AP
Smoke billows from a British-made BAe 146 cargo plane that caught fire while being unloaded at the airport in Wamena, in Indonesia's Papua province, on May 8, 2013. An official said that the plane caught fire after an oil drum fell from the aircraft and somehow sparked the fire.
-- The Associated Press
AP
Sonny Tumbelaka / AFP - Getty Images
A section of a Lion Air Boeing 737 is removed from the seaa four days after it crashed while trying to land at Bali's international airport near Denpasar on Wednesday. The pilot and co-pilot of a Lion Air plane that crashed at Bali's airport have passed initial drug tests, an official said on April 15, as investigators probe the causes of the accident that left dozens injured but no fatalities.
Made Nagi / EPA
Indonesian millitary partially remove the crashed Lion Air plane from the sea near the coastline of Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali, Indonesia. A Lion Air jetliner was forced into an emergency landing near the coastline off Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport on 13 April, after it skidded off the runway. There were 108 people on board the Boeing 737 800 NG plane, which had been coming in for a 3:35 pm (0735 GMT) landing. All passengers were safely evacuated. Forty-five were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment of minor injuries.
Sonny Tumbelaka / AFP - Getty Images
Indonesian rescue workers use a crane to remove a section of a Lion Air Boeing 737 from the sea.
Made Nagi / EPA
An investigation team from Boeing investigate the wreck of the crashed Lion Air plane as its partially removed from the sea near the coastline of Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport.
Agung Kuncahya B / Xinhua via Zuma Press
Indonesian women wearing high-heel shoes compete during Fun With Your Heels race in Jakarta, April 14. Runners were required to wear 2.75-inch high-heel shoes during the race.
EPA
Mount Lokon spews volcanic ash more than a mile into the air as it erupts in Tomohon, North Sulawesi province, Indonesia March 25. Residents were advised to keep a safe distance after the early morning eruption. Indonesia has about 500 volcanoes, 128 of them classified as active and 65 listed as dangerous. Mount Lokon has been erupting since July 2011, including just a few days ago.
Heri Juanda / AP
People on motorcycles flee after a strong earthquake hit in Aceh, Indonesia, on Jan. 22, 2013. A strong, shallow earthquake rocked parts of western Indonesia early Tuesday, killing a 9-year-old girl, panicking residents and ruining homes. Several other people were injured.
-- The Associated Press
Adi Weda / EPA
A young girl is rescued from flooding in Jakarta, Indonesia, Jan. 18.
Tatan Syuflana / AP
An Indonesian man grabs wires to keep from being swept away by flood water in Jakarta, Jan. 18.
Adi Weda / EPA
People wade through floodwater in Jakarta, Indonesia, Jan. 18.
Adi Weda / EPA
Rescuers evacuate a baby from a flood area in Jakarta, Jan. 18.
Supri / Reuters
Residents push a car in through high water in west Jakarta Jan. 18.
Waters were receding in some parts of Jakarta after widespread floods, as authorities worked to repair a dike that collapsed. Tens of thousands remained affected by the waters and rescue personnel deployed boats and rafts to evacuate people trapped. More monsoon rains were expected for Friday and Saturday raising the possibility of fresh flooding. Full story
Enny Nuraheni / Reuters
Women react as they flee from a flooded area in Jakarta, Indonesia on Jan. 17, 2013.
Supri / Reuters
A man carries his son across a flooded area in the business district of Jakarta on Jan. 17, 2013.
Dudi Anung / Indonesian Presidential Palace via EPA
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (2nd left) and his Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa (left) inspecting the Presidential Palace after it was flooded in Jakarta on Jan. 17, 2013, hours before Bambang was due to welcome visiting Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
Reuters reports — Heavy monsoonal rains triggered severe flooding in large swathes of the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Thursday, with many government offices and businesses forced to closed because staff could not get to work.
Weather officials warned the rains could get worse over the next few days and media reports said that thousands of people in Jakarta and its satellite cities had been forced to leave their homes because of the torrential downpours this week. Read the full story.
Enny Nuraheni / Reuters
Rescue workers evacuate residents from a flooded area in Jakarta on Jan. 17, 2013.
