Indonesia

An Indonesian airplane with 54 people on board went missing in Papua region, reports suggest.

The vehicle disappeared while en route from Sentani Airport (Jayapura, the captial of Papua in Indonesia) to the town of Oksibil in Papua's south, Reuters says citing officials.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo replaced major economic ministers in a cabinet reshuffle on August 12 less than a year into his term, after facing criticism for failing to revive growth which is at a six-year low.

An Indonesian court has ordered a foundation set up by former Indonesian dictator Suharto to pay back about $325 million of embezzled state funds, an official said on August 11. 

The Supreme Court ruled that the huge sum, which came from an educational foundation controlled by the Suharto family, must be returned, said court spokesman Suhadi.    

Indonesian legislators and human rights activists criticized Aug. 5 a government proposal to make insulting the president illegal, citing concern for freedom of speech in the world's third-largest democracy. 

The proposal aims to revive a law from the era of former authoritarian ruler Suharto that was used to silence dissidents with jail sentences and fines. 

More than a hundred people are feared dead after a military transport plane crashed in the Indonesian city of Medan on Tuesday.

The Hercules C-130 plane crashed into a residential area of the city, hitting two houses and a hotel before bursting into flames, the BBC reports.

Australia on June 15 told Indonesia to better secure its borders in a stinging rebuke after Jakarta demanded answers to allegations Canberra paid to turn back a boat of asylum-seekers.

The Indonesian navy prevented a suspected migrant boat from entering the country's waters at the weekend after the arrival of hundreds of Rohingya and Bangladeshis and has stepped up patrols in the area, the military said May 18.

Nearly 800 "boat people" were brought ashore in Indonesia on May 15 but other vessels crammed with migrants were sent back to sea despite a U.N. call to quickly rescue thousands set adrift in Southeast Asian waters. 

An earthquake with a magnitude of 5,9 on Richter's scale has been registered close to the Indonesian coast, as stated in information released by the US geology service, as quoted by RIA Novosty.

The epicenter of the earthquake has been located 103 kilometers south-westwards of the island of Sumatra at a depth of 34 kilometers.

Turkey and Indonesia have signed an agreement to jointly develop and produce a medium-weight tank, Turkey's Undersecretary for Defense Industries announced on May 7.

The two countries signed an agreement for the design and manufacture of two prototype medium-weight tanks. The intellectual property rights will belong to both countries, the Undersecretary said in a statement.