Veiled Women Nabbed in $12.5M Jakarta Drug Bust

Lynx ad is a 'sin,' argue London pair

(NEWSER) - Two Muslim teenagers have been busted for spraying black burkas on images of hot women in ads. They told a judge in their recent London court appearance that it's a "sin" for women to dress provocatively, and that they were "just trying to do good," reports the Daily Mail. They painted over a gigantic-bosomed "angel" on a Lynx deodorant ad, and defaced a poster for Nicolas Cage's new film Drive Angry, among others. They gave "full and frank" confessions when they were nabbed after members of the public phoned police. They admitted to six counts of criminal damage, and were fined $450 each and released on a 12-month conditional discharge. The vandalism occurred just days after British Islamic extremists launched a poster campaign declaring certain areas "enforcement zones" for Sharia. More»

Reminiscing comes in profile about his time in Indonesia

(NEWSER) - Barry Obama was just 6 years old when Ann Dunham decided to take him to war-torn Indonesia, and Sunday’s New York Times Magazine examines the reverberations of that decision. On the surface the answer is simple: She was following her second husband, Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian native who’d been called back to serve in the army. But the article offers a revealing look at Dunham’s life there. Some tidbits:

• The young Barack (then Barry) was subject to constant racial discrimination; once, when other children threw rocks at him, Dunham told a friend, “He’s OK. He’s used to it.”
• When Lolo got a job with a US oil company, Dunham refused to socialize with the wealthy American wives of the other execs. She once complained to a friend that Lolo “was becoming more American every day.”
• One former servant for the couple says that Dunham once emerged from an argument with her husband with a bloody nose—though author Janny Scott notes that no one else even hinted at any abuse in the relationship.

Trip offered opportunities for personal moments

(NEWSER) - President Obama finished off his 10-day Asia trip on a personal note, visiting the Great Buddha statue in Japan that he last saw as a 6-year-old boy. “It is wonderful to return to this great treasure of Japanese culture,” he wrote in the guest book. "Its beauty has stayed with me for many years." The 40-foot, 100-ton statue dates to the 1200s. While there, he had green tea ice cream, just as he did when he was a child, Politico reports. More»

America is not at war with Islam, president tells Jakarta audience

(NEWSER) - President Obama called for a fresh beginning with the Muslim world in a speech in Jakarta today. Obama, revisiting the nation where he lived for four years as a boy, praised Indonesia for fighting terrorism and called for both the US and the Islamic world to overcome "suspicion and mistrust" to combat extremists. "Let me begin with a simple statement: Indonesia is part of me" he said in the Indonesian language at the start of his 30-minute speech to a mostly young audience at the University of Indonesia. More»

He seems happy about it in video, but not on Twitter

(NEWSER) - Last year, Michelle Obama caused an uproar by touching the queen ; this year, she’s making headlines for shaking hands with the Indonesian information minister. Tifatul Sembiring, a conservative Muslim who makes it a point to avoid touching women not related to him, appears to reach out for the first lady’s hand in video footage of a receiving line that greeted the Obamas upon their arrival in Jakarta today. More»