Indonesia is cracking down on a viral pirate flag that is spreading as a symbol of political protest ahead of independence day.
The Jolly Roger skull and bones with a straw hat—from Japanese anime series “One Piece”—has been fluttering from a rising number of trucks, cars and homes.
Officials warn the “provocation”—seen by many as a protest against President Prabowo Subianto’s policies—should not fly alongside the country’s red-and-white flag.
The pirate banner was taken up by disgruntled truck drivers earlier this summer, but has recently snowballed into an online and real-life movement.
“I personally raised the One Piece flag because the red and white flag is too sacred to be raised in this corrupt country,” Khariq Anhar, a 24-year-old university student in Sumatra’s Riau province, told AFP.
“I believe freedom of speech in Indonesia exists, but it is very limited. Voicing your opinion is getting more dangerous.”
Government officials say the flag’s use is an attempt to divide the nation.
They warn it may be banned from flying next to Indonesia’s colors, or being raised on Aug. 17—the 80th independence anniversary after Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II.
“It is imperative we refrain from creating provocation with symbols that are not relevant to this country’s struggle,” chief security minister Budi Gunawan said in a statement last week.
Ministers have cited a law that prohibits flying a symbol higher than the national flag as the basis for any punishment.
Under that law, intent to desecrate, insult or degrade the flag carries a maximum prison sentence of five years or a fine of nearly $31,000.
State Secretary Minister Prasetyo Hadi on Tuesday said Prabowo had no issue with the “expression of creativity”, but the two flags “should not be placed side by side in a way that invites comparison”, local media reported.
A presidency spokesman did not respond to an AFP question about its position on the pirate flag, which was put two days earlier.
Experts say unhappy Indonesians are using the flag as a way to express anti-government feeling indirectly, with some of Prabowo’s economic and defense policies causing concern about democratic backsliding.
“Symbols like the pirate flag let people channel frustration without spelling it out,” said Dedi Dinarto, lead Indonesia analyst at advisory firm Global Counsel.
“It reflects a public sentiment that parts of the country have been ‘hijacked’.”
Others, like food seller Andri Saputra, who has flown the pirate ensign below an Indonesian flag at his home for a week, say they want to be able to decide what symbols they display.
“I want to be free to express my opinion and express myself,” the 38-year-old said in Boyolali regency in Central Java.
“This is just a cartoon flag from Japan.”
Online culture has been a popular channel for Indonesian dissatisfaction against perceived government corruption and nepotism.
Japanese anime is popular in Indonesia, and in the best-selling ‘One Piece’ manga series created in 1997, the flag represents opposition to an authoritarian world government.
In February, protests known as ‘Dark Indonesia’ began against Prabowo’s widespread budget cuts, sparked by a logo posted on social media showing a black Indonesian mythical Garuda bird alongside the words ‘Emergency Warning’.
Other rallies in 2016 and 2019 were also sparked online, and Dedi says the government may be worried that “this follows the same digital playbook”.
There is also a generational divide, with older locals viewing the Indonesian flag as hard-won after centuries of colonial rule, while younger Indonesians see the new movement as an expression of disappointment.
“They just want Indonesia to get better, but… they can only express it through the ‘One Piece’ flag,” said Ismail Fahmi, founder of Indonesian social media monitor Drone Emprit.
Police in Banten Province neighboring capital Jakarta and West Java Province, Indonesia’s most populous, have threatened action if the flag is flown next to the nation’s colors.
One printing business owner in Central Java told AFP on condition of anonymity that his facility was raided by plain-clothes police on Wednesday evening to halt its production of the pirate emblem.
Rights groups have called the response excessive and say Indonesians are allowed to wave the flag by law.
“Raising the ‘One Piece’ flag as a critic is a part of the freedom of speech and it is guaranteed by the constitution,” said Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid.
Despite the government’s threats, some young Indonesians are still willing to risk walking the plank of protest.
“Last night my friend and I went around the town while raising a One Piece flag,” said Khariq on Wednesday.
“If the government has no fear of repressing its own people, we shouldn’t be scared to fight bad policies.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
© Dika—AFP via Getty Images
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Goodbye, Elon Musk. Hello, conservative women.
Katie Miller, a former face of DOGE-world and Musk aide, posted a video on X on Thursday morning announcing that she's starting the "Katie Miller Podcast" aimed at conservative women. She's ending her full-time work with Musk to launch the venture.
