ID Nugroho, Surabaya – Workers and activists in East Java have joined forces with other provinces in opposition to the joint ministerial decree on minimum wages, which they say violates the 2003 Labor Law.

Jakarta – Around 100 people held a protest action in front of the United States Embassy in Central Jakarta on November 15 demanding that a G20 ministerial level meeting in Washington be dissolved. The protesters, who came from the People's Struggle Front (FPR), said that the meeting would not solve the problems facing ordinary people.

A new report by the Small Arms Survey group says East Timor still has a serious problem with controlling weapons.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Syofiardi Bachyul, Bandung, Padang – Research by the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Agency (PVMBG) in Bandung disclosed that during the past 10 years environmental degradation had changed the pattern of many landslides into flash floods, which potentially would then hit wider areas, an official said on Sunday.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – The House of Representatives' plan to spend Rp 33.4 billion (US$2.83 million) renovating the offices of its legislators has been criticized for lacking transparency.

Former Indonesian president BJ Habibie says a letter from then-Australian prime minister John Howard pushed him into acting quickly on independence for East Timor.

In 1998 Mr Howard wrote a letter to Mr Habibie supporting a move towards East Timorese independence within a decade.

Hundreds of people rallied in the Hindu-majority holiday island of Bali against a tough anti-pornography law branded by critics as a threat to religious freedom.

About 400 people marched through the Balinese capital Denpasar in defiance of the law passed by mainly Muslim lawmakers in Jakarta last month.

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Golkar Party leader Jusuf Kalla said Friday he settled his feud with People's Conscience Party (Hanura) head Wiranto, who has dropped his legal complaint against the Vice President.

Jakarta – Families of missing persons reiterated their demand for the President and the government to establish an ad hoc court tasked with resolving the mysterious disappearances of activists between 1997 and 1998.

P. Parameswaran, Washington – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called for a strategic partnership with the United States to confront 21st century challenges, saying he found president-elect Barack Obama's foreign policy "refreshing".

Anthony Deutsch, Surabaya – The men bound the thumbs of dozens of suspected communists behind their backs with banana leaves and drove them to a torch-lit jungle clearing. As villagers jeered, the prisoners were killed, one by one.

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – The banking sector remains solid despite a liquidity squeeze caused by the global financial crisis, the central bank says, dismissing rumors of a deposit run on some banks.

Sim Leoi Leoi, Putrajaya – Both Malaysia and Indonesia will undertake a review of the memorandum of agreement signed 11 years ago on the terms and service of foreign workers.

Astrid Wijaya, Jakarta – The debate rages over whether excessive media coverage encourages crime, with one woman admitting she was emulating the endeavors of a heavily documented serial killer when she killed and mutilated her husband recently.

Akh. Muzakki, Surabaya – About midday a short conversation took place between a young girl (say Rini) and Cholilah, a fashion seller in Tanah Abang Market, Jakarta. "Mom, can I have jilbab (veil) Khumairoh as worn on TV miniseries Munajah Cinta (The Prayer of Love)?" Rini asked. "Yes, I have it for you, but the price is so expensive...

Angus Grigg, Jakarta – Woodside Petroleum's $14 billion Greater Sunrise project may be delayed indefinitely as relations between East Timor and the energy major turn openly hostile over the location of a downstream processing plant.

Barry FitzGerald, Resources Editor – Woodside chief executive Don Voelte has raised the prospect of Woodside sidestepping the Federal Government's planned carbon emissions trading scheme by "floating" its planned Sunrise liquefied natural gas project out of Australian waters into waters administered by East Timor.

Abdul Khalik, Port Moresby – Papua New Guinea's Inter-Government Relations Minister Job Pomat looked surprised when Home Minister Mardiyanto told him just seconds after they shook hands last week that Indonesia wanted the Skow-Wutung border post opened immediately.

Makassar, South Sulawesi – Around 50 journalists staged a rally Thursday in front of the South Sulawesi Provincial Police headquarters over a police decision to name a reporter as a suspect in a defamation case against provincial police chief Insp. Gen. Sisno Adiwinoto.

Dili – Young people from around the world gathered this week in East Timor to participate in a conference to share ideas on identity, conflict and peace as the country, one of the most at-risk nations in Asia, tries to come to terms with long-standing violence in its society.

East Timor's Court of Appeal has ruled that the $400 million mid-year budget is illegal. The government had sought to take an extra $290 million from the nation's petroleum fund than its own finance ministry had deemed sustainable.

Luh De Suriyani, Denpasar – Men's active participation in the government's family planning program is minuscule, with just 0.1 percent of the province's 625,000 fertile couples using contraception, a senior official said.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – On Wednesday some 100 people, calling themselves the Papua Human Rights Awareness Coalition, commemorated the seventh anniversary of the death of Theys Hiyo Eluay, leader of the Papua Presidium Council, who was killed by government forces on Nov. 10, 2002.

Lucy Williamson, Jakarta – The Constitutional Court in East Timor has ruled against the government in a key political battle.

