Hyundai Motor Company invests in Singapore's ride-hailing firm Grab

Hyundai Motor Co said on Thursday it had invested in Singapore-based ride-hailing firm Grab, in the South Korean automaker's first foray into the rapidly growing sector as it tries to diversify following a sales slump in China.

Grab has expanded to eight Southeast Asian countries and has said it is the biggest operator in the region's third-party taxi hailing and private-vehicle hailing sector.

The companies will jointly develop services in Southeast Asia, including one utilising Hyundai's eco-friendly models such as the IONIQ Electric, the two firms said in a statement.

They did not disclose the value of Hyundai's investment and a spokeswoman for the automaker declined to comment further.

Grab's latest fundraising round, which Hyundai has joined, already includes investors such as China's Didi Chuxing, Japan's SoftBank and Toyota Tsusho, the firms added.

Hyundai said on Wednesday it is considering building a car plant in Southeast Asia, possibly in Indonesia or Vietnam.

The company's interest in the region has grown since a diplomatic row between Beijing and Seoul last year hurt South Korean firms that are highly reliant on the Chinese market.

The automaker also announced for the first time a self-driving technology partnership with Silicon Valley start-up Aurora earlier this month, a shift from its usual preference for developing technology itself.
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Bali volcano: Airport closed for third day as changes detected at Mt Agung

The international airport on the resort island of Bali will be closed for a third day, Indonesian officials said on Wednesday, as ash from a rumbling volcano poses a danger to planes.

"Bali's Ngurah Rai airport will remain closed until at least Thursday morning," airport spokesman Arie Ahsanurrohim told AFP.

Mount Agung, which looms over one of the world's top holiday spots, could produce a thunderous eruption at any moment, officials have warned, forcing the main airport to be shut since Monday.

Massive columns of thick grey smoke and ash that have been belching from the volcano since last week have now begun shooting high into the sky, forcing hundreds of flights to be grounded and stranding around 120,000 tourists.

Ash is dangerous for planes as it makes runways slippery and can be sucked into their engines.

Tens of thousand have already fled their homes around the volcano -- which last erupted in 1963, killing around 1,600 people -- but as many as 100,000 will likely be forced to leave, disaster agency officials have said.

There is a 10 kilometre exclusion zone around Agung, which is 75 kilometres away from the beachside tourist hub of Kuta.

Some 100 buses will haul stranded visitors to several destinations including Indonesia's second-biggest city Surabaya -- 13 hours' drive and a ferry ride away -- and the capital Jakarta, the airport said, as torrential rain lashed the beach paradise.

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Volcano erupts in Bali; Indonesia shuts airport, 100,000 left stranded

Indonesia’s transportation ministry said on Tuesday it will extend the closure of Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport for a further 24 hours because of ash from the eruption of the island’s Mount Agung volcano.

A report from local aviation navigation authorities showed that “aircraft flight channels are covered with volcanic ash” the ministry said in a statement.

Bali airport, about 60 km (37 miles) from the volcano, will be closed until 7 a.m. local time on November 29, it said.

Ten alternative airports have been prepared for airlines to divert inbound flights, including in neighboring provinces.

A separate notice showed Lombok airport had been reopened, after an earlier closure overnight due to the eruption.

Agung rises majestically over eastern Bali to a height of just over 3,000 meters (9,800 feet).

On Monday, authorities ordered 100,000 residents living near the volcano to evacuate immediately, warning that the first major eruption in 54 years could be “imminent”. An 8-10 km (5-6 miles) exclusion zone has been imposed around the summit.

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Palm oil producers fear looming EU environment law will hurt millions

Millions of people running small-time oil palm plantations will suffer if the European Parliament goes ahead with “unfair” measures that could curb palm oil use, the world’s two largest palm oil producers said on Wednesday.

In April, the European Parliament backed a call for greater vetting of palm and other vegetable oils used in biofuels to prevent the European Union’s renewable transport targets for post-2020 leading to deforestation.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak and Indonesian President Joko Widodo said the resolution by the European Parliament singles out palm oil, even as the production of other vegetable oils has “shown to contribute to the deforestation”.

They said restricting market access for palm oil would also work against the United Nations’ goal of eradicating poverty and raising income levels.