Achmad Ibrahim / AP
Streets are flooded in Jakarta on Jan. 17, 2013. Floods regularly hit parts of Jakarta in the rainy season, but the inundation following an intense rain storm was especially widespread.
Adek Berry / AFP - Getty Images
A driver and scooter are transported through a flooded street in Jakarta on Jan. 16, 2013.
Heavy monsoon rains have submerged Indonesia's capital of Jakarta forcing more than 20,000 residents to flee their homes. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
Heri Juanda / AP
A woman is seen through an opening on a wall as she attends a prayer commemorating the 8th anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia, on Dec. 26.
Heri Juanda / AP
Women weep during a prayer commemorating the 8th anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia, on Dec. 26.
Today marks the 8th anniversary of the Dec. 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The disaster, triggered by a magnitude-9.3 earthquake off Sumatra, killed an estimated 230,000 people in 13 countries along the Indian Ocean.
-- European Pressphoto Agency
Arun Sankar K. / AP
Indians perform rituals and offer milk on Marina beach, a location hit by the 2004 tsunami, in Chennai, India, on Dec. 26, 2012.
Hotli Simanjuntak / EPA
Children play amid the ruins of houses destroyed by the tsunami in Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia, on Dec. 26.
Previously on PhotoBlog:
Jacob J. Kirk / AP
More than 230,000 people were killed with a tsunami erupted in the Indian Ocean on Dec. 26, 2004. The impact of the disaster was felt in many Asian and African nations.
Shariah policemen speak to a student who was caught playing games in an Internet cafe during school hours in Banda Aceh, in Indonesia's Aceh province. The boy was given a morality lecture and forced onto a shariah patrol truck to be taken back to school, where he faced humiliation from other students and teachers.
Female members of the Wilayatul Hisbah shariah police get instructions from a commander before going on patrol in Banda Aceh.
Photos and text by Damir Sagolj, Reuters — Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation, but nowhere is the faith more strictly interpreted than in Aceh, sometimes referred to as the "verandah of Mecca" because it was one of the first parts of the archipelago to turn to Islam.
Aceh, which was hit by a tsunami in 2004 that killed an estimated 130,000 in the province, is Indonesia's only district to have implemented shariah, or Islamic law. This is something that occurred for complicated reasons, some of which go well beyond the religion itself and have more to do with Acehnese tradition, the long struggle for independence and conflict with outside forces, Jakarta included.
Hard-line Indonesian police shave punks' mohawks in 'moral rehab' drive
Formed to implement shariah law, Wilayatul Hisbah, which is the official name for the shariah police, is spread across the province working in small units, patrolling and conducting occasional raids. The units are made up of different kinds of people – some of them claim to be on a mission, others just needed a job.
The set of laws in force in Aceh is just a smaller part of what would be full shariah implementation, covering all levels of society. At present, the shariah package in Aceh targets only those violating the Muslim dress code, illicit behavior, drinking and gambling.
Shariah punishment for Indonesia coffee shop gambler
Dating can be particularly hazardous — under shariah, it is a crime for an unmarried man and woman who are not related by blood to associate in an "isolated place." As a consequence, it has become increasingly popular for young couples to get to know each other using social networks like Facebook. Read more at Reuters' Photographers Blog.
A shariah policeman shows dominoes found in the bag of a boy who ran away after a patrol spotted him and a friend during school hours in Banda Aceh. The dominoes were thrown in the mud and police continued their patrol after unsuccessfully chasing the boys.
A young couple chat in the shade on a beach near Banda Aceh. Under shariah, it is a crime for an unmarried man and woman who are not related by blood to associate in an "isolated place."
Members of the Wilayatul Hisbah speak to a young couple after they were caught sitting too close to each other in an isolated place in Banda Aceh.
Winda Wahyuni kisses the hand of her husband, Ahmad Yasir Saputra, after they got married in a mosque in Banda Aceh. Winda and Ahmad Yasir, who met a year ago on Facebook, married in a religious ceremony in a local mosque. Dating on social networks has become increasingly popular in Aceh due to the restrictions that shariah places on unmarried men and women.
Winda Wahyuni, center, and husband Ahmad Yasir Saputra, left, pray during their wedding ceremony in a mosque in Banda Aceh.
