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Picture 1: Mud hit: Villagers walk at a neighborhood hit by a landslide in Tenjolaya, Bandung, West Java, Thursday. At least 23 bodies have been pulled from the rubble, but many more are believed trapped. Picture 2: Words of prayers: Thousands of Muslims chants verses in praise of God (zikir) during a mass prayer event, which is also attended by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Boediono, at National Monument Park in Jakarta on Saturday. The event was held in commemoration of the birthday of Prophet Muhammad.

Hans David Tampubolon , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 02/25/2010 4:36 PM | National The House of Representatives inquiry committee on the Bank Century case looks set to submit a final report that will keep differences in the parties’ perception of the case intact. Deputy chairman of the committee, Mahfudz Siddiq from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said Thursday the final conclusion would be divided into several parts in accordance with the opinion of the respective parties' respective opinion. "Substantially, there will be no change from the previous conclusions made by each party. However, we plan to simplify our final conclusion as a committee in the form of a matrix," he told reporters at the House in Jakarta on Thursday. Separately, a committee member from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, Hendrawan Supratikno, said he still hoped the committee to reach a consensus. Previously, five out of nine parties at t

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 02/25/2010 8:59 PM | National The government insists that the House of Representatives’ inquiry into the Bank Century bailout has no legal implication on those some political parties said were held responsible for the policy. Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto said Thursday the inquiry was a political process and therefore the parties’ findings of alleged violations committed by then Bank Indonesia governor Boediono, who is now the Vice President, and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati in the bailout policy were debatable. “It must be understood that the dynamics at [the House in] Senayan were a political, not legal, process. Debates occurred out there could not be separated from the views of the political parties,” Djoko said at the presidential office. He said the political parties had given an impression that the figures they named in their findings were alread

The Jakarta Post | Fri, 02/26/2010 2:51 PM | National Search workers have recovered a total of 23 bodies in a landslide that hit a tea plantation in Bandung regency, West Java, with more are believed to be buried under the ruble, an official said Friday. Priyadi Kardono, spokesman of the National Disaster Management Agency, told tempointeraktif.com that five more bodies have been foundhttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=3322379516905139805 on Thursday. More than 1,000 rescuers with sniffer dogs have been searching the plantation near the village of Ciwidey after Tuesday’s landslide crushed homes, offices and a processing plant. Some village houses and plantation buildings survived unscathed above where terraced rows of tea plants cleaved off the hillside and slid to a plain below. Scores of houses as well as the plantation office and warehouse were rolled and crushed as they slid down the hillside with a swath of top soil and mud hundreds

The Associated Press , Hong Kong | Fri, 02/26/2010 2:15 PM | Business Asian stock markets climbed Friday as more evidence Japan's economy was turning around added to optimism about the region's economic prospects. The move higher bucked selling in the U.S. and Europe overnight. The euro, meanwhile, regained some ground after concerns over Greece's mounting debt crisis pulled the currency lower the day before. Oil prices headed toward $79 a barrel. Japan's economy, the world's second biggest, showed more signs of recovery. Factory output, a key measure economic health, rose a better-than-expected 2.5 percent in January from the previous month, the government said. Shoppers were also in a better mood last month, sending retail sales surging nearly 3 percent, the most in about 2 1/2 years. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 stock average rose 24.07 points, or 0.2 percent, to 10,126.03 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 259.89, or 1.2 p