Free Republic

Indonesia has a reputation for being a “moderate” Muslim nation, but the wind in the Islamic world as a whole is blowing in the opposite direction, as a group of Christians has just discovered. Morning Star News, which tracks the persecution of Christians worldwide, reported Tuesday that “as police looked on, Muslims in West Java Province, Indonesia on Dec. 14 formed a human wall to block Christians from attending a Christmas service, according to local media.” Notice that it has now been nearly a quarter-century since 9/11, and while we have seen heroic individual Muslims such as Ahmed al-Ahmed, who...

A senior counter-terrorism official has revealed Sajid and Naveed Akram underwent military-style training overseas just weeks before the pair allegedly opened fire at the Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach. The father and son travelled to the Philippines in November, a region that has been a hotspot for Islamist militants since the early 1990s, when terrorist training camps relocated from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to southern Mindanao. Sajid Akram, 50, and Naveed Akram, 24, arrived from Sydney on November 1 and left on November 28, a Bureau of Immigration spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday. Sajid travelled on an Indian passport while Naveed...

Imagine a group of Homo erectus, the earliest members of our family genus, living near a coastline on an Indonesia island and well aware of a lush island that is visible only a few miles offshore. One day while on the coast, a herd of elephants emerges from the nearby forest and crosses the beach. They enter the ocean and swim successfully to the offshore island. Could this be the experience that triggers a creative process in our ancestors who are watching nearby? Does their imagination and thinking include not only a desire to reach that island, but ideas about...

Europe's mysterious "Little Ice Age" has been traced back to a massive volcanic eruption in Indonesia - thanks to Pink Floyd. It lasted centuries and led to the Thames Frost fairs, when the river froze over for months at a time - turning it into a skating rink. A generally warm medieval period was followed by a mostly cold spell - from the 14th to the 19th Centuries. The weather phenomenon has baffled climatologists for decades. A study - inspired by the 70s rock legends' Dark Side of the Moon - now shows it was triggered by a catastrophic eruption...

Indonesia’s capital Jakarta has banned the sale and consumption of dog, cat and bat meat to curb the spread of rabies, the city’s governor said on Tuesday (Nov 25), marking a major victory for animal-rights advocates. Governor Pramono Anung said he had signed the regulation on Monday, following a pledge made last month, and that it bans the sale of “rabies-transmitting animals” for food. A six-month grace period will apply before enforcement begins, according to a document seen by AFP. Violations could result in sanctions ranging from written warnings to business-licence revocation. The ban applies to live animals, meat and...

A massive dry fracture has just opened on Mount Etna -- and scientists are now raising the alert level. This newly discovered fissure on the southeast wall is not releasing lava, but that doesn't make it safe. In fact, this type of "silent cracking" is often a sign of deep internal pressure, structural movement, or early-stage volcanic instability. In today's Geology Watch report, we break down the footage shared by Pio Andrea Peri and the latest update from INGV, which has now issued an F1 Alert Status -- indicating a high probability of lava fountains and increased volcanic activity at...

Nov 18 (Reuters) - Hamas rejected the United Nations Security Council passing a U.S.-drafted resolution endorsing U.S. President Donald Trump's Gaza plan, saying it fails to meet Palestinians' rights and demands and seeks to impose an international trusteeship on the enclave that Palestinians and resistance factions oppose. "Assigning the international force with tasks and roles inside the Gaza Strip, including disarming the resistance, strips it of its neutrality, and turns it into a party to the conflict in favor of the occupation," the group added.

Indonesia has trained up to 20,000 troops to take on health and construction-related tasks during a planned peacekeeping operation in the war-torn enclave of Gaza, the defense minister said on Friday. The world’s most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia is among the countries with which the United States has discussed plans for an International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza, which include Azerbaijan, Egypt and Qatar. Last week, Reuters reported a draft readied by Washington for such a force that would authorize it to “use all necessary measures” to demilitarize Gaza, secure its borders, protect civilians and aid delivery, and support a...

Indonesia, Azerbaijan and Pakistan are the top contenders to supply troops for a future stabilization force in the Gaza Strip, according to a U.S. defense official and a former U.S. defense official granted anonymity to discuss sensitive ongoing discussions. Negotiations on the makeup of the force are ongoing, and no country has made a firm commitment… Trump’s 20-point plan for peace in Gaza says the U.S. will work with Arab and other partners to deploy a temporary stabilization force that will train and support vetted Palestinian police forces and will consult with Egypt and Jordan on the effort. The U.S....

The straits that separate the Lesser Sundas from Bali and Java are deep, and powerful ocean currents run through them: so significant is this barrier that it has contributed to the development of what is termed the Wallace Line, a biogeographical boundary that divides the floras and faunas of Australasia in the south from the Asian ecosystems to the north. Currents might be more favourable if one approached from the north-east, through Borneo and the island of Sulawesi, and intriguingly, recent findings indicate archaic hominid settlement there reaching back over a million years. Even the approach to Sulawesi itself, however,...