"For years I've seen that there isn't a place for conservative women to gather online," Miller said from her plant-lined living room. "There isn't a place for a mom like me, mom of three young kids — four, three, and almost two — and a wife, and trying to do a career, eat healthy, work out."
Today, I’m launching the Katie Miller Podcast.
— Katie Miller (@KatieMiller) August 7, 2025
As a mom of three young kids, who eats healthy, goes to the gym, works full time I know there isn’t a podcast for women like myself.
Hope you’ll join me. pic.twitter.com/bmbfNofapx
Miller said the podcast will focus on lifestyle, news, and gossip, and that she plans to talk to people "across the political spectrum," business leaders, and celebrities. It will air weekly on Mondays.
The only mention of Musk comes more than halfway through the short video, when Miller talks about her career in communications and government.
"Most recently, I'm concluding my time working full-time for Elon Musk," she said. Miller was at Musk's side during the height of his DOGE-era, and served as the venture's spokesperson.
Both Miller and Musk left their government work in May, and she continued working for the former face of DOGE in the private sector. As recently as last month, Miller was sending out communications for xAI, one of Musk's companies. Miller and Musk did not immediately respond to BI's request for comment.
Miller is married to Stephen Miller, the White House's deputy chief of staff. Musk and President Donald Trump had a high-profile falling out in June over the president's "Big Beautiful Bill."
On X, Miller has posted about popular lifestyle themes in conservative circles, including falling birth rates and whole foods, a prominent part of the Make America Healthy Again ethos.
Lawmakers have introduced a new bill aimed at countering “foreign piracy sites,” as reported earlier by TorrentFreak. The bill, called the Block Bad Electronic Art and Recording Distributors (Block BEARD) Act, would allow copyright holders to ask a federal court to block piracy websites.
The bipartisan legislation, led by Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC), Chris Coons (D-DE), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Adam Schiff (D-CA), marks yet another effort to block digital piracy in the US. Earlier this year, Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) introduced the Foreign Anti-Digital Piracy Act (FADPA) in January, which would similarly compel ISPs to block foreign piracy websites.
Under the Block BEARD Act, a copyright holder who finds infringing materials on a foreign website can ask a court to designate the online location a “foreign piracy site.” The court will then consider whether the copyright holder is harmed by the infringing material, as well as whether the site is “primarily designed” for infringing the material in question.
If a court gives the website a “foreign piracy site” designation, copyright holders can petition the court to issue an order forcing ISPs to prevent users in the US from accessing it. It would also give site owners the opportunity to contest the order and “piracy site” designation.
Over a decade ago, efforts to block piracy sites in the US were met with internet-wide blackouts that occurred in protest of proposed laws. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said earlier this year that site-blocking laws are “dangerous, unnecessary, and ineffective,” as restricting access to one site can potentially harm thousands of others using the same cloud infrastructure host or IP address. The EFF also points out that site-blocking is “trivially easy to evade,” as “determined evaders can create the same content on a new domain within hours,” while users can use a virtual private network (VPN) to regain access.
Despite this, Schiff says the Block BEARD Act will “protect creators and consumers alike from foreign criminal enterprises seeking to steal our intellectual property and exploit Americans.”
MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
At a White House event on Wednesday afternoon, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced plans to invest $100 billion in US manufacturing.
Is this a real plan, with real money? A bit of stagecraft designed to give Donald Trump a public win for his reshoring push? Or a way for Apple to keep on the right side of Trump tariffs that could cause great harm to the company?
Yes. And yes. And yes.
Some context:
But this isn't the first time Apple has announced a pledge like this. In 2021 — when Joe Biden was president — it announced a plan to invest $430 billion in the US over five years and hire 20,000 employees. Some of those plans involved new construction, like a new "engineering hub" in North Carolina. Others involved expansions of existing facilities, or construction that was already underway, like a $1 billion campus in Austin.
As Bloomberg notes, Apple's announcement from February was really an acceleration of its earlier plans — it meant Apple was planning to spend an extra $39 billion a year, and to increase its hiring plans by 1,000 people a year.
Using that same logic, Apple's Wednesday announcement means it is planning on spending another $25 billion a year above its earlier plans. (No word, yet, about any additional hiring, though Apple did say its work with Corning would increase the workforce there by 50%.)
So that's definitely some additional spending.
Does that mean Apple is going to start making iPhones in the US, as Trump has demanded?
