David Usborne, New York – Sitting in the Deluxe Cafe on Broadway just south of Columbia University on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, John Rumbiak is far from his native land. Home is West Papua, a province of Indonesia the size of France which has suffered violence for nearly forty years.

Andrew Burrell – It's an alarming statistic that helps explain Indonesia's economic, political and social predicament: about 110 million people are scraping by on less than $US2 ($2.70) a day.

Johann Hari – September 11 comes around once every three days. One thousand three hundred innocent people are slaughtered with conventional weapons within 24 hours somewhere in the world: by the middle of a third day, the death toll from 9/11 is surpassed.

Richard Norton-Taylor and John Aglionby, Singapore – The legality of Britain's arms sales to Israel and Indonesia is to be challenged in the courts on the grounds that they breach stated government policy, the Guardian has learned.

Michelle Nichols, Canberra – East Timor appealed to the United Nations Wednesday not to desert the world's newest nation by diverting its assistance to flashpoints like Iraq and Afghanistan.

Canberra – East Timor Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said Wednesday it is too soon to fret over the final shape of a permanent maritime boundary between his impoverished nation and Australia.

Canberra – East Timor Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta has demanded Australia halt development of massive natural gas fields in the Timor Sea until a dispute over their ownership is settled.

Ramos Horta said Australia should not exploit resources potentially worth billions of dollars before a treaty detailing how they will be distributed is finalised.

An East Timor court has jailed a former Indonesian army sergeant for crimes against humanity during the territory's bloody breakaway from Jakarta.

It is the first time a soldier has been convicted of such an offence since trials began two years ago.

Jason MacLeod – Abdul Teng is in his element. Teng is here to talk about his home, Gag Island in violence-ridden West Papua, the scene of a four-decade-long struggle for independence. The 56-square kilometre island is located 150km north-west of Sorong, one of hundreds of islets that make up the Raja Ampat Archipelago.

Nethy Darma Somba, Timika – A group of former East Timorese militiamen postponed a plan on Tuesday to open a branch office of their pro-integration Red-and-White Defenders Front (FPMP) in Papua province, following strong objections from the local people.

Jason MacLeod – On Wednesday 3rd of December Indonesian security forces detained four West Papuan students in relation to a nonviolent action two days earlier.

Jakarta – Hundreds of students staged a rally outside the Bank Indonesia building here on Wednesday to protest a meeting of the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) on December 10-12.

The students arrived at the building's gate on Jl. Budi Kemuliaan in Central Jakarta at 02.30 pm local time. However, they were not allowed to enter the Bank Indonesia compounds.

Bagus Kurniawan, Yogyakarta – Around 50 students from various different tendencies, who joined together under the banner of the Anti-Imperialist People's Alliance (Aliansi Rakyat Anti Imperialisme, ARAI), held a demonstration rejecting the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Suwarjono, Jakarta - Around 1000 demonstrators held a demonstration commemorating world human rights day at the Presidential Palace on Jalan Merdeka Utara on Wednesday December 10. Although the palace was empty - President Megawati Sukarnoputri is currently visiting Japan - it did not diminish the spirit of the human rights activists.

Bagus Kurniawan, Yogyakarta – As well as Jakarta, lively actions to commemorate world human rights day were also held in other parts of the country.

Jakarta – Some 3000 workers of state telecommunication company PT Telkom staged a rally outside the office of the State Enterprises Minister here on Wednesday to protest the sale of PT Mitra Global Telecommunikasi Indonesia (MGTI)'s shares to PT Alberta Communication.

Kupang – Twenty-six East Timorese who have been seeking asylum in Belu district since last October have sent a petition to President Megawati Soekarnoputri asking for protection and expressing their objections to being deported.

The country may obtain some US$2.7 billion in fresh loans from the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) to help finance next year's state budget. The amount is the same as that pledged last year by the donor grouping for the current 2003 budget.

Indonesian troops said they had uncovered an arms cache and a weapons factory in Aceh province, where soldiers and police have been battling separatist rebels since May.

Soldiers found weapons including a home-made grenade launcher, guns, rifles and ammunition at Nisam in North Aceh, provincial military spokesman Ahmad Yani Basuki said yesterday.

With the official announcement by the General Elections Commission (KPU) that 24 political parties have been passed as eligible to contest the 2004 polls, the ideological affiliation of the parties and the potential for polarization between reformist versus pro status quo groups can be determined.

Chris White – Not 8 hours into this day and google retrieved over 100 American news articles that have been published commemorating the day that will forever live in infamy. 62 years ago today, 2,400 Americans lost their lives in Pearl Harbor.

ID Nugroho, Surabayan – Police here said on Monday they had detained two people and were hunting two others suspected of slaying a Muslim cleric from the National Awakening Party (PKB), following increasing pressure to bring the alleged killers to justice.

The majority of people eligible to vote in next year's general election here are politically alienated, intolerant and hoping for a strong leader like former dictator president Soeharto, according to a survey.

