In Indonesia’s Kalimantan, fires have ravaged tens of thousands of acres, with suffocating smoke reaching Malaysia and putting Singapore on alert
Suwadi can barely see five metres in front of him when he steps outside his home in Indonesian Borneo.
Each breath, he says, feels “like smoking a cigarette”.
Continue reading...Searchers dig through collapsed buildings and debris after 7.7 magnitude quake killed at least 53 people
Rescue crews dug through collapsed buildings and landslide debris in eastern Indonesia on Sunday as they searched for bodies and possible survivors a day after a powerful earthquake killed at least 53 people, injured more than 100 and displaced thousands.
At least 24 people died in Manggarai regency and 17 in neighbouring East Manggarai, with additional fatalities reported in Sikka, Ngada and Ende regencies, the national disaster management agency said. Rescuers were still searching for people feared buried beneath landslides triggered by the quake across six regencies on Flores, a predominantly Catholic island in Muslim-majority Indonesia.
Continue reading...Shallow quake hit Indonesia’s Flores region early on Saturday, prompting thousands to seek higher ground
A powerful 7.7-magnitude quake struck eastern Indonesia early on Saturday, killing at least five people, causing widespread panic and collapsing buildings and homes in a region prone to deadly earthquakes.
Authorities had issued a tsunami warning, which has since been lifted, but there have been dozens of aftershocks, including one with a magnitude of 6.1.
Continue reading...Blaze fuelled by hot, dry and windy conditions comes within metres of West Kalimantan rehabilitation centre
Orangutans rescued from wildlife traffickers face a new threat from the record number of fires that have broken out in Indonesia in recent weeks.
Flames have come within metres of an animal rehabilitation centre in West Kalimantan as hot, dry and windy conditions have been amplified by a powerful El Niño and the human-driven climate crisis.
Continue reading...State department informs Congress of planned closures in Canada, Grenada, Japan, Indonesia and Cameroon
The US state department is to shut five foreign consulates and missions across Asia, Africa, North America and the Caribbean, drawing criticism that it is leaving a diplomatic vacuum at risk of being filled by China.
The US Congress has been served notice of the impending closures, which are being justified on cost grounds and follow a reassessment of the US’s bilateral relationships with a range of countries since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.
Continue reading...State department informs Congress of planned closures in Canada, Grenada, Japan, Indonesia and Cameroon
The US state department is to shut five foreign consulates and missions across Asia, Africa, North America and the Caribbean, drawing criticism that it is leaving a diplomatic vacuum at risk of being filled by China.
The US Congress has been served notice of the impending closures, which are being justified on cost grounds and follow a reassessment of the US’s bilateral relationships with a range of countries since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.
Continue reading...Rebels shoot pilot and set his civilian plane on fire amid long-running low-level battle for independence in region
Separatist rebels in Indonesia’s restive easternmost region of Papua have shot dead an American pilot and set a civilian plane on fire, in what a spokesperson for a local militant group described as a “message” to the US and Indonesian governments.
Sebby Sambom, a spokesperson for the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), named the pilot as Nicholas F Gosselin and said separatist fighters had set his plane on fire after it landed in the Yahukimo region of Highland Papua province.
Continue reading...Rob Jetten acknowledges grief and pain of Moluccan families as crowdfunded monument unveiled in Rotterdam
The Dutch prime minister, Rob Jetten, has formally apologised for the “heartless” mistreatment of thousands of Moluccan soldiers who fought for the Dutch colonial army during Indonesia’s struggle for independence.
About 12,500 people – men who had served in the Royal Dutch East Indies and their families – came from a group of Indonesian islands to the Netherlands in 1951, many having been given no choice. They thought it would be a temporary evacuation after Indonesia had won independence.
Continue reading...Woman recovered after volcanic eruption on remote island, while operation to find two missing Singaporeans goes on
Rescuers have recovered the body of an Indonesian woman who was caught in a volcanic eruption on Mount Dukono on Indonesia’s remote island of Halmahera, officials have said.
Search operations continued on Saturday for the bodies of two Singaporeans. The dead hikers were among 20 who set out to scale the 1,355-metre (4,445ft) volcano in defiance of safety restrictions and became stranded when Dukono erupted early on Friday, spewing a thick ash column about 6 miles (10km) into the air.
Continue reading...Two Singaporeans and a local person were in no-go zone when they were killed, say officials
Three hikers – two Singaporeans and an Indonesian – have died in an eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Dukono volcano, where they found themselves in a no-go zone, officials said.
The eruption, on Halmahera island, sent an ash cloud about 6 miles (10km) into the air, with no towns or villages near enough to face any immediate threat.
