Deaths rise in Indonesia mine collapse

Search efforts entered a second day Wednesday for 14 people feared trapped by a mine collapse on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, officials said. The death toll from the collapse — triggered by a methane explosion Tuesday afternoon — climbed to 28 Wednesday, said Rustam Pakaya, head of crisis management for the Indonesian health ministry. It was unclear whether the 14 people feared trapped were still alive

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Clerics: We don’t want to ban Facebook, we use it

Indonesian Islamic clerics say they have not called for a ban on popular social networking sites like Facebook, and that they are avid users themselves. According to media reports, the clerics in East Java had banned the faithful from gossiping and flirting on social networking Web sites such as Facebook and Friendster. They also demanded an end to “lewd and pornographic” content, the reports said.

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Death toll in Indonesia plane crash reaches 99

The death toll from the crash of an Indonesian military transport plane this week climbed to 99, the military said Thursday. The Hercules transport plane went down in a residential area in East Java about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday

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Indonesia plane crash kills nearly 100

An Indonesian military transport plane crashed into a residential area in East Java early Wednesday, killing 97 people, military officials said. The death toll might rise, because the Air Force said 112 people were thought to be aboard when the Hercules transport plane crashed about 6:30 a.m. The crash destroyed four homes and killed two people who lived in at least one of the homes, said Suwardi, the village leader of Karas in East Java.

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How the Strait of Malacca Purged Its Pirate Problem

For centuries, the Strait of Malacca has been one of the great thoroughfares of global commerce. In the old days of wood and sail, the 500-mile ribbon of water, which connects the Indian and Pacific oceans between Malaysia and the Indonesian island of Sumatra, carried pricey spices from the islands of the Indies to the eager markets of the West

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