In December 2018, the European Union (EU) revised the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) also called RED II which bans the use of palm oil.

Tirsa Manitik gave birth to her first girl in June and buried her a month later – another casualty of virus-battered Indonesia's soaring child death toll.The Southeast Asian nation has been hit by its worst COVID-19 surge yet as the ultra-infectious Delta variant sent deaths skyrocketing and left a trail of devastated parents in its wake."My heart is broken.

It was the evening after the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha on 20 July when Hambal M Zain began to run a fever. The 61-year-old coffee shop owner, who lives in the city of Banda Aceh in the north-western Aceh Province, thought little of it at the time and in the days that followed the fever subsided and Zain went back to work as usual.About a week later however, the fever suddenly returned and Zain developed a crushing headache.

The number of COVID-19 infections recorded worldwide passed 200 million on Thursday, an AFP count showed, as the pandemic surges around the world, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region where the Australian city of Melbourne locked down again.The highly contagious Delta variant has driven the virus to return with a vengeance, the number of daily cases recorded worldwide rising by 68 percent since mid-June.But as more of the world gets vaccinated against the coronavirus – particularly in weal

The Delta variant, first identified in India, poses a threat to us all – not just those countries with larger numbers of unvaccinated people.

Indonesia reported a record 2,069 coronavirus deaths in 24 hours Tuesday as it faces its deadliest COVID-19 surge since the pandemic began.The grim tally was nearly 600 deaths higher than the previous day and topped last week's daily record of 1,566 deaths, the health ministry said.New infections also shot up to just over 45,000, from about 28,000 on Monday.The eye-watering data comes after the Southeast Asian nation this week loosened virus curbs by allowing small shops, streetside rest

Experts warn country faces rise in infectious disease even as it struggles to contain the coronavirus pandemic. Before the pandemic, Mamik Nariati’s five grandchildren were given free immunisations for diseases like polio, mumps and Hepatitis B at their school in the city of Surabaya in East Java.“But since the online school started last year, there is no more immunisation programme,” she said.

Virus-wracked Indonesia said Sunday that small businesses and some shopping malls could reopen despite warnings that loosening curbs could spark another devastating COVID-19 wave, even as it moved to extend a web of restrictions launched this month.President Joko Widodo said measures imposed in early July would continue until 2 August as the highly infectious Delta variant tears across the Southeast Asian archipelago, which has been overtaking battered India and Brazil as the world's vir

The speed and scale of the coronavirus outbreak in Indonesia has created a perfect breeding ground for a potential new super-strain that could be even more contagious and deadly than the Delta variant, infectious disease experts from around the world are warning.Last week Indonesia surpassed India and Brazil to become the country reporting the world’s highest number of daily cases. On Thursday, the archipelago reported more than 49,500 new cases and 1,449 deaths.

More people are being forced to isolate at home as overwhelmed hospitals turn patients away. Many are dying. In a residential street in Bogor, on the outskirts of the Indonesian capital, yet another family has lost a loved one to COVID-19.Sitting in front of her father’s body, a young woman sobs as she clutches her prayer beads.