Hundreds of people gathered outside the mosque in Banda Aceh to watch the caning, with some spectators holding up cameras. Hundreds of people gathered outside a mosque in Indonesia to see a woman scream out in agony after being caned as a punishment for being in ‘close proximity’ to a man she wasn’t married to. Nur Elita was marched to the yard of Baiturrahumim Mosque in Banda Aceh... 

Facial recognition is the automatic identification of a person from a digital image or a video frame. Churches around the world have started to secretly keep tabs on their congregants with facial recognition software. Around 30 churches from countries such as the US, Indonesia, India, and Portugal have started to use Churchix, a specialized program designed for religious institutions by an American-Israeli... 

Australia has called on Indonesia to better manage its borders, in a harsh rebuke to Jakarta’s demand for answers to allegations that Canberra paid off the crew of a migrant smuggling boat to return the vessel to Indonesian shores. The stinging response on Monday by Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop came after her Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi expressed concern on Saturday that if... 

An Indonesian volcano near an ancient volcano that once nearly destroyed humankind is getting ready to erupt. At the moment, it’s throwing smoke high into the sky. Sinabung volcano in Northern Sumatra, Indonesia, is only 35 kilometers from the Toba volcano whose super-eruption, according to scientists, put mankind on the brink of extinction almost 70,000 years ago by causing a “nuclear winter,”... 

An Indonesian minister has threatened to release a “human tsunami” of 10,000 asylum seekers to Australia amid tensions with PM Tony Abbott’s government over Canberra’s objections to the impending execution of two Aussie drug smugglers. “If Canberra keeps doing things that displease Indonesia, Jakarta will surely let the illegal immigrants go to Australia,” Indonesia’s coordinating minister... 

A screen grab from TV One shows a rescuer evacuates a victim body of AirAsia. Over 40 bodies have been recovered from the missing AirAsia flight, the Indonesian Navy said. Objects resembling parts of the plane, as well as what was thought to be the plane’s outline underwater, were seen in the search area. “There was a man swaying on the waves. After I looked at the photo carefully on my laptop,... 

An AirAsia plane taxis on the tarmac after landing at terminal 1 at Changi international airport in Singapore on December 29, 2014. Indonesia says the Singapore-bound AirAsia plane which went missing with over 160 passengers on board has likely crashed deep into the sea. “Based on the coordinates given to us and evaluation that the estimated crash position is in the sea, the hypothesis is the plane... 

Friends, relatives of passengers await news of AirAsia QZ8501 at Changi Airport. AirAsia flight number QZ8501, bound from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, has lost contact with air traffic control, the airline has confirmed. The missing flight is an Airbus A320-200 with up to 161 people on board. Indonesia air transport authorities have provided details of the plane’s last position. “We... 

Flights across Australia have been affected by a vast ash cloud from a volcanic eruption in neighboring Indonesia. According to reports, the majority of flights in and out of the city of Darwin in northern Australia were cancelled on Saturday due to the volcanic eruption. Hundreds of passengers have been stranded at Darwin International Airport and it is not clear when the flights will resume. Australian... 

Australia has announced plans to buy a fleet of giant US drones to help patrol the nation’s borders, monitoring energy infrastructure and attempts to enter the country illegally. On Thursday, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the Triton Unmanned Aerial Vehicles would be based in the southern city of Adelaide, AFP reported. “These aircraft will patrol Australia’s vast ocean... 

Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison Australian authorities have confirmed for the first time that they are turning boats carrying asylum-seekers back to Indonesia as part of Canberra’s military-led Operation Sovereign Borders crackdown on people-smuggling. “What I have confirmed today is… that any vessel that seeks to illegally enter Australian waters will be intercepted and will... 

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been lauded for defending his country, after drafting a code of behaviour for the hoards of asylum seekers that threatens to deport them for ‘irritating people, disturbing someone or spitting or swearing in public’. Australia’s tough stance over asylum seekers from Indonesia has soured relations between the two countries in recent months and this document... 

Indonesia has recalled its ambassador to Australia after a top-secret document revealed that Australian spy agencies attempted to listen in on the personal phone calls of Indonesia’s president. New revelations by American whistleblower Edward Snowden showed that the Australian spy agencies targeted the mobile phones of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife and senior ministers and confidants. The... 

Twenty-one countries, including US allies France and Mexico, have now joined talks to hammer out a UN resolution that would condemn “indiscriminate” and “extra-territorial” surveillance, and ensure “independent oversight” of electronic monitoring. The news was reported by Foreign Policy magazine, which has also obtained a copy of the draft text. The resolution was proposed earlier this... 

US Secretary of State John Kerry has warned that a prolonged political crisis in Washington would weaken the country at a global level as a political stalemate in the US has forced the federal government shutdown to stretch into its fifth day. “If it were prolonged, or repeated, people would begin to question the willingness of the United States to stay the course and its ability to,”...