Indonesia News
Ditch Your Vape For Real Cigarettes Instead, Officials Say
Enggartiasto Lukita, Indonesia’s trade minister, said e-cigarettes are bad because hurt tobacco farmers. He just wants Indonesians to go back to basics and smoke tobacco, never mind that vaping is much safer. He even plans to enforce rules so that e-cigarette producers need to go through a bureaucratic maze before they could sell their products. “It would be a long process that takes them 20-30 years to get all the permits,” he said. —Kompas
Elephant Poacher Accidentally Got Himself Arrested
Suhardi Darmin was at a police station in Aceh to submit registration papers for his car. But then the police found two Sumatran elephant tusks in his car, which he meant to sell to a collector in northern Sumatra. He was arrested on the spot and is now facing jail time. —Mongabay
Videos by VICE
Setya Novanto Detained, Finally
After months avoiding anti-graft investigators (KPK), house speaker Setya Novanto has been arrested as a suspect in a multimillion dollar corruption case last night. He was transferred from the hospital where he was treated after a car accident into a 2.5 x 2.5 meter cell in the KPK building. —Detik
It’s Pretty Hard to Find the Truth in Indonesia’s Long-Simmering Papua Conflict
There’s a reason you know very little about Papua. Press restrictions and the remoteness of its villages make it almost impossible for journalists to report on the region’s battle for independence from Indonesia that has spanned half a century. —VICE
International News
Indonesians in the Philippines Recognized After Decades
Hundreds of residents of Indonesian descent in the Philippine island of Balut received their birth certificate last week, after waiting for decades. Back in the day, the Sangir people of Sulawesi were denied of birth certificates by local officials because they aren’t Filipinos, even though their families have settled there for generations. Most of the Sangirs are farmers. —Al Jazeera
Cult Leader Charles Manson Dies At 83
After four decades in prison, Charles Manson, the leader of a cult known as the Manson Family, died of natural causes in a hospital in California. He was convicted of orchestrating a string of murders in 1969 along with his followers. Actress Sharon Tate, who died of multiple stab wounds, was one of his most famous victims. —The Guardian
Multinational Search For Missing Argentine Submarine Continues
The submarine ARA San Juan disappeared last week, along with 44 submariners on board. The efforts to locate it has tripled, and the search now involves ships from Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, the United States and the UK. The submarine was last seen on Wednesday, a few hundred kilometers off the coast of southern Argentina’s Patagonia region. Experts say that if the submarine has sunk but is still intact, the 44 people onboard will have a week to 10 days of oxygen. —CNN
Despite Global Crisis, Japan Resettles Only Three Refugees in First Half of 2017
Japan is dubbed one of the developed world’s least welcoming countries for asylum seekers. It accepted three refugees in the first half of this year. Since 2008, it has resettled mere 152 people, mostly ethnic Karen people from Myanmar living in Thai and Malaysian camps. It accepted 28 out of over 10,000 applicants in 2016. UN High Commissioner on Refugees Filippo Grandi has asked the government to expand its small refugee program, he said at a news conference in Tokyo. Japan says that it’s concerned by the volume of people who apply for asylum only to find work and call this “abusive” applications. —Reuters
Everything Else
Morrissey Defends Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey, Attacks Multiculturalism
At this point, it’s safe to assume that all your faves are problematic. In an interview with a German newspaper, Morrissey said that recent sexual assault allegations involving Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein “are not very credible.” —Noisey
Kali Uchis is Ready for Her Global Domination
In a Noisey Next video, the Columbian singer explains how she found her voice. —Noisey
The country has lost millions of dollars to illegal antiquities trade, and no one knows what to do to stop it. —VICE
