Indonesian Air Force Sparks LGBT Debate, KPK Investigates SetNov’s Lawyer, and More: The VICE Evening Bulletin

Indonesia News

Indonesian Air Force Says LGBT Is a Mental Illness
On its official Twitter account, the Indonesian Air Force wrote that members in the LGBT community are mentally ill, and that’s why they will never be accepted into the Air Force. The LGBT saw a small victory last month when the Constitutional Court rejected a petition to make gay sex and sex outside of marriage illegal. But the LGBT minority is still faced by discrimination, often perpetuated by government officials. —Coconuts

Indonesia Passport Ranks 72nd ‘Most Powerful’ in 2018
This year, Indonesia has moved up seven spots on the Henley Passport Index, an annual ranking of passport power by the citizenship advisory firm. But it’s still behind its neighboring country Singapore, which is the world’s second most powerful passport, just below Germany. —Kompas

KPK to Investigate Setya Novanto’s Lawyer For Obstruction of Justice
The Corruption Eradication Comission (KPK) has obtained an investigation warrant that names Fredrich Yunadi, Setya Novanto’s lawyer and Bimanesh Sutarjo, the doctor who treated the former chairman of the Golkar Party. They will be investigated for alleged obstruction of justice in the e-KTP multi-billion USD graft case. —Tirto

International News

Malaysia Will Pay $70 Million if MH370 Is Found in 90 Days
Malaysia has agreed to pay Ocean Infinity up to $70 million USD if the firm could find the wreckage MH370 or its black boxes within 90 days. The US firm will only be paid if it finds the plane. The search operation will start on January 17. —ChannelNews Asia

In Germany, Insulting Foreign Leaders No Longer a Crime
On January 1, Germany finally scrapped the law that made it illegal for people to insult foreign heads of state. The controversial law was last invoked in 2016, when comedian Jan Böhmermann read a poem criticizing Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdoğan on his television show. —VICE News

Japanese Astronaut Apologizes For Saying He’d Grown Taller In Space
Norishige Kanai, who’s on the 6-month mission to the International Space Station, tweeted on Monday that he had grown 9 centimeters and was worried about fitting into the pod that will take him home. A day later, he retracted his statement and said that he had only grown 2 centimeters. It’s normal for astronauts to gain up to 2 centimeters because their spines grow in the absence of gravity. —The Guardian

South Korea Credits Trump For Talks with North Korea
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said that Donald Trump deserves “big credit” for breaking the ice between the two Koreas for the first time in two years. The talks were held in the South Korean side of the border on Tuesday, and Seoul and Pyongyang agreed to resolved all problems through dialogues. —Reuters

Everything Else

Exactly How Likely Are You To Die Alone?
Motherboard asked a statistician on how likely will people end up dying alone in their house and being discovered not until years after their death. —VICE

Thai PM Leaves Cardboard Cutout to Take Questions from the Press
Prayuth Chan-ocha is notorious for his odd behavior towards journalists. —VICE

It Turns Out Radiohead May Not Actually Be Suing Lana Del Rey
The band doesn’t want money, just credit. —Noisey

This App Is Helping Iranians Beat Tehran’s Internet Censorship

Toronto-born app Psiphon has become a popular tool for activists to break through Iran’s “filternet.”—VICE