Banjir Ambarita – An armed civilian group shot at an ambulance carrying a patient in the restive Papua district of Puncak Jaya on Wednesday, killing one and injuring two others.

Jayapura – The Second Secretary for Political Affairs at the US Embassy in Jakarta, James P. Feldmeyer, declared that he will pay close attention to any information or complaints, however small he receives from Papuan people.

Jayapura – Five Papuan Freedom activists were arrested while taking part in a demonstration on 29 July, in support of the discussion on Self-Determination for the people of West Papua which took place at the United Nations Human Rights Committee which met in Geneva, Switzerland earlier this month.

Oxford, UK – Benny Wenda has been many things in his 38 years. Among them, student and activist, prisoner and wanted man, a child of indigenous farmers in the West Papua province of Indonesia and a father of six in this English university town.

As announced by Mr Herman Wainggai, on Monday 29 July at 11am the West Papuan people will be conducting a peaceful demonstration in the city of Jayapura – The people call upon the governments of the US and Australia, as well as the member nations of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, to mediate the rights of the West Papuan people under international law as those adopted by the UN.

A newspaper chief editor in West Papua says journalists in the region are pressured by police and government not to publish material about West Papuan pro-independence groups.

Victor Mambor of the Tabloid Jubi newspaper, says it's not uncommon for media outlets in West Papua to be called or visited by police for special meetings about issues of publishing.

Members of the House of Lords held a debate about West Papua on Wednesday in which they raised serious concerns about the human rights situation and called on the British government to take a stronger stand.

A coalition of organisations has requested the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Commission to take action under its Early Warning and Urgent Action procedures to address the dire situation being faced by indigenous people all over Indonesia.

The Pacific Freedom Forum has condemned the confiscation of a magazine by police in Indonesia's Papua province.

Local police have reportedly taken six copies of the new Papua Pelita magazine from the publication's head office for inspection.

The Pacific Freedom Forum says police actions to stop distribution of a new magazine in West Papua break press laws of Indonesia and must be condemned.

The forum has joined the Indonesian Press Council in criticising police for their actions against the magazine, Papua Pelita.

Police actions to stop distribution of a new magazine in West Papua break press laws of Indonesia and must be condemned, says the Pacific Freedom Forum.

Human Rights Watch has voiced alarm at the implications for West Papua from a new law in Indonesia giving the government wide powers to shut down NGOs.

The Law on Mass Organisations imposes a broad range of obligations and prohibitions on NGO activities, and severe limitations on freedom of expression and association.

Workers at the Indonesian unit of Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc expect to reach an agreement over pay in less than two weeks, a union official said on Friday, cutting the risk of further disruption at the world's second-biggest copper mine after a deadly accident two months ago.

Jayapura – Following the establishment of an OPM office in Oxford, the UK earlier this year, there are now plans to set up an OPM office in The Netherlands on 15 August.

Jayapura, Papua – Britain still recognizes Papua as an integral part Indonesia, a British diplomat said.

"We are here this time on a working visit to the Cendrawasih Regional Military Command," Millie Mc Devitt, Second Secretary in Political Section of the British Embassy, said in a news release issued here on Wednesday.

Indonesian and international human rights groups have called questioned Jakarta's commitment to finding a peaceful resolution to the decades-long insurgency in Papua, following a discussion on the issue at the United Nations.

Nethy Dharma Somba and Yuliasri Perdani, Jayapura/Jakarta – As the National Police revised downward the number of victims in the Sunday night stampede to 17 from 18, the blame game has started over who is responsible for the riot that began during a boxing championship in Papua's Nabire regency.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa says he supports journalists and non-government organisations having greater access to the country's Papua and West Papua provinces.

Mr Natalegawa has told the ABC's Newsline the security situation in the provinces remains Indonesia's "only concern".

Mettu Badii, Semarang – Scores of students and young people from the group National Papua Solidarity (NAPAS) held a candlelit vigil in front of the Diponegoro University campus in the Central Java provincial capital of Semarang on Sunday July 14 to remember the bloody Wasior and Wamena incidents.

Yogyakarta – Hundreds of demonstrators from the Papua Student Alliance (AMP) in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta held a peaceful action and free speech forum today, Monday July 15.

Jayapura – The Papua branch of the Indonesian Independent Journalists Alliance (AJI) has said foreign journalists have found difficulties in getting permit to perform their journalistic duties in Papua.

The organisation calling itself the executive government of the Federal Republic of West Papua has sent a letter to the Pacific Islands Forum seeking membership in the regional organisation.

The West Papuan Freedom Flotilla sets out on the first leg of its epic journey from Lake Eyre to the warm waters of Merauke, West Papua on July 16, 2013.

Finalia Kodrati, Arie Dwi Budiawati – Papua National Solidarity (NAPAS) is demanding that the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) and the Attorney General's Office fully resolve the alleged human rights violations that took place in Wasior and Wamena, West Papua, in [2001 and] 2003.

Simon Santow: Last week, the ABC's stand-in PNG (Papua New Guinea) correspondent Liam Cochrane made a trip to the far north-west of Papua New Guinea to meet a rebel commander of the Free Papua Movement.

Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – An unidentified gunman shot a passing motorcycle taxi driver dead in the restive Papua district of Puncak Jaya on Friday, police said

The ojek driver was gunned down in Wandigobak village, near the Semen River, at around 8:30 in the morning, according to Papua Police spokesman I Gede Sumerta Jaya.

Jakarta – The Custom Institute of Amungme Tribe (Lemasa) in Papua has called on the central government to involve customary communities in the renegotiation process for the PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) contract extension.

