A government task force has rescued nearly 2,000 victims of human trafficking across the country over the past month, but this could be “the tip of the iceberg”, an official has said, as more people fall prey to employment scams.

As the standoff between the government and Papuan separatists over the release of New Zealand pilot Philip Merhtens continues, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has urged officials to quickly appoint a negotiator to move the process forward.

The epicenter of the quake was at a depth of 33 km (20.51 miles) on land. 

The Al-Zaytun pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in Indramayu, West Java, has been embroiled in controversy of allegations that the school and its leader Panji Gumilang have been promoting heretical teachings and linked to the breakaway Indonesian Islamic State (NII) movement.

The tremor caused minor damage to hundreds of houses, some offices, health and education facilities scattered in the region of Yogyakarta and Central Java province, the agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari told Reuters Saturday.

Medan District Court in North Sumatra’s provincial capital on Tuesday sentenced Jonni, alias Apin BK, owner of an illegal online gambling ring, to three years’ imprisonment on charges of gambling and money laundering.

The incident happened on Monday at the Gunbuster Nickel Industry (GNI) plant in Morowali, local police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Djoko Wienartono confirmed. The smelter, launched in 2021, is owned by China's Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry and has an annual capacity of 1.8 million tonnes.

The Central Java Police have arrested a 57-year-old man in Banyumas for allegedly sexually abusing one of his daughters for years, leading to multiple pregnancies, and murdering the babies conceived as a result of the incest.

Rescuers have recovered the remains of six people from the site of a SAM Air plane crash in Yalimo regency, Papua Highlands, as authorities focus their efforts on identifying the victims.

Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Penny Williams and mayor of Bogor, West Java, Bima Arya launched on Monday the Australian Reading Corner at the Bogor City Library and Gallery.

The Maritime and Security Agency (Bakamla) launched on Monday the fourth domestically built high-speed patrol vessel, claiming it to be the fastest patrol boat in the country, in Tanjung Uncang waters in Batam, Riau Islands.

Following years of delay, the government has announced that Indonesians can ride the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail (HSR) for free during a trial period starting in August, as authorities are now eyeing an expansion for the project that would extend the line all the way to Surabaya, East Java.

The Medan District Court on Wednesday began the trial of Aditya Hasibuan, the son of a recently dishonorably discharged police officer, on charges of assaulting a university student.

The West Java governor and the Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI) have launched separate investigations into allegations of sacrilegious goings-on at the Islamic boarding school in Indramayu.

A male sperm whale was found dead and stranded on the coast of Seli on Tidore Islands, North Maluku, Monday, with still unknown cause of death.

Conservation officials have spotted a 10-day-old Javan hawk-eagle in Geger Bentang at the Cibodas National Park Management Resort in Cianjur, West Java.

The government has laid out an ambitious plan to revamp the management and facilities of Borobudur temple in Magelang, Central Java, with a primary focus on streamlining bureaucratic red tape that has for years plagued the management of one of the world's greatest Buddhist temples.

North Sumatra Police have named Achiruddin Hasibuan, a recently dishonorably discharged police officer, for allegedly accepting protection money from an illegal fuel distributor.

The Central Java Police have arrested 33 people as suspects in 26 human trafficking cases, allegedly sending victims abroad to be employed and promising them high salaries, which have been going on since January.

As the third-largest lake in the country, Poso Lake in Central Sulawesi was once a place of quiet beauty. Located in Tentena city, about 260 kilometers, an eight-hour drive from Palu, the provincial capital, it is surrounded by rice fields, plantations and buffalo grazing grounds.

The Communications and Information Ministry has said it will honor a request from the indigenous Baduy people of Banten to cut off internet service in their core villages, as the community seeks to prevent the online world from having a "negative impact" on its youth.

The inner group asked authorities to shut down internet reception or divert nearby telecom towers so the signal would not reach them.

The volcanic island emerged from the sea at the beginning of the last century from the crater formed after the 1883 eruption of Mount Krakatau -- one of the deadliest and most destructive in history.

The "Dana Desa" village fund introduced by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo in 2015 and valued at $4.7 billion this year has long been criticised as prone to corruption. Nowhere is the oversight of the scheme more challenging than in Papua's remote highlands.

The Denpasar District Court in Bali sentenced on Thursday Brazilian national Manuela Vitoria De Araujo Farias to 11 years’ imprisonment for bringing drugs into Bali. The sentence was lighter than the 12 years demanded by prosecutors.

Six contractors in Medan, North Sumatra, have started returning the money they had received for a street-lighting project worth Rp 21 billion (US$1.41 million), which was declared a failure by Mayor Bobby Nasution last month.

The Lampung Police also arrested four suspected traffickers, and said the ongoing investigation was looking into whether the officer who owned the house was directly involved.

The Medan Court in North Sumatra on Tuesday sentenced Mawardi, a 24-year-old man from Gayo Lues, Aceh, to death after being proven guilty of carrying 1.3 tons of marijuana, fulfilling the demand of the prosecutors.

The quake was at a depth of 40 km (24.85 miles), EMSC said.

Bodhi Mani Risby-Jones, 23, from Noosa in southern Queensland was facing five years in prison after attacking several people in April on the surf island of Simeulue.