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Indonesia yesterday sank a large Chinese vessel as well as 40 other foreign boats that had been caught fishing illegally in the country’s waters, a move likely to spark a strong reaction from Beijing and other regional capitals.

The relatively stable Muslim nations of Indonesia and Malaysia do not want Muslim refugees in their countries. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/18/indonesia-sends-three-warships-and-a-plane-to-turn-away-migrant-boats Thailand and Singapore do not want Muslim refugees either. Finally, there is one thing that Muslim nations, Buddhist nations, and the one Jewish nation can agree on. None of them want Muslim refugees in their countries.

The crisis in the Mediterranean Sea with Libyan refugees has dropped out of the news lately, as the EU has mounted a serious effort to save the lives of North Africans fleeing the violence while also cracking down on smugglers. But a world away in the waters off of Indonesia, there is another crisis involving boat people. These are Muslim refugees from Myanmar, escaping persecution and violence, as well as Bangledeshis fleeing poverty and hopelessness. But the nations of Southeast Asia have taken a decidedly different approach to the problem of refugees than the EU. BBC: Fishermen in Indonesia's...

Foundations are being laid now in my children that have crossed the threshing floor of My heart and will for all my children of light , for to partake of my cup you must enter into me in all fullness and truth therefore obey my statutes and “ live “ my words to you given upon the foundation of my kingdom “ My heart “ , for truly as I send my sent ones and speak through my prophets , the oracles shall reveal themselves to all those that receive me in the manner I choose to come, for many...

A British grandmother on death row in Indonesia is writing goodbye letters to her family and believes she could be executed at any time, she wrote in an article on Sunday. Lindsay Sandiford, 58, said she was expecting to die shortly, after seven foreign drug convicts were executed last week, causing a storm of international protest. "My execution is imminent and I know I might die at any time now. I could be taken tomorrow from my cell," Sandiford wrote in British newspaper the Mail on Sunday. "I have started to write goodbye letters to members of my family." Sandiford,...

The New York Times reported this week on the unseemly transfer of cash from parties interested in a major uranium deal to the Clintons. The Canadian company selling Uranium One to the Russians donated $2.35 million to the Clinton Foundation. And Russians tied to the deal gave Bill Clinton $500,000 for a Moscow speech. The deal had global consequences. It would put one fifth of all uranium production capacity in the United States under Russian control. So critical was the deal that it needed the approval of the U.S. State Department. State approved the deal, and it managed to so...

WASHINGTON - When two Russian immigrants and their American financial backer needed marketing help for their innovative electric motor, they turned to a merchant banker at one of the nation's largest investment houses - retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark. The meeting at the Washington office of Stephens Inc. in late 2001 proved fortuitous for both Clark, the former supreme commander of NATO, and the principals in WaveCrest Laboratories, at the time a small research and development company in Dulles, Va. "They hit it off pretty much right away," said WaveCrest spokesman Tom McMahon. Clark signed on as a consultant...

The storm of Islam” is coming, already with the persecution of Christians in the Middle East but it’s “going to get worse” with “persecution” in America because resident Barack Obama is “very sympathetic to Islam,” said evangelical pastor Franklin Graham... Muslims are influencing U.S. foreign policy as was evident in the way the White House “snubbed” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “[I]t’s because of the influence of Islam,” he said. “They hate Israel and they hate Christians, and so the storm is coming.” ... this isn’t just radical Islam – this is Islam. They’ve been persecuting Christians, minorities for centuries....

Benjina, Indonesia ___ The Burmese slaves sat on the floor and stared through the rusty bars of their locked cage, hidden on a tiny tropical island thousands of miles from home. Just a few yards away, other workers loaded cargo ships with slave-caught seafood that clouds the supply networks of major supermarkets, restaurants and even pet stores in the United States. Here, in the Indonesian island village of Benjina and the surrounding waters, hundreds of trapped men represent one of the most desperate links criss-crossing between companies and countries in the seafood industry. This intricate web of connections separates the...

There has been speculation Wendy Clark might not return to Coca-Cola Co. but instead continue working on Hillary Clinton’s expected presidential campaign, after the senior marketing executive took a leave of absence from the beverage giant in January. But Coke and Ms. Clark confirmed on Tuesday that she will return to her post as North American marketing chief on April 6.

