INDONESIA SEEKS NORWEGIAN SUPPORT TO DEVELOP FISHERIES INDUSTRY By Fardah

   Jakarta, Nov 30, 2012 (ANTARA) - The recent visit of Norwegian Crown Prince Hakoon Magnus and Crown Princess Mette-Marit - the first ever by a member of Norway's royal family to Indonesia - has helped boost bilateral cooperation between the two countries in various fields such as deforestation, democracy, and fishery.
        The Norwegian fishing industry is one of the world's largest, and seafood is Norway's third largest export item - after metal and oil and gas.

LONG AND WINDING ROAD TOWARDS SUNDA STRAIT BRIDGE By Fardah

   Jakarta, Nov 29, 2012 (ANTARA) - Indonesia has been dreaming of building the Sunda Strait Bridge, a mega project that will connect Indonesia's two major islands, Java and Sumatra.

         The initiative to construct the 31-kilometre-long bridge was introduced in 1960 when Prof Sedyatmo of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) conceived the plan to connect the two islands, which are currently separated by the Sunda Strait.

INDONESIA'S CORAL TRIANGLE INITIATIVE WINS INT'L RECOGNITION by Fardah

     Jakarta, Nov 28, 2012 (ANTARA) -  When President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited New York, US, last September 2012, he was bestowed with the first-ever "Valuing Nature Award" for his leadership in recognizing the importance of natural resources and working to conserve them.

         The award was presented by The Nature Conservancy, World Resources Institute and WWF - three leading global environmental and conservation organizations, specifically to  recognize Yudhoyono's leadership in establishing the multilateral Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI).

INDONESIA EXCEEDS TARGET OF ANNUAL ONE-BILLION TREE PLANTING MOVEMENT by Fardah

   Jakarta, Nov 28, 2012 (ANTARA) - Thousands of Indonesians - from the President to farmers -  throughout the country planted trees to mark the Indonesian Tree Planting Day and National Planting Month 2012 on November 28, with the aim to promote environmental preservation.    
   In line with the Presidential Decree No. 24/2008, the government had declared November 28 as the Indonesian Tree Planting Day (HMPI) and December as the National Planting Month (BMN).  This year's theme for HMPI and BMN is "Urban Forests Promote Green Indonesia".

INDONESIA'S PARLIAMENT SENDS DELEGATION TO GAZA TO SUPPORT PALESTINE by Fardah

    Jakarta, Nov 24, 2012 (ANTARA) - Since Israeli aggression in Gaza began earlier this month, a number of Indonesian cities have seen daily rallies organized by Muslim and students organizations to protest the Zionist air strikes that killed many Palestinian children and women.

         Most of the Indonesian protestors urged the government and the United Nations to take concrete steps to stop recent Israeli air strikes on Gaza and help the Gaza people.

INDONESIA TO LAUNCH `ORANGE REVOLUTION' TO BOOST TROPICAL FRUIT EXPORTS by Fardah

    Jakarta, Nov 21, 2012 (ANTARA) - Indonesia is a country blessed with natural beauty and is home to 10 percent of the world's plant species.

        There are around 40,000 species of flowering plants, including 5,000 species of orchids and more than 3,000 fruit-bearing tree species, according to Britannica.com.

VOLUNTEERS EAGER TO FINISH CONSTRUCTION OF INDONESIA HOSPITAL IN GAZA By Fardah

     Jakarta, Nov 21, 2012 (ANTARA) - Despite Israeli air attacks on Gaza, the Medical Emergency Rescue-Committee (MER-C) volunteers from Indonesia are determined to complete the construction of a hospital in Bayt Lahiya, North Gaza, to help Palestinian victims of Israeli aggression.

         Bayt Lahiya is a crowded area and has often suffered Israeli air attacks.

Rainy Season Sees Parts of Indonesia Hit by Floods, Landslides by Fardah

      Jakarta, Nov 20, 2012  (ANTARA News) - The rainy season has only begun in Indonesia, which has only two seasons, rainy (November to March) and dry (June to October), yet a number of provinces have already experienced floods and landslides.
      And this year, the nation has to be extra careful, as Jakarta anticipates floods, which come in five-year cycle. Jakarta authorities fear the capital city will again see major floods this year, half a decade after the massive deluge in 2007 that killed more than 80 people in Jakarta and surrounding areas.

INDONESIAN MUSLIMS CONDEMN ISRAELI AGGRESSION ON GAZA by Fardah

   Jakarta, Nov 19, 2012 (ANTARA) - Over the past two consecutive days, Indonesian Muslims staged rallies in front of the US embassy to protest the Israeli Aggression on Gaza where at least 90 Palestinians including children and women, were killed during the Israeli air
strikes across the Gaza Strip over the last six days.

        "Send Troops, Free Gaza", "Stop out-of-date solution, send troops immediately to drive away Israel", and "the US Supports Israel, Destroy it," were among texts in the banners being demonstrated during a rally participated in by around 200 protesters in Jakarta, on Monday.

