauts are delivering the last piece of Japan's space station lab, a porch for experiments. Endeavour will remain at the space station for 1 1/2 weeks.
Before docking at the space station Friday afternoon, Endeavour will perform a backflip so the station crew can photograph its entire surface. NASA wants to see whether the shuttle suffered any significant launch damage. An unusually large amount of foam insulation peeled away from a the fuel tank during Wednesday's liftoff.
Endeavour's thermal tiles were dinged in several places by foam. But that damage is considered minor.
The shuttle and its seven astronauts are delivering the last piece of Japan's space station lab, a porch for experiments. Endeavour will remain at the space station for 1 1/2 weeks.
Police: Suspected hotel bombers stayed at Marriott
JAKARTA, Indonesia – Jakarta's police chief says several suspects in the bombing of the Marriott were staying at the hotel.
Maj. Gen. Wahyono said the suspects stayed on the 18th floor of the hotel where un-detonated explosives were found after Friday's twin explosions at the J.W. Marriott and neighboring Ritz-Carlton.
Wahyono told reporters, "There were several perpetrators."
"They were disguised as guests and stayed in room 1808."
He said the attacks killed 8 and wounded 50, including 18 foreigners. Earlier the security minister said nine people died, but that number was later revised by authorities.
It was the first major terror strike in Indonesia since three suicide bombers hit restaurants on the resort island of Bali nearly four years ago.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Suspected suicide bombers set off explosions that ripped through two luxury hotels in Jakarta Friday, killing nine and wounding at least 50 more, ending a four-year lull in terror attacks in the world's most populous Muslim nation. At least 18 foreigners were among the dead and wounded.
The blasts at the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, located side-by-side in an upscale business district in the capital, blew out windows and scattered debris and glass across the street, kicking up a thick plume of smoke. Facades of both hotels were reduced to twisted metal. An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw bloodied bodies being shuttled away in police trucks.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the attack was carried out by a "terrorist group" and vowed to arrest the perpetrators. He said it was too early to say if the Southeast Asian Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for past attacks in Indonesia, including a 2003 bombing at the Marriott, was responsible.
"Those who carried out this attack and those who planned it will be arrested and tried according to the law," a somber-looking Yudhoyono told a news conference.
The Marriott was hit first, followed by the blast at the Ritz two minutes later. The attacks came just two weeks after presidential vote expected to re-elect Yudhoyono who has been credited with stabilizing a nation previously wracked by militancy.
Theo Sambuaga, chairman of the parliamentary security commission, said "there are indications of suicide bombs" at the two hotels. "That is being investigated."
Local MetroTV reported that investigators suspect the attackers may have been hotel guests, who smuggled explosives past security checks. An unexploded bomb was found on the 18th floor of the Marriott after the blasts and removed by an explosives disposal team, said an investigator who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
But top anti-terror official Ansaad Mbai told AP it was too early to conclude suicide bombers were responsible.
Security Minister Widodo Adi Sucipto told reporters at the scene the hotel blasts happened at 7:45 a.m. and 7:47 a.m. (0045 GMT, 8:45 p.m. EDT) and that "high explosives were used." He said at least nine people were killed and 50 wounded.
Alex Asmasubrata, who was jogging nearby, said he walked into the Marriott before emergency services arrived and "there were bodies on the ground, one of them had no stomach," he said. "It was terrible."
Anti-terror forces with automatic weapons were rushed to the site, and authorities blocked access to the hotels in a district also home to foreign embassies.
"This destroys our conducive situation," Sucipto said, referring to the nearly four years since a major terrorist attack in Indonesia — a triple suicide bombing at restaurants at the resort island of Bali that killed 20 people.
The security minister and police said a New Zealander was among those killed, and that 17 other foreigners were among the wounded, including nationals from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea the U.S. and Britain.
The dead New Zealander was identified by his employer as Timothy David Mackay, 62, who worked for cement products manufacturer PT Holcim Indonesia. He was reportedly attending a business meeting at the Marriott Hotel when the explosions occurred.
Noel Clay, a U.S. State Department spokesman in Washington, said that several American citizens were among the injured.
Earlier, South Jakarta police Col. Firman Bundi said that four foreigners were killed, but gave no details.
