Carlos K.Y. Paath, Fana Suparman, Farouk Arnaz, Jakarta – Indonesian officials are taken aback by the revelation that several regional heads own high roller-level accounts in casinos abroad, raising suspicions that the accounts might have been used for money laundering.

Telly Nathalia, Jakarta – Two soldiers from the Indonesian Military, or TNI, were killed in a gunfight with an armed criminal group in Sugapa in Papua's Intan Jaya district on Tuesday, a statement from the TNI said on Wednesday.

Dian Septiari, Jakarta – Vice President Ma'ruf Amin canceled his planned visit to Kuala Lumpur this week because of exhaustion, his office announced, in the latest blow to Malaysia's attempt to consolidate views among Muslim-majority nations on issues relevant to the Muslim ummah (civilization).

Eva Mazrieva, Washington – Indonesia's top Muslim clerical organization has dismissed a Wall Street Journal report that local Muslim organizations had received donations, financial support and other forms of assistance in return for keeping quiet about China's treatment of its Uighurs.

Indonesia's Supreme Court has increased the jail term for a Polish man convicted of treason over his alleged links to separatist fighters in restive Papua, raising the sentence to seven years from five, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

Niniek Karmini – Alleged members of an Islamic militant group shot a police officer to death in eastern Indonesia in the latest assault targeting security officials in the world's most populous Muslim country, police said Saturday.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government has delayed the handover of a sweeping tax Bill to Parliament until January, a month behind its earlier target, an official said on Wednesday (Dec 18).

Gayatri Suroyo, Jakarta – A proposal by Indonesia's new fisheries minister to remove a cap on exporting baby lobsters has come under fire, with critics saying it could deplete stocks around the archipelago and boost the fishing industry in competitor countries.

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Indonesia's North Sumatra province, the only known habitat of the Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis), has proven to be a precarious place for the ape. Just 800 individuals survive in a rapidly shrinking habitat, and the orangutans, which were only described as a new species in 2017, are already listed as a critically endangered by the IUCN.

Marchio Irfan Gorbiano, Balikpapan, East Kalimantan – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has emphasized that the development of Indonesia's new capital – which is to stand in an area between North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kartanegara regency in East Kalimantan – would be done in an environmentally conscious manner.

Norman Harsono, Bojonegoro, East Java – The development of the Jambaran Tiung Biru gas project in the Cepu Block, East Java, was 47.3 percent complete as of November, the project's operator, Pertamina EP Cepu (PEPC), said.

Jakarta – The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has recorded 3,622 natural disasters across the country this year. They were dominated by hydrometeorological phenomena such as tornadoes, floods and landslides.

Jakarta – The government is encouraging small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to offer their shares to the public through the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX).

Two Indonesian soldiers have been shot dead in Indonesia's eastern-most province of Papua, ambushed by separatist rebels while transporting goods to a village in a remote area.

Papua has suffered a simmering conflict for decades, led by a mostly poorly armed and fractured separatist movement.

Yesterday, Jakarta saw the worst floods to hit the capital since the last rainy season, but officials say that they subsided quickly and the city is not at risk of prolonged rain water overflow.

Marchio Irfan Gorbiano, Balikpapan, East Kalimantan – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo inaugurated three sections of the Balikpapan-Samarinda toll road in East Kalimantan on Tuesday. It is the first toll road to be built in the Indonesian section of Borneo.

Made Anthony Iswara, Jakarta – Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan has said Indonesia will fight the European Union's lawsuit on the country's nickel export ban.

President Joko Widodo has issued a stern warning against those thinking of carrying out religiously-motivated raids during Christmas and New Year's Eve, reminding the nation to uphold religious tolerance.

Adrian Wail Akhlas, Jakarta – Homegrown technology decacorn Gojek is shutting down the majority of its GoLife services due to a stagnant business performance, only around two years after launching the application.

Norman Harsono, Jakarta – Indonesian oil company Medco Energi Internasional is producing an initial 12,900 barrels of oil per day (bopd) from its offshore Bualuang oil field in Thailand.

Jakarta – The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has named former Supreme Court secretary Nurhadi Abdurachman and two other people suspects of bribery in connection with three cases handled at the country's highest court between 2011 and 2016.

Jakarta – The Central Jakarta District Court postponed the trial of six activists accused of treason relating to Papuan antiracism protests because the prosecutors had provided incomplete dossiers.

The first hearing, planned for Monday, was pushed to Thursday after the defense protested that the prosecutors had sent a complete dossier for only one suspect.

Vela Andapita, Jakarta – A female gymnast who was pulled from Indonesia's contingent to the 2019 Southeast Asia (SEA) Games in the Philippines is to compete in the upcoming 2020 National Games (PON).

Adrian Wail Akhlas, Jakarta – Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati says the government would not protect former executives of a state-owned insurance company, Asuransi Jiwasraya, who were involved in the company's liquidity problem and is considering filing criminal charges.

Norman Harsono, Jakarta – Jakarta-based renewables company Supreme Energy has commenced operation of its 85-megawatt (MW) Muara Laboh geothermal power plant in South Solok regency, West Sumatra, the first electricity generator of its kind in the province, according to official data.

Vela Andapita, Jakarta – Heavy downpour that started at around 1 p.m. on Tuesday caused floods in several areas of the capital.

Inundation in some areas was rather high, prompting MRT Jakarta to temporarily close some gates around its underground stations. They also stopped operation of escalators at those gates.

