Sydney – Editorial independence and journalist safety are at risk in Papua, says the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), after 50 people violently attacked Timika Pos journalists and other employees, in Mimika, Iwan, Papua, Indonesia, during a strike over the appointment of the chief editor.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – The environmental damage caused by PT Freeport Indonesia's Grasberg mine in Papua province is much worse than earlier reported by the government, an environment watchdog says.

Melbourne – Indonesian Environment Forum (WALHI) yesterday launched a damning environmental report on the Rio Tinto joint venture at the Freeport Mine, ahead of shareholder concerns and protests to be held outside the company's Annual General Meeting today.

Pip Hinman – An Australian coalition of West Papua support groups has asked the UN to list West Papua as a non-governing territory requiring a self-determination plebiscite.

Jakarta – Environmental damage caused by Freeport's huge gold and copper mine in Indonesia's remote Papua province is much worse than previously thought, an environmental watchdog said Wednesday.

Rob Taylor, Jakarta – The giant Freeport gold mine blamed for a slew of environmental and social catastrophes in Papua is causing far greater damage to the environment than previously thought, green activists claimed today.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Around 500 people, consisting of freedom fighters, war veterans, and their children and grandchildren commemorated Monday the 43rd anniversary of Papua's return from the Dutch government to Indonesia, at the Cenderawasih Sports Hall in Jayapura.

Executive Summary

This report presents a new and independent picture of the environmental impacts of the Freeport mine, a Freeport McMoRan and Rio Tinto joint venture, which although one of the largest mines in the world, operates under a shroud of secrecy in remote Papua province.

Sydney – Australia needs to do more to help Papua attain independence, but the decision to grant bridging visas to 42 asylum seekers has put the province's struggle back on the world agenda, a Papuan activist says.

Greens leader Bob Brown has called for the resignation of Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone after she accused Papuan separatists of racism.

Responding to an article by Senator Vanstone in The Weekend Australian newspaper, Senator Brown said the immigration minister had made a major gaffe in calling the cause of separatism "toxic" and based on "racist sentiment".

West Papua solidarity groups today welcomed law firm Mallesons Stephen Jacques's legal action against the Howard Government and claim the proceedings will highlight undue and unlawful interference with domestic immigration policy.

Louise Dodson and Mark Forbes, Jakarta – Australia is ready to offer economic aid to help Indonesia smooth the introduction of Papuan autonomy, as the two countries try to restore relations under stress over the treatment of refugees.

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – "You should send the Australian military into Papua. Why not? The sooner the better. It would be a humanitarian operation."

Mark Forbes – Indonesia's ambassador to Australia has blamed the Uniting Church for fomenting unrest in West Papua and criticised Canberra's response in comments likely to inflame the continuing diplomatic rift.

Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Kim Beazley have misjudged public support for Papuan independence, The Greens said.

Greens Leader Bob Brown said a Newspoll released today, showing 77 per cent of Australians support independence for the Indonesian province, proved the major parties were wrong.

Reporter: Alexandra Kirk

Eleanor Hall: To tensions with Indonesia now and the Prime Minister has this morning discounted an opinion poll, out today, which shows that more than three quarters of Australians support independence for the Indonesian province of Papua.

Jakarta – A prestigious American think tank is urging the Indonesian government to make use of a "window of opportunity" to resolve unrest in Papua, and also calls on the international community to help expedite the process.

Jakarta – Indonesia denied Tuesday that its military had pressured the mother of a four-year-old Papuan asylum seeker into demanding that Australia return her daughter, as alleged in a media report there.

Pandaya, Banda Aceh – Teen pop icons Raja and Ratu's joint concert turned Banda Aceh upside down last month. The partitions erected to segregate the thousands of boys and girls, as required by the province's sharia law, crumbled as the hysterical star-struck young people jostled to get closer to their idols on stage.

Jakarta – Nineteen people are still on the run following last month's riots in Indonesia's Papua province in which six people were killed, police said.

Four of the fugitives described as the "main actors" are suspected of being responsible for the deaths of five security officers in the March 16 riot at a US-run mine, Papua chief detective Paulus Waterpauw said.

Saffron Howden and Adam Gartrell, Canberra – The federal government's tough new asylum-seeker regime has been condemned as an act of moral abandonment timed to be obscured by the fallout from the AWB wheat scandal.

Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, Jakarta – It is naive to think that the country's top circle of political-security decision makers could so easily lead the nation into folly.

But Indonesia's impulsiveness in recalling its ambassador from Canberra after Australia granted temporary visas to 42 Papuan asylum seekers remains a crude and unnecessary response.

Max Lane, Sydney – The arrival of 43 Papuan refugees in Australia followed soon after by the violent dispersal of otherwise peaceful student demonstrations in Papua has resulted in two weeks of sustained media coverage of the situation in Papua and its implications for Australia.

Markus Makur, Timika – The National Commission on Human Rights urged Mimika regency administration and mining company PT Freeport Indonesia to pay more attention to tribal communities in the regency.

