Indonesia

Indonesia to continue free school meals program despite 6,000 cases of food poisoning

Indonesian students eat a free meal at a school in Keutapang, Aceh Besar, Indonesia, Sep. 29, 2025. EFE/EPA/HOTLI SIMANJUNTAK

International Desk (EFE).- Indonesia will press ahead with President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free school meals program, despite nearly 6,000 children suffering food poisoning since its launch in January, officials confirmed Monday. The government defended the multi-billion-dollar initiative, saying corrective measures are being taken, even as hospitals struggle to cope with repeated outbreaks and critics demand … Read more

Six dead in Indonesia due to flooding, including two on Bali

People clean up their house after a flood in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, 10 September 2025. EFE/EPA/MADE NAGI

Jakarta (EFE).- At least six people have died in Indonesia, two of them on the tourist island of Bali, due to flooding caused by heavy rainfall that continued Wednesday, as authorities searched for four missing people, local search and rescue agency Basarnas said. Abdul Muhari, head of the Basarnas Disaster Data, Information, and Communication Center, … Read more

Search on for 43 missing in Indonesia landslide that killed 12

A handout photo made available by the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) shows rescuers searching for victims following a landslide that hit a village on Serasan Island, Natuna regency, Indonesia, 07 March 2023. EFE-EPA/BASARNAS/HO HANDOUT HANDOUT, EDITORIAL USE ONLY, NO SALES HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

Jakarta, Mar 8 (EFE).- Rescuers continued looking for 43 people missing after a rain-triggered landslide hit an Indonesian island and killed at least 12 earlier this week, the disaster management agency said. The agency (BNPB) said the search operation focused on the parts of the Genteng village after the landslide buried several houses Monday on … Read more

Protests erupt in Jakarta over reform to criminalize sex outside marriage

A person wearing a mask holds a a placard reading 'The criminal law controls women's body'

Jakarta, Aug 5 (EFE).- A crowd gathered in front of the Indonesian Parliament in the capital city of Jakarta on Monday to protest against the imminent approval of the country’s penal code, which, among other measures, will make sex outside marriage punishable with imprisonment. The reform in the penal code, which also seeks to criminalize … Read more

At least 100 children dead in Indonesia quake

Jakarta, Nov 23 (EFE).- At least 100 children have died in the shallow earthquake that shook Indonesia’s West Java province, according to the latest count provided by authorities on Wednesday. The National Agency for Disaster Countermeasure (BNPB) also raised the death toll from Monday’s magnitude 5.6 quake to 271, of which 37% were children, while … Read more