Indonesia

Earlier this week the Australia West Papua Association called for Canberra to press Jakarta over the arrests in the city of Nabire of about 150 Papuans, mostly members of the pro-independence West Papua National Committee, or KNPB.

But a statement from the Indonesian Embassy in Wellington says these arrests did not happen.

It says only one KNPB sympathiser was arrested on July 1st and released the next day.

The statement says two other Papuans were detained on 2 July and held for questioning.

Twenty-five years and around $100 million in the making, the enormous copper and brass sculpture is of the Hindu god Wisnu astride the mythical bird Garuda.

After years of planning, re-designs, cash shortages and stop-start construction, sculptor Nyoman Nuarta says the project should be finished next September.

And the final phase — the fitting of the sculpture's skin to the concrete and steel skeleton — is well underway.

The copper and brass claws of Garuda are finally gripping an enormous, purpose-built, concrete pedestal.

Gay sex is not illegal in most of Indonesia but is in Aceh, the only province which exercises Islamic law.

The men will each receive 85 strokes during the punishment, which will take place in public.

The pair, aged 20 and 23, were found in bed together by vigilantes who entered their private accommodation in March. They have not been identified.

'He was terrified' - Rebecca Henschke, BBC News, Banda Aceh

The ACP Council of Ministers in Brussels reportedly heard a joint statement on Papua from seven Pacific countries - Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Nauru, Palau and the Marshall Islands.

The statement condemned Indonesian human rights violations in Papua and called for a resolution supporting the right of West Papuan political self-determination.

However, Indonesia's embassy in New Zealand says the ACP agreed in April that the group would not cover the issue of Papua in future meetings.

Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Nauru, Palau and the Marshall Islands delivered a joint statement at the ACP's Council of Ministers in Brussels.

It condemned Indonesian human rights violations in Papua, including alleged crimes against humanity and called for an eventual resolution that includes support of the right of West Papuan political self-determination.

Footage aired on local TV stations showed dozens of men rushing out of a side entrance at Sialang Bungkuk prison in Pekanbaru City, with no sign of anyone following them.

About 200 people escaped after being let out of cells for Friday prayers.

More than a third were subsequently recaptured.

Ferdinand Siagian, from the region's law ministry, said that the jail had only five or six guards on duty for nearly 1,900 inmates, in a prison supposed to hold only 300.

According to his papers, Sodimedjo, also known as Mbah Ghoto (grandpa Ghoto), was born in December 1870.

But Indonesia only started recording births in 1900 - and there have been mistakes before.

Yet officials told the BBC his papers were valid, based on documents he provided and interviews with him.

He was taken to hospital on 12 April because of deteriorating health. Six days later he insisted on checking out to return home.

"Since he came back from the hospital, he only ate spoonfuls of porridge and drank very little," his grandson Suyanto told the BBC.

Reuters reports that the losses appear to be pushing the Indonesian government and Freeport to resolve the row.

Akbar went missing on Sunday on the island of Sulawesi, after leaving to harvest palm oil.

In the search for the 25-year-old, police told BBC Indonesian that they had found a huge snake they suspected had swallowed the man.

The reticulated python, reported to be 7m (23ft)-long, was cut open and the man's body was found.

How can a snake eat a human?

Reticulated pythons are among the world's longest reptiles and suffocate their victims before swallowing them whole.

Assessment was carried out by teams from the government and the insurance company for the British-owned Caledonian Sky, which ran aground on coral reefs in West Papua's famous Raja Ampat archipelago.

The Jakarta Post quotes Indonesia's deputy for maritime sovereignty at the Office of the Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister, Arif Havas Oegroseno.

He said the two teams concluded the ship damaged 18,882 square meters.

The damaged area has been divided into two categories: over two-thirds were "heavily damaged" while the rest suffered "medium damage".