VOI - Indonesian News

Jakarta, VOI News - A python attacked and killed a junior high school student in the North Sumatra regency of Deli Serdang as he and his school mates were swimming in a river, Antara reported Saturday. Local people ran for a help and used bamboo poles to beat the giant snake as it was trying to swallow M. Zakaria. The seven-meter-long snake released its human prey due to its wounds.

Jakarta, VOI News - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono held a meeting with Muslim cleric Said Agil Siradj at his private residence in Cikeas in the West Java regency of Bogor on Saturday, only a few days before the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) figure contests the chief post at the country’s largest Islamic organization.  Said Agil, one of the front runners in the race for the NU top job to replace Hasyim Muzadi, described his meeting with Yudhoyono as a casual encounter of two long-time friends. They also ate breakfast.

Jakarta, VOI News - Actor and TV presenter Ebet Kadarusman died on Saturday morning after going into a coma earlier this week. He was 75. Ebet went into a coma Wednesday during his treatment for stroke at Hasan Sadikin Hospital in Bandung, West Java. “He has been in critical condition since last night. The family take his death wholeheartedly because this is the best for Kang Ebet,” Nike Mariani, Ebet's niece, said Saturday as reported by kompas.com.

Jakarta, VOI News - Indonesian conservationists said on Friday they had caught red-handed a 92-year-old man who had admitted to killing dozens of critically endangered Sumatran tigers over a lifetime of hunting. “We caught him Thursday while he was sailing a traditional wooden boat in a river in Kuala Cinaku with evidence of skin, skull and 8.3 kilos of bones from a tiger,” Iwin Kasiwan, from the natural conservation agency in Riau province, Sumatra, said.

Zurich, VOI News - Indonesia was dropped from the race to host the 2022 World Cup on Friday after failing to provide government guarantees to FIFA. “We have informed Indonesia that because they have failed to provide a number of documents and guarantees. Indonesia is not any more a candidate for 2022,” FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said.  There are 11 original candidates which applied to host the tournament in 2018 or 2022.  

Jakarta, VOI News - Women activists claimed Thursday that the 30 percent affirmative action quota for the legislature was not effective since there were no legal sanctions stipulated for political parties failing to adhere to the quota. “To make the quota work properly, political parties which can’t attain the quota have to be banned from the elections,” said Women Research Institute (WRI) researcher, Aisah Putri Budiarti.