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TWO body bags were seen being taken from a suspected hideout of terror suspect Noordin Top in Indonesia after a raid by police special forces. He was killed during a raid on his hideout, local television reported. The television station did not disclose its sources and police have not confirmed the report, which came as ambulances arrived at the suspected hideout following a 17-hour siege involving heavy gunfire and explosions. A witness said that two body bags were taken from the house. Elite police carrying assault rifles entered the house in Central Java after it had been besieged as part...

Besides being the First Sister Maya has a HawaiiaCertification of Live Birth despite be born in Jakarta Indonesia.

Tributes are left for those killed in the hotel attacks Indonesian officials say there are "strong indications" a key wanted fugitive was behind Friday's deadly attacks on two hotels in Jakarta. Noordin Mohamed Top is wanted for plotting the Bali bombings of 2002 and 2005 and other Indonesian attacks. Nine people, including two suicide bombers, died in the attacks on the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott. At least four of Friday's victims are said to be foreigners but have not all been formally identified. See map of area Police in the Indonesian capital are studying DNA and other evidence to...

Jakarta, Indonesia (AP) - Explosive material recovered from the scene of two suicide bombings at hotels in the Indonesian capital is "identical" to that used by the Southeast Asian terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah in earlier attacks, police said. An unexploded bomb left in a room of the J.W. Marriott in Jakarta resembled devices used in attacks on Bali and one found in a recent raid against the network on an Islamic boarding school in Central Java, national police spokesman told a news conference Sunday.

Why is that only CNN is able to immediately bring video footage of internationally occurring events? As usual Fox News is caught flat-footed and keep running their regular programs.

Jakarta bombers may have been guests at Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, police say Michel Maas in Jakarta and Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia Editor Suicide bombers posing as hotel guests are believed to have been responsible for the explosions in two hotels that killed at least eight people in Jakarta yesterday and wounded more than 50, in the first such attack in Indonesia for almost four years. Bleeding victims, some of them foreign businessmen who, moments earlier, had been engaged in breakfast meetings, limped or crawled out of the JW Marriott hotel and the neighbouring Ritz-Carlton in Jakarta’s Mega Kuningan business...

U.S. intelligence officials were caught "off-guard" by the Friday terror attacks against two U.S.-based hotels in Jakarta, Indonesia. A senior U.S. official told ABC News the attacks came as a "surprise." A second U.S. counter-terrorism official said the CIA and other intelligence agencies had given no indication to the White House of "any threat reporting in the last 18 months" involving the Indonesian al Qaeda affiliate, Jemaah Islamiyah. "Any suggestion that the CIA has not taken the JI threat seriously in recent years is wrong," said a CIA spokesman. "No one from the CIA has ever said that this terrorist...

Six months into US President Barack Obama’s tenure, his administration has indicated an interest to enter into a “comprehensive partnership” with Indonesia, forge better relations with the Muslim world and reassert America’s commitment to Southeast Asia. The policies — all relevant to Indonesia — appear worthwhile enough, but the Obama administration’s self-adulation in pursuing them is not. No one is surprised that Obama, the son of a Muslim man from Kenya, wishes to make a concerted effort to reach out to the Muslim world. In Cairo on June 4, 2009, he condemned “some” in the United States who view Islam...

Captured on camera: The moment suicide bomber blew himself up in luxury Indonesian hotel killing eight DAVID WILLIAMS 17th July 2009 Terror group Jemmiah Islamiah blamed for first terror attack in Indonesia in four years CCTV images emerge of one of bombers planting explosive device inside hotel These are the last seconds in the life of one of the two suicide bombers today brought death and carnage to two luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta. Captured on CCTV in the reception of the five-star Ritz Carlton hotel, the man in a baseball cap pulls a small wheelie-bag behind him...

