National News

New York Times. JAKARTA — Hiding out with a two-year jail sentence hanging over his head and vigilantes vowing to track him down, the editor of Indonesia’s defunct version of Playboy magazine, Erwin Arnada, insists he was never in the pornography business. The men’s magazine, which began publication in 2006, was relatively tame, and conspicuously…

Jakarta Globe. The number of Internet users in Indonesia is expected to triple by 2015, fueling growth for media companies and phone carriers, according to a study released on Wednesday by Boston Consulting Group. The study found that the total number of Internet users in the so-called BRIC nations — Brazil, Russia, India and China…

Jakarta Globe. The peak of the exodus out of the capital this Ramadan will occur two days before Idul Fitri, the holiday that marks the end of the Islamic holy month, the Jakarta city administration said on Wednesday. Hasbi Hasibuan, the secretary of the Jakarta Transportation Office, said an estimated 2.24 million people this year…

AFP– August 30, 2010- Indonesian authorities have arrested an American man for blasphemy after he pulled the plug on a loudspeaker at a mosque because it woke him up, police said on Monday. Luke Gregory Lloyd, 64, was taken into custody after he disrupted a nightly Koran reading session near his home on Lombok island…

JAKARTA, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) — The number of people forced to be evacuated due to the eruption of a volcano in Sumatra island, Indonesia, may rise to 34,000, spokesman of National Disaster Management Agency Priyadi Kardono said on Monday. On Monday, more than 27,000 people have escaped their homes, he said. The smoke from the…