NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Indonesian authorities have cited failures in the Boeing 737 MAX design and oversight as contributing to the 2018 Lion Air plane crash, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. The report into the crash, which will be formally released in early November, also blames pilot error and maintenance issues for the crash that killed 189 people shortly after the flight departed from Jakarta last October, the newspaper said. The […]
Tag: Indonesia
Malaysia, Indonesia shut thousands of schools over forest fires haze
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Thousands of schools were shuttered across Malaysia and Indonesia Thursday, affecting at least 1.7 million pupils, officials said, as toxic haze from rampant forest fires sent air quality plummeting. Nearly 2,500 schools were ordered to shut their doors in Malaysia — including nearly 300 in the smog-hit capital Kuala Lumpur — over soaring health concerns sparked by toxic haze from out-of-control blazes in Indonesia’s Sumatra and Borneo islands. Indonesia […]
Indonesia returning hundreds of containers of waste to West
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia is sending back hundreds of containers of contaminated waste to the West after shipments supposedly containing plastic meant for recycling were found to hide hazardous substances, customs officials said. Among more than 2,000 containers checked by authorities at four ports from July to mid-September, nearly 550 contained hazardous material or non-plastic waste. More than 300 containers have already been repatriated, officials said. “Imported waste mixed with trash or hazardous […]
Indonesian haze closes schools, sparks fears for Singapore F1
by Sam Reeves Agence France Presse KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Toxic haze from Indonesian forest fires closed thousands of schools across the country and in neighbouring Malaysia Wednesday, while air quality worsened in Singapore just days before the city’s Formula One motor race. Illegal fires to clear land for agriculture are blazing out of control on Sumatra and Borneo islands, with Jakarta deploying thousands of security forces and water-bombing aircraft to tackle […]
Cargo plane carrying four missing in eastern Indonesia
TIMIKA, Indonesia (AFP) — An Indonesian cargo plane with four people on board lost contact with air traffic control on Wednesday, an official said, the latest incident to hit the country’s poor aviation record. The Twin Otter DHC6-400, set off from the city of Timika on Monday at 10:39 am (0239 GMT) and was headed to Ilaga, a mountainous region in the remote eastern province of Papua and was scheduled to arrive 50 minutes after […]
Indonesia arrests nearly 200 over raging forest fires
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — 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 over health fears. The fires — usually started by illegal burning […]
Frontline fight: Indonesia locked in epic battle against jungle blazes
by Dessy SAGITA PEKANBARU, Indonesia (AFP) — 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 the jungle — and enveloping wide swathes of Southeast Asia in […]
Indonesians choked by forest fire haze pray for rain
PEKANBARU, Indonesia (AFP) — Hundreds of people held a mass prayer for rain in a smoke-filled Indonesian city on Friday, desperately hoping that downpours will extinguish forest fires and wash away the toxic haze covering wide swathes of the country. Illegal fires to clear land for farming are raging on Indonesia’s Sumatra and Borneo islands with firefighters battling round the clock through charred forests, and water-bombing helicopters deployed to douse the flames. Dense smoke has […]
Forest fires destroying vital buffer against climate change
PEKANBARU, Indonesia (AFP) — With fierce blazes raging in jungles from the Amazon to Indonesia, concerns are mounting about the impact as rainforests play a vital role in protecting the planet against global warming. The latest serious outbreak is in Indonesia, where smog-belching fires started to clear land for agriculture are burning out of control, blanketing the region in toxic smog. Why are rainforests important in fight against global warming? Mankind’s reliance on fossil fuels […]
Hundreds of schools shut as forest-fire haze blankets SE Asia
by Junus Nuh Agence France Presse JAMBI, Indonesia (AFP) — Huge fires are raging across vast swathes of Indonesia’s rainforests — some of the world’s biggest — with toxic smog shutting hundreds of schools in Southeast Asia, officials said Tuesday. Massive jungle areas in Sumatra and Borneo islands are ablaze as thousands of personnel battle to quell the fires, frequently started to clear land for crop plantations. Burning forests to make way for farming […]
Indonesia forest fires surge, stoking global warming fears
by Dessy Sagita Agence France Presse PEKANBARU, Indonesia (AFP) — 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 of security forces to tackle them. It is […]
Indonesia starts restoring internet access in unrest-hit Papua
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia has started restoring internet access in restive Papua, which has been gripped by two weeks of mass protests sparked by anger over racism and fresh calls for self-rule. A low-level insurgency against Indonesian control has simmered for decades in Papua, the country’s easternmost territory, and Jakarta has responded to the recent deadly riots by flooding the region with thousands of extra security personnel. It also blocked internet access to […]





