Economy | ANALYSIS
Households to take hit from tax hike
by Tomoko Otake
The consumption tax increase will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people’s financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the hike's impact.
National Jul 20, 2013
Locals stall $4 billion Indonesia power plant
A $4 billion Japanese project to build a large coal-fired power station in Indonesia has hit a major snag due to opposition from local residents, sources revealed. Around 50 landowners are refusing to sell 40 hectares in total that would account for 20 percent ...
Social Issues Jul 14, 2013
Australia targets asylum seekers
Australia will prioritize work to stem the flow of asylum seekers attempting to reach the country by sea, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Saturday, after an infant drowned in a boat attempting to reach the country from Indonesia. The body of a boy less ...
Asia Pacific Jul 12, 2013
100 inmates break out of prison in Indonesia
Around 1,000 Indonesian police and soldiers were hunting Friday for about 100 inmates, including convicted terrorists, who escaped from an overcrowded prison after setting it ablaze in riots that left five dead. The inmates began rampaging through the jail in Medan city on Sumatra ...
Asia Pacific Jul 3, 2013
Indonesia rattled by deadly quake
Rescuers battled through landslides and blocked roads Wednesday to reach survivors from an earthquake in Indonesia’s Aceh province that has killed at least 22 people, including six children who died when a mosque collapsed. More than 200 people were also injured in Aceh’s remote, ...
Environment Jun 24, 2013
Malaysia chokes as air pollution hits 16-year high
Malaysia’s government Sunday declared a state of emergency in two southern districts choked by smog from forest fires in Indonesia as air pollution levels reached 16-year-highs. Environment Minister G. Palanivel said the air pollutant index (API) hit 750 in the town of Muar — ...
Environment Jun 24, 2013
Indonesia begins cloud-seeding in attempt to fight haze
Indonesia has begun seeding clouds in an attempt to create rain to extinguish blazes that have choked Singapore and Malaysia with smog, officials said Sunday, while launching investigations into plantation firms suspected of starting the fires. The pollution index dropped to “moderate” in Singapore ...
Science & Health Jun 22, 2013
Jakarta sends in choppers to seed clouds, fight fires
Indonesia on Friday dispatched helicopters to create artificial rain in a desperate bid to fight raging fires that are choking Singapore with record-breaking levels of smog that is threatening people’s lives. At a late-night emergency meeting, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered disaster officials to ...
Corporate Jun 22, 2013
Fast Retailing set make big splash with first Uniqlo in Indonesia
Fast Retailing Co. is set to open its first Indonesian Uniqlo outlet in Jakarta on Saturday. The two-story casual clothing outlet will be set up in Lotte Shopping Avenue in the Kuningan district and will be one of the largest Uniqlos in Southeast Asia. ...
Global-related May 22, 2013
Clock is running out for some key Asian reformers
by William Pesek
Voters in the Philippines appear to have delivered a resounding victory to President Benigno Aquino in midterm elections. The son of former President Corazon Aquino looks set to control both houses of Congress, giving him a mandate to continue his reform policies. His biggest ...
Global-related May 2, 2013
Australia, Indonesia moving as close as perceptions allow
by Ramesh Thakur
Irritants in Australia-Indonesia ties stem from popular Australian misperceptions about the changes in Indonesia and political condescension by some leaders.
Voices | VIEWS FROM THE STREET Apr 2, 2013
Osaka: If you could live in any city outside Japan, which would it be?
by Ray Franklin
Bianca Scheurer, 25 Office manager (German) Amsterdam comes to mind, but on second thoughts, I would choose to live in Maastricht, the Netherlands, because I love the pastoral atmosphere there. It has many of the same benefits as the more famous capital — canals, ...
Social Issues Mar 25, 2013
Female circumcision not mutilation: Jakarta
Thrashing wildly, 5-year-old Reta wails as she is hoisted onto a bed during a circumcision ceremony in a school hall-turned-clinic on Indonesia’s island of Java. “No, no, no,” she cries, punching and kicking as her mother cups her tear-soaked face to soothe her. Doctors ...