The government, led by former independence fighter Xanana Gusmao, got parliament's approval earlier this year for a vastly increased national budget. It planned to dip into East Timor's oil savings by more than double the usual amount to pay for it.

Makassar – At least 50 journalists demonstrated at the South and West Sulawesi (Sulselbar) regional police headquarters in Makassar on November 13 over a case involving Upi, who has been declared a suspect in a case of defamation against Sulselbar police chief Sisno Adiwinoto.

Today we are all thinking back on the major event which took place 17 years ago, thinking anew about an event with significant impact for our youth and which woke up the international community.

Edison Waromi LLB, Executive President of West Papua National Authority (WPNA) has called on the Indonesian Government to withdraw all its military forces from West Papua and release all political prisoners to show its genuine intention for peace and human rights.

Dian Kuswandini, Jakarta – Several witnesses have testified in favor of former senior intelligence officer Muchdi Purwopranjono, unraveling the prosecution's claim the defendant's motive for murdering a prominent human rights activist in 2004 was revenge.

Angela Macdonald-Smith – Australia risks losing the Sunrise liquefied natural gas project to East Timor, where the venture could avoid the effects of the government's proposed carbon trading system, said operator Woodside Petroleum Ltd.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Thousands of workers blockaded the east gate of the Padalarang toll road in Bandung on Wednesday in protest against a recent decision on the minimum wage.

D. Aveiro – Ximenes Belo, former archbishop in Dili and Nobel peace laureate, said Wednesday that, 17 years after the massacre at the cemetery of Santa Cruz, is yet to make the accounting of the dead.

A decade of bureaucratic reform and new more stringent laws have not helped curb corruption in courts or improved the country's appeal to foreign investors, a discussion heard in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Elections supervising bodies have begun probing a number of political parties running lavish media ads campaigns after being unable to trace back money deposited into their accounts.

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Two more former Bank Indonesia officials were convicted Wednesday in the embezzlement of Rp 100 billion (US$8.8 million) from BI funds in 2003.

Lilian Karunungan – Indonesia's rupiah fell, approaching a seven-year low, as slides in global stocks fanned concern investors' risk appetite is dwindling, curbing demand for emerging-market assets. Government bonds declined.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Anyone who thinks the discussion on Papuan independence is over should listen to Hans Gebze and other young Papuans.

Astrid Wijaya, Jakarta – The government is failing to respect and protect those who identify as homosexual, bisexual or transgender, despite their equal rights as citizens, says the official human rights body.

Rob Taylor, Canberra – The execution of three militants for the 2002 Bali bombings should have been more tightly controlled to avoid becoming a public spectacle, Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said Wednesday.

The younger brother of Amrozi, one of the Bali bombers executed early Sunday, said he was proud his brother had never burdened his parents. As a boy he earned his own money by selling newspapers, a report said.

Triwik Kurniasari, Jakarta – The city administration and a number of anti-smoking NGOs plan to conduct raids across the city targeting smokers caught ignoring the bylaw on smoking in restricted areas.

Astrid Wijaya, Jakarta – An Asian human rights group has pressured the government to investigate the disappearance of 13 Indonesian activists a decade ago, one of numerous similar cases that remain unsolved.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), whose controversial TV ads on the commemoration of National Heroes Day featured a picture of the late former president Soeharto, insists he deserves recognition as the "teacher of the nation".

Eko Ari Wibowo/TNR, Jakarta – Former leftist activist in the 1998 political turmoil that brought Soeharto's military regime down, Budiman Sudjatmiko condemned the television ad of the Prosperous Justice Party which put former President Soeharto in equal position with the nation's independence heroes.

Fery Firmansyah/TMC, Jakarta – Jakarta Police informed four demonstrations planned for Monday in the capital, the first at 9 AM outside the State Palace. The second at 10 AM will be staged at the Health Ministry office and the Corruption Eradication Commission office.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Leading Muslim organizations Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah have called on Muslims to cease glorifying the three executed Bali bombers, branding them terrorists rather than martyrs or holy warriors.

Ni Komang Erviani, Denpasar – Despite both the public and administrative bodies in Bali refusing to enact the recently passed pornography bill, Bali Police Chief Insp. Gen. Teuku Ashikin Husein said the law was "positive" and his office would be enforcing it completely.

Ahmad Fikri, Jakarta – Hundred of workers in Bandung, West Java clashed with police outside Gedung Sate in a protest to reject the Joint Regulation of four ministers which rule the minimum wage level for local workers in the wake of global financial crisis.

Alfian and Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – With huge exposure to distressed stocks, affluent politicians from major political parties have fallen victim to the recent turmoil in the equity market, leaving their party coffers in desperate need of cash.

Jesse Wright, Dili – As the official photographer for the thousands of civilians walking to a cemetery for a burial, Simplisio de Deus watched through a camera lens as the Indonesian military slaughtered hundreds at the Santa Cruz Cemetery November 12, 1991. It was the last time he would see some of his friends.

Jakarta – Indonesia's human rights groups expressed hope Sunday that President-elect Barack Obama would put more pressure on Indonesia to resolve its major human rights cases.