Here is Security Video from inside the Jakarta, Indonesia Marriott Hotel showing the terrorist bomb explosion there yesterday. A bomb also exploded across the street at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. At least 8 people were killed in the explosions, believed to be terrorist suicide bombings. . . . . . (Watch Video)

Here is video of the head of security for the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta talking to CNN about the deadly hotel blasts that have killed either eight or nine people, depending on the report you hear. The Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton were both hit by what appears to be terrorist suicide bombers. Indonesian President Bambang Yudhoyono condemned the attacks . . . . Indonesia is the most populous Muslim nation in the world. Jemaah Islamiyah is a radical Islamic network that has been tied to Al-Qaeda. They were behind the Bali bombings - two blasts - that killed 202 people...

At least four people have been killed in two separate explosions at luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, say reports. The country's Metro TV reported that one blast hit the Ritz-Carlton and the other, the Marriott Hotel. Television footage showed the facade of one of the hotels had been torn off by the blast. The BBC's Karishma Vaswani, outside the Marriott, said ambulances are present and security is extremely tight. South Jakarta police Col Firman Bundi said the four who died were foreigners, reported AP. "There were explosions heard from two separate places, one the JW Marriott, the other...

Explosions have hit two luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, say police reports. The country's Metro TV reported that one blast was heard and felt at the Ritz-Carlton and another hit the Marriott Hotel. At least three people were injured in the Marriott blast, the Associated Press quoted police as saying. One witness told Reuters some windows on the lowers floors of the Ritz-Carlton hotel had been shattered.

UPDATE 1 10:52 pm cst: CNN now reporting at least two Americans being treated at hospitals; may be more American casualties. Here is video from the scene of two hotel bombings in Jakarta, Indonesia, where bombs have gone off at the Ritz-Carlton and the Marriott Hotels in Indonesia's Capital City. As of 10:44 PM CST, reports say 9 people are dead, and 50 wounded. Those totals are expected to rise. . . . . . (Watch Video)Indonesia is the largest Muslim nation in the world, with the population being more than 90% Islamic. Jemaah Islamiyah is a radical Islamic group...

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Bombs have exploded at the Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels in the Indonesian capital on Friday, ripping the facade off the Ritz. Police say at least four people are injured. Debris and shattered glass littered the street outside the neighboring hotels in an upscale Jakarta neighborhood. Ambulances were being shuttled into the area. A man jogging by the hotels said he first heard a loud explosion at the Marriott. Five minutes later, a bomb followed at the Ritz. Alex Asmasubrata said he saw four bodies inside the Marriott. One had its stomach blown out. An Associated Press reporter...

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Three militants awaiting execution for the 2002 Bali bombings plan to challenge the legality of death by firing squad, but it was unclear if the move would lead to a last-minute stay, their lawyer said Tuesday. Imam Samudra, one of three militants sentenced to death over the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings. Mahendradatta, who goes by a single name, said he would file a petition next week at the Constitutional Court arguing that convicts who go before a firing squad sometimes do not die immediately, causing unnecessary suffering. "We're seeking an execution without pain," said the lawyer,...

What a bunch of whiners we are! (Part 2) In What a bunch of whiners we are, I reported on some really shameful poll numbers describing an America where people think things are just soooooooo terrible. I tried to get the point across that things are NOT so terrible, and that we should all stop whining. Apparently, America didn't get the message, otherwise Mr. I'll give you hope and change never mind what it will be I said change damn it change wouldn't be riding so high in the polls.So let me say it again. The fact that Jen wasn't...

via translation - ALERT - Death of former Indonesian dictator Suharto JAKARTA - Former President Suharto, who has held an iron fist in Indonesia for 32 years, died Sunday in Jakarta at the age of 86, announced a senior official of the police.

Bloomberg is link only.STORY.

Indonesia plans to make ministers from around the world use bicycles to get about at the U.N. talks on climate change in Bali to help offset the event's carbon emissions... Delegates from nearly 190 countries will gather on the resort island on Monday to launch a concentrated effort to hammer out a new deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol, a pact to curb global warming that expires in 2012. To help offset an estimated 47,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide expected to be emitted during the 12-day event... "We want people to leave their cars at the main gate and switch...