Latest news with #TaskForce
Malay Mail
17 hours ago
- Malay Mail
Indonesia launches special task force to tackle unruly tourists in Bali
DENPASAR, Aug 9 — In response to a surge in immigration violations and criminal incidents involving foreign visitors, Indonesia's Immigration and Correctional Services Ministry has established a dedicated task force to monitor and manage unruly tourists on the island of Bali, The Jakarta Post reported yesterday. Comprising 100 immigration officers, the task force will carry out frequent and random patrols across 10 of Bali's most popular tourist hotspots, including Canggu in North Kuta, Seminyak, Kerobokan, Matahari Terbit and Benoa Harbours, Pecatu, Mertasari Beach, Kuta, Gianyar, Nusa Dua, and Jimbaran. Patrols will be conducted using motorcycles and cars, with officers equipped with safety vests and body cameras to ensure accountability and safety. Speaking at the task force's inauguration ceremony in Denpasar on Tuesday, Immigration Minister Agus Andrianto emphasised the urgency of the initiative. 'This initiative is a direct response to President Prabowo Subianto's mandate to uphold stability and security in Bali, one of Indonesia's foremost tourist destinations,' Agus said, as reported by the Jakarta-based English daily. The ministry aims for the task force to provide swift responses to immigration violations, deter further offenses, and safeguard local communities from disturbances linked to foreign visitors. Bali has experienced a notable increase in immigration infractions in recent years, largely attributed to overtourism. This is not the first time such an initiative has been launched in Bali. Similar task forces have previously been established, including the 'Satgas Bali Becik' formed in 2023 by the Directorate General of Immigration to combat misconduct by foreign tourists. That task force focused on enforcing regulations and addressing immigration violations to protect the island's social fabric. In addition to these task forces, the Indonesian government intensified penalties for foreigners breaching immigration laws or overstaying visas in Bali. Since 2024, penalties have increased significantly, ranging from 20 years to life imprisonment in extreme cases — up from previous maximum jail terms of one year. These harsher measures formed part of a wider crackdown that also included boosting patrol officers, launching a tourist hotline, and implementing a tourist tax.
Politico
a day ago
- Health
- Politico
Kidney patients see opportunity in RFK Jr.'s upheaval
WASHINGTON WATCH Advocates for patients with kidney disease are calling on Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to go ahead and fire the members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The American Association of Kidney Patients, whose corporate members include drugmakers Amgen, Eli Lilly, and Sanofi, has warred with the panel for years over whether to expand screening for kidney disease. The association wants it to; the panel says it's studying the issue. 'The president and the secretary are committed to making America healthy again,' said Paul T. Conway, the kidney patients' chair of policy and global affairs. 'If that means throwing out things that have been there a while and shaking up the status quo, especially the medical status quo, no problem.' The panel's recommendations determine what insurers must cover without cost-sharing under a provision of the Affordable Care Act. In a letter to Kennedy, the kidney association's president, Edward V. Hickey III, says it's lost faith the current members have kidney patients' best interest in mind. 'The Task Force has not adequately considered all available evidence supporting kidney disease screening, including patient insight data, nor has it kept pace with new diagnostics and FDA-approved therapies that slow disease progression.' The association says that, at a minimum, screening of patients with a family history of kidney disease, diabetes or high blood pressure should be standard. Why it matters: Kennedy canceled a meeting of the expert panel in July and The Wall Street Journal later reported he planned to fire its members. After the meeting was canceled, scores of medical groups, including kidney doctors, wrote a letter to top lawmakers in protest. The medical groups said disrupting the task force would politicize it and undermine confidence in its recommendations. 'The loss of trustworthiness in the rigorous and nonpartisan work of the Task Force would devastate patients, hospital systems, and payers as misinformation creates barriers to accessing lifesaving and cost effective care,' they wrote. But the kidney patients' letter shows that some see an opportunity to advance their goals in Kennedy's willingness to reconsider the status quo. What's next? Kennedy hasn't detailed his plans since the Journal report on July 25. The task force typically would next meet in November. WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. New research has uncovered clues about why some people who never smoked contract lung cancer. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Carmen Paun at cpaun@ Ruth Reader at rreader@ or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@ Want to share a tip securely? Message us on Signal: CarmenP.82, RuthReader.02 or ErinSchumaker.01. OPERATING ROOM xCures, which uses artificial intelligence to collect and organize patients' medical data, is launching a product that can help consumer health apps securely access patients' medical records. The launch will help advance individual access to medical records on the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, an ecosystem for sending and receiving health data overseen by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services. 'The primary driver for this is getting me my data off of the network so that I can use it for my purposes,' xCures CEO Mika Newton told POLITICO. Health app developers can license xCures' product to allow patients to pull their medical data from multiple health systems into their apps. The new product can convert medical data into a usable format. Security concerns have previously prevented apps from being able to access patient records. Health systems and electronic health record companies want to ensure that patients requesting records are who they say they are. xCures works with CLEAR, an identity verification platform commonly found at airports, to confirm identities. To get access to their records, patients will have to submit a picture of a valid ID and complete a biometric face scan. The company is collaborating with a health system, which uses its own dedicated app through which patients can access their medical records, though Newton declined to name which health system is involved. TEFCA moves: xCures works with information broker Kno2, a qualified health information network, or QHIN, on TEFCA, to get patient data. QHINs can request data from others on TEFCA to help facilitate treatment, payment for services, health system operations, public health, government benefit determination, and individual access to health records. TEFCA is still in its early days. Even so, ONC reports that the ecosystem supports 41,000 unique connections to clinicians, hospitals, clinics, post-acute and long-term care facilities and public health departments. Last year, Epic, a large electronic health records company — and also a TEFCA QHIN — said it would let patients access their health records. While such technology can ease patient access to their medical data, it's unclear how secure their data will be outside of regulated health institutions. Federal health data rules don't protect consumer apps, raising questions about how secure patient data will be once it's transferred out of electronic health records. 'We ensure the security and proper storage of all data on our platform. Our data hosting supports essential processes like normalization, structuring, and source verification, which are key value additions we provide,' said Newton. He says his company requires app companies that license its individual access services to meet certain privacy and security standards. But once the data is transferred to the app, it is the responsibility of the app maker to protect it.
