Peru declares an emergency and deploys the army as violence surges in the capital

JAKARTA: Indonesia is set to pass revisions to a military law this week that will allow armed forces personnel to hold more civilian posts.

The changes were approved on Tuesday by the house committee overseeing military, defense and foreign policy and according to lawmakers will be put to a wider vote on Thursday of parliament, which is controlled by President Prabowo Subianto’s coalition.

Prabowo, a former defense minister and special forces commander who served under Suharto and was once his son-in-law, has expanded the armed forces’ role since taking power in October after winning the presidential election by a big margin. The bill includes a change introduced into a later draft requiring military officers to resign before assuming civilian roles, said Gavriel Putra Novanto, who presided over the committee’s meeting.

Current laws allow active soldiers to hold posts in organizations such as the defense ministry and state intelligence agency.

The new draft adds more state agencies to the list, including the attorney general’s office, the state secretariat, the counter-terrorism agency and the narcotics agency, Gavriel said. It also extends sitting officers’ retirement age.

The latest draft of the bill has not been made available to the public. Prabowo’s office has denied it could usher in a second “New Order” era.

Law Minister Supratman Andi Agtas said the revision was necessary due to current domestic and geopolitical challenges. 

Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, parliament’s deputy speaker, denied the bill was being rushed through and said lawmakers had been transparent.

NEW YORK: The US music industry passed 100 million paid streaming subscriptions for the first time in 2024, according to the latest report from the Recording Industry Association of America released Tuesday.
The US industry’s total revenue last year increased three percent to $17.7 billion retail, the report said, up half a billion dollars from 2023.
Paid subscription services accounted for 79 percent of streaming revenues, and almost two-thirds of total revenues.
Yet streaming growth has slowed over the past five years — in 2024, it increased by less than four million subscriptions, compared to the jump from 2020 to 2021, when it spiked by almost nine million — a trend that has pushed music companies to seek growth elsewhere.
Universal, for example, has been touting a “Streaming 2.0” vision focusing on avenues like selling products to superfans.
Music revenues meanwhile fell two percent to $1.8 billion on ad-supported, on-demand services — examples include YouTube, Facebook and Spotify’s ad-supported version.
Indie darling vinyl posted its 18th straight year of growth, and accounts for nearly 75 percent of physical format revenues that total $2 billion, the RIAA said.
For the third year in a row, vinyl albums outsold compact discs, selling 44 million versus 33 million respectively.
Vinyl’s popularity has grown steadily in recent years, fueled by collectors and fans nostalgic for the warm crackle that emanates from Side A and Side B.
The annual report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which represents global record companies, is due on Wednesday.