Rizieq Shihab, leader of the Islamic Defenders Front (in Indonesian: Front Pembela Islam, or FPI), has been named a suspect of insulting the Pancasila (Indonesia's state ideology) by the West Java branch of Indonesian Police on Monday (30/01). Sukmawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of Indonesia's first president Sukarno, had filed a police report against Shihab after a speech surfaced in which the latter insulted and criticized the Pancasila as well as national hero Sukarno.

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The number of smartphone users in Indonesia is rising rapidly in line with growing per capita GDP and widening Internet penetration across the Archipelago. Based on data from research institute eMarketer there were 69.4 million smartphone users in Indonesia at the end of 2016. Moreover, the number of Indonesian smartphone users is expected to grow to 103 million by 2018, which would make Indonesia the fourth-largest smartphone market worldwide after China, India and the United States.

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As promised US President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), an ambitious free trade deal that was signed in October 2015 (after five years of negotiating) and had created the world's largest free trade area (covering 12 countries and 40 percent of global trade). Trump's move to withdraw the USA from the TPP implies that he distances the USA from its Asian allies and gives China the opportunity to fill in the empty space that is left by America.

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While political leaders, bankers and economists met in Davos (Switzerland) for the World Economic Forum (17-20 January 2017), Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th US president in Washington. His speech was all about "America first", including a protectionist approach in trade, which Trump believes will lead to great prosperity and strength for the USA. Also in Europe anti-globalization sentiments are heard (such as the exit of Britain from the European Union). Most guests in Davos, on the contrary, favor higher global trade and worldwide economic participation.

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