INDONESIAN GOVT URGED TO PROTECT MIGRANT WORKERS By Fardah

   Jakarta, Nov 16, 2012 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government has been urged to offer better protection to the nation's migrant workers overseas, in the wake of two cases of alleged rape involving Indonesian female workers in Malaysia this month.

        The latest rape case occurred on November 9, when a 25-year-old Indonesian restaurant waitress from Central Java, identified as SM, claimed that she was gang-raped by three Malaysian Police officers at Perai police office, Bukit Mertajam, Pulau Penang State.

GOVT PULLING OUT ALL THE STOPS TO REDUCE MATERNAL DEATH RATE By Fardah

   Jakarta, Nov 14, 2012 (ANTARA) - Indonesia's maternal mortality rate of 228 per 100,000 live births remains the highest in Southeast Asia, but the figure must be reduced to 102 per 100,000 by the year 2015 in order to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

         According to Indonesian demographic and health survey (SDKI) data, the country's infant mortality rate decreased from 35 per 1,000 live births in 2004 to 34 per 1,000 live births in 2007.

New Governor Envisions Jakarta Having 1,000 parks

     Jakarta, Nov 10, 2012 (ANTARA News) - Ten days after his inauguration as the new governor of Jakarta, Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, toured the parks of the capital city on October 26 until the evening.
      "Don`t follow me, I am going to see other parks of Jakarta until the evening," he told the press at the Semanggi park.
      On November 4, Jokowi joined Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto on a bicycle ride to launch the "Jakarta Green City" campaign concurrently with "Land Spatial Day".
     On the occasion, the governor expressed his commitment to providing Jakarta's residents with green open spaces covering 30 percent of the capital city`s total land area by the end of his five- year term.

Indonesia hails re-election of Obama, `the Menteng Kid` by Fardah

    Jakarta Nov 10, 2012 (ANTARA News) - Following re-election of US President Barack Obama, many Indonesians have hailed the victory of `The Menteng Kid.`
    Obama spent a few years of his childhood in Indonesia, from 1967 through 1971, with his mother and Indonesian stepfather. He studied at an elementary school in the Menteng area of Central Jakarta.
     He had described his visit as `pulang kampong` or home coming, when he visited Jakarta in November 2010. He spoke several Indonesian words, and especially mentioned his favorite Indonesian food such as `baso` (meat ball) and satem (satay or grilled chicken/meat).
     Obama even thrilled Indonesians by declaring "Saya bagian dari Indonesia (I am part of Indonesia)" while speaking at the University of Indonesia (UI), on the southern outskirts of Jakarta, two years ago, on November 10, 2010.

MALARIA REMAINS A THREAT IN INDONESIA By Fardah

    Jakarta, Nov 6, 2012 (ANTARA) - Indonesia is still among the countries hardest hit by malaria, with almost half of the nation's 244 million population living in malaria-endemic areas, particularly in its eastern-most island of Papua.

         According to official data, there were 374 malaria-endemic districts in Indonesia in 2011. The number of confirmed malaria cases reported last year was 256,592, out of a total of 1,322,451 suspected cases.

NORTH KALIMANTAN PROVINCE EXPECTED TO BE ESTABLISHED IN 2013 by Fardah

     Jakarta, Nov 5, 2012 (ANTARA) - Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country, will soon have its 34th province as the House of Representatives (DPR) and the government have officially endorsed the establishment of  North Kalimantan Province.

         The North Kalimantan Province will consist of five districts, namely Bulungan, Malinau, Nunukan, Tarakan, and Tana Tidung. Tanjung Selor will be its capital city.

GOVT TO PROTECT LOCAL PEARL INDUSTRY FROM INFLUX OF IMPORTED PEARLS FROM CHINA By Fardah

     Jakarta, Nov 2, 2012 (ANTARA) - The number of Indonesian pearl companies has dropped from 86 to 27, a decrease of about 64 percent, due to an influx of freshwater pearls from China into Indonesia.

   "The local companies were forced to close down as they were not able to compete with the low prices of imported pearls," said Saut Hutagalung, the maritime affairs and fisheries ministry's director general for fishery products processing and marketing, on the sidelines of a pearl festival on November 1.

INDONESIA AIMS TO BECOME GLOBAL HUB OF VACCINE DEVELOPMENT By Fardah

     Jakarta, Nov 1, 2012 (ANTARA) - The World Health Organization (WHO) has set a target that by 2015 there should be adequate production of influenza vaccine to immunize 2 billion people, and that this vaccine should be available on the market six months after the transfer of the vaccine prototype strain to vaccine manufacturers.

     The UN organization reported on its official website that seasonal influenza vaccine production capacity has increased globally from less than 500 million doses per year in 2006 to close to 1 billion doses per year at the end of 2010.