Continue reading...Efforts continue to free two trapped passengers in wreckage after long-distance train collides with commuter train outside Jakarta, injuring 81
The death toll from a train collision near the Indonesian capital Jakarta has risen to 14 with another 84 injured, the train operator said on Tuesday, as rescuers worked to extract survivors still trapped in the wreckage.
The collision between a commuter train and a long-distance train happened late on Monday in Bekasi, just outside Jakarta.
Continue reading...Quake with epicentre west-north-west of Ternate island shakes cities and prompts regional tsunami warning
One person has been killed after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia’s Ternate island, damaging buildings and triggering small tsunami waves.
The quake, which had a depth of 35km, occurred on Thursday at 6.48am local time, according to the United States Geological Survey. Its epicentre was 127km (79 miles) west-north-west of Ternate, an island in Indonesia’s North Maluku province.
Continue reading...Sentences of 16 and 12 years handed down over 2025 death of 32-year-old Zivan Radmanovic
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A court on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali has sentenced three Australian citizens over the fatal shooting of a fellow Australian national, after they claimed to have been paid by a man they will not identify.
Mevlut Coskun, Paea I Middlemore Tupou and Darcy Jenson were convicted of the shooting death of Zivan Radmanovic, a 32-year-old from Melbourne.
Continue reading...Platforms include YouTube, TikTok and Instagram as communication minister says ‘our children face real threats’
Indonesia will ban social media for children under 16, its communication and digital affairs minister said on Friday.
Meutya Hafid said in a statement to media said that she signed a government regulation that will mean children under the age of 16 can no longer have accounts on high-risk digital platforms, including YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Roblox and Bigo Live, a popular livestreaming site. With a population of about 285 million, the fourth-highest in the world, the south-east Asian nation represents a significant market for social networks.
Continue reading...Tommy Schaefer released early from 18-year sentence for 2014 murder of Sheila von Wiese-Mack during luxury holiday
Indonesia has freed and deported a US man after he spent 11 years in prison for the premeditated murder of his then girlfriend’s mother on the tourist island of Bali.
Tommy Schaefer was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the 2014 murder of Sheila von Wiese-Mack, the mother of Heather Mack, during a luxury holiday in a case that became known as the Bali suitcase murder.
Continue reading...Much improved response systems are struggling to cope with ever more powerful and destructive storms
Families stranded on their rooftops. Homes buried by fast-flowing mud. Jagged brown craters scarring lush green hillsides.
The scenes are the result of a series of cyclones and storms in a heavy monsoon season that have struck Asia with torrential rains, gutting essential infrastructure and reshaping landscapes. The violent weather has killed at least 1,200 people in the past week and forced a million to flee without knowing whether their homes will still be standing when they go back.
Continue reading...Officials in Indonesia say more than 442 people have died, while Sri Lanka suffers worst natural disaster since 2004 tsunami
Authorities in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand are racing to clear debris and find hundreds of missing people after more than 900 died in devastating floods and landslides across the south of Asia.
In the latest example of the impact of the climate crisis on storm patterns and extreme weather, heavy monsoon rains, exacerbated by a tropical storm, have overwhelmed parts of south-east Asia in recent days, leaving thousands of people stranded without shelter or critical supplies.
Continue reading...Monsoon rains cause devastation on Indonesian island, sparking landslides and flash flooding
Flash floods and landslides on Indonesia’s Sumatra island have killed 69 people, with 59 missing as emergency workers search in rivers and the rubble of villages for bodies and possible survivors.
Monsoon rains over the past week caused rivers to burst their banks in North Sumatra province on Tuesday. The deluge tore through mountainside villages, swept away people and submerged more than 2,000 houses and buildings, the National Disaster Management Agency said. Nearly 5,000 residents fled to government shelters.
Continue reading...The rankings were changed after the UN used new criteria to give a more accurate picture of the rapid urbanisation driving the growth of megacities
Jakarta has overtaken Tokyo as the world’s most populous city, according to a UN study that uses new criteria to give a more accurate picture of the rapid urbanisation driving the growth of megacities.
The Indonesian capital is home to 42 million people, according to an estimate by the population division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs in its World Urbanisation Prospects 2025 report published this month.
Continue reading...Authorities say suspect is 17-year-old male student and warn against terrorist attack speculation after Jakarta blasts
At least 54 people have been injured in explosions that shook a mosque at a high school during Friday prayers in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. Authorities later said the suspect was a 17-year-old male student who had been injured and was undergoing surgery.
Witnesses told local television stations that they heard at least two loud blasts at about midday, just as the sermon had started, from inside and outside the mosque at SMA 72, a state high school within a navy compound in Jakarta’s northern Kelapa Gading neighbourhood.
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