Pope Francis calls for climate action during visit to Southeast Asia’s largest mosque

Special Pope Francis and Grand Imam of Istiqlal Mosque Nasaruddin Umar pose for a photo following an inter-religious gathering at the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Sept. 5, 2024. (AFP)
Pope Francis and Grand Imam of Istiqlal Mosque Nasaruddin Umar pose for a photo following an inter-religious gathering at the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Sept. 5, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 05 September 2024
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Pope Francis calls for climate action during visit to Southeast Asia’s largest mosque

Pope Francis and Grand Imam of Istiqlal Mosque Nasaruddin Umar pose for a photo following an inter-religious gathering.
  • Francis is the first pontiff to visit Indonesia in 35 years, after Pope John Paul II in 1989
  • Papal visit concludes on Thursday with Mass for about 70,000 people in Jakarta

JAKARTA: Pope Francis and Indonesia’s religious leaders called for joint international action to address climate change and global conflicts on Thursday, as the pontiff visited the largest mosque in Southeast Asia. 

Francis, who is in Indonesia on the first part of his four-nation tour of Asia, was at Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta with representatives of Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Catholicism and Protestantism. 

The pope and the mosque’s Grand Imam, Nasaruddin Umar, signed “The Istiqlal Declaration,” a joint call highlighting “two serious crises” in the world: dehumanization and climate change.

“Religious values should be directed toward promoting a culture of respect, dignity, compassion, reconciliation and fraternal solidarity in order to overcome both dehumanization and environmental destruction,” the declaration read. 

Indonesia’s other religious representatives were present at the ceremony, but did not co-sign the document, though they are listed as having “accompanied” it by organizers. 

The declaration ended with a call for “decisive action” to protect the environment and its resources, adding that human exploitation was to blame for the climate crisis. 

“By adhering to (the declaration),we take on the responsibility to address the serious and sometimes dramatic crises that threaten the future of humanity such as wars and conflicts … and the environmental crisis, which is an obstacle to the growth and coexistence of peoples,” Francis said. 

The pope’s visit to Istiqlal was rich with symbolic meaning. Shortly after arriving, he and Umar stood at the ground-level entrance of the “Tunnel of Friendship,” an underground tunnel that connects the mosque compound with the neighboring Catholic cathedral.

Umar said that the mosque, which was designed by Christian architect Friedrich Silaban, was “not just a house of worship for Muslims, but also a great house for humanity.” 

Indonesia is home to the world’s biggest population of Muslims, with around 87 percent of its 270 million people professing Islam, while its Catholic community comprises about 3 percent. 

“Istiqlal Mosque has always called for tolerance and religious moderation,” said Bukhori Sail Attahiry, the mosque’s head of worship. 

“This is not merely about the visit of Pope Francis, as the visit also carries a lot of deeper meaning on how we build our religious life here in Indonesia. My hope is that this gathering will be able to inspire Indonesians and people across the globe that a harmonious coexistence must be nurtured and fought for, so that we can respect and understand each other.”

Francis’ visit to Indonesia concludes later on Thursday with a Mass in Jakarta’s main stadium that is expected to draw about 70,000 people. 

Anastasya, a 25-year-old Indonesian Catholic, was among those who waited to catch a glimpse of the pope in front of Istiqlal early on Thursday, as she did not have a ticket to attend the stadium celebration. 

“I’m very excited because the pope’s visit may be a once-in-a-lifetime event for us here in Indonesia,” she told Arab News. 

Francis is the first pope to visit Indonesia in 35 years. The last pontiff to visit the country was Pope John Paul II in 1989, after Pope Paul VI in 1970. 

On Friday, Francis heads to Papua New Guinea on the second leg of his Asia trip, which will also cover East Timor and Singapore. 


