Explore Business Standard
Don’t miss the latest developments in business and finance.
Indonesia
Rescue workers recovered more bodies buried under tons of mud following a landslide that crashed onto a hilly village on Indonesia's remote Natuna islands, bringing the death toll to 32, officials said Thursday. The landslide, triggered by torrential downpours, plunged down surrounding hills on Monday, burying 30 houses in Genting village on a tiny remote island in the Natuna archipelago at the edge of the South China Sea, the National Search and Rescue Agency said in a statement. Authorities have deployed nearly 700 rescuers, including police and military, with heavy equipment to search for 22 people still missing who were apparently trapped in houses that were buried under the landslide, which was 4 meters (13 feet) deep, said Abdul Rahman, who heads Natuna's search and rescue agency. Improved weather allowed us to recover more bodies, Rahman said in a video statement. Eight people were pulled out alive with injuries, three of whom are in critical condition, National Disaster ...
Jakarta is congested, polluted, prone to earthquakes and rapidly sinking into the Java Sea. Now the government is in the process of leaving, moving Indonesia's capital to the island of Borneo. Indonesian officials say the new metropolis will be a sustainable forest city" that puts the environment at the heart of the development and aims to be carbon-neutral by 2045. But environmentalists warn that the capital will cause massive deforestation, threaten the habitat of endangered species such as orangutans and imperil the homes of Indigenous communities. While access to the new capital's site is usually limited, The Associated Press was allowed to tour parts of the site to view construction progress in early March. Here's a look at why the capital is moving, the government's plans and why activists are worried about how it will impact the environment, endangered species and Indigenous communities located near the project site. WHY IS INDONESIA MOVING ITS CAPITAL? Jakarta is home to
A landslide caused by torrential rain killed at least 11 people and left dozens of others missing on an island in Indonesia's remote Natuna regency on Monday, disaster officials said. Tons of mud fell from surrounding hills onto houses in Serasan village in Natuna. Rescuers recovered at least 11 bodies and authorities fear that the death toll will rise, National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said. Many people who need help have not been reached because we still have difficulty accessing the affected areas, Muhari said, adding that authorities estimated that about 50 people were still missing. Dozens of soldiers, police and volunteers joined the search in the village, on a remote island surrounded by choppy waters and high waves in the Natuna group at the edge of the South China Sea, said Junainah, who heads emergency relief operations at the local disaster agency. Downed communications lines and bad weather were hampering the rescue efforts, said Junainah, wh
In Indonesia's region of East Kalimantan, the country's dependence on coal is on full display. Driving on the region's toll road, passersby can watch excavators digging coal from shallow pits as trucks filled with the carbon-rich rocks rush by. Under a bridge in Samarinda, the region's capital, hundreds of mammoth, jet-black mountains of coal sit in barges being pulled along the waterway, headed to plants across Indonesia or other countries. They're sights that Indonesia has pledged to phase out or at least drastically reduce by agreeing to some five schemes with international stakeholders, including the largest-signed USD 20 billion Just Energy Transition Partnership deal. While the deals aim to turn one of the largest coal-producing countries toward its vast greener energy sources, experts warn that financial, policy, infrastructure and other challenges need to be overcome. Indonesia's energy transition is "very unique" because of high economic growth, geography, population ...
India has exported 27.83 lakh tonnes of sugar till February 9 of the ongoing 2022-23 marketing year, with Bangladesh and Indonesia being the top markets, trade body AISTA said on Thursday. Among other nations, India has exported 2.47 lakh tonnes of the sweetener to Djibouti, 2.46 lakh tonnes to Somalia and 2.06 lakh tonnes to the UAE during October-February 9 of the current marketing year, the All India Sugar Trade Association (AISTA) said in a statement. The sugar marketing year runs from October to September. The government has allowed export of 60 lakh tonnes till May of the 2022-23 marketing year. According to AISTA, mills have exported a total of 27,83,536 tonnes of sugar from October 1, 2022 to February 9 this year. About 4.24 lakh tonne is under loading, while 3.79 lakh tonne of sugar has been delivered to refineries, considered to be deemed export in the said period, it added. Sugar exports from India, the world's major sugar producing nation, stood at 112 lakh tonnes in t
A shallow earthquake shook Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua on Thursday, killing four people who were unable to escape when a floating restaurant collapsed into the sea. The US Geological Survey said the magnitude 5.1 earthquake hit residential areas in Jayapura, near Papua's northern coast and was centred at a depth of 22 kilometres (13 miles). Shallow quakes often cause more damage on the Earth's surface. The residents were really panicked. I was in a car, and I felt like the car's wheels were lifted up, said Tri Asih, a resident of Jayapura, Papua's capital. Officials said four people who were inside a floating restaurant died when the quake caused it to collapse into the sea. The bodies of the four victims have been recovered," National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said at a news conference. "The victims were trapped under the rubble of the cafe and covered by the roof. Rescue divers were searching the area around the cafeteria for possible ...
Southeast Asian foreign ministers are meeting in Indonesia's capital Friday for talks bound to be dominated by the deteriorating situation in Myanmar despite an agenda focused on food and energy security and cooperation in finance and health. Myanmar belongs to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, but the annual ministers' retreat is being held in Jakarta without Myanmar's Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin. The absence was forced by the fallout over Myanmar's lack of cooperation in implementing a five-step agreement made in 2021 between ASEAN leaders and Myanmar's military leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing. In the agreement, Myanmar's military leaders promised to allow a special ASEAN envoy to meet the ousted and jailed leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others to foster dialogue aimed at easing the crisis. Last year, when ASEAN was chaired by Cambodia, Min Aung Hlaing was not invited to the November meeting of ASEAN leaders in Phnom Penh after Myanmar declined to let a