Showing 1 - 10 of 78
Humanity's alignment problem
News, Antara Haldar, Published on 06/01/2026
» It's lunchtime on top of the world again. Time's annual "Person of the Year" issue released two weeks ago has revived the iconic Depression-era photograph of steelworkers casually lunching on a beam suspended over Manhattan. With the city rising beneath them, the image portrays risk as normalised, even glamourised.
Indonesia pushes back on Bali’s plan to ban Airbnb rentals
Reuters, Published on 10/12/2025
» JAKARTA — The Indonesian government has pushed back on Bali’s plan to ban Airbnb Inc rentals, saying such services are needed to foster tourism in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
At least 11 dead in Central Java landslide
Reuters, Published on 15/11/2025
» JAKARTA - A landslide after heavy rains in Central Java has killed 11 people, Indonesia’s disaster management agency said on Saturday, adding that rescuers were searching for a dozen who are still missing.
Adam Smith and the moral economy we have lost
Oped, Antara Haldar, Published on 12/11/2025
» With the 250th anniversary of The Wealth of Nations approaching next year, the world is gearing up to honour Adam Smith. But which Smith should be recognised? The hard-nosed "founding father" of modern economics, or the philosopher who wrote The Theory of Moral Sentiments? Scholars have wrestled with this question, a riddle known as "Das Adam Smith Problem", for centuries, because it concerns not just dualities within Smith's thought, but also our own uneasy relationship with morality and markets.
Myanmar scam centre raid sends hundreds fleeing to Thailand
AFP, Published on 23/10/2025
» Nearly 700 people have fled one of Myanmar’s most notorious scam centres and crossed into Thailand after a military raid on the compound, according to the governor of Tak province.
Indonesia set to buy Chinese J-10 fighter jets amid push to modernise military
South China Morning Post, Published on 17/10/2025
» Indonesia's top defence official says his country is set to acquire China's J-10 fighter jets, possibly making it the second foreign military to operate the model after Pakistan.
When societies rise, fall, and face catastrophe
News, Antara Haldar, Published on 11/10/2025
» When the United Nations emerged from the rubble of two world wars 80 years ago, it represented humanity's most ambitious attempt ever to turn catastrophe into cooperation. But while the scarred world of 1945 had hope following the Allied victory, that optimism has since curdled. The UN today is underfunded, risk-averse, and paralysed.
Three dead, 38 trapped in Indonesia school collapse
Reuters, Published on 30/09/2025
» SIDOARJO, Indonesia - Indonesian rescuers were racing on Tuesday to find 38 people feared trapped beneath the rubble of an Islamic boarding school that collapsed in East Java during afternoon prayers, killing three, according to disaster officials.
The postwar era's first democratic authoritarian
Oped, Antara Haldar, Published on 08/09/2025
» The 78th anniversary of India's independence last month offers an opportunity to recall one of the most insidious moments in the country's post-independence history: prime minister Indira Gandhi's 1975 decision to declare an emergency and suspend civil liberties. A new book by political scientist Srinath Raghavan, Indira Gandhi and the Years That Transformed India, not only revisits that fateful move, but also traces its lasting impact half a century later.
20 missing after deadly Indonesia protests
AFP, Published on 02/09/2025
» JAKARTA - At least 20 people are missing after violent Indonesia protests sparked by lavish perks for lawmakers that have widened to include anger against police, a rights group said Tuesday.