A man is seen from inside a house in Banda Aceh that was destroyed in the 2004 tsunami. Some residents near the sea believe the tsunami that killed an estimated 130,000 people in Aceh province was a punishment from God for those who broke Islamic laws, and they fear it might happen again.
Boys and girls meet at a cultural event in Banda Aceh.
Muslim worshippers gather for an evening collective prayer outside a mosque in Banda Aceh.
Acehnese Protestants attend an early Christmas mass in their church in Banda Aceh. Although it is complicated to build a new Christian church in the predominantly Muslim province, Father Amrin Sihotang of HKBP Protestant church said his community has no problems with strict Islamic laws as long "as we follow the rules."
Young people relax at Ulhee Ilhue beach in Banda Aceh. The gates of the beach close every day at 6 p.m. to prevent people violating Islamic law. Asked about shariah police who often patrol the beach looking for violators, one of the youngsters said, "I don't like them. They simply disturb me."
Female members of the Wilayatul Hisbah enter a public park as they search for those violating shariah law during their patrol in Banda Aceh.
A female member of the Wilayatul Hisbah insists on inspecting the clothes of girls relaxing in a park in Banda Aceh.
Members of a punk band named Trotoar Chaos are shown in Banda Aceh. Although they say they have been punished and had their hair shaved in the past by police, the young musicians remain defiant and insist they will stay in Aceh. One of them commented on a 2011 incident in which he was punished after being caught among 65 other punks at a concert: "There is a big change after that. Now I want to fight more."
A member of the Wilayatul Hisbah tells a man he should stop eating his lunch and go to the mosque just before Friday prayers in Banda Aceh. Besides patrolling with their male colleagues every day looking for those who violate shariah, female police officers drive through the town just before Friday prayers urging businesses to close and demanding that men go to pray.
A Muslim family enjoys nice weather on a beach in Banda Aceh.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Images taken between Dec. 6 and Dec. 11, 2012, and made available to NBC News today.
Reuters
Mount Lokon spews volcanic ash during an eruption in Tomohon in Indonesia's North Sulawesi province on December 17, 2012.
Mount Lokon, which has erupted 800 times since July, spewed hot lava and volcanic ash as high as 10,000 feet on Monday, according to an Indonesian government official. -- Reuters
See more images of volcanic activity in Indonesia on PhotoBlog
Mahesh Kumar A / AP
A shopkeeper shows a wall clock to a customer at 12 hours 12 minutes on 12-12-12 at a shop in Hyderabad, India, Dec. 12, 2012.
Joe Raedle / Getty Images
People participate in a 12-12-12 ceremony with crystal skulls at Miami Circle, formerly a Tequesta Indian site, in Miami, Fla., Dec. 12, 2012.
Ulet Ifansasti / Getty Images
Brides and grooms exchange rings during a mass wedding ceremony in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Dec. 12. Twelve couples participated in the mass wedding globe to mark the once in a century date of 12-12-12.
Rajesh Kumar Singh / AP
A pediatrician checks babies born on 12-12-12 at a hospital in Allahabad, India, Dec. 12. The day, seen as auspicious by astrologers, saw an influx of mothers to hospitals looking to give birth that day, local media reported.
From Hong Kong to Las Vegas, couples are lining up to get married, but the date is even more special for Alabama boy Kiam Moriya, who turns 12 on this 12/12/12 at exactly 12:12 p.m. He's even got the birth certificate to prove it. NBC's Natalie Morales reports.
Beawiharta / Reuters
Students walk across a new bridge as they cross a river to get to school at Sanghiang Tanjung village in Lebak regency, Indonesia's Banten village on November 29, 2012.
Children in Indonesia are taking a perilous route to school using a broken suspension bridge. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.
A perilous daily journey undertaken by a group of Indonesian schoolchildren just got a whole lot easier.
In January, PhotoBlog reported on the dangerous river crossing the children faced after a bridge collapsed. Ten months on, Reuters reports that a new bridge has opened.
Epi Sopian, the head of Sanghiang Tanjung village, said the bridge had been built with the assistance of non-governmental organizations and the country's largest steel producer, PT Krakatau Steel.
Related content:
Beawiharta / Reuters
Then and now: A combination photo shows children crossing the old collapsed bridge (top) on January 29, 2012, and students using the new bridge (below) on November 29, 2012.
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