Fergus Jensen, Jakarta – Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc has resumed copper concentrate shipments from its mine in Grasberg, Indonesia, but expects output this year to drop by a fifth following a near two-month stoppage.

A tunnel cave-in killed 28 people at the world's second-biggest copper mine in May, shutting operations while safety investigations were carried out.

According to several NGOs which are involved in the promotion of human rights in Papua, there has been no change in the human rights situation in Papua in the first one hundred days of administration of Lukas Enambe and Klemen Tinal (Lukmen).

Ali Akhmad, Jakarta – The Press Council says the ban on the first edition of Papua's Pelita Pelita Magazine is considered as an attempt to block the press.

"If the police really did come and prohibit the distribution of information, that is a form of blocking the press," Press Council member Imam Wahdyudi told Tempo on Sunday.

Michael Sergel – Asylum seekers and West Papuans were prime time talking points on Australian television last week, as ABC hosted a ground-breaking debate on Indonesia-Australia relations live from Jakarta.

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's commitment to help develop Indonesia's easternmost region could instead lead to more abuses of Papuans, an activist warns.

Simon Santow: Indonesia has invited the foreign ministers of four Pacific Island countries to visit its two easternmost provinces – Papua and West Papua – to see for themselves if the people want independence. Those two provinces are the western half of the main island of New Guinea.

Ezra Sihite, Bogor, West Java – Visiting Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd reiterated his government's recognition of Indonesia's sovereignty over Papua on Friday.

This weekend marks the 15th anniversary of the Biak massacre in West Papua, when scores of West Papuans were wounded, arrested or killed while calling for independence from Indonesia.

On July 6, 1998, in Biak Island's main town, Indonesian military units launched a dawn attack on Papuans who had staged a peaceful demonstration over several days.

A citizens' tribunal is being held at the University of Sydney tomorrow to mark the 15th anniversary of the Biak massacre in West Papua.

On July 6, 1998, in Biak Island's main town, Indonesian soldiers launched a dawn attack on Papuans who had staged a peaceful demonstration over several days, calling for independence.

Saturday the 6 July marks 15 years since the Indonesian security forces massacred scores of people in Biak, West Papua. The victims, included women and children who had gathered for a peaceful rally. They were killed at the base of a water tower flying the Morning Star flag.

The bid by the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation, or WPNCL, to join the Melanesian Spearhead Group has reignited debate about who represents the indigenous people of Indonesia's Papua region.

Saturday, July 6, is the 15th anniversary of one of the worst massacres in Indonesia's post-Suharto history. On that day in 1998, members of the Indonesian military ruthlessly gunned down peaceful pro-independence demonstrators on the island Biak in West Papua. Like so many massacres in Indonesia, the exact number of those killed is unknown.

Jerry Omona, Jayapura – After just days of the distribution of its first edition, Pelita Papua magazine encountered problems with the police last Wednesday for portraying the symbol of the Free Papua Movement on its cover.

Jayapura – Two vocal church leaders in Papua, Rev Socratez Sofyan Yoman and Dr Beny Giai held a meeting with the Dutch ambassador, Tjeerd de Zwaan, on Tuesday.

During the meeting, the Dutch ambassador asked the church leaders about the implementation of the Special Autonomy for Papua (OTSUS) and the additional law called Special Autonomy Plus.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is visiting Indonesia for the third Indonesia-Australia Leaders' Meeting, from 4 to 5 July

No doubt the two main issues that will be discussed between Kevin Rudd and President Yudhoyono will be curbing the flow of asylum seekers and the live cattle trade.

Jerry Omona, Jakarta – The Free Papua Movement allegedly raised the Bintang Kejora (Morning Star) flag to commemorate the independence of Papua, which is believed to fall on July 1. The flags were found in several places in Papua, yet OPM's military wing, the Papua Liberation Army Front (TPN), refused that they were involved in the case.

Bobby Anderson – Under Papua's 2001 Special Autonomy Law, the majority of Papua's natural resource wealth is returned to the province. The law was meant to address both the sources of political unrest in Papua, and the challenges ordinary Papuans experience on a daily basis.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – A group of civilians raised the banned Morning Star (Bintang Kejora) flag in Kampung Wandenggobak, Mulia, Puncak Jaya regency, Papua, on Monday, while officers from the Puncak Jaya Police precinct were celebrating the National Police's 67th anniversary, which fell on July 1.

Lambertus Pekikir, the leader of Free Papua Movement's (OPM) military wing, the Papua Liberation Army Front (TPN) said that the organization will unilaterally proclaim the independence of Papua on July 1.

Nadya Natahadibrata, Jakarta – The Education and Culture Ministry launched the 12-year compulsory education program on Tuesday, officially named the Universal Secondary Education (Pendidikan Menengah Universal), to give equal access to education for people between 16 and 18 years old.

Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – The Free Papua Movement (OPM) has claimed responsibility for the fatal shooting of an Indonesian Military (TNI) soldier, which also left a civilian dead in the Papua district of Puncak Jaya on Tuesday.

A West Papua rebel leader has claimed responsibility for the killing of three Indonesian soldiers.

The claim was made by a General of the National Liberation Army of West Papua, Goliath Tabuni. The rebel group says General Tabuni gave the command to his forces to shoot two members of the military, or TNI, in the remote Ilu district in Puncak Jaya.

The many years of lobby by the Independence movement the OPM, a job now carried on by West Papua National Coalition for Liberation (WPNCL) has entered a new chapter in its international efforts.