“Any discriminatory measures arising from the Resolution will not only be seen as unfair practices to trade but will also affect the livelihood of millions of palm smallholders in Indonesia and Malaysia,” the two leaders said in a joint statement.
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6.2-magnitude quake hits western Indonesia, no tsunami alert issued

A strong 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of western Indonesia today, US seismologists said, but no tsunami warning was issued and there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The quake hit the Mentawai islands in West Sumatra province about 75 kilometres southwest of the provincial capital Padang at 1706 GMT, at a depth of 49 kilometres, according to the US Geological Survey.

The disaster agency said officials were checking for damage and casualties.

John Nedy, a resident of Padang, said people fled their homes when the quake struck, and most were reluctant to return for the time being.

"The earth quake was very strong. Some people say it's safe now to go back to our homes, but most people are still afraid," Nedy told AFP.

Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide.

An earthquake struck the country's western Aceh province in December 2016, killing more than 100 people, injuring many more and leaving tens of thousands homeless.
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Workers' lives be damned as Trump seeks to milk Papua New Guinea gold mines

The Grasberg Mine is a massive scar 14,000 feet atop West Papua’s part of New Guinea’s Central Cordillera. It’s is the world’s biggest, most profitable gold mine and the world’s third biggest copper mine, with estimated reserves of $100 billion.

Some 20,000 people work there, making it the largest employer on the divided island and the largest source of revenue in all of Indonesia. Many of those engaged in the dangerous work of mining come from the 40,000-year-old indigenous community of New Guinea, a people the Indonesian authorities are slowly pushing into non-existence.

In 1962, the Indonesians, with the connivance of the US, grabbed the western half of New Guinea. Since then, the destruction of the environment and the local communities has advanced as Indonesians displace the indigenous population and scramble over valuable resources. Although Indonesia has barred a full accounting, there have been hundreds of thousands of deaths—many in the most brutal and deliberate fashion.

Responsibility for the destruction and slow genocide now rests securely with the Indonesian government. But the US continues to defer to its ally in the same way it does to, say, Saudi Arabia: in short, weak complaints and no action.

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The world's most destructive volcano has been erupting for past 10 years

The world’s most destructive mud volcano was born near the town of Sidoarjo, on the island of Java, Indonesia, just over 11 years ago – and to this day it has not stopped erupting. The mud volcano known as Lusi started on May 29, 2006, and at its peak disgorged a staggering 180,000 cubic metres of mud every day, burying villages in mud up to 40 metres thick. The worst event of its kind in recorded history, the eruption took 13 lives and destroyed the homes of 60,000 people. But although the mud is still flowing more than a decade later, scientists are not yet agreed on its cause.

The debate is whether the eruption of Lusi was due to an earthquake several days previously, or down to a catastrophic failure of the Banjar Panji 1 gas exploration well that was being drilled nearby at the time. Given the huge impact of the volcano on the communities nearby and the fields that were their livelihoods, why are we still unsure of the cause?

Mud volcanoes are extremely common on Earth, with thousands of examples known worldwide. They come in many shapes and sizes and behave a little like their molten-rock counterparts, going through long periods of inactivity with periodic violent eruptions. Mud volcanoes, however, spew out not molten hot lava from the Earth’s mantle, but usually a cold mixture of gas, water and solids.

Some of the most spectacular examples of mud volcanoes are in Azerbaijan where they can range from a few metres across to the size of a small mountain. They are commonly found at tectonic plate boundaries, and also underwater at river deltas where sediment is buried rapidly, causing unusually high pressures to build up underground. The muddy mix is also pushed to the surface by the buoyant gas it contains. Usually mud volcanoes grow slowly, through layer upon layer of mud. What happened in Sidoarjo in 2006 is unique, with Lusi by far the fastest growing mud volcano we know of, having drowned surrounding houses, factories, places of worship and schools in a foul-smelling, emulsion-like mud.
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LGBT issue: Malaysia, Indonesia Muslim groups call for Starbucks boycott

Muslim groups in Malaysia and Indonesia have called for a boycott of Starbucks because of the coffee chain's support for LGBT rights.

Malaysian group Perkasa this week called on its more than 500,000 members to stay away from Starbucks coffee shops.

This week and last, leaders of Indonesia's second largest Muslim group, Muhammadiyah, with an estimated 29 million members, denounced the chain.

The groups are apparently reacting to comments made several years ago by former CEO Howard Schultz in support of gay rights that drew renewed attention amid an increasingly anti-LGBT climate in both countries.

Shares of the company that operates Starbucks in Indonesia fell this week but its stores in the capital Jakarta appeared as popular as ever.
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