Indonesia’s Supreme Court reverses acquittal of former official in slavery case

Indonesia’s Supreme Court reverses acquittal of former official in slavery case
Updated 26 November 2024
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Indonesia’s Supreme Court reverses acquittal of former official in slavery case

Indonesia’s Supreme Court reverses acquittal of former official in slavery case
  • A police investigation found 665 people had been held in cells on his property since 2010

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s Supreme Court jailed a former government official accused of human trafficking for four years, reversing a lower court decision to acquit him after people were found in cages in his palm oil plantation.
Condemned internationally and at home, the senior official in the provincial government in North Sumatra, Terbit Rencana Perangin-angin, had been accused of human trafficking, torture, forced labor, and slavery.
Prosecutors launched an appeal after a lower court acquitted him of the charges in July.
Indonesia’s Supreme Court said he would serve four years in jail, without specifying reasons, in a ruling dated Nov. 15 and seen on the court’s website on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court and prosecutors did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Reuters has sought comment from Terbit’s lawyer.
The macabre case came to light in 2022, when a police corruption investigation into Terbit found people detained in cages on his property, drawing condemnation from rights groups.
A police investigation found 665 people had been held in cells on his property since 2010, court documents showed.
Terbit, who was jailed for nine years for corruption in 2022, had previously claimed the detained individuals were participating in a drug rehabilitation program.
Prosecutors said they had been tortured and forced to work on his plantation. Six had died in captivity, Indonesia’s rights body found.


Four Pakistan security forces killed as ex-PM Khan supporters flood capital

Four Pakistan security forces killed as ex-PM Khan supporters flood capital
Updated 26 November 2024
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Four Pakistan security forces killed as ex-PM Khan supporters flood capital

Four Pakistan security forces killed as ex-PM Khan supporters flood capital

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani protesters demanding the release of ex-prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday killed four members of the nation’s security forces, the government said, as the crowds defied police and closed in on the capital’s center.
More than ten thousand protesters armed with sticks and slingshots took on police in central Islamabad on Tuesday afternoon, AFP journalists saw, less than three kilometers (two miles) from the government enclave they aim to occupy.
Khan was barred from standing in February elections that were marred by allegations of rigging, sidelined by dozens of legal cases that he claims were confected to prevent his comeback.
But his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has defied a government crackdown with regular rallies. Tuesday’s is the largest in the capital since Khan was jailed in August 2023.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said “miscreants” involved in the march had killed four members of the paramilitary Rangers force on a city highway leading toward the government sector.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the men had been “run over by a vehicle.”
“These disruptive elements do not seek revolution but bloodshed,” he said in a statement. “This is not a peaceful protest, it is extremism.”
The government said Monday that one police officer had also been killed and nine more were critically wounded by demonstrators who set out toward Islamabad on Sunday.


The capital has been locked down since late Saturday, with mobile Internet sporadically cut and more than 20,000 police flooding the streets, many armed with riot shields and batons.
The government has accused protesters of attempting to derail a state visit by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who arrived for a three-day visit on Monday.
Last week, the Islamabad city administration announced a two-month ban on public gatherings.
But PTI convoys traveled from their power base in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the most populous province of Punjab, hauling aside roadblocks of stacked shipping containers.
“We are deeply frustrated with the government, they do not know how to function,” 56-year-old protester Kalat Khan told AFP on Monday. “The treatment we are receiving is unjust and cruel.”
The government cited “security concerns” for the mobile Internet outages, while Islamabad’s schools and universities were also ordered shut on Monday and Tuesday.
“Those who will come here will be arrested,” Interior Minister Naqvi told reporters late Monday at D-Chowk, the public square outside Islamabad’s government buildings that PTI aims to occupy.
PTI’s chief demand is the release of Khan, the 72-year-old charismatic former cricket star who served as premier from 2018 to 2022 and is the lodestar of their party.
They are also protesting alleged tampering in the February polls and a recent government-backed constitutional amendment giving it more power over the courts, where Khan is tangled in dozens of cases.