Jakarta – Fresh off the controversy surrounding the smuggling of high-end contraband earlier this month, national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia may find itself in hot water once again as the State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Ministry has received a report accusing the airline of embezzling its corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds.

Apriza Pinandita, Jakarta – The upcoming 70th anniversary of bilateral relations between Indonesia and China in 2020 will be an important opportunity for both sides to further strengthen their strategic partnership, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said on Tuesday.

Jakarta – Five of the Papua activists taking part in the first court hearing in a treason case at the Central Jakarta District Court on Monday December 16 wore traditional kari-kari headdresses from the eastern most part of Indonesia.

Muslim-majority Indonesia will deploy nearly 200,000 security personnel nationwide ahead of Christmas to guard against potential terror attacks, police said Tuesday.

The Southeast Asian archipelago of 260 million has significant numbers of Christians, Hindus and Buddhists who have been targeted by radical Islamist groups.

Ishika Mookerjee and Rieka Rahadiana – Indonesia's property-related stocks are heading for a bumper year of returns, based on analyst predictions.

An Indonesian Instagram influencer couple (locally known by the terrible portmanteau "selebgram," which combines the words "seleb" for celebrity and "gram" for Instagram) recently got flak for using local donation platform Kitabisa to raise money to fund the woman's hospital bills.

Governor Anies Baswedan has reportedly dismissed acting head of Jakarta Tourism Agency Alberto Ali in an ongoing fallout from the provincial government handing Colosseum nightclub the Adikarya Wisata award.

Heru Andriyanto, Surabaya – The East Java Police have seized fourteen luxury cars worth billions of rupiah for a lack of valid ownership documents and unpaid taxes in recent operations, a senior officer said on Monday.

They include three rare McLaren supercars, five Ferraris, two Porsches, a Lamborghini, an Aston Martin, a Mini Cooper and a Nissan GTR.

Theresia Sufa, Bogor, West Java – Prosecutors at the Cibinong District Court in Bogor, West Java, have demanded eight months of imprisonment for Suzethe Margaret, a woman charged with blasphemy for entering a mosque wearing shoes and carrying her dog.

Lenny Tristia Tambun, Bayu Marhaenjati, Jakarta – The Jakarta administration gave a tourism award to a nightclub where visitors had tested positive for drugs, still garnered endorsement from an Islamist group for doing so, only to reverse the decision days later after the whole thing blew up on social media – all in a week's work.

Novy Lumanauw, Ridho Syukra, Tri Listiyarini, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on Tuesday threw his weight behind a controversial plan from one of his ministers to legalize lobster larvae export, an activity banned since 2016 for putting the sea creature's sustainability at risk.

Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for Security, Politics and Legal Affairs Mahfud MD says that Indonesia is entitled to take any and all measures to hold on to Papua.

He said this in relation to demands for a referendum on self-determination for Papua in the name of international law.

Jakarta – The Jakarta Police in the past two months have uncovered two fraud cases involving sharia-compliant housing – offering cheap homes without riba (interest) or banking checks – that both used the same scheme and defrauded nearly 4,000 people of up to Rp 63 billion (US$4.5 million).

Ivo Mateus Goncalves – On 28 November 1975, East Timor's interim government unilaterally declared its independence from all forms of colonialism and exploitation.

Antara, Jakarta – Indonesia's plan to reach a six percent economy growth requires at least Rp35.428 trillion investment for the 2020-2024 period, the Ministry of National Development Planning/the National Development Planning Agency (PPN/Bappenas) estimated.

Mark Woodward – Prior to the 17 April election, the 2019 Indonesian presidential contest was often described as one pitting progressive against extremist Muslim coalitions.

Antara, Jakarta – President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has urged the regional heads to help facilitate investors who want to invest their capital in the regions.

Diana Mariska, Jakarta – Inward-looking organizational transformation in the military within the last decade may have left Indonesia exposed to contemporary threats of cyber warfare and hindered a peaceful approach in resolving domestic conflicts, according to rights watchdog Imparsial.

Nur Yasmin, Jakarta – Indonesia will take on more prominent roles in multilateral diplomacy amid growing unilateralism and the popularity of a "me first" stance in the rest of the world, the Foreign Affairs Ministry has said.

Kharishar Kahfi, Jakarta – Known as the playgrounds of the rich, casinos may be their piggy banks as well. The state's financial tracking body has found that foreign casinos hold stashes of currency worth Rp 50 billion (US$3.5 million) for certain Indonesian regional leaders.

Jakarta – Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Edhy Prabowo has announced a plan to allow the export of lobster larvae after a ban was put in place by his predecessor Susi Pudjiastuti in 2016 over conservation concerns.

The plan has the drawn ire of several figures, including the previous minister, who urged the government to only permit the export of mature lobsters.

Jakarta – The terror of creeping cobras continues in the capital as residents of Kembangan district in West Jakarta made the terrifying discovery of tens of the venomous snakes appearing from inside their toilets on Sunday afternoon.

Kharishar Kahfi, Jakarta – The circular economy has been hailed as the best way to solve the ever-piling plastic waste problem in Indonesia, but observers argue that the country lacks the integration to make it work.

Adrian Wail Akhlas, Jakarta – Indonesia's trade balance fell into deficit in November as imports of consumption goods and raw materials increased from the previous month while non-oil-and-gas exports slumped, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) announced on Monday.