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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia has sent hundreds of garbage-filled shipping containers back to their countries of origin, according to the customs agency, as the Southeast Asian nation pushes back against becoming a dumping ground for foreign trash. About 250 containers seized across the archipelago in recent months have already been returned and authorities are inspecting more than 1,000 others, a customs official said. Among them, 49 containers of waste seized on Batam Island near […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Eight warships, four aircraft and more than a thousand personnel from the US and ten Southeast Asian countries will join maritime drills kicking off Monday, as part of a joint exercise extending into the flashpoint South China Sea. The first Asean-US Maritime Exercise (AUMX) between the regional bloc and Washington lasts for five days, starting at the Sattahip Naval Base in Thailand and ending in Singapore. The drills come at a […]
by Natalia SANTI JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Abandoning Jakarta for a new capital in Borneo won’t save the fast-sinking Indonesian megacity from disaster and could even spark a fresh environmental crisis in a region home to rainforests and endangered orangutans, critics have warned. President Joko Widodo announced this week that the Southeast Asian nation’s political heart would be moved nearly 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) east to a yet-to-be-built model city as a way of easing […]
by Anusak KONGLANG and Dene-Hern CHEN Agence France Presse NONTHABURI, Thailand (AFP) — Two Myanmar migrant workers sentenced to death for the brutal murder of a pair of British backpackers in Thailand lost their final appeal Thursday in a case tainted by claims of irregularities. Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Tun were found guilty of the rape and murder of Hannah Witheridge, 23, and of killing David Miller, 24, after their battered bodies were […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia will move its capital to the eastern edge of jungle-clad Borneo island, President Joko Widodo said Monday, as the country shifts its political heart away from congested and sinking megalopolis Jakarta. The proposed location — near the regional cities of Balikpapan and Samarinda — is an area at “minimal” risk of natural disasters, where the government already owns some 180,000 hectares (445,000 acres) of land, he added. “The location is […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Time is running out for Jakarta. One of the fastest-sinking cities on earth, environmental experts warn that one third of it could be submerged by 2050 if current rates continue. Decades of uncontrolled and excessive depletion of groundwater reserves, rising sea-levels, and increasingly volatile weather patterns mean swathes of it have already started to disappear. Existing environmental measures have had little impact, so authorities are taking drastic action: the nation […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Power was mostly restored in Jakarta and Indonesia’s heavily populated Java island after a widespread electricity outage Sunday that the state utility PLN blamed on disruptions at several power plants. Tens of millions of people were affected by the blackout which plunged buildings in the sprawling capital — home to about 30 million people — into darkness and forced the temporary closure of its new mass rapid transit system. Passengers were […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Footage emerged Saturday of the moment a bomb exploded in a Bangkok mall as the city hosted a major summit, the device apparently hidden inside a cuddly toy animal. There were nine successful or attempted bomb blasts on Friday throughout Bangkok which left four wounded as the city hosted a regional summit attended by top diplomats, including US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Footage […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — The Thai government on Friday confirmed a number of small “bombing incidents” in Bangkok as the city hosts a major summit, urging the public not to panic as police tighten security. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha was told of “the bombing incidents and has ordered an immediate investigation”, spokeswoman Narumon Pinyosinwat said, adding “security measures have been tightened. The public is urged not to panic.” © Agence France-Presse
by Aidan JONES / Thanaporn PROMYAMYAI BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP ) — Several small bombs exploded across Bangkok on Friday, rattling the Thai capital as it hosted a regional summit attended by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and leaving three people wounded. Thailand, which has a grim history of political violence, remains deeply divided after a controversial March election returned a Thai junta to power as a civilian government. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, who led […]
by Francesco FONTEMAGGI / Dene-Hern Chen Agence France Presse BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted Thursday that Washington was not asking Southeast Asian nations to “choose” between his country and rival power China, as he trailed a rebooted security and trade strategy at a Bangkok summit. The denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, a bitter trade war between the superpowers and open access to contested seas dominated talks between Pompeo […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia has returned seven shipping containers of illegally imported waste to France and Hong Kong, an official said Tuesday, marking the latest move by a Southeast Asian nation to send back rubbish to their wealthy places of origin. The containers were loaded with a combination of garbage, plastic waste and hazardous materials in violation of import rules, according to customs officials on Batam Island near Singapore. “The containers left on Monday […]
