When feeling embarrassed or humiliated, sometimes the only thing to do is remember that it is not always going to be this bad. But would you feel it more if you were from a different culture? And would people elsewhere guard more heavily against it?

In the prison wing of Indonesia's National Police Headquarters in Jakarta is a whiteboard listing the names of inmates awaiting trial, followed by the length of time they have spent in custody.

He may have got a bounce in the polls today, but the Prime Minister’s handling of the Oceanic Viking issue has been singularly inept.

When the West's man General Suharto seized power in Indonesia in the mid-1960s, he offered "a gleam of light in Asia," rejoiced Time magazine.

A new deal has been offered to the Sri Lankans who are refusing to leave the Australian customs ship, the Oceanic Viking, in Indonesia.

This letter is to let you know that you can apply for resettlement, and to inform you of the procedures that will be followed by the Australian Government after you leave the ship and are safely onshore in Indonesia.

A generous offer of rapid resettlement for the 78 asylum seekers onboard the Oceanic Viking is an incentive for other boat people to seek refuge in Australia, former foreign minister Alexander Downer says.

UNITED States of America’s Consul General to Australia, Judith R. Fergin arrived at the Young Golf Club on Tuesday afternoon at about 6:30pm, as a guest speaker to the meeting of Young Rotary. It is part of her tour of regional NSW which, this time around, has also taken in Albury and Tumut.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono arrives in Malaysia on Wednesday for a visit aimed at smoothing over the latest spats between the neighbours, who have a history of troubled relations.

The Rudd Government is considering allowing more displaced Sri Lankans to emigrate to Australia legally in a bid to reduce the incentive for them to turn up on boats.