A tsunami is expected to hit the eastern part of Indonesia later today, but waves are expected to be much smaller than those which rushed across northern Japan. Indonesia conducts tsunami drills yearly, but residents are still panicking having heard the news. And the panic may cause more damage than the wave itself. The head of BBC's Indonesian service, Tomi Sucipto has the latest.

It’s day 16 of protests in Egypt and demonstrators say they won’t let up until President Hosni Mubarak steps down. Ultimately, the activists on the streets are demanding free and fair elections and a commitment to a democratic government. We’ve talked in depth about the intersection of democracy and Islam in the Middle East, and the challenges of trying to blend the two ideals. But in Southeast Asia, Muslim nations like Indonesia and Malaysia have relatively successful democracies. What makes democracy in those populous Muslim countries work?

President Obama continues his Asia trip this week with a stop in Indonesia, to emphasize American ties with the Muslim country. In a speech to Indonesians last night, the President sought to highlight those bonds; he did so by recalling his time growing up in Jakarta. Did Obama succeed in reaching out to Indonesia, which has the largest Muslim population in the world?

As a part of his 10-day tour in Asia, President Barack Obama delivered a very personal speech at the University of Indonesia Wednesday morning. Echoing some of themes he raised in his famous speech in Cairo in 2009, Obama spoke about the need for mutual respect among Muslims and the importance of a joint effort to combat extremism. Indonesia is home to the largest population of Muslims in the world, and Muslims in Southeast Asia tend to practice a more moderate form of Islam than those farther west. Did President Obama navigate those differences in his speech? 

President Obama is poised to give his highest profile address to the Islamic world since his speech in Cairo a year ago. On Tuesday night, the president will speak in Jakarta, Indonesia, home to the world's most populist Muslim nation.

The president will speak before an estimated six thousand people at the University of Indonesia, where he is expected to hold up the country as a model for the values of democracy and diversity.

We're asking: if you're Muslim, what do you want to hear from President Obama tonight?

President Obama arrived in Indonesia this morning, for the second stop on his 10-day trip in Asia. As he meets with world leaders in India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan, the President will talk about global security, international trade and economics, improving cultural ties, diplomatic efforts and preventing terrorism. But some issues will be conspicuously missing from his public agenda.

After the beating Democrats took in last week's mid-term elections, all eyes, including those of our managing producer, Noel King, will be looking at what the GOP's initial moves will be this week. She'll also look at President Obama's continued trip through Asia, along with Charlie Herman, business and economics editor for The Takeaway and WNYC Radio.

Tomorrow, December 26, is the 5-year anniversary of the Indian Ocean Tsunami. How have things changed since 2004? Indeed, have things changed? The BBC's Karishma Vaswani reports on the progress Indonesia's Aceh province. We also talk with Christoph Gorder, Vice President of Emergency Response with Americares, about what's still needed for the region to fully recover.

Aid groups are rushing into Indonesia on the heels of a second earthquake that shook the country yesterday. Indonesia's Health Ministry says nearly 3,000 people may still be trapped under rubble after a powerful earthquake two days ago. Aid organizations are mobilizing a relief effort.

We speak with Bill Horan, the president of Operation Blessing International, about what his organization is seeing on the ground in Indonesia as relief efforts get underway in earnest after this week's earthquakes.

We then talk with Amy Vaughan, a geophysicist from the U.S. Geological Survey. After three earthquakes in three days in Indonesia and the Pacific Islands, followed by tremors in California and Peru, we ask: How interrelated are all these seismological events?

A second earthquake struck Indonesia last night. This follows yesterday's devastating quake that has killed over 500 people, many trapped under collapsed buildings. The death toll is expected to climb further. The BBC's Karishma Vaswani joins us again from Padang, capital of West Sumatra, which is the nearest city to the earthquake's epicenter.

Two bomb blasts rocked the central business district of Jakarta, Indonesia, this morning. The explosions hit two American-owned hotels, killing eight people and injuring dozens more. Jim Della-Giacoma, South East Asia Project Director in Jakarta for the International Crisis Group, joins The Takeaway with more details.

A series of explosions killed at least nine people and injured at least 48 in Jakarta, Indonesia. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the bomb blasts in the capital's luxury hotels. Indonesia suffered a number of bomb attacks — mainly linked to the militant group Jemaah Islamiah— in the first years of the century, but has been relatively peaceful since 2005. Joining The Takeaway from Jakarta with more of the story is Daniel Ziv, a filmmaker and the author of "Jakarta, Inside Out."

For accounts from an eyewitness to the bombings, watch the video below.

In a sign of further democratization in the world’s largest Muslim nation, Indonesia, holds parliamentary elections today. But holding an election in this nation is a huge proposition. 170 million voters, spread out across an archipelago of thousands of islands, with more than 300 local languages and a population that spans from rural hunter-gatherers to an urban elite. But this is a country that’s come a long way. The Economist this week says Indonesia has gone from being an “authoritarian basket case to a regional role model” and that Indonesia has “a fair claim to be South-East Asia’s only fully functioning democracy”. To help us assess those claims and to ask why this election is of interest to Americans, we are joined by Dr. William Liddle, an Indonesia expert at the University of Ohio and from the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, the BBC’s Indonesia correspondent, Lucy Williamson.