President Donald Trump’s proposal to end the Gaza war has not only won support from Israel, but also from the Arab and Muslim world — and from the Palestinian Authority, which has opposed his plans in the past. The 20-point plan, as Breitbart News has noted, would fulfill Israel’s goals of freeing the remaining hostages, as well as disarming Hamas and removing it from power. It also offers the prospect of a Palestinian state — if Hamas complies with the plan and the Palestinian Authority agrees to sweeping reforms of its policies and anti-Israel culture. If Hamas does not agree,...

Coconut oil is the Southeast Asian nation’s top agricultural export, but prices can vary widely such as when supply dwindles during typhoons.Coconut farmers and workers in the Philippines like Alexis Rea have long struggled to reap the full economic benefits of their harvests. Five years ago, he left his job near the capital Manila and travelled about 200km to work on farms in his hometown of Atimonan in Quezon province, in order to be closer to his wife and children. While his take-home pay is higher now, he told CNA finding work would be easier if there were more coconut...

The process of mummification is often associated with the tombs of Ancient Egypt or the dry deserts of Chile. Many people frequently assume that the origin of this burial practice also traces back to these cultures. A new study in PNAS challenges these assumptions by suggesting that the people of southern China and Southeast Asia developed a different approach to this practice by curing bodies over low, smoky fires. Archaeologists recently uncovered evidence that these hunter-gatherers practiced smoke-drying their dead as early as 12,000 years ago. This discovery implies that early human societies were practicing mummification long before the construction...

Trump convenes 8 Arab, Muslim leaders to present Gaza future planThe terror organization Hamas sent a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump proposing a two-month ceasefire in exchange for releasing half of the Israeli hostages it is still holding captive in Gaza, Fox News reported on Monday. Citing a senior Trump administration official and a source directly involved in the negotiations, the report stated that the letter is in Qatari hands and will be transmitted to Trump this week. Israel’s Channel 12 News reported that a Hamas leader might personally sign the letter before it is sent to Trump. The...

LTTE arms moved overland from China to NK for almost a decade by Shamindra Ferdinando Chinese arms consignments for the LTTE had been moved overland to North Korea across the China-North Korea border before being transferred to the terrorist group’s ‘floating’ warehouses on the high seas close to Indonesia, for about a decade, The Island learns. The LTTE had obtained its first Chinese arms consignment way back in 1994/1995 during the then People’s Alliance (PA) administration. On-going inquiries, well informed sources said, revealed that the China-North Korea overland transport of arms for the LTTE had operated for almost a decade...

Elon Musk's SpaceX said Monday it will buy wireless spectrum licenses from EchoStar (SATS.O), opens new tab for its Starlink satellite network for about $17 billion, a major deal crucial to expanding Starlink's nascent 5G connectivity business.The companies also agreed to a deal that will enable EchoStar's Boost Mobile subscribers to access Starlink direct-to-cell service to extend satellite service to areas without service. The spectrum purchase allows SpaceX to start building and deploying upgraded, laser-connected satellites that the company said will expand the cell network's capacity by "more than 100 times."...The push comes amid fast-rising wireless usage. In 2024, Americans...

An angry mob set fire to a local parliament building in an Indonesian provincial capital, leaving at least three people dead and five others hospitalized, officials said. The blaze in Makassar, the capital city of South Sulawesi province, began late Friday. Television reports showed the provincial council building ablaze overnight, causing the area to turn an eerie orange color. Rescuers retrieved three bodies by Saturday morning, while five people were hospitalized with burns or with broken bones after jumping from the building, said Fadli Tahar, a local disaster official. Protesters in West Java's Bandung city also set a regional parliament...

Banda Aceh, Indonesia: Two men were publicly flogged 76 times each in Indonesia’s conservative province of Aceh on Tuesday after they were found guilty of sexual relations by a court operating under strict Islamic law. Gay sex is outlawed in Aceh, which imposes a version of sharia, the Islamic legal code, but it is not illegal elsewhere in the world’s most populous Muslim majority country. The men were part of a group of 10 who were flogged Tuesday at a park in the provincial capital Banda Aceh for a range of alleged crimes. The pair were flogged separately with a...

According to a press release from the FDA, Cesium-137 (Cs-137) was detected by U.S. Customs & Border Protection in shipping containers that arrived at ports in Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, and Savannah. Samples found the presence of Cs-137, a radioactive isotope in a shipment of breaded shrimp. The FDA confirmed that Walmart received raw frozen shrimp that could be affected by the issue. Cs-137 is a product of nuclear fission and is used in medical devices and gauges, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explains. It can also be used to gauge “the flow of liquid through pipes,” the...

Microsoft warns patched systems remain vulnerable as attackers find new ways to infiltrate SharePoint servers. Microsoft has issued a critical warning about Chinese state-backed hackers exploiting security flaws in its SharePoint software. These vulnerabilities have been used to compromise a growing list of government agencies and private organizations worldwide, including the US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). In a detailed blog post, Microsoft identified three hacking groups with ties to China. The groups, known as Linen Typhoon, Violet Typhoon, and Storm-2603, are believed to have taken advantage of SharePoint weaknesses that mainly affect customers who operate the software on their...