No. As we've discussed before, recreating the supply chain Apple would need to make iPhones in the US seems close to impossible. And certainly not something that Apple could pull off in a few years — if it even wanted to.
Cook was asked that question directly at the press conference, and was ready for it. "There's a lot of content in there from the United States," he argued, pointing to the glass deal and other elements made at least in part in America. But as far as actually putting that stuff together — which requires a complicated supply chain Cook spent years and billions overseeing? "That will be elsewhere for a while," he said.
Still, getting to stand next to the CEO of one of the world's most valuable companies, while that CEO says he's going to invest in America, is most definitely valuable to Trump, who was beaming throughout the event.
And it's not as if any particular number means much to Trump, who recently announced he was going to reduce drug prices by "1,500 percent," which is definitely not possible.
Trump is also flexible when it comes to announcements about Trump-directed spending in America. Like when he stood next to Cook during his first term and announced that Apple had opened a new plant in Texas at his behest. Also not true.
What does Apple get in return? It would most obviously like permanent relief from Trump's tariffs. So far, Trump has granted Apple some immunity from some of his tariffs on foreign manufacturing — but not all of them, which is why Apple has said it will have paid some $2 billion in tariffs over its last two quarters.
Apple and other tech companies are also hoping Trump will keep pushing on their behalf to beat down other countries' tech regulations. Apple is particularly vexed by the European Union, which has forced the company to do things like change its iPhone chargers and open up its App Store.
So yes: Apple is spending money in the US. And no: It's not exactly the story Donald Trump would like to tell.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
Tim Cook gifted President Donald Trump an American-made glass engraving at the White House today — but it was the Apple CEO who walked away with the real prize.
On Wednesday, Cook presented Trump with an inscribed piece of Apple-produced glass made in Kentucky that sits upon a 24k gold base made in Utah to celebrate the tech giant's "American Manufacturing Program."
"This glass comes off the Corning line, engraved for President Trump," Cook told reporters during a ceremony in the Oval Office. "It is a unique unit of one."
Cook and Apple aren't walking away empty-handed. Companies that "are building in the United States," like Apple, won't be subject to a forthcoming 100% tariff on imports of semiconductors and chips, Trump said.
"The good news for companies like Apple is if you're building in the United States or have committed to build, without question, in the United States, there will be no charge," Trump said.
Cook said the gift was designed by a former US Marine Corps. Corporal who now works for Apple. Cook's signature is also etched into the gift.
Apple announced that it is adding an additional $100 billion to its existing pledge to spend $500 billion in the US over the next four years. As part of its investment, Cook said that soon, 100% of all cover glass for all iPhones and Apple Watches will be manufactured in the US.
It is still a far cry from Trump's hope of a made-in-the-USA iPhone. When a reporter pressed Cook on the possibility of an American-made iPhone, Trump echoed Cook's view that Apple already makes many of the popular smartphone's components in the US.
"We've been talking about it, and the whole thing is set up in other places, and it's been there for a long time, so in terms of the cost and all," Trump said. "But I think we may incentivize him enough that one day he'll be bringing that."
While it's a win for Cook, Apple isn't fully in the clear from the impact of Trump's tariffs. It remains uncertain if the tech giant will be subject to the president's stiffer tariffs on India, which are aimed at punishing the nation for continuing to buy Russian oil.
Cook said during Apple's recent earnings call that the company's financial hit from tariffs last quarter was $800 million. Apple said those costs are likely to balloon to $1.1 billion in the September quarter.
The Apple CEO has come bearing gifts before. In Trump's final financial disclosure before leaving the White House in 2021, the president reported receiving a $5,999 MacBook Pro computer.
It's also not the first time Cook's savvy relationship-building skills have earned the president's praise. In 2019, Trump said Cook was the only tech executive who calls him directly, and the Apple CEO successfully landed carve-outs for some of Apple's products during the tariffs implemented during Trump's first term.
Kevin Dietsch via Getty Images
A key member of the Department of Government Efficiency was attacked in an attempted carjacking in Washington, DC, over the weekend, authorities said — and a newly-released police report sheds light on what the staffer said happened.
Elon Musk, the onetime de facto leader of the government agency, and President Donald Trump spoke out after the assault left 19-year-old software engineer Edward Coristine beaten and bloodied.
Musk, in a Tuesday evening post on X that reshared Trump's earlier social media post threatening a federal takeover, said it was time to "federalize DC" as he shared his version of events.
