World News Magazine

JAKARTA — A series of jerky, pixelated video clips allegedly showing top Indonesian stars having sex has prompted debate over government efforts to punish and censor immorality in this Muslim-majority country.

Since early June, videos allegedly showing the pop singer Nazril Irham, popularly known as Ariel, having sex with his actress girlfriend, Luna Maya, and a married television presenter, Cut Tari, have spread rapidly across the country via social networking sites, cellphones and pirated DVDs.

Like celebrity sex scandals anywhere, the case has prompted plenty of head-shaking. But this being Indonesia, where laws old and new criminalize acts deemed immoral, those involved in the scandal could suffer more than just embarrassment.

The police have so far questioned at least two celebrities about the videos, and news reports have said that investigators are on the trail of people suspected of distributing the clips online.
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Early this morning under the cover of darkness Israeli soldiers stormed the lead ship of the six-vessel Freedom Flotilla aid convoy in international waters and killed and injured dozens of civilians aboard. All the ships were violently seized by Israeli forces, but hours after the attack fate of the passengers aboard the other ships remained unknown.

The Mavi Marmara was carrying around 600 activists when Israeli warships flanked it from all sides as soldiers descended from helicopters onto the ship’s deck. Reports from people on board the ship backed up by live video feeds broadcast on Turkish TV show that Israeli forces used live ammunition against the civilian passengers, some of whom resisted the attack with sticks and other items.

The Freedom Flotilla was organized by a coalition of groups that sought to break the Israeli-led siege on the Gaza Strip that began in 2007. Together, the flotilla carried 700 civilian activists from around 50 countries and over 10,000 tons of aid including food, medicines, medical equipment, reconstruction materials and equipment, as well as various other necessities arbitrarily banned by Israel.
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JAKARTA, Indonesia – Former Indonesian first lady Hasri Ainun Habibie died Saturday of cervical cancer at a German hospital. She was 72. Family spokesman Ahmad Watik Pratiknya said she died Saturday at a Munich hospital, where she had been treated since March.

“She passed away very peacefully,” Pratiknya told reporters in Jakarta. He said former President B.J. Habibie had been at his wife’s bedside throughout her treatment.  Pratiknya said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had ordered a state funeral for the former first lady, whose body is expected to be returned to Jakarta on Wednesday.

Hasri Ainun Habibie, a medical doctor, was first lady from 1998 to 1999. Her husband, who had been vice-president, became president after longtime President Suharto was swept from power following a wave of massive, pro-democracy street protests.
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Popularity: 7% [?]