Midday Roundup: ISIS claims terror attack in Indonesia

Terror in Jakarta. Islamic State (ISIS) militants claimed responsibility for an attack in Jakarta, Indonesia, today that killed at least two civilians. Five militants also died, according to official accounts. It is the first known attack in Southeast Asia carried out by the Islamic terror group trying to set up a caliphate that spans Iraq and Syria. The attack started at a police traffic post in a busy road, quickly followed by at least one of the attackers blowing himself up outside a Starbucks across the street. One of the civilians killed was Canadian, the other Indonesian. In a news conference following the attack, security officials identified an Indonesian citizen believed to have been involved. Bahrain Naim reportedly leads Katibah Nusantara, a Southeast Asian-based ISIS military unit. Although ISIS has not focused its terror activities in Southeast Asia, the region has been a fruitful recruiting ground for the group. Analysts fear today’s attack could signal an expansion of the group’s reach. Meanwhile, Turkish fighter jets struck ISIS positions in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for this week’s attack in Istanbul that killed 10 German tourists. Turkish officials claim the airstrikes killed 500 militant fighters, but it’s not clear how or whether they verified that number.

Instant millionaires. Last night’s Powerball lottery drawing produced three winning tickets, but the newly minted millionaires have yet to come forward to claim their prizes. The winning tickets were sold in California, Tennessee, and Florida and are worth about $528.8 million. And the ticket-holders aren’t the only ones who win. The stores that sold the tickets each get a $1 million bonus. In California, crowds descended on the 7-Eleven convenience store in Chino Hills, east of Los Angeles, after media reports revealed it produced one of the winners. People took selfies with the stunned but excited sales clerk. Last night’s prize was the largest ever in U.S. history.

Saying goodbye. British actor Alan Rickman, best known for his roles in Die Hard and Harry Potter, has died after a battle with cancer. He was 69. Rickman most often played villains, but also brought his considerable talents to softer roles, including as Col. Brandon in the 1995 version of Sense and Sensibility. In the long-running Harry Potter franchise, Rickman played Severus Snape, the mysterious character who hovered between good guy and bad guy until the very end. “With the last film it was very cathartic because you were finally able to see who he was,” Rickman told the New York Times in 2012. “It was strange, in a way, to play stuff that was so emotional. A lot of the time you’re working in two dimensions, not three.”

Oscar nods. The Revenant, a brutal frontier film about revenge, led this year’s Oscar nominations, announced this morning. The Alejandro Iñárritu movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio earned 12 Oscar nominations, including for best film. Its next closest competitor is Mad Max: Fury Road, which racked up 10 nominations. In addition to those two, the nominations for best picture include The Martian, Spotlight, Bridge of Spies, The Big Short, Room, and Brooklyn. The acting category nominations all went to white performers, a situation that drew fire from critics several years ago. The biggest film of the year, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which opened just before Christmas, failed to secure a nomination in any major category but did place in five technical categories: editing, score, visual effects, sound mixing, and sound editing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.