Rudy Prasetyo, Jakarta – Around 500 people from the Solidarity Alliance for Munir demonstrated at the national police headquarters in South Jakarta today. They were demanding that the police quickly solve the Munir case and guarantee protection to all human rights defenders.

Jakarta – International non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday urged the city administration to enact a short-term moratorium on all evictions in Jakarta, saying it believed many of them were human rights violations.

The government is drafting a law on domestic workers that is aimed at providing legal protection from widespread exploitation.

The draft, now under discussion with all involved parties before it is brought before national legislators, guarantees the rights of housemaids as informal workers, after many years when their employers could do as they wished.

Bekasi – Thousands of workers at Japan-based electronic goods producer PT Sanyo Indonesia went on strike Tuesday following the suspension of the management of their union.

From 7 a.m., the demonstrators staged a sit-in at a factory in the East Jakarta Industrial Park, Bekasi, demanding their three colleagues be reinstated.

Jakarta/Sidoarjo – The government is organizing a national team to address the hot toxic mud that is flooding Sidoarjo, East Java. The move came as victims continued protesting Wednesday against Lapindo Brantas Inc., which has been blamed for the disaster.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Although the government has agreed that military personnel should be tried for misdemeanors in civilian court, it is not likely to happen anytime soon.

Andreas Harsono in Jakarta and Nathaniel Heller and Susannah Hamblin in Washington – The Indonesian national intelligence agency used a former Indonesian president's charitable foundation to hire a Washington lobbying firm in 2005 to press the US Congress for a full resumption of controversial military training programs to the country, the Center for Public Integrity's International

Samantha Brown, Jakarta – The Bali bombings brought the horror of September 11 to Asia, but Indonesia took a different approach to the United States in tackling the Al-Qaeda threat which has met with considerable success.

For Suciwati, Soultan Alif Allende and Diva Suukyi Larasati, the widow and children of the late Munir Said Thalib, today (Thursday) is a time of sorrow and remembrance. As it should be for all Indonesians, who owe Munir so much for his tireless struggle in the name of human rights.

Aleksius Jemadu, Bandung – How many innocent people have been killed during Indonesia's delicate transition to democracy? There have been many. Some people suggest Indonesia has been hit by various kinds of natural disasters because some of its leaders still have the blood of the innocent people on their hands.

Leo Shanahan – East Timorese rebel leader Alfredo Reinado has vowed not to give himself up and says he is willing to shoot at Australian troops.

Reinado was contacted at his jungle hide-out by SBS program Dateline last night, but refused to confirm his location because "there are Australian troops hunting me around, chasing me around".

It has been a week now since East Timor's most wanted man, rebel leader Major Alfredo Reinado with 56 other prisoners somehow managed to just walk out of Dili's jail, it has to be said, under extremely curious circumstances. As it happens, Dateline's David O'Shea was with Reinado and got caught in the cross-fire when the rebel leader fired the first shots of the violence.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Papuans claim that Indonesian riot police have used an ongoing tribal warfare in eastern Papua to kill at least three Papuan villagers.

Two tribes armed with spears, bows and arrows and traditional machetes have been warring since last Thursday in Kwambi Lama, a village close to the giant Freeport copper mine.

Fadli, Bintan – Foreign and local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) insisted Tuesday they would go ahead with plans to hold a protest meeting in Batam called the International People's Forum vs the IMF and World Bank, despite opposition from local police.

Banda Aceh – A study by the World Food Programme (WFP) has found that primary school children in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and Nias suffer from insufficient nutrition, inadequate healthcare and poor hygiene.

Indra Subagja, Jakarta – After two years the Munir case remains unsolved. Only former Garuda Airlines pilot Pollycarpus Priyanto has been convicted for the murder of the former human rights activist. The family and friends of the late Munir say there are strong political reason why the case has not been solved yet.

A quick visit to Dili has sobered the Foreign Affairs Minister, Alexander Downer. Before setting off there, Mr Downer was jawboning the East Timorese about acting as an independent country which should take responsibility for its problems, "not just expect the international community indefinitely to solve all those problems for them".

Jakarta – Indonesia's attractiveness as an investment destination is slipping compared with its more competitive regional rivals, according to a report released Wednesday by the World Bank's investment arm, International Finance Corp.

Putting decades of armed conflict and the devastating tsunami behind them, the people of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam are now preparing to hold landmark elections on Dec. 11.

For the first time ever in the province's history, voters will be able to vote for governor and other local positions.

John Martinkus – What appear to be written orders from East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao to rebel former soldier Alfredo Reinado confirm the close relationship the now escaped criminal – who is wanted for murder and weapons offences – had with the President.

Hamish McDonald – Political leaders in Canberra and Port Moresby want the voices of a diplomatically awkward rebellion buried in East Awin, Papua New Guinea, a settlement in a vast and sparsely populated landscape of rivers, swamps and forest.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri and Indra Harsaputra, Jakarta/Sidoarjo – Legal and environmental activists are threatening to take the government and Lapindo Brantas Inc. to court unless there is quick settlement of compensation for thousands of mudflow victims in Sidoarjo, East Java.

