Month: September 2025

The Indonesian government has allowed a nickel mining company to resume operations in an eastern archipelago, a minister said on Sunday, despite outcry over damage it could cause to the pristine islands.
The cluster of islands and shoals in Southwest Papua Province sits in the Coral Triangle and is thought to be one of the world’s most pristine reefs, while its clear blue waters make it a popular diving spot.
PT Gag Nikel, a subsidiary of state mining company Aneka Tambang, resumed operations on…

The sole survivor of the Air India crash is still in India recovering from his injuries while British families of victims have told the Foreign Secretary they are still facing “silence and indifference” from authorities, according to reports.
Briton Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, survived the disaster on June 12 that killed 241 people on board, and his wife has said he is grieving his brother Ajay, who had been sitting across the aisle.
Two families who received other victims’ remains in their…

A Myanmar ethnic minority armed group said on Saturday that a junta air strike killed at least 19 students, including children, in western Rakhine state.
The Arakan Army (AA) is engaged in a fierce fight with Myanmar’s ruling military for control of Rakhine, where it has seized swathes of territory in the past year.
The Rakhine conflict is one element of the bloody chaos that has engulfed Myanmar since the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in a 2021 coup, sparking a…

New UK government proposals to improve employment standards in the offshore wind industry are a sign of ambition in the sector, an expert has said.

CIETAC has become the first major arbitral institution in the Asia-Pacific region to publish artificial intelligence (AI) guidelines, reflecting China’s cautious encouragement of AI integration into legal proceedings.

Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) has ordered the retraining of five lions that fatally mauled a veteran zookeeper at Safari World in Bangkok.
The case has since prompted the closure of the park’s predator zone and sparked a review of safety practices at wildlife attractions across Thailand.
Jian Rangkharasamee, a 58-year-old keeper who had worked with lions and tigers for two decades, was killed on Wednesday after reportedly stepping out of his…

Indonesia is seeking China’s help to build a US$80 billion giant sea wall along the northern coast of Java in a project that officials see as essential to protecting millions of residents and key industries from rising seas and sinking land, despite criticisms over its financial and environmental costs.
President Prabowo Subianto broached the project with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during a meeting on September 3, on the sidelines of Beijing’s Victory Day parade, according to Indonesia’s…

Lawyers for detained former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte say he suffers from significant cognitive deficiencies that affect his memory and daily functioning, according to documents made public by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Duterte, 80, was arrested and taken to The Hague in March on an arrest warrant that linked him to murders committed during his “war on drugs” where thousands of alleged narcotics peddlers and users were killed.
His lawyers have since then argued he is…

Financial services firms regulated in the UK will not face bespoke new rules to govern their use of AI, the sector’s conduct authority has re-confirmed.

Indonesia’s new finance minister wants to immediately flood the economy with roughly US$12 billion in cash to jump-start lending, proving his commitment to President Prabowo Subianto’s growth agenda barely three days into the job.
The government would transfer half of the 400 trillion rupiah in cash reserves that it held with the central bank to state-owned lenders, Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa told lawmakers in a hearing on Wednesday. He added on Thursday that the cash injection would…