Free Republic

Five suspected terrorists were reportedly killed during police raids at two different locations in Bali late on Sunday. Police have yet to issue an official statement on the nature of the raids and details on the casualties. The first raid took place at around 10:15 p.m. in a budget hotel, Laksmi, on Jl. Danau Poso 99X, Sanur. The area is known as one of the most famous red-light districts in Bali, where people can easily obtain a cheap room from staff at budget hotels who rarely ask for valid identification from their guests. Neighbors said that they heard a burst...

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama, who is due to visit Indonesia in June, was one of several suspected targets of Indonesian militants captured in police raids recently, an expert on militants said on Friday.

SNIPPET: "This past Sunday, six terrorists were captured in Medan, North Sumatra province, by Indonesia's counter-terrorist unit, Special Detachment 88. All were thought to be linked to a paramilitary camp in Aceh that was raided in February and two of them, Pandu Wicaksono Widyan Putro and Bayu Sena, were said to be tied to the twin hotel bombings in Jakarta last July." SNIPPET: "Special Detachment 88 will likely continue its raids in and around Aceh to round up those camp members that have thus far evaded the police dragnet."

(IsraelNN.com) The world is against Israel because of its own moral weakness and not because of alleged human rights violations, according to Rabbi Yaakov Medan, rabbi of Har Etzion Yeshiva, located in Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem. “Islam is strong, and it is convenient for people to go with strength,” the rabbi explained in an interview with Arutz-7. He added that the world’s preoccupation with individual rights, as well as the infiltration of Western culture into Israel, are “illnesses” that have led to “an erosion of obligations to the country and of the significance of Israel as a nation.”

MEDAN, Indonesia, Sept 5 (Reuters) - At least 100 people are feared dead after a Boeing 737-200 crashed in the centre of Indonesia's third biggest city on Monday just after takeoff, breaking into pieces and setting fire to homes and cars. The plane, operated by local carrier Mandala Airlines, had 112 passengers and five crew on board, said Asril Tanjung, the airline's director. The cause of the crash in Medan city was being investigated, but foul play was highly unlikely, he said. The plane slammed into the heart of Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province, sparking widespread panic, witnesses...

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) An Indonesian jetliner has crashed in a residential neighborhood in Medan, the largest city on Sumatra island.

A web page viewed by The Associated Press offers chilling instructions of how to attack a U.S. Embassy with a rocket launcher or suicide bomb and includes a partial diagram of the facility including the ambassador's office. It wasn't clear when the instructions were posted but their discovery came a day after the United States closed all of its diplomatic facilities in Indonesia until further notice, citing a security threat which it did not specify. In an e-mailed statement, diplomats said the embassy would be closed along with the consulates in Surabaya, Medan and the island of Bali. Other...

Time is GMT + 8 hours Posted: 11 January 2005 2025 hrs Thousands of Acehnese flee to Medan, concerns mount of overcrowding By Channel NewsAsia's Sujadi Siswo in Medan MEDAN : The North Sumatran capital of Medan has once again become the city of refuge for thousands of fleeing Acehnese. For the past 30 years, villagers fleeing the political conflict in Aceh have fled to Medan. It is no different now, since the tsunami struck. When the tsunami struck, Madam Rosme and husband took refuge in the Banda Aceh central mosque. Their first plan was to fly to Medan, where...

SURVIVOR: Third high seas rescue of survivor KLANG, Jan 10:A bizarre variety of flotsam helped a 22-year-old Indonesian survive adrift for 15 days after the deadly tsunami struck the region on Dec 26. Ari Afrizal was finally rescued by the Liberian-registered container ship MV Al Yamamah about noon yesterday some 320km off the western coast of Sumatra, and arrived safely at Westport in Klang about 11.45pm. He had been found floating in a fishing raft about 10 metres long. It was his third "lifeboat". Ari, from Desa Kabong in Krueng, Sabee, Aceh Jaya, had been working on a house in...