USA Today
a day ago
- Politics
- USA Today
President Trump orders federal law enforcement officers to patrol Washington, D.C. streets
President Trump's order to federal agents came just days after a high-profile former DOGE staffer was assaulted by a group of teenagers in Washington, D.C., during an attempted carjacking. WASHINGTON − President Donald Trump ordered an increased federal law enforcement presence across the streets of Washington, D.C. for the next week as he railed against the city's crime rate and continued to float a federal takeover of the nation's capital. Trump directed the unspecified number of federal agents on the night of Thursday Aug. 7, just days after an assault on a high-profile staffer of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old nicknamed "Big Balls," was attacked by a group of teenagers during an early morning attempted carjacking last weekend. "The Crime situation in Washington, just like our Southern Border where ZERO Illegals entered in the last three months, will be a safe place very soon," Trump said in an Aug. 7 social media post that highlighted the attack on Coristine. "Thank you for your bravery and heart." More: Early DOGE staffer assaulted in DC during attempted carjacking Federal law enforcement officials will concentrate in high-trafficked tourist areas and "other known hotspots," the White House said. It will begin as a seven-day effort with an option for Trump to extend "as needed." The additional federal officers are to be identified in marked units, according to the White House. The move follows an executive order Trump signed in March that established a "Making D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force" composed of federal department heads who were instructed to "maximize resources" to make the District of Columbia safe. 'Washington, D.C. is an amazing city, but it has been plagued by violent crime for far too long," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. "President Trump has directed an increased presence of federal law enforcement to protect innocent citizens. There will be no safe harbor for violent criminals in D.C." Leavitt added that Trump is "committed to making our Nation's capital safer for its residents, lawmakers, and visitors from all around the world." A spokeswoman for Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser declined to comment. The White House pointed to several examples of violent crime in Washington this year including the May 21 fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers outside a downtown museum (The suspect is from Chicago.) as well as the recent assault on Coristine. Nevertheless, Washington's crime rate is down this year compared to 2024. Violent crimes are 26% lower than last year. Homicides are down 12%, according to statistics compiled by the Metropolitian Police Department. Crime in Washington also fell from 2023 to 2024, with homicides dropping from 274 to 187. Carjacking declined about 50% but were still above pre-pandemic levels, according to the Washington Post. More: Trump says feds should 'take over' and govern Washington, D.C. Trump has long denigrated Washington, D.C, which leans heavily Democratic. Earlier in the week, Trump threatened to take over governance of the district if the crime situation isn't improved ‒ something he floated previously in February. "If D.C. doesn't get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that they're not going to get away with it anymore," Trump said in an Aug. 5 post on Truth Social. Such action would require approval by Congress. The District of Columbia is a federal enclave under jurisdiction of the U.S. government. The District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973 gave the city local governance, including an elected mayor and city council. Two congressional Republicans, Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, this month introduced legislation to repeal the Home Rule Act. Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
CHLA Applauds Governor's 2025 Retail Crime Prevention Efforts
CHP-led Task Force's results making California safer for visitors SACRAMENTO, Calif., Aug. 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- On behalf of California's more than 6,000 hotels and 235,000 hotel employees, the California Hotel and Lodging Association released this statement in response to Gov. Newsom's announcement that the CHP-led Organized Retail Crime Task Force so far in 2025 has made 706 arrests and recovered nearly 150,000 stolen goods valued at an estimated $8 million. "Gov. Newsom's Organized Retail Crime Task Force is making significant strides towards making California a much safer place for the millions of annual visitors, our retail and hotel communities, and all Californians," said Lynn S. Mohrfeld, President and CEO of CHLA. "The collaborated efforts between state and local law enforcement are making a clear impact and are improving the outlook of major tourist destinations such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. About the California Hotel and Lodging AssociationThe California Hotel and Lodging Association is the leading resource and advocate for California's more than 6,000 hotels, motels and boutique inns that employ more than 235,000 workers. CHLA, established in 1893, is the largest state lodging industry association in the nation and is a partner with the American Hotel & Lodging Association. For more information, go to Pete Hillanpete@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE California Hotel & Lodging Association Erreur lors de la récupération des données Connectez-vous pour accéder à votre portefeuille Erreur lors de la récupération des données Erreur lors de la récupération des données Erreur lors de la récupération des données Erreur lors de la récupération des données
Washington Post
4 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Trump is creating a task force for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is establishing a task force on the 2028 Olympic Games being held in Los Angeles. Trump will sign an executive order on Tuesday to make the task force official, the White House said. Trump has said that the Los Angeles Summer Games are among the events he's most looking forward to in his second term. The 2028 Games will be the first Olympics to be hosted by the U.S. since the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.