John Martinkus – I was last in Papua early in 2003, reporting on the rise of Islamic militia groups aligned with the Indonesian Army on the PNG-Papua border, the intimidation and attacks on human rights workers by the Indonesian military and the outrage of Papuan leaders at the insincerity of the government in Jakarta in honouring the 2001 autonomy law.

Tiarma Siboro and Nethy Dharma Somba, Jakarta/Papua – Security authorities suspect "outside elements" may have been involved in Monday's deadly attack on a military post in Papua, with the hunt continuing for the killers.

Sarah Stephen – Soon after the federal government's decision to grant 42 West Papuan asylum seekers temporary protection visas, an April 2 national day of action in solidarity with West Papua welcomed the decision while urging the government not to ignore the human rights situation in West Papua.

Max Lane – On April 5, the Papuan People's Assembly (MRP) issued a resolution calling for the closure of the huge Freeport mine, a demand that had been raised by student protesters at a March 15-16 demonstration and at protests earlier in the year in both Papua and other parts of Indonesia.

Hugh White – Australia's debate over Papua in the past fortnight has fallen into the ruts worn in our national consciousness by East Timor. We hear of principles on one side, and pragmatism on the other. But that is a false dichotomy, as we all should have learned from East Timor.

Jakarta – The Indonesian military is stirring up unrest and intimidating residents in the remote province of Papua, an independence campaigner charged.

Bruce Haigh – For as long as the Indonesian army administers West Papua, abuses will occur toward the indigenous Papuan population. The raison d'etre of the military is to hold the archipelago together – an archipelago inherited by the Javanese from the Dutch after a guerilla war. The Indonesian Republic came into being on December 27, 1949.

Rebecca Bream and Shawn Donnan – Freeport-McMoRan has faced a litany of criticism in recent months over the operation of its Grasberg copper and gold mine in Indonesia's remote and conflict-torn Papua province.

M. Wahid Supriyadi – The granting of temporary protection visas to 42 West Papuans has given new ammunition to anti-Indonesian activists.

Jayapura – Papuans seeking for political asylum in Australia are a bunch of traitors, a Papua youth leader said Sunday.

Tom Hyland – Efforts are under way to start peace talks aimed at settling the growing dispute over control of the Indonesian province of Papua.

As tensions in the territory spill over into a diplomatic row between Jakarta and Canberra, an umbrella organisation of Papuan independence groups is seeking the talks, with an Australian academic acting as intermediary.

Sydney – Australia Sunday has signalled a tougher line on refugees from Indonesia's troubled province of Papua as it faced what the foreign minister called a "crisis" in relations with its giant Islamic neighbour.

Tom Hyland – "There is sensitivity in Indonesia about her sovereignty over West Papua, a sovereignty which Australia has never disputed and a sovereignty which Australia fully respects and fully supports." - John Howard, March 30.

Tom Hyland – Papuan refugees given asylum in Australia claim they are victims of a secret war carried out by undercover Indonesian forces aimed at destroying the independence movement.

Hamish McDonald – Thirty years ago I met a Papuan man called Imser in a place called Valley X, high in the mountainous spine of the Indonesian half of New Guinea.

Mike Carlton – Some background for you on the story of those 42 refugees from Papua who were given asylum in Australia last month, provoking that torrent of protest from Indonesia.

Louise Dodson, Mark Forbes in Jakarta and Craig Skehan – The Immigration Department may be forced to consider Australia's interest, not just humanitarian concerns, when deciding who is allowed asylum.

Tom Allard – In the sad, bloody history of Papua, there have been fleeting moments of optimism, the last of which, dubbed the Papuan Spring, occurred in 2000.

Ferra Kambu remembers it well. A devout Christian and health worker, she joined the separatist movement under the leadership of Theys Eluay, a tribal chief.

Canberra – Indonesia's respect for human rights in its Papua province has improved and Australia shouldn't encourage the region's independence, the Australian prime minister said, despite his country's acceptance of refugees from the province.

Mark Forbes, Jakarta – Papua's first directly elected governor has warned Indonesia must deliver "justice, equality and prosperity" or face the prospect of more violence and an exodus of asylum seekers.

The search continues for a boatload of Papuan asylum seekers thought to have mistakenly landed on an island in Papua New Guinea in their quest to get to Australia.

Reports emerged this week that six asylum seekers from the Indonesian province had landed on an island in Australia's north.

Michelle Grattan, Canberra and Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – John Howard says most Australians do not want West Papuans seeking refuge here.

Mark Baker – It is now evident the chorus of cheers that greeted the Immigration Department's prompt and uncharacteristic decision to grant temporary residence to 42 West Papuan asylum seekers was premature.

Andra Jackson – Exiled West Papuan independence leader Jacob Rumbiak is well placed to challenge the credibility of Indonesian assurances that 43 West Papuan refugees could have been safely returned to Indonesian-controlled West Papua.

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono says that he has the names of six to seven non-government organisations (NGO) that are manipulating the Papua issue. Sudarsono is asking the NGOs to be transparent about their funding sources. If not, they will be audited.

Responding to comments made today by Australian Prime Minister John Howard, the Free West Papua Campaign strongly criticised any plans to interfere with the process by which visas are granted to Papuan asylum seekers.