"A few days ago, a gang of about a dozen young men tried to assault a woman in her car at night in DC," Musk wrote. "A @Doge team member saw what was happening, ran to defend her and was severely beaten to the point of concussion, but he saved her."
A few days ago, a gang of about a dozen young men tried to assault a woman in her car at night in DC.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 5, 2025
A @Doge team member saw what was happening, ran to defend her and was severely beaten to the point of concussion, but he saved her.
It is time to federalize DC. pic.twitter.com/RPHKj7J3ti
Business Insider obtained a copy of the incident report from the Metropolitan Police Department.
The police report says that around 3 a.m. on Sunday, MPD officers in a cruiser saw a group of about 10 young people surrounding Coristine's car and assaulting him.
The officers quickly intervened, and the suspects started to run, according to the incident report. Police were able to stop two of them — a 15-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl — who they later arrested on a charge of unarmed carjacking.
Coristine told police that the group approached him and a woman, identified in the report as his "significant other," and made a comment about taking the vehicle, the police report said.
"At that point, for her safety, he pushed his significant other" into the vehicle "and turned to deal with the suspects," the police report said, adding that the assailants then began to beat Coristine.
The Metropolitan Police Department said in a press release that the couple was standing next to their vehicle on Swann Street when the suspects first approached, "demanded" the vehicle, and then assaulted Coristine.
The police report says that an iPhone 16 was stolen during the incident.
Coristine was treated at the scene for his injuries by emergency responders, police said.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Department told Business Insider that its incident report is accurate and contains no errors.
Musk officially stepped back from his role in the Trump administration, working with DOGE, in May. Coristine still remains part of the federal government.
Coristine, who was once known online as "Big Balls," started working at the Social Security Administration following his DOGE stint. He could not be immediately reached for comment for this story.
"Crime in Washington, D.C., is totally out of control," Trump said in his Tuesday Truth Social post, adding, "The most recent victim was beaten mercilessly by local thugs."
The post included an apparent photo of Coristine showing him bloodied and shirtless, sitting on the ground.
At a White House press conference to discuss Apple’s new US manufacturing plans, CEO Tim Cook presented a gift to President Donald Trump: a “unique” piece of glass from iPhone glass manufacturer Corning that’s set in a 24-karat gold base.
The piece of glass is a large disc with the Apple logo cut into it. On the top of the glass, President Trump’s name is printed. On the bottom, there’s a signature that appears to be Cook’s as well as the message “Made in USA” and the year 2025. The glass was designed by a “former US Marine Corps corporal” who works at Apple, according to Cook. The base “comes from Utah.”
Cook is well known for his ability to foster a relationship with President Trump, and shortly after Trump was elected for his second term, CEOs reportedly looked to replicate Cook’s relationship-building skills. Trump has threatened Apple and other phone manufacturers with tariffs unless they bring manufacturing to the US.
Apple is putting another $100 billion toward expanding manufacturing in the US as the company responds to pressure from President Donald Trump to manufacture more of its products in the US. The move builds upon the company’s initial plan to invest $500 billion in the US over the next four years, and includes a new American Manufacturing Program that the company says will bring more of Apple’s “supply chain and advanced manufacturing” to the US.
As part of its investment, Apple has agreed to an expanded partnership with Corning to manufacture “100 percent” of the iPhone and Apple Watch cover glass in Kentucky. It will also work with Samsung at its chip fab in Austin, Texas, “to launch an innovative new technology for making chips, which has never been used before anywhere in the world,” according to Apple’s press release.
Apple’s Houston-based server factory, which it announced earlier this year, will begin mass production starting in 2026, while Apple is also expanding its data center in Maiden, North Carolina. Last month, Apple announced that it will open a manufacturing academy in Michigan to help train American companies in “advanced manufacturing” techniques as well.
It’s not clear whether Apple’s new promises will satiate Trump, who believes Apple can make its iPhones in the US. Apple has shifted some of its manufacturing out of China and into Vietnam and India in recent years in an attempt to avoid tariffs and supply chain disruptions. Trump has criticized Apple for not bringing the work back to the US instead, and threatened the company with a 25 percent tariff if it doesn’t manufacture more products domestically.
