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...Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called Yudhoyono's address - he is the first Indonesian leader to speak before the Australian parliament in its 109-year history - a "milestone" for bilateral ties. But it was not the only grand gesture exchanged between the neighboring nations during his three-day visit to Australia this week. The Indonesian president was also awarded the Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia, the highest civilian honor in Australia, for encouraging democracy and economic ties between the two countries. (Other recipients of the prize include Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela.) (Read how Yudhoyono is the man behind...
...While the relationship between Indonesia and Australia has improved dramatically since Australia's intervention in East Timor in 1999, even Yudhoyono admitted this week that it's still one of "love-hate." Since the 2002 Bali bombings, Australian travelers to Indonesia now receive a travel warning which Indonesia says promotes an overly negative image of the country. In 2006 several Australian drug smugglers - dubbed the Bali Nine - were sentenced to life imprisonment after being caught planning to smuggle heroin from Bali to Australia. Three are currently on death row in Indonesia. The next year, an Australian coroner ruled that...
...This week's summit, however, was largely dominated by another issue high on Rudd's list of priorities: people smuggling. Indonesia has become a hub for asylum seekers from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan looking to make the perilous journey to Australia by boat. Twenty-three vessels, many piloted by Indonesian fishermen, have been intercepted in Australian waters this year, an increasing number of illegal arrivals that has become a fire-hot domestic issue that could hurt Rudd's popularity during an election year. Yudhoyono announced during his visit that people-smuggling would now be punishable with a five-year sentence...
...issues the neighbors needed to iron out. "There are Australians who still see Indonesia as an authoritarian country or a military dictatorship or as a hotbed of Islamic extremism, or even as an expansionist power," the Indonesian president said in his address. In a latter speech, he tersely criticized Australia's enduring travel warning to Indonesia: "We only know that Indonesia is now one of the top 10 tourist destinations for Australia, in spite of your government's advice against traveling to Indonesia." (See "Asylum Seekers Stuck in Indonesia-Australia Standoff...
...real thing, or a hellameter or hellagram." Sendek started the Facebook group for his inside joke but says he was surprised to see it explode after a reporter from the Sacramento Bee discovered the effort. Since then, Sendek has advocated for his cause on radio shows from Canada to Australia, with articles about his effort appearing on the websites for ABC News, Fox News and the Telegraph. (See the 50 best inventions...