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20080122
• World - US - India - Japan - China - Hong Kong - South Korea - Singapore - Indonesia - "World markets continue to sink over U.S. woes: India exchange briefly suspended after 9% drop tied to investor pessimism." ... "Japan's Nikkei 225 index, the benchmark for Asia's biggest bourse, plummeted 5.7 percent to close at 12,573.05 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the lowest close since Sept. 8, 2005. In China, the Shanghai Composite Index fell 7.2 percent to its lowest close since early August." ... "Trading was halted in India when the Sensex index plummeted 9.75 percent within minutes of opening. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 8 percent by midday after diving 5.5 percent the day before." ... "Asian markets have fallen sharply since the start of the year: Japan's benchmark index has sunk nearly 17 percent, while the Hang Seng is down a stunning 22 percent." ... "That slide continued Tuesday, with benchmark indices in China, South Korea and Singapore falling at least 4 percent. Australia's benchmark index slid 7.1 percent and Indonesia's market was down 9 percent." -AP via -MSNBC 

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20080119
• Food - Oil - Money - Poverty -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  - "A New, Global Oil Quandary: Costly Fuel Means Costly Calories." ... "Rising prices for cooking oil are forcing residents of Asia’s largest slum, in Mumbai, India, to ration every drop. Bakeries in the United States are fretting over higher shortening costs. And here in Malaysia, brand-new factories built to convert vegetable oil into diesel sit idle, their owners unable to afford the raw material." ... "This is the other oil shock. From India to Indiana, shortages and soaring prices for palm oil, soybean oil and many other types of vegetable oils are the latest, most striking example of a developing global problem: costly food." ... "The food price index of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, based on export prices for 60 internationally traded foodstuffs, climbed 37 percent last year. That was on top of a 14 percent increase in 2006, and the trend has accelerated this winter." ... "In some poor countries, desperation is taking hold. Just in the last week, protests have erupted in Pakistan over wheat shortages, and in Indonesia over soybean shortages. Egypt has banned rice exports to keep food at home, and China has put price controls on cooking oil, grain, meat, milk and eggs." ... "According to the F.A.O., food riots have erupted in recent months in Guinea, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Senegal, Uzbekistan and Yemen." ... "A startling change is unfolding in the world’s food markets. Soaring fuel prices have altered the equation for growing food and transporting it across the globe. Huge demand for biofuels has created tension between using land to produce fuel and using it for food." ... "Cooking oil may seem a trifling expense in the West. But in the developing world, cooking oil is an important source of calories and represents one of the biggest cash outlays for poor families, which grow much of their own food but have to buy oil in which to cook it." (1, 2, 3) -By Keith Bradsher with contributions by Andrew Martin, Anand Giridharadas, and Michael Rubenstein -NYTimes 

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20060613
• Indonesia - Terrorism - Religion - Bali bombings - Australia - US - "Terror cleric freed from jail: Fears Ba'asyir may inflame militant passions." ... "Controversial Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir has been released after 26 months in an Indonesian jail Wednesday, completing his prison sentence for giving his blessing to the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed more than 200 people." ... "Ba'asyir's release was greeted by hundreds of supporters outside the prison. He is expected to travel by car to his hometown, a small village outside Solo." ... "Australia and the United States consider Ba'asyir to be the spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a militant Islamic organization with ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda." ... "The 69-year-old cleric, who was a teacher at an Islamic school in Solo, Indonesia, before his arrest, denies any connections with JI. Those who were convicted in the 2002 bombings -- and several other attacks in Indonesia -- came from his school." -Contributed to by Elise Labott -CNN

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20060529
• Indonesia - Earthquake - Homeless - Food - U.N. - "Trickle Of Aid Reaches Quake Survivors: Death Toll Tops 5,400; About 200,000 People Made Homeless In Indonesia." ... "A trickle of aid began reaching survivors of the Indonesian earthquake that killed more than 5,400 over the weekend, but desperate villagers said the meager deliveries were not enough." ... ""We have 300 families in this village and have only gotten two sacks of rice," said Lastri, 27, begging beneath the blazing sun, a 5-month-old baby in her arms. "It's not enough."" ... "More aid was on the way — a U.N. World Food Program was scheduled to arrive near the quake zone on Java island on Tuesday with high-energy biscuits and blankets, tents and generators, and U.N. trucks traveled roads lined with increasingly desperate children, women and elderly seeking handouts." -AP via -CBSNews 

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20051230
• Indonesia - US - Business - Police - "Indonesian military admits being paid by US mining firm." ... "Indonesia's military admitted yesterday that officers received payments from a local subsidiary of the American mining giant Freeport-McMoRan to guard its huge Grasberg copper and gold mine in Papua, the western, Indonesian, half of New Guinea island." ... "The admission comes after a report in the New York Times claimed that Freeport Indonesia paid military and police officers, and several army units £11.7m from 1998 to 2004. Some officers allegedly received tens of thousands of pounds. If they kept any of the money themselves, it would be a criminal offence." -By John Aglionby -Guardian.co.uk

