Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – East Timor's rebel leader, Major Alfredo Reinado, has agreed to surrender and face charges, including attempted murder, but a deal he negotiated secretly from his mountain base is almost certain to collapse.

Zakki Hakim, Jakarta – Horse-drawn carts rescued residents from flood-stricken districts in the Indonesian capital on Monday after flooding burst riverbanks, killing at least 29 people and forcing some 340,000 to flee their homes in recent days.

Prodita Sabarini, Jakarta – Flip... flop... flip... flop... The sound of a man's sandals blended with the chattering of children in their pajamas in the lobby of a hotel.

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – As hundreds of thousands of Jakartans struggled with the cold and damp, officials on Saturday were quick to muster the culprits behind another year of severe flooding.

Tom Hyland – East Timor's Fretilin party, the dominant political force in one of the world's poorest nations, is pushing for lavish pensions and other benefits for former government ministers.

Lucy Bannerman and Richard Lloyd Parry – In the three decades since Brian Peters died during Indonesia's secret invasion of East Timor, his sister Maureen Tolfree has been told countless versions of who killed him and how.

Jakarta – Grieving relatives of the 102 people on board an Indonesian airliner which vanished on New Year's day have held an emotional ceremony at sea over the spot where its "black box" flight recorders were found.

Nabiha Shahab, Jakarta – Five people are feared killed in floods in Jakarta with 100,000 others forced to camp out at roadsides and in emergency shelters after days of torrential downpours.

After two days of heavy rain, floods paralyzed Jakarta and its buffer towns on Friday to a degree that surely exceeded the flooding of five years ago, which up to this point was considered the worst natural disaster to hit the capital.

Jakarta – Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar has blamed excessive construction on water catchment areas for floods which have inundated the Indonesian capital.

Swathes of Jakarta remained under water Saturday as thousands of people forced to abandon their flooded homes spent the night camped out alongside roads and in emergency shelters in higher areas of the city.

Indra Harsaputra, Sidoarjo – Sidoarjo council members have threatened to close down exploration activity by the company at the heart of Sidoarjo, East Java mudflow disaster unless it resumes payments to the regency.

Jakarta – This year's dengue fever outbreak will be harder to manage than previous outbreaks due to significant increases in the total number of sufferers, the Health Minister said Friday.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – The National Disaster Management Coordinating Board (Bakornas) announced Thursday that search for survivors and wreckage from two major air and sea disasters has left it run out of money.

Lucy Williamson, Jakarta – Jakarta's first poultry patrol was anything but a surprise to the residents of Kemayoran district. The red and white banner strung across the narrow street read "You are entering a chicken-free zone".

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Analysts criticized President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's 2007 State of the Union speech for delving too much into macroeconomic details and overlooking some of the country's most immediate problems, such as avian influenza and the raging sectarian conflict in Poso, Central Sulawesi.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Indonesia's exports wrapped up 2006 on another record high, booking growth of nearly 20 percent over the previous year to close at more than US$100 billion for the first time ever.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The government will deploy a team of local officials to Yamo, Puncak Jaya, Papua, Monday to encourage thousands of people fleeing a crackdown on separatists to return home.

Around 2,000 people moved from the Yamo river to the center of Yamo district following military and police attacks on Free Papua Movement (OPM) rebels in the area.

Mark Dodd – The SAS will hold joint counter-terrorism exercises with Jakarta's elite Kopassus special forces as part of a dramatic expansion of defence ties between Australia and Indonesia.

The thaw in relations, which had been frosty in the aftermath of Australia's post-ballot intervention in East Timor, follows a series of unannounced visits.

Australia and Indonesia will conduct a counter-terrorism exercise, the second since resumption of joint training involving the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) and the controversial Kopassus special force.

M. Taufiqurrahman and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Pressure is mounting on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to take further action following his decision to revoke a controversial government regulation raising the allowances for councillors in cities, regencies and provinces nationwide.

Jakarta – A coalition of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) called on the government to cancel auctions for two selective logging concessions in Riau and Jambi, saying the move would endanger protected animals and threaten the livelihood of indigenous peoples.

Jakarta – Indonesian policemen arrested on Thursday two men wanted as top members of a local Islamic militant group that has terrorized the country's Central Sulawesi province and had links to an Asian terror network, police said.

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – The Indonesia Military was urged Wednesday to be softer in its handling of the separatist movement in Papua as the threat the movement posed was minimal and lacking in significant external support.

I. Summary

Jakarta – Forty-seven people have been arrested in East Timor in an operation against gang violence in the tiny territory, the United Nations said in a statement on Thursday.

