The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has opened its 200th school in Indonesia's Aceh-Nias region, which was devastated by the December 2004 tsunami. As is the case with all UNICEF-built schools, it is both earthquake-resistant and child-friendly, UNICEF said.
Conservationists have discovered a new population of orangutans in a remote, mountainous corner of Indonesia - perhaps as many as 2,000 - giving a rare boost to one of the world's most critically endangered great apes.
The devastating tsunami that hit Indonesia so hard in December 2004 had two positive effects: it pushed the population to reflect and improve its mechanisms for managing catastrophes, for early detection of such events, and in the country's Aceh province it led to the end of a conflict which had lasted 70 years.
In Banda Aceh, Indonesian students who survived the tsunami were able to resume their lessons quickly, thanks to the overwhelming international response that allowed organizations like UNICEF to get children back into class – first in temporary schools, and now into 346 earthquake resistant, permanent buildings.
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation, is waging one of the world's most determined campaigns against terrorism — and much of the credit goes to the country's American-trained police unit, Detachment 88. Since Feb. 22, 48 suspected terrorists were caught within a seven-week period and another eight killed. In May, a further 16 suspects were arrested and five killed as police foiled a plot to assassinate Indonesia's President and visiting foreign dignitaries.
80 percent of orangutans live in Indonesia, which now has offered the species more another safe haven there. Government officials agreed to reserve 332 square miles of forest (86,000 hectares) on Borneo island for some 200 captive orangutans waiting to be released into the wild.
Indonesia's constitutional court this week struck down a 50-year-old law that allowed the government to ban whatever books it considered controversial.
Indonesian electricity entrepreneur, Tri Mumpuni Iskandar - IBEKA photoAn Indonesian woman has developed micro-hydro projects that have already delivered electricity – and all that comes with it – to half a million Indonesians. The charismatic director wants to get power to the other 90 million Indonesians who are still without it.
Young Indonesians are breathing new life into their polluted concrete capital city with little more than buckets of soil and seeds. A group of mostly young professionals are converting vacant patches of land - once eyesores -- between Jakarta's skyscrapers into lush green vegetable gardens.
The world's third largest paper company, Asia Pulp and Paper, announced in February an immediate end to all natural forest clearing in its supply chains in Indonesia. The company's pledge to stop making paper from the pulped remains of some of the last virgin rainforests, along with its improved transparency, will help protect endangered Sumatran tigers and orangutans and forested peatlands that store massive amounts of greenhouse gases.
An Idaho zoo gained notoriety a few months ago when a four-year-old elk started acting strangely at his water trough. Baffled zookeepers watched as the animal tried to dip his hooves into his drinking trough, before attempting to dunk his whole head in the water. Then they were amazed as 10ft tall Shooter lifted his head from the trough clutching a local marmot between his jaws.
In Idaho, when the 'dog days of summer' are over and the Nampa public pool is about to close, a new clientele comes to play: The "Pooch Pool Party" allows dogs to take a swim before the water is drained for the year. The annual dog-only swimming event began in 2007 as an idea to raise money to help build the Nampa Dog Park