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World News

Indonesia cough syrup deaths: Relief for families as court allows lawsuit

Parents whose children died or were injured by tainted cough syrup have wept with relief after an Indonesian court allowed a class action lawsuit.

“My child’s struggle was not in vain,” said Nur Asiah, whose four-year-old daughter died last year.

Her family and the relatives of 24 other victims have brought the case against Indonesia’s government and eight pharmaceutical companies.

More than 200 Indonesian children have died of acute kidney injury since 2022.

Indonesia is not the only country hit by contaminated cough syrup. About 100 deaths have been reported in The Gambia and Uzbekistan.

An investigation is continuing in Indonesia, but local authorities say so far no evidence shows links with cases in other countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued warnings about six cough syrups made in India and Indonesia.

“I didn’t know what I gave to my child was poison,” Nur Asiah told the BBC Indonesia ahead of the court’s decision.

Her daughter Nasya was prescribed cough syrup after developing a fever last year. She became very sick after consuming the medicine and died three weeks in the hospital later.

The lawsuit seeks compensation of $195,000 for every child killed and about $130,000 for every child injured. Other parents will be allowed to join the lawsuit, their attorney said.

“No amount of compensation will make up for what has happened. It won’t bring back my child,” Nur Asiah said tearfully.

BBC Indonesia tried to contact the eight companies being sued but not all of them responded before Tuesday.

“It is not appropriate if the responsibility is only placed on the pharmaceutical industry,” said the lawyer of PT Afi Farma, whose cough syrup was used by the majority of children in this case, adding that the government should also be held accountable.

Another company PT Universal Pharmaceutical Industries said it had been using the same Indonesian Food and Drug authority (FDA) certified system for about 30 years for their cough syrup brand and it had bought the ingredients from an FDA-approved supplier.

“Honestly, pharmaceutical companies are also victims – victims of a crime by the suppliers of the raw materials,” its lawyer said.

A Health Ministry spokesperson said it had been working on a compensation scheme.

“We have tried our best by quickly finding causes, exchanging information with other countries, the WHO, and bringing in antidotes to treat toxic substances.”

Indonesian authorities have found that local chemical companies used industrial grade solvent material – Ethylene Glycol and Diethylene Glycol – in the syrup amid a global shortage of pharmaceutical grade solvents. The two substances are typically used in antifreeze solutions for air-conditioners and fridges.

Rupert Murdoch set to marry for fifth time at 92

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch has announced his engagement to his partner Ann Lesley Smith, a former police chaplain.

Mr. Murdoch, 92, and Ms. Smith, 66, met in September at an event at his vineyard in California.

The businessman told the New York Post, one of his own publications: “I dreaded falling in love – but I knew this would be my last. It better be. I’m happy.”

He split with fourth wife Jerry Hall last year.

Mr. Murdoch added that he proposed to Ms Smith on St Patrick’s Day, noting that he was “one-fourth Irish” and had been “very nervous”.

Ms Smith’s late husband was Chester Smith, a country singer and radio and TV executive.

“For us both it’s a gift from God. We met last September,” she told the New York Post.

Mr Murdoch attended the Super Bowl recently with daughter Elisabeth Murdoch (left) and Ann Lesley Smith (right)

“I’m a widow of 14 years. Like Rupert, my husband was a businessman… So I speak Rupert’s language. We share the same beliefs.”

Mr Murdoch, who has six children from his first three marriages, added: “We’re both looking forward to spending the second half of our lives together.”

The wedding will take place in late summer and the couple will spend their time between California, Montana, New York and the UK.

Mr Murdoch was previously married to Australian flight attendant Patricia Booker, Scottish-born journalist Anna Mann, and Chinese-born entrepreneur Wendi Deng.

Ex-US President Donald Trump expects to be arrested on Tuesday

Former US President Donald Trump says he is expecting to be arrested on Tuesday in a case about alleged hush money paid to an ex-porn star.

Mr Trump called on his supporters to protest against such a move in a post on his Truth Social platform.

One of Mr Trump’s lawyers said his claim was based on media reports that he could be indicted next week.

If Mr Trump is indicted, it would be the first criminal case ever brought against a former US president.

It would also have serious ramifications for his campaign to become the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election.

For five years, prosecutors in New York have been investigating allegations that hush money was paid on Mr Trump’s behalf to former porn star Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 presidential election.

Ms Daniels says she was paid $130,000 (£107,000) by Mr Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen before the 2016 election in exchange for silence about an alleged affair. Mr Trump denies they had sexual relations and has dismissed the case as being politically motivated.

It is one of several cases in which the 76-year-old is currently being investigated, although he has not yet been charged in any and denies wrongdoing in each.

On Saturday Mr Trump wrote on his social networking site Truth Social that “illegal leaks” from the Manhattan district attorney’s office “indicate” he would be arrested on Tuesday.

The district attorney’s office has not yet commented. Mr Trump’s lawyer, Susan Necheles, told the BBC’s US partner CBS News that his post was “based on media reports”.

Getty Images; The case of Stormy Daniels is one of several legal woes facing the former US president

“Since this is a political prosecution, the district attorney’s office has engaged in a practice of leaking everything to the press, rather than communicating with President Trump’s attorneys as would be done in a normal case,” she said.

The Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, hit out at the investigation, calling it “an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA [district attorney]”.

In a tweet, he also promised to investigate whether federal money was being used to interfere in elections “with politically motivated prosecutions”.

US media organisations say law enforcement agencies in New York are preparing for the possibility of Mr Trump being indicted and appearing in a Manhattan courtroom as early as next week.

There were signs the Stormy Daniels case was progressing when earlier this month, Mr Trump was invited to testify to a grand jury – which determines whether there is enough evidence to pursue charges in a case.

The hearings are held in secret and several former aides of Mr Trump have reportedly testified in this case.

Experts suggest the offer to testify indicates he could soon face criminal charges – but it is not clear what these could be.

According to the Associated Press, law enforcement officials are considering the practicalities of taking a former president into court, including questions around security.

Another lawyer for Mr Trump, Joseph Tacopina, told the news agency “we will follow the normal procedures” if he is indicted.

In addition to the Stormy Daniels case, Donald Trump faces a separate criminal investigation over efforts to overturn his narrow loss in the state of Georgia in the 2020 presidential election – though it is not known if the former president is being directly investigated.

The Department of Justice is also looking at whether classified government documents were handled incorrectly after Mr Trump left office, as well as broader efforts to undermine the results of the election three years ago – including the 6 January attack on the US Capitol.

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