Three daughters of Indonesia's founding president Sukarno, including incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri, will contest next year's general election as leaders of rival political parties.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – After five years in political hibernation, old forces from former president Suharto's New Order regime are re-emerging in politics.

The strongest indication of this is the comeback of none other than his eldest daughter, Ms Siti 'Tutut' Hardijanti Rukmana.

Mark Colvin: In East Timor, thousands of people remain in the grip of an acute food shortage, and now face a bleak and hungry Christmas. A severe drought has left much of the country parched and barren, with some crops declared a complete failure. But although the long dry has now ended, the food crisis is unlikely to ease until at least March, as Anne Barker reports.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Military soldiers deployed to quell the demonstration in Tanjung Priok in 1984 opened fire at the crowd without prior warning shots, a witness told the human rights court on Monday.

Several Indonesian legislators have urged the attorney general to resume a corruption investigation into former autocratic president Suharto, one of the parliamentarians said.

"I have asked the attorney general's office to be more professional and continue its probe into the case of Suharto," said J.E. Sahetapy.

Robert Go, Nusa Dua – Something unexpected happened while Mr Iin Arifin Tahyan was speaking about the need for Indonesia to get more energy-sector investments during a high-profile conference in Bali on Friday.

Rachel Kleinman – Yarra's East Timorese asylum-seekers face a miserable Christmas unless their appeals for residency are resolved.

About 700 of Australia's 1700 East Timorese asylum-seekers live in the City of Yarra. Most have been through painstaking and drawn-out application processes for residency during the past 18 months.

Tiarma Siboro and Mochammad N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – The General Elections Commission (KPU) announced on Sunday 24 political parties eligible to contest the 2004 polls, with analysts expressing concern of the possible revival of the New Order.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – City police efforts throughout the year to restore their tarnished image were largely ineffective given the increase in cases committed by defiant personnel from 206 cases last year to 234 this year.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – People's support for President Megawati Soekarnoputri has continued to drop ahead of the elections but she remains the strongest candidate among existing presidential aspirants, a survey indicates.

Jakarta – The return of Soeharto's eldest daughter to the political stage may backfire if the issue of the former president's ability to speak, and to face the law for charges of corruption, comes into question, an analyst says.

Larry Johnson – Indonesia is facing criticism at home and abroad over recent developments involving two men linked to human rights abuses in the former Indonesian province of East Timor in 1999.

ID Nugroho, Surabaya – The House of Representatives plans to summon National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar, as the National Awakening Party (PKB) has received reports of more death threats made to Muslim clerics in East Java.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Indonesia's defense white paper puts terrorism behind separatism as the main security threat to the country, a policy that prompts the need of maintaining the military's territorial function, an official said.

Robert Go, Jakarta – The police and armed forces are preparing "for the worst" as the Christmas holiday approaches and as Indonesia heads into nationwide elections next year, the country's top security minister has said.

Dan Eaton, Jakarta – Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, issued some of its harshest criticism of Washington's Iraq policy on Monday, saying the US occupation had not met objectives and was becoming a debacle.

Richard Norton-Taylor – The government is selling arms and security equipment to countries whose human rights record it has strongly criticised, according to lists of weapons cleared for export that have been seen by the Guardian.

Nigel Wilson – Production from the Bayu Undan gas recycling project in the Timor Sea has been delayed at least eight months with implications for East Timor's revenues running into millions of dollars.

And the production postponement could hit Santos, the only Australian participant, because of a later contribution to its income from its 10.64 per cent stake.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – The former East Timorese militia leader Eurico Guterres is trying to set up a new group in Indonesia's Papua province that human rights groups fear may quickly become a militia used to attack suspected separatists.

Nani Farida and Teuku Agam Muzakkir, Banda Aceh/Lhokseumawe – Celebrations marking the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) anniversary proceeded in the province on Thursday despite the heavy military presence there to prevent the observance.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Papua, Indonesia's easternmost province, has reached an alarming level.

Eighteen months ago East Timor became the world's newest nation, but the euphoria of the independence celebrations is now long over.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – The Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD) announced some big names among the 36 candidates that qualified for the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) for next year's general election.

Jakarta – State officials and politicians welcomed on Thursday former president Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti "Tutut" Hardiyanti Rukmana's plans to run for the presidency in next year's elections, stressing that democracy allowed anyone to join the presidential election.

Jakarta – Acehnese rebels celebrated the 27th anniversary of their independence struggle yesterday with the sporadic raising of flags and a rare battlefield success, killing four soldiers and injuring two in clashes across the restive province.

Jakarta – The government will allocate Rp 11.7 trillion to build and repair infrastructure across the country in 2004.

"The budget will mainly be used to repair damaged infrastructure, build new infrastructure and meet public demand for housing," Minister for Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure Soenarnosaid.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Foreign donors make this a merry season for the cash-strapped Indonesian government.

The World Bank has said Indonesia needs to show only "incremental reforms" to deserve fresh aid worth US$450-US$850 million annually for the next four years.