During Trump’s first term, Apple CEO Tim Cook similarly tried to curry favor with the administration by holding private dinners and even lobbying the US trade representative for lighter tariffs. The company even announced plans to manufacture its 2019 Mac Pro in Texas after Trump granted Apple a tariff exemption. At the time, reports suggested that Apple planned to manufacture its Mac Pro in China after the US production of its 2013 model was hobbled by a screw shortage.
“I’m proud to say that Apple is leading the creation of an end-to-end silicon supply chain right here in America, from design to equipment to wafer production to fabrication to packaging,” Cook said during a press briefing. “We’re going to keep working with our suppliers to move even more of this incredibly advanced work to America.”
Apple revealed last week that Trump’s tariffs could add another $1.1 billion to its costs during the September quarter, adding to the $800 million it has already spent on the levies. Trump has also introduced new “reciprocal” tariffs that affect products imported from a wide range of countries, including Vietnam, which manufactures Macs, iPads, and Watches. On Wednesday, Trump said he would raise tariffs on India by 25 percent, where Cook said the “majority” of iPhones destined for the US are made.
Update, August 6th: Added a statement from Cook.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to place an additional 25% tariff on India for its purchases of Russian oil, bringing the combined tariffs imposed by the United States on its ally to 50%.
The tariffs would go into effect 21 days after the signing of the order, meaning that both India and Russia might have time to negotiate with the administration on the import taxes.
Trump’s moves could scramble the economic trajectory of India, which until recently was seen as an alternative to China by American companies looking to relocate their manufacturing. China also buys oil from Russia, but it was not included in the order signed by the Republican president.
As part of a negotiating period with Beijing, Trump has placed 30% tariffs on goods from China, a rate that is smaller than the combined import taxes with which he has threatened New Delhi.
Trump had previewed for reporters Tuesday that the tariffs would be coming. During an event in the Oval Office Wednesday with Apple CEO Tim Cook, Trump affirmed the 50% tariff number, not giving a specific answer as to whether additional tariffs on India would be dropped if there were a deal between Russia and Ukraine.
“We’ll determine that later,” Trump said. “But right now they’re paying a 50% tariff.”
The White House said Wednesday that Trump could meet in person with Russian President Vladimir Putin as soon as next week as he seeks to broker an end to the war.
The Indian government on Wednesday called the additional tariffs “unfortunate.”
“We reiterate that these actions are unfair, unjustified and unreasonable,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement, adding that India would take all actions necessary to protect its interests.
Jaiswal said India has already made its stand clear that the country’s imports were based on market factors and were part of an overall objective of ensuring energy security for its 1.4 billion people.
Ajay Srivastava, a former Indian trade official, said the latest tariff places the country among the most heavily taxed U.S. trading partners and far above rivals such as China, Vietnam and Bangladesh.
“The tariffs are expected to make Indian goods far costlier with the potential to cut exports by around 40%-50% to the U.S.,” he said.
Srivastava said Trump’s decision was “hypocritical” because China bought more Russian oil than India did last year.
“Washington avoids targeting Beijing because of China’s leverage over critical minerals which are vital for U.S. defense and technology,” he said.
In 2024, the U.S. ran a $45.8 billion trade deficit in goods with India, meaning America imported more from India than it exported, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. American consumers and businesses buy pharmaceutical drugs, precious stones and textiles and apparel from India, among other goods.
As the world’s largest country, India represented a way for the U.S. to counter China’s influence in Asia. But India has not supported the Ukraine-related sanctions by the U.S. and its allies on Moscow even as India’s leaders have maintained that they want peace.
The U.S. and China are currently in negotiations on trade, with Washington imposing a 30% tariff on Chinese goods and facing a 10% retaliatory tax from Beijing on American products.
The planned tariffs on India contradict past efforts by the Biden administration and other nations in the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations that encouraged India to buy cheap Russian oil through a price cap imposed in 2022. The nations collectively capped Russian oil a $60 per barrel at a time when prices in the market were meaningfully higher.
The intent was to deprive the Kremlin of revenue to fund its war in Ukraine, forcing the Russian government either to sell its oil at a discount or divert money for a costly alternative shipping network.
The price cap was rolled out to equal parts skepticism and hopefulness that the policy would stave off Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The cap has required shipping and insurance companies to refuse to handle oil shipments above the cap, though Russia has been able to evade the cap by shipping oil on a “shadow fleet” of old vessels using insurers and trading companies located in countries that are not enforcing sanctions.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
© Jim Watson—AFP via Getty Images
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