Lindsay Murdoch – The East Timorese rebel leader Alfredo Reinado has obtained weapons since he led a mass escape from Dili's main jail last week, his lawyer said yesterday.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – After wrapping up a national gathering last week, women's rights activists say they are planning to educate themselves politically and seek a bigger role in administrations and local legislative councils.

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – Ending religious violence and promoting peace will take concrete measures, according to the Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace (ICRP).

Hasrul, Kendari – A group of students protested in front of the Southeast Sulawesi legislative council Sunday, demanding an investigation into illegal logging on Buton Island.

Indra Harsaputra and Ridway M. Sijabat, Sidoarjo/Jakarta – Tempers flared again Monday at a rally by hundreds of people from Porong, Sidoarjo, East Java, frustrated by handling of the mudflow disaster.

M. Azis Tunny, Ambon – The government should abolish capital punishment and accelerate development in island provinces throughout the country, the 13th Catholic Youth National Congress in Ambon says. Delegates at the forum finished their four-day meeting in Ambon on Monday.

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The Constitutional Court began reviewing Monday whether articles in the Criminal Code concerning defamation of the President and Vice President are unconstitutional.

Veronika Kusuma Wijayanti, Jakarta – In the lead up to the second anniversary since the murder of human rights activist Munir on September 7, police are being called on to question the former deputy head of the State Intelligence Agency Muchdi Purwoprajoyo.

Kupang – Hundreds of university students here rallied Monday to demand their rector be fired for incompetence.

Australia will continue providing military support to help maintain security in East Timor, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Monday, amid renewed concerns about stability in the fledgling nation.

Downer was speaking after holding three-country talks with East Timor's leaders and Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda.

Lindsay Murdoch in Dili and agencies – East Timor's Prime Minister, Jose Ramos Horta, has warned that voters' hostility towards the ruling Fretilin party could make his country difficult to govern after next year's election.

Mr Ramos Horta says that Fretilin, which he helped to form two decades ago, needs to quickly heal deep divisions and find new leadership.

Leaders of the country's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and other moderate clerics gathered in Jakarta over the weekend to draw up a common strategy to counter growing Islamic radicalism.

A higher level of poverty in the country was expected after the 126 percent hikes in fuel prices last October and the inflationary pressures they generated in other sectors.

Investigation stalled, killers of leading rights activist remain free

London – Two years after the murder of Indonesia's leading human rights activist, the architects of Munir Said Thalib's killing remain free, Human Rights Watch said today.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The Constitutional Court is delivering controversial and questionable verdicts that are only serving to sow further confusion in the country's legal system, two legal experts say.

Timika – An unidentified group of people shot Sunday a security car of PT Freeport Indonesia, the giant gold and copper mine, in the country's easternmost province, a police officer said.

Arfi Bambani Amri, Jakarta – The investigation into the assassination of human rights defender Munir has reached a dead end even though former Garuda Airlines pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto has been convicted for the murder.

Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) leader Hasyim Muzadi said Sunday that the central board of the country's largest Muslim organization would not give its blessings to a new political party that senior clerics wanted to set up.

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Less trees, polluted, gluggy water and the heat from more vehicles is making the city's temperatures rise to scorching levels in the dry season, not global warming, the Meteorological and Geophysics Agency (BMG) says.

The agency says temperatures for the area in this year's dry season have averaged between 33 and 34 degrees Celsius.

Indra Harsaputra, Sidoarjo – In a bizarre twist to the continuing mudflow disaster in Sidoarjo, a local television station claims the company at the center of the mess has agreed to make a TV soap opera to tell its "heroic" side of the story – an assertion the company denies.

Tony Hotland, Nusa Dua, Bali – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called on the international media Saturday to play a mediating role in conflicts rather than fanning animosity.

Farid Muttaqin, Athens, Ohio – It is important to begin any discussion on homosexuality in Islam with a look at how some hegemonic cultures and traditions before Islam influenced Islamic teachings. Greek Hellenism and ancient Arabic society were two important groups that supported a type of Islamic law on homosexuality.

Jakarta – There is no need to make controversial major changes to the labor law, as proposed by the government, according to a study by a group of state universities assigned to review the regulation.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – Australian security forces hunting Alfredo Reinado, who led a mass escape from Dili's jail this week, should know he has XXX tattooed on the back of his neck.

Jakarta – Hundreds of Indonesian police are trying to prevent further fighting between two warring Papuan tribes after three people were killed, and more than a dozen injured in remote Papua, police said.

Mark Dodd – Eight East Timorese refugees were injured yesterday by thugs using police-issue pistols and machetes in Dili, in an attack diplomats fear was designed to trigger a new wave of violence.

The attack, which left two of the wounded with life-threatening injuries, occurred at 1.30pm in a park just metres away from the five-star Dili Hotel in the city centre.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Jayapura District Court had to postpone the Abepura case trial yet again Friday after the prosecution failed to present the remaining seven defendants to be tried for their involvement in the deadly March 16 clash with police.

Indra Harsaputra, Sidoarjo – Residents of Sidoarjo, East Java, vented their frustration at the handling of the mudflow disaster in a violent protest Friday, but Vice President Jusuf Kalla said areas designated to contain the mud would have to be expanded a further 300 hectares.