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20051101
• US - Afghanistan - Indonesia - Terrorism - Law - "Pentagon: Top al-Qaida operative escaped." ... "A man once considered a top al-Qaida operative escaped from a U.S.-run detention facility in Afghanistan and cannot testify against the soldier who allegedly mistreated him, a defense lawyer involved in a prison abuse case said Tuesday." ... "Omar al-Farouq was one of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants in Southeast Asia until Indonesian authorities captured him in the summer of 2002 and turned him over to the United States." ... "A Pentagon official in Washington confirmed Tuesday evening that al-Farouq escaped from a U.S. detention facility in Bagram, Afghanistan, on July 10." -By Alicia A. Caldwell with contributions by Katherine Shrader and Robert Burns -AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource 

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20051002
• Indonesia -  -  -  -  - "Bali Bombings Kill at Least 25 in Tourist Spots." ... "A series of bomb blasts rocked popular tourist areas on the island of Bali on Saturday night, killing at least 25 people and injuring 101, the Indonesian government and a local hospital said." ... "Among the places hit were a crowded restaurant outside the Four Seasons hotel at Jimbaran beach, and a shopping square in Kuta, not far from the terrorist bombing that killed 202 people in October 2002." ... "Among the wounded were 49 Indonesians, 17 Australians, 6 Koreans, 3 Japanese and 2 Americans, according to officials at Sanglah Hospital near Denpasar, the capital of Bali." (1, 2) -By Raymond Bonner and Jane Perlez with contributions by Raymond Bonner -NYTimes 

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20050915
• -  -  - "Aceh rebels begin giving up guns: Separatist rebels in the Indonesian region of Aceh have begun handing over their weapons in a crucial stage of a peace process with the government." ... "The Free Aceh Movement (Gam) fighters are due to give up a quarter of their weaponry at four undisclosed locations across the province this week." ... "In return, Indonesia will withdraw about 6,000 combat troops." ... "Aceh bore the brunt of the Indian Ocean tsunami and the disaster prompted the two sides to return to talks." ... "In the wake of the tsunami, which killed 130,000 people locally, the rebels and the government both made compromises which would have been unthinkable before."-BBC /News 

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20050811
• Malaysia -  -  -  -  -  - Transport - "Malaysia Declares Emergency, Closes Port Amid Haze (Update1)." ... "Malaysia shut its biggest port after pollution from forest fires worsened visibility in the Southeast Asian nation, which held crisis talks today with Indonesia." ... "Haze is covering Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur and much of the rest of the country, threatening shipping, air transport and public health. Malaysian and Indonesian officials held talks on how to reduce the spread of smoke and pollution from Borneo and Sumatra islands and Peninsular Malaysia, where farmers use brushfires to clear land." ... "Seasonal monsoon winds are spreading smoke from fires, set to clear forests for use as farmland or sparked by the current dry season."" -By Chan Sue Ling and Stephanie Phang -Bloomberg 

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20050720
• -  -  -  -  -  - Animals - Food - "WHO Presses China Over Bird Flu Samples." ... "Chinese authorities have yet to release samples gathered in the western province of Qinghai, where at least 6,000 migratory birds have died, Wadia said." ... "Over the last two years, hundreds of millions of birds, including poultry and wild birds, have died or been slaughtered across Asia because of the H5N1 bird flu virus, which also has infected some humans, killing more than 55 people in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia, which reported three new human deaths from bird flu Wednesday." ... "Health experts have warned that migratory geese and gulls in Qinghai could be poised to spread the virus to India, Australia, New Zealand and eventually Europe when they fly south this summer." -By Alexa Olesen -AP via -WashingtonPost

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20050705
• - "Indonesia polio cases reach 100: A further 21 cases of polio have been found in Indonesia, bringing the total to 100, the WHO has said." ... "Twenty of the new cases are in Banten, West Java, the location of the first case in the current outbreak." ... "Officials believe the outbreak can be traced to Nigeria, where vaccinations were suspended in 2003 after radical clerics said they were a US plot." ... "Polio is still endemic in six countries - Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Nigeria, Niger and Pakistan."-BBC /News

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20050531
• -  - "Indonesia starts anti-polio blitz: Indonesia has begun a campaign to vaccinate 6.4m children against polio in two days." ... "The country is suffering its first outbreak of the disease for nearly a decade, with 16 cases reported so far." ... "The disease, spread by contaminated water, is incurable and causes paralysis and sometimes death." ... "Indonesia first detected a case in West Java province, 120km (75 miles) east of the capital, Jakarta, last month."-BBC /News 

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20050329
• - "Quake kills at least 300 on Indonesian island: Vice president says up to 2,000 could be dead." ... "A major earthquake struck off the west coast of Indonesia late Monday, killing hundreds, but fears of another tsunami like those that devastated the region in late December have faded." ... "On Indonesia's Nias Island at least 300 people died and hundreds more were reported injured or trapped, said government spokesman Agus Mendrova." ... "But international news agencies are reporting that between 1,000 and 2,000 people may have been killed on Nias Island." -CNN 

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• -  - "Lethal quake rattles tsunami zone: A massive earthquake off the coast of Indonesia has killed hundreds of people and triggered tsunami alerts around the Indian Ocean." ... "The 8.7 magnitude quake struck just before midnight, destroying buildings on the Sumatra island of Nias." ... "Thousands of people fled their homes in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka - areas still recovering from the deadly tsunami in December." ... "But three hours after the quake, tsunami alerts were scaled down." -BBC /News 

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