The government has approved the homegrown COVID-19 breathalyzer for testing domestic passengers at 21 airports, including the international airport in Bali, but the scientific community remains skeptical in the absence of a peer-reviewed paper on the screening device.

The ratings are key for the government as it seeks to raise funds, primarily through the bond market, to finance its multibillion dollar economic recovery program that includes the national vaccination program.

The electric car maker set production and delivery records in the quarter, with the auto industry upstart's Model 3 becoming the best-selling premier sedan in the world, according to chief executive Elon Musk.

The rebound came at a time when the government had begun implementing the Jobs Creation Law by issuing derivative regulations.

The recycled packaging industry association says that formalizing the informal waste sector is key to scaling up Indonesia's waste management toward a plastics economy, while one of Oceania's largest bottling companies leads the charge with a new recycling plant that embraces waste pickers and their welfare.

The company, which has been criticized over the last year for both its financial performance and its approach to renewable energy investment, "has no credible plan to protect value in an energy transition," hedge fund Engine No. 1 said in an 80-page investor presentation.

A strong reading on US and European manufacturing and services activity provided a positive catalyst for investors, who appear to have got over Joe Biden's plan to almost double capital gains tax, while Washington's decision to reapprove Johnson & Johnson's vaccine also lifted optimism.

"By setting a high goal and sharing the attitude to pursue it (within the company), we aim to challenge for its realization," Honda's new president Toshihiro Mibe said as he unveiled the plan during a press conference.

The government is in the early stages of thinking about taxing cryptocurrency transactions.

The Thodex website went dark after posting a mysterious message saying it was suspending trading for five days on Wednesday because of an unspecified outside investment.

Global sales rose to 21.1 billion Swiss francs (19.1 billion euros, $22.9 billion) and Nestle said it increased its share in growing markets, in an indication the group is weathering the coronavirus pandemic without much trouble.

Investors took the New York drop as a cue to buy, with the Dow rising back above 34,000 and closing in on last week's record finish.

The Indonesia-Hungary Investment Fund is to finance national infrastructure projects, which the government aims to accelerate following last year's delays due to the pandemic.

After piloting vaccination drive-thru clinics with the government in Jakarta and Bali earlier this year, the telemedicine start-up says it will use the new funds to help coordinate the vaccine rollout.

The carrier's European and United States pilot bases will also be reviewed later in 2021, the newspaper said, adding that the moves could affect hundreds of jobs.

"Neither Mr Gottstein nor Ms Warner had been aware of the fund as a major client before that," the paper added.

The funds, to be allocated as grants over five years, will target programmes that can achieve results in the short term.

In addition, the Southeast Asian nation also issued $500 million 30-year trust certificates, the ministry said in a statement, quoted by Reuters.

The safe-haven greenback got some respite from a pullback in world stocks from record highs as flare ups in coronavirus infections from India to Canada soured the outlook for a quick global recovery.

The system's operator, PT. MRT Jakarta, held a signing ceremony Tuesday in the Indonesian capital to award the 4.6 trillion rupiah ($316 million) contract to a joint venture between Sumitomo Mitsui Construction and Indonesian state-owned firm PT. Hutama Karya.

The rupiah had depreciated 3.62 percent year-to-date as of Monday but the depreciation was lower than the currencies of emerging economies such as Brazil, Turkey and Thailand.

While revenue jumped 24 percent in the first quarter of this year when compared to the same period in 2020, paid memberships grew less than expected to 208 million, Netflix said in its quarterly earnings release.

Nearly 85,000 cars were sold domestically in March, up 72.5 percent from the previous month, after a luxury tax cut came into effect in Indonesia.

If the pandemic has taught us one thing, it is that public health and economic recovery must go hand in hand.

An artificial construction of "walls" runs counter to economic and market rules and "would disadvantage others," Xi said in a keynote speech online at the Boao Forum for Asia, billed as the region's alternative to the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) has outlined the opportunities for investment and trade under a recently approved partnership with Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

The program seeks to encourage 9 million households to spend during Ramadan.

As part of Citigroup's global downsizing strategy, the Indonesian operation is selling its consumer banking business, including credit card and digital banking services.

China exported $12.978 million of goods to North Korea in March, up from $3,000 in February and $33,000 in the first two months, according to Chinese customs data released on Sunday, quoted by Reuters.

In the first 15 minutes of trading, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average shed 123.59 points, or 0.42 percent, from Friday to 29,559.78. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 4.71 points, or 0.24 percent, at 1,956.16.