When Lee Kuan Yew died Monday at age 91, the founding father of Singapore did not leave just his legacy as the prime minister whose authoritarian policies shaped a backwater British colony into the world’s fourth-wealthiest nation. He also left Singaporeans with one of the most formidable armies in the world. The tiny island state of 5.4 million, with a land area far smaller than New York City’s, has more fighter jets than Spain, Poland or Sweden. Its army has as many tanks as Italy, which is more than 400 times the size. Its navy boasts the only stealthy ships...

Indonesian terrorists believed to have returned from fighting with the Islamic State (ISIS) group in Syria are suspected of being behind an attempted chlorine bomb attack in a shopping mall last month, police said Wednesday. The homemade device - made up of several bottles and a detonator - was discovered in the mall south of Jakarta after it failed to go off properly. Police said it was the first such attack ever attempted in Indonesia. National Police Inspector General, Tito Karnavian, said the use of the chlorine resembled tactics employed by ISIS jihadists, who have taken over a vast swath...

The Chicago woman charged with killing her mother at a resort in Indonesia and helping her boyfriend stuff the slain woman's body in a suitcase gave birth Tuesday. Heather Mack's attorney confirmed to NBC Chicago that Mack, 19, delivered her 6 pound, 10 ounce daughter via cesarean section at about 6:09 p.m. (5:09 a.m. Central Time). Both mother and baby were said to be doing fine, according to attorney Anthony Scifo. Mack will likely remain hospitalized for a few days, he said.

snip The reality is that the Islamic State is Islamic. Very Islamic. Yes, it has attracted psychopaths and adventure seekers, drawn largely from the disaffected populations of the Middle East and Europe. But the religion preached by its most ardent followers derives from coherent and even learned interpretations of Islam. Virtually every major decision and law promulgated by the Islamic State adheres to what it calls, in its press and pronouncements, and on its billboards, license plates, stationery, and coins, “the Prophetic methodology,” which means following the prophecy and example of Muhammad, in punctilious detail. Muslims can reject the Islamic...

At about $50 a barrel, crude oil prices are down by more than half from their June 2014 peak of $107. They may fall more, perhaps even as low as $10 to $20. Here’s why.

Radical Islamist group Hizb-ut- Tahrir which cleverly avoided global scrutiny while spreading its ideology may become a more dangerous terrorist group than the ISIS and it's presence in South Asia should be a cause for concern for India, according to a report. "While ISIS runs amok in Syria and Iraq, demanding media attention through acts of barbarous cruelty, HuT (Hizb-ut- Tahrir or the Party of Liberation) is quietly building a global infrastructure of radicalised youth and deep-pocketed Arab support in preparation for the global Khilafat," said the report published in the latest edition of CTX Journal. The group has cleverly...

Warning alarms can be heard "screaming" on the cockpit voice recorder of AirAsia Flight 8501 before it crashed, an investigator was quoted as saying Wednesday. Among the audible alerts is one that indicated the plane is stalling, the investigator told Agence France-Presse (AFP) and the Wall Street Journal. NBC News was immediately unable to confirm the accounts. The reports come a day after Indonesia's transport minister said the Airbus A320, which crashed last month with 162 people on board, was climbing at an abnormally high rate before it plunged and disappeared from radar. "The warning [alarms] kept on screaming, and...

For the past few years, 100-year-old rubber-like blocks from Indonesia have been mysteriously washing up on beaches in the UK and northern Europe. The Titanic has been suggested as one of the possible sources - but now a beachcomber says she may have solved the puzzle of the Tjipetir blocks.

A new species of shark that "walks" along the seabed using its fins as tiny legs has been discovered in eastern Indonesia, an environmental group said Friday. The brown and white bamboo shark pushes itself along the ocean floor as it forages for small fish and crustaceans at night, said Conservation International, whose scientists were involved in its discovery. The shark, which grows to a maximum length of just 80 centimetres (30 inches) and is harmless to humans, was discovered off Halmahera, one of the Maluku Islands that lie west of New Guinea. Bamboo sharks, also known as longtail carpet...

Jakarta (AFP) - Brazil and the Netherlands recalled their ambassadors from Indonesia and expressed fury on Sunday after Jakarta defied their pleas and executed two of their citizens along with four other drug offenders by firing squad.