International

Indonesia is battling forest fires causing toxic haze across southeast Asia with aircraft, artificial rain and even prayer, President Joko Widodo said during a visit to a hard-hit area Tuesday. Forest fires are raging on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, sending a choking fug across the region — including towards neighbours Malaysia and Singapore. During a visit to Riau …

On 23 September, Manushya Foundation, an NGO promoting community empowerment in Asia, will be launching a study on ‘Thailand’s Cybersecurity Act: Towards a more human-centered act’ at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT) in Bangkok. The study is conducted in collaboration with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Bangkok, Thai Netizen Network, Access Now, Association for …

For the first time in four decades, a Mass Transit Railway (MTR) train went off its tracks during morning rush hour, which led to the partial suspension of the East Rail line in Hong Kong. South China Morning Post reported rail operator MTR Corporation as saying today (17 Sep) that it has suspended services between Mong Kok East and Hung Hom …

by Yan ZHAO and Jerome TAYLOR Hong Kong police on Monday (16 Sep) denied accusations their officers showed comparative lenience towards gangs of pro-Beijing men who attacked pro-democracy supporters during a weekend marked by multiple bloody street brawls. The once stable international hub has been convulsed by weeks of huge, sometimes violent rallies calling for greater democratic freedoms and police …

Indonesia has arrested nearly 200 people over vast forest fires ripping across the archipelago, police said Monday, as toxic haze sends air quality levels plummeting and sparks flight cancellations. Jakarta has deployed thousands of personnel to battle blazes that are turning land into charred landscapes and consuming forests in Sumatra and Borneo islands, where thousands of schools have been shut …

Thousands of Indonesian firefighters are locked in an around-the-clock game of Whack-a-Mole as they battle to extinguish an invisible enemy — underground fires that aggravate global warming. Vast blazes are ripping across the archipelago’s rainforests, unleashing a toxic haze over Southeast Asia that has triggered health fears and sent diplomatic tensions with Indonesia’s neighbours soaring. Jakarta deployed more than 9,000 …

by Dessy SAGITA Working around the clock, thousands of firefighters are struggling to contain smog-belching blazes raging across rainforests and farmland in Indonesia, one of the frontlines against fires blamed for aggravating global warming. Those leading the response are short on equipment, with some wearing just flimsy masks and rubber boots as they blast streams of water at flames consuming …

Former Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Friday said he would launch a “new political movement” in the latest challenge to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from his former allies. Davutoglu was the prime minister and chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) between 2014 and 2016 until relations soured with Erdogan and he was forced out. There have …

by Dessy Sagita The number of blazes in Indonesia’s rainforests has jumped sharply, satellite data showed Thursday, spreading smog across Southeast Asia and adding to concerns about the impact of increasing wildfire outbreaks worldwide on global warming. Illegal blazes to clear land for agricultural plantations have been raging on Sumatra and Borneo islands, with Indonesia deploying water-bombing helicopters and thousands …

Eritrea is the world’s worst country for press censorship, a media watchdog said Tuesday in a report which also cites extreme measures in nine other countries including North Korea, China and Saudi Arabia. Under the three worst regimes — Eritrea, North Korea, and Turkmenistan — the media “serves as a mouthpiece of the state, and any independent journalism is conducted from exile,” said a report by the US-based Committee to …