Manchester United football team canceled a planned visit to Indonesia. The team had been scheduled to stay at the Ritz on Saturday and Sunday nights for a friendly match against the Indonesian All Stars, the Indonesian Football association said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but terrorism analyst Rohan Gunaratna said the likely perpetrators were from the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah.
"The only group with the intention and capability to mount attacks upon Western targets in Jemaah Islamiyah. I have no doubt Jemaah Islamiyah was responsible for this attack," he said.
There has been a massive crackdown in recent years by anti-terror officials in Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim nation of 235 million, but Gunaratna said the group was "still a very capable terrorist organization."
Police have detained most of the key figures in the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah, and rounded up hundreds of other sympathizers and lesser figures.
But Gunaratna said that radical ideologues sympathetic to JI were still able to preach extremism in Indonesia, helping provide an infrastructure that could support terrorism.
Jakarta chief of police operations, Arief Wahyunadi, said the blasts were in the Ritz-Carlton's Airlangga restaurant and in the basement of the Marriott. He gave no details on what kind of bombs were used and whether they were suicide attacks.
Government spokesman Dino Patti Djalal told CNN the scene of the blasts were "eerie," when he arrived.
"The bodies I saw, some were being collected, some were on the floor," he said. "What we know, of course, is this was a coordinated attack."
When asked if Jemaah Islamiyah was behind the attack, Djalal said: "We always knew there are terrorists out there. But we've had a number of very good successes; no major attacks since the Bali bombings."
He was referring to the October 2002 bombings of two Bali nightclubs that killed some 202 people, many of them foreign tourists.
"This is a blow to us," Djalal said, but said the government would find those behind the attacks.
"The president has built his reputation on ... anti-terrorism policies," he said. "Make no mistake, he will hunt whoever is behind this."
Because of past attacks, most major hotels in Jakarta take security precautions, such as checking incoming vehicles and requiring visitors to pass through metal detectors. Still, international hotels make attractive targets, since the nature of their business requires them to be relatively open and accessible.
On Friday, Australia and New Zealand updated their travel advisories, which had already warned against unnecessary travel to Indonesia because of the risk of terrorism.
"We advise you to reconsider your need to travel to Indonesia due to the very high threat of terrorist attack," the Australian Foreign Ministry said on its Web site. Those in Indonesia were warned to exercise "extreme caution."
New Zealand urged its citizens in Indonesia to keep a low profile.
Britain also updated its travel warning, though it did not raise its alert level.
___
Associated Press writers Niniek Karmini and Ali Kotarumalos in Jakarta and Tanalee Smith in Adelaide, Australia, contributed to this report.
Maj. Gen. Wahyono said the suspects stayed on the 18th floor of the hotel where un-detonated explosives were found after Friday's twin explosions at the J.W. Marriott and neighboring Ritz-Carlton.
Wahyono told reporters, "There were several perpetrators."
"They were disguised as guests and stayed in room 1808."
He said the attacks killed 8 and wounded 50, including 18 foreigners. Earlier the security minister said nine people died, but that number was later revised by authorities.
It was the first major terror strike in Indonesia since three suicide bombers hit restaurants on the resort island of Bali nearly four years ago.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Suspected suicide bombers set off explosions that ripped through two luxury hotels in Jakarta Friday, killing nine and wounding at least 50 more, ending a four-year lull in terror attacks in the world's most populous Muslim nation. At least 18 foreigners were among the dead and wounded.
The blasts at the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, located side-by-side in an upscale business district in the capital, blew out windows and scattered debris and glass across the street, kicking up a thick plume of smoke. Facades of both hotels were reduced to twisted metal. An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw bloodied bodies being shuttled away in police trucks.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the attack was carried out by a "terrorist group" and vowed to arrest the perpetrators. He said it was too early to say if the Southeast Asian Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for past attacks in Indonesia, including a 2003 bombing at the Marriott, was responsible.
"Those who carried out this attack and those who planned it will be arrested and tried according to the law," a somber-looking Yudhoyono told a news conference.
The Marriott was hit first, followed by the blast at the Ritz two minutes later. The attacks came just two weeks after presidential vote expected to re-elect Yudhoyono who has been credited with stabilizing a nation previously wracked by militancy.
Theo Sambuaga, chairman of the parliamentary security commission, said "there are indications of suicide bombs" at the two hotels. "That is being investigated."