Sharif’s government has come under increasing criticism for deploying heavy-handed measures to quash PTI’s protests.
“It speaks of a siege mentality on the part of the government and establishment — a state in which they see themselves in constant danger and fearful all the time of being overwhelmed by opponents,” read one opinion piece in the English-language Dawn newspaper published Monday.
“This urges them to take strong-arm measures, not occasionally but incessantly.”
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said “blocking access to the capital, with motorway and highway closures across Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has effectively penalized ordinary citizens.”
The US State Department appealed for protesters to refrain from violence, while also urging authorities to “respect human rights and fundamental freedoms and to ensure respect for Pakistan’s laws and constitution as they work to maintain law and order.”
Khan was ousted by a no-confidence vote after falling out with the kingmaking military establishment, which analysts say engineers the rise and fall of Pakistan’s politicians.
But as opposition leader, he led an unprecedented campaign of defiance, with PTI street protests boiling over into unrest that the government cited as the reason for its crackdown.
PTI won more seats than any other party in this year’s election but a coalition of parties considered more pliable to military influence shut them out of power.


Russia’s Medvedev warns West over discussing nuclear weapons for Ukraine

Russia’s Medvedev warns West over discussing nuclear weapons for Ukraine
Updated 26 November 2024
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Russia’s Medvedev warns West over discussing nuclear weapons for Ukraine

Russia’s Medvedev warns West over discussing nuclear weapons for Ukraine

MOSCOW: Senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday that if the West supplied nuclear weapons to Ukraine then Moscow could consider such a transfer to be tantamount to an attack on Russia, providing grounds for a nuclear response.
The New York Times reported last week that some unidentified Western officials had suggested that US President Joe Biden could give Ukraine nuclear weapons, though there were fears such a step would have serious implications.
“American politicians and journalists are seriously discussing the consequences of the transfer of nuclear weapons to Kyiv,” Medvedev, who served as Russia’s president from 2008 to 2012, said on Telegram.
Medvedev said that even the threat of such a transfer of nuclear weapons could be considered as preparation for a nuclear war against Russia.
“The actual transfer of such weapons can be equated to the fait accompli of an attack on our country,” under Russia’s newly updated nuclear doctrine, he said.


China sends naval, air forces to shadow US plane over Taiwan Strait

China sends naval, air forces to shadow US plane over Taiwan Strait
Updated 26 November 2024
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China sends naval, air forces to shadow US plane over Taiwan Strait

China sends naval, air forces to shadow US plane over Taiwan Strait
  • The US Navy’s 7th fleet said a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft had flown through the strait

BEIJING: China’s military said on Tuesday it deployed naval and air forces to monitor and warn a US Navy patrol aircraft that flew through the sensitive Taiwan Strait, denouncing the United States for trying to “mislead” the international community.
Around once a month, US military ships or aircraft pass through or above the waterway that separates democratically governed Taiwan from China — missions that always anger Beijing.
China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and says it has jurisdiction over the strait. Taiwan and the United States dispute that, saying the strait is an international waterway.
The US Navy’s 7th fleet said a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft had flown through the strait “in international airspace,” adding that the flight demonstrated the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.
“By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations,” it said in a statement.
China’s military criticized the flight as “public hype,” adding that it monitored the US aircraft throughout its transit and “effectively” responded to the situation.
“The relevant remarks by the US distort legal principles, confuse public opinion and mislead international perceptions,” the military’s Eastern Theatre Command said in a statement.
“We urge the US side to stop distorting and hyping up and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability.”
In April, China’s military said it sent fighter jets to monitor and warn a US Navy Poseidon in the Taiwan Strait, a mission that took place just hours after a call between the Chinese and US defense chiefs. (Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Additional reporting and writing by Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)


Ukraine says Russia launched ‘record’ 188 drones overnight

Ukraine says Russia launched ‘record’ 188 drones overnight
Updated 26 November 2024
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Ukraine says Russia launched ‘record’ 188 drones overnight

Ukraine says Russia launched ‘record’ 188 drones overnight

KYIV: Russia staged a record number of drone attacks overnight over Ukraine, damaging buildings and “critical infrastructure” in several regions, the air force said Tuesday.
“During the night attack, the enemy launched a record number of Shahed strike unmanned aerial vehicles and unidentified drones,” the air force said, referring to Iranian-designed drones and putting the figure at 188.