Author: mind563

JAKARTA (Reuters) -Outgoing Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Monday appointed new cabinet ministers with close ties to his successor Prabowo Subianto, in a move aimed at smoothing the transition of power two months ahead of his departure. Defence Minister Prabowo won the February election by a massive margin with the help of Widodo’s huge popularity and political clout, in what is widely interpreted as a quid-pro-quo that will ensure the outgoing leader maintains influence after a decade in charge. Jokowi, as the president is widely known, appointed new ministers for energy, investment and law, as well as the heads of…

A UN fact-finding team will visit Bangladesh next week to set up a probe of hundreds of deaths during recent student-led protests which led the prime minister to step down, UN officials announced on Thursday. An independent inquiry commission will be funded and led by the UN, said Gwyn Lewis, the UN resident coordinator in Bangladesh, after a meeting in the capital Dhaka with Touhid Hossai, foreign policy advisor in the country’s transitional government. The time frame and an action plan will be finalized soon, Lewis added. Earlier on Wednesday, the UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, made a phone…