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politicsvideoCNA5:51

Indonesia's Vice-President Gibran set to resign amid education controversy and impeachment threat

from CNA

Indonesian Vice-President Gibran Rakabuming Raka is set to resign amid mounting controversy over his educational qualifications, with reports that President Prabowo Subianto has accepted his resignation letter. Gibran faces accusations from 120 lawmakers who signed a petition claiming he failed to prove he met a high school equivalent education requirement to run in the 2024 election.

Analysts suggest a voluntary resignation could short-circuit the impeachment process and limit political damage. Gibran's departure may also signal the final breakdown of the alliance between President Prabowo and former president Joko Widodo, Gibran's father, whose support was key to Prabowo's 2024 election victory.

on YouTube: CNA ↗

10:49

supplementary video · Epimetheus on YouTube ↗

world cultures & travelWikivoyageclassic9th–15th century · Siem Reap, Cambodia

Angkor was the largest pre-industrial city on Earth, covering about 3,000 square kilometres

the gist

Angkor, near Siem Reap in northern Cambodia, was the capital of the Khmer Empire, which ruled much of mainland Southeast Asia between roughly the 9th and 15th centuries. At its height the city spread across about 3,000 square kilometres, making it the largest pre-industrial city on Earth by area. Its growth depended on water: huge reservoirs called barays, along with canals and embankments, stored monsoon rain and carried it to rice fields. That system let farmers harvest more than once a year and fed a very large population through the dry season. The temple complex of Angkor Wat, built in the early 12th century, is the best-known monument and still stands at the heart of the park.

how it works

The Khmer kings built enormous rectangular reservoirs that caught monsoon rain during the wet season. Earthen dykes and canals moved that water into rice paddies, so farmers could grow crops across much of the year. The surplus food supported craftsmen, builders and the workforce that raised the temples.

so what

Angkor shows how a society without industrial machinery could build a city on a scale that rivals modern metropolises, using engineering and water management instead. Some historians link its decline to drought, flooding and shifts in its water systems, which makes it a long-running case study in how cities depend on managing water. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most important archaeological landscapes in Southeast Asia.

fun fact

The outline of Angkor Wat appears on the national flag of Cambodia.

more on this

background

Angkor (Khmer: អង្គរ [ʔɑŋkɔː], lit. 'capital city'), also known as Yasodharapura (Khmer: យសោធរបុរៈ; Sanskrit: यशोधरपुर), was the capital city of the Khmer Empire, located in present-day Cambodia. The empire flourished from approximately the 9th to the 15th centuries. The site of Angkor has a variety of religious temples, libraries, moats, and other buildings. These other buildings could have been used by officials to the grand palace housing the Khmer king. Those constructed outside the main complex were not made of stone. One of the more visited places in Angkor is Angkor Wat, a temple complex that is one of Cambodia's tourist attractions.

From Wikipedia: Angkor (CC BY-SA 4.0) ↗ · text CC BY-SA 4.0

see

Satdeep Gill, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Marcin Konsek, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

key facts

Country: Cambodia
Located in: Siem Reap Province
Area: 35,100 km²

Facts: Wikidata (CC0)

Adapted from Wikivoyage, the free travel guide · CC BY-SA 4.0

source: Wikivoyage ↗

arts, ideas & societyThe Public Domain Reviewc. 1500–1529 · Basel, Switzerland

A Swiss Renaissance artist drew mercenaries from the inside, as one himself

the gist

Urs Graf the Elder was a Swiss goldsmith, printmaker and draughtsman active in Basel in the early 1500s, and also a mercenary who fought in the wars of the era. That gave his drawings an insider's view: ragged soldiers, camp followers and sex workers, rendered in nervy pen lines. Where many Renaissance artists idealised war, Graf showed its violence and vice. Scholars read an impotent melancholy in the nightmarish scenes, as if the figures were trapped in the lives they led. He also had a record of brawling and misconduct that landed him in trouble with Basel's authorities.

so what

Swiss mercenaries were a major military force in Renaissance Europe, and Graf's work is a rare picture of that world by someone who lived in it. His drawings sit apart from the polished courtly art of the time.

antidoom: free microlearning, one card at a time, with no algorithm

Indonesia's Vice-President Gibran set to resign amid education controversy and impeachment threat

Angkor was the largest pre-industrial city on Earth, covering about 3,000 square kilometres

A Swiss Renaissance artist drew mercenaries from the inside, as one himself

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