Local MetroTV reported that investigators suspect the attackers may have been hotel guests, who smuggled explosives past security checks. An unexploded bomb was found on the 18th floor of the Marriott after the blasts and removed by an explosives disposal team, said an investigator who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
But top anti-terror official Ansaad Mbai told AP it was too early to conclude suicide bombers were responsible.
Security Minister Widodo Adi Sucipto told reporters at the scene the hotel blasts happened at 7:45 a.m. and 7:47 a.m. (0045 GMT, 8:45 p.m. EDT) and that "high explosives were used." He said at least nine people were killed and 50 wounded.
Alex Asmasubrata, who was jogging nearby, said he walked into the Marriott before emergency services arrived and "there were bodies on the ground, one of them had no stomach," he said. "It was terrible."
Anti-terror forces with automatic weapons were rushed to the site, and authorities blocked access to the hotels in a district also home to foreign embassies.
"This destroys our conducive situation," Sucipto said, referring to the nearly four years since a major terrorist attack in Indonesia — a triple suicide bombing at restaurants at the resort island of Bali that killed 20 people.
The security minister and police said a New Zealander was among those killed, and that 17 other foreigners were among the wounded, including nationals from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea the U.S. and Britain.
The dead New Zealander was identified by his employer as Timothy David Mackay, 62, who worked for cement products manufacturer PT Holcim Indonesia. He was reportedly attending a business meeting at the Marriott Hotel when the explosions occurred.
Noel Clay, a U.S. State Department spokesman in Washington, said that several American citizens were among the injured.
Earlier, South Jakarta police Col. Firman Bundi said that four foreigners were killed, but gave no details.
Manchester United football team canceled a planned visit to Indonesia. The team had been scheduled to stay at the Ritz on Saturday and Sunday nights for a friendly match against the Indonesian All Stars, the Indonesian Football association said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but terrorism analyst Rohan Gunaratna said the likely perpetrators were from the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah.
"The only group with the intention and capability to mount attacks upon Western targets in Jemaah Islamiyah. I have no doubt Jemaah Islamiyah was responsible for this attack," he said.
There has been a massive crackdown in recent years by anti-terror officials in Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim nation of 235 million, but Gunaratna said the group was "still a very capable terrorist organization."
Police have detained most of the key figures in the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah, and rounded up hundreds of other sympathizers and lesser figures.
But Gunaratna said that radical ideologues sympathetic to JI were still able to preach extremism in Indonesia, helping provide an infrastructure that could support terrorism.
Jakarta chief of police operations, Arief Wahyunadi, said the blasts were in the Ritz-Carlton's Airlangga restaurant and in the basement of the Marriott. He gave no details on what kind of bombs were used and whether they were suicide attacks.
Government spokesman Dino Patti Djalal told CNN the scene of the blasts were "eerie," when he arrived.
"The bodies I saw, some were being collected, some were on the floor," he said. "What we know, of course, is this was a coordinated attack."
When asked if Jemaah Islamiyah was behind the attack, Djalal said: "We always knew there are terrorists out there. But we've had a number of very good successes; no major attacks since the Bali bombings."
He was referring to the October 2002 bombings of two Bali nightclubs that killed some 202 people, many of them foreign tourists.
"This is a blow to us," Djalal said, but said the government would find those behind the attacks.
"The president has built his reputation on ... anti-terrorism policies," he said. "Make no mistake, he will hunt whoever is behind this."
Because of past attacks, most major hotels in Jakarta take security precautions, such as checking incoming vehicles and requiring visitors to pass through metal detectors. Still, international hotels make attractive targets, since the nature of their business requires them to be relatively open and accessible.
On Friday, Australia and New Zealand updated their travel advisories, which had already warned against unnecessary travel to Indonesia because of the risk of terrorism.
"We advise you to reconsider your need to travel to Indonesia due to the very high threat of terrorist attack," the Australian Foreign Ministry said on its Web site. Those in Indonesia were warned to exercise "extreme caution."
New Zealand urged its citizens in Indonesia to keep a low profile.
Britain also updated its travel warning, though it did not raise its alert level.
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Associated Press writers Niniek Karmini and Ali Kotarumalos in Jakarta and Tanalee Smith in Adelaide, Australia, contributed to this report.
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