Indonesia Is Building a New Capital. It’s Not Going Well

Indonesia Is Building a New Capital. It’s Not...

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The New Middle East Emerging From the War in Iran

The last few days have brought a flurry of developments in the Iran war. As armed hostilities between the US and Iran resumed over the weekend, news broke that US Senator Lindsey Graham had died. Graham was a staunch supporter of Israel and of the war in Iran. And on Monday, Pres ...  Show more

Weekend Listen: Is the world prepared for a 'super' El Niño?

The great famine of the 1870s killed 50 million people – and El Niño was a key driver. Another El Niño phase has just begun and it’s expected to be among the strongest. There are five times as many people in 2026 as there were in the 1870s and the planet is 1.4C hotter. So are we ...  Show more

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Indonesia’s new capital
The World of Business

Indonesia’s capital Jakarta is sinking, and struggling with traffic and pollution. The government’s solution? To build a new capital on the island of Borneo instead, better known for its jungles and orangutans. How will this work? Former BBC Indonesia correspondent Rebecca Hensch ...  Show more

How do you move a capital city?
The Inquiry

Indonesia has announced it is thinking of building a new capital city, moving the government away from Jakarta which is overcrowded and suffering from subsidence. Other countries, including Brazil, Kazakhstan, Russia and Tanzania have previously moved their capital cities, so jus ...  Show more

Can Indonesia pull off relocating its capital?
The Inquiry

Indonesia’s ambitious plan to move the administrative headquarters of its capital city from Jakarta to a new location on the island of Borneo, in the East Kalimantan province, is nearing the completion of its first phase. Known as Nusantara, the new city’s inauguration is schedul ...  Show more

Why governments are building huge cities from scratch
What in the World

Why would a government build an entirely new capital city? Soe Win Than, editor of the BBC Burmese service, explains why Myanmar did exactly that, starting construction of its capital city Nay Pyi Taw in 2002 and completing it ten years later. He also tells us about the extreme s ...  Show more