Padang Ekspres-Art talk: Staff and volunteers of ruangrupa artists’ initiative, a nonprofit art development organization founded in 2000, in a meeting to discuss a project at their headquarters in Tebet, South Jakarta. Photo Courtesy of Ruangrupa

Established in 2000 as a small not-profit organization with a mere start-up budget of Rp 600,000 (US$60), the artists' initiative ruangrupa has evolved into an established art space, supporting art ideas within an urban context.

Today, the group has a gallery that holds six exhibitions a year, featuring work by young artists and its curators. The organization holds workshops and also hosts the Jakarta 32*c (32 degrees centigrade) Biennale, an exhibition that provides an art showcase for Jakarta's students. Read More....

Obama administration shifting policy on Sudan

Padang ekspres-WASHINGTON – In a new effort to engage the government of Sudan, U.S. officials say the White House will shift its policy toward Khartoum, but they warn that the violence and humanitarian abuses in Darfur must stop.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, and the administration's special Sudan envoy, Scott Gration, are to unveil the policy Monday at a news conference at the State Department, the officials said.

The officials spoke late Friday on condition of anonymity because Congress has not yet been briefed on the matter.

The announcement is planned to show unity within the Obama administration. Rice and Gration have notoriously clashed over engaging with the Sudanese government of President Omar al-Bashir, who has been charged by the International Criminal Court with crimes against humanity and war crimes for allegedly masterminding deadly attacks throughout Darfur.read more....

Somali pirates attack French military flagship

AFP/File – The French navy logistics ship La Somme sails in the Red Sea in 2004. Somali pirates attempted to storm …

Wed Oct 7, 11:10 am ET

NAIROBI (AFP) – Somali pirates attempted to storm the French navy's 18,000 tonne flagship in the Indian Ocean after mistaking it for a cargo vessel, the French military said on Wednesday.

The crew of La Somme, a 160-metre (525-foot) command vessel and fuel tanker, easily saw off the brazen night-time assault by lightly armed fighters on two lightweight skiffs and captured five pirates, a spokesman said. Read More....

Morocco seeks to boost business ties with RI: Envoy

Every ambassador has a mission to accomplish when they are posted abroad. Similarly, Morocco's new ambassador, Mohamed Majdi, also has an important mission in Indonesia.

"My main mission in Indonesia is simple and complicated at the same time," Ambassador Majdi, who submitted his credentials to President Susuilo Bambang Yudhoyono on April 21, 2009, told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview at his office in Jakarta.read more