Canberra – Australian troops have participated in a major armed operation with the United Nations against warring gangs in Timor-Leste in which 50 people have been arrested in the capital of Dili.

Ati Nurbaiti, Jakarta – Timor Leste women activists called for more solidarity and cooperation from Indonesian women to help build their new nation.

Mark Dodd – East Timor's parliament is to vote on a conscription bill that aims to fill the ranks of the country's ethnically divided defence force, but which critics say could trigger renewed social upheaval.

Dili – An estimated 8,000 to 10,000 East Timorese have rallied to the governing party, Fretilin, at the country's second city, Baucau, about 122 kilometres east of Dili.

East Timor Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said he would not run for the presidency later this year unless there were no other candidates. "I do not want to (stand in elections) for the parliament, the government or the presidency," Ramos-Horta told AFP.

It is a case about a band, in Bali, with a pedigree problem. Two musicians are standing trial in Denpasar District Court after singing a crowd favourite at a charity concert that likened police to dogs.

The musicians have been charged with "deliberately insulting a state institution in public".

Max Lane, Jakarta – Despite right-wing intimidation, the founding congress of the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) successfully concluded on January 20. A leadership was elected, which has already had its first meeting, preparing for a year of "all out" political campaigning.

Ardimas Sasdi, Jakarta – The plan of the government to "privatize", an euphemism for running higher state institutions under a private model, reminds the writer of a touching short message service (SMS) from a nephew studying at Bandung's Padjadjaran University (UNPAD).

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The government-backed Indonesian Commission for the Protection of Children (KPAI) has opposed the imposition of corporal punishment on children in schools, saying it is still rife in state-run schools, Islamic schools and Islamic boarding schools in East Java.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Thousands of people fleeing a crackdown on Papuan separatists are now facing food shortages.

The crisis is hitting refugees in Yamo district, Puncak Jaya regency, Papua, after Indonesian Military and police attacks on Free Papua Movement (FPM) rebels in the area.

Mark Dodd – Indonesia is planning to buy coastal patrol vessels to bolster border protection with The Philippines and to crack down on illegal fishing and people-smuggling to Australia.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – The sharp drop in actual investment last year indicates that there are serious problem in the government's industrial development policies, a senior economist says.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The government will cooperate with the Attorney General's Office and police to enforce a 1992 law on social security programs to provide protection for workers, says a minister.

Prodita Sabarini, Jakarta – Craving change in the film industry, filmmakers and actors agree the law governing filmmaking in Indonesia needs to be revisited.

They said the 1992 Film Law was too rigid and was counter-productive to artists' freedom of expression and was hindering their creativity.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The new labor rules governing dismissals and setting redundancy payouts will focus on low-income employees with monthly wages of below Rp 2 million (US$222), the head of the national insurance company says.

Suspended PT Jamsostek president Iwan Pontjowinoto said the new scheme would protect the rights of blue collar workers.

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – Lawmakers and the Indonesian Military (TNI) are disagreeing on whether or not soldiers should be allowed to vote in a general election.

Djoko Susilo, a member of the House of Representatives' Commission I overseeing defense, believes a soldier, as a citizen, has the right to vote.

Jakarta – An increasing number of Indonesian Military (TNI) officers are being dismissed from active duty after committing criminal misconduct, Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said Friday.

"It is understandable that many low-ranking TNI officers commit crimes because of economic problems," Juwono told reporters in his office in Jakarta as quoted by Detikcom news portal.

Jakarta – As the real estate sector has heated up, evictions carried out on "public order grounds" have become more and more routine.

Following a series of evictions in different North and West Jakarta over the last week, squatters and street traders feel so vulnerable that even the sight of public order officers can spark chaos.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Clad in a white dress and scarf, 20-year-old Liza Wahyuni binti Sulaiman kneeled on the platform. Two wilatatulhisbah, or religious police officers, stood next to her. She was about to be caned, and in public.

Jakarta – Lawyers representing Suciwati, the widow of murdered rights activist Munir Said Thalib, expressed hope Friday that the police would come up with substantial new evidence to reopen the 2004 murder case.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Hoping to avoid the tarnished image of the 2004 General Elections Commission (KPU), the House of Representatives is drafting new legislation on an independent and accountable elections commission to organize democratic, free and fair general elections in 2009.

Jakarta – More than 200 members of the Emergency Ambulance 118 Workers Union rallied Thursday at the Hotel Indonesia traffic, demanding the city administration expedite the establishment of the regional public service board to accommodate them.

Riyadi Suparno, Jakarta – Once a symbol of corruption, state oil firm Pertamina has embarked on an internal reform program under new leadership and has reaped billions of dollars in investments to double its oil and gas output.