Jakarta – Print media has enjoyed ever-increasing revenue from advertising, but now faces a looming danger that could put the industry's sustainability into serious doubt – a decline in readership, a survey revealed Thursday.

Jakarta – Unanswered questions about East Timor's break for independence in 1999 were brought to the forefront with the Thursday launch of East Timor, One Final Minute – a journalist's memoirs of his experience reporting on the debacle.

"President-elect Barack Obama's rumored selection of Admiral Dennis C. Blair for Director of National Intelligence is unacceptable," the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) said today.

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Following the Bank Century trouble, the central bank is under pressure to improve its supervision amid the global financial downturn to prevent troubled banks from disrupting the country's financial sector, legislators warn.

Sara Webb, Jakarta – Hillary Clinton's nomination as US secretary of state could prove tricky for Indonesia, a key ally in Southeast Asia in the US-led war on terror, because of a past funding scandal and her stance on trade and human rights.

Jakarta – About 80 percent of Jakarta's administration offices violate the bylaw on smoking restrictions, according to a preliminary survey conducted by an NGO.

The Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta) is conducting the survey from Nov. 17 to mid-December, with several volunteers inspecting administration offices under Governor Fauzi Bowo's consent.

John M. Miller – According to some pundits, US reengagement with the largely unreformed and unrepentant Indonesian military is the best way to promote reform and human rights. The Wall Street Journal Asia, for instance, called on President-elect Barack Obama "to stand down liberal senators and interest groups" for seeking conditions on military assistance to Indonesia.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Responding to discouraging results of recent public service surveys, State Minister for Administrative Reforms Taufiq Effendi revealed half of the country's four million civil servants were unqualified.

Jerome Rivet, Dili – From his terrifying footage of the 1991 massacre at Dili's Santa Cruz cemetery, British journalist and filmmaker Max Stahl has tracked every step of East Timor's transition to independence.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri has been accused of trying to protect eight generals under investigation for allegedly supporting gambling rings in Riau province.

Bambang said Wednesday the police generals were only guilty of "managerial faults" in the case now being investigated by his office's internal affairs division.

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Victims of the East Java mudflow disaster have reached a deal with the Bakrie family-controlled PT Minarak Lapindo Jaya and the government agency handling their case to settle a long outstanding compensation payout.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives does not need to launch an investigation into longstanding cases of involuntary disappearances, but instead should push the president to order a formal investigation into these crimes against humanity, a human rights group has said.

Jakarta – PT Jamsostek, the state-owned occupational insurance provider, will add Rp 2 trillion (around US$179.5 million) to its annual cash reserves next year to anticipate possible withdrawals by beneficiaries affected by layoffs, which could increase significantly given the global economic downturn.

Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – Demand for Indonesian migrant workers in the overseas formal sector is on the rise, with hospitals, hotels and transportation and construction companies the main employers, an official says.

Jayapura, Papua – Some 50 Papuan human rights activists staged a rally outside Papua Provincial Police headquarters on Wednesday, demanding the release of pro-independence leader Buchtar Tabuni. Police arrested Buchtar for organizing an Oct. 16 rally demanding Papua's independence.

Muh Syaifullah, Yogyakarta – The police have detained two activists from the Unified People Coalition (KRB) for allegedly burning flyers with pictures of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla at the State Palace yesterday.

Anang Zakaria, Surabaya – Scores of students of the Faculty of Education for Children With Special Needs from the Surabaya State University yesterday demonstrated in front of the Grahadi Building in Surabaya. They called on the government and the public not to discriminate against the disabled.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Workplace discrimination remains an issue for people with HIV/AIDS, with most companies still refusing to employ HIV-positive job seekers, and about half considering the condition an acceptable excuse for job termination, a study revealed Tuesday.

Matt Crook, Dili – A US$390 million power project tendered to Chinese investors was to be the defining action of the Parliamentary Majority Alliance (AMP) coalition government, with the infrastructure seen as crucial for improving livelihoods and attracting foreign investment to this impoverished island nation.

Lilian Karunungan – The Indonesian rupiah will tumble 10 percent to its lowest level since 1998 in three months as the global financial slump spurs investors to sell more of the nation's assets, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Tom Allard and Karuni Rompies – Indonesian prosecutors yesterday asked for a prison sentence of 15 years for the intelligence operative and former Kopassus commander Muchdi Purwopranjano, who they allege organised the assassination by arsenic poisoning of a prominent human rights activist.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Businesspeople in Nangroe Aceh Darussalam have blamed the improper implementation of sharia (Islamic law) for the lack of development in the province's tourism industry.

"The image of Aceh as a sharia-ruled region has caused reluctance among tourists to visit," Totok Yulianto, owner of a travel agency here, said recently.

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged the nation Monday to avoid mass public demonstrations that could destabilize the nation's political balance as was seen in Thailand last week.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Syafrudin, 35, stacked cages of chickens onto a waiting mini van outside his employer's house at Kemandoran in South Jakarta on Monday with help from two other workers.

Eleanor Hall: In their country's quarter of a century long struggle for independence, around 10,000 East Timorese people were taken as political prisoners by Indonesia.

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Confirming that the impact of the global economic slide has hit the country, exports in October dropped from a month earlier on weaker demand and lower prices, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported Monday.

Rohman Taufiq, Jakarta – Around one thousand victims of the Lapindo mudflow disaster from the Tanggulangin Anggun Sejahtera housing complex, Sidoarjo, came to the Presidential Palace this morning (2/12).

Jakarta – Government prosecutors on Tuesday demanded a 15-year jail sentence for a former senior Indonesian intelligence official charged in the murder of a prominent human rights activist.

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Siti, a housewife who lives near the Kalimalang canal in East Jakarta, is familiar with the sight of dead fish floating up from the murky depths after overnight rains.

Rofiudin, Semarang – Several companies in Central Java have been dismissing workers since September due to the world financial crisis and this will continue.

Sahat Simatupang, Medan – Thousands of workers in Medan yesterday (1/12) hit the streets to reject the four-minister decree that restricts wage rises in an effort to anticipate the impacts of the global economic crisis.

Jon Afrizal and Agus Maryono, Jambi, Purwokerto and Yogyakarta – Against a backdrop of HIV/AIDS infection rates that are rising at alarming levels in Jambi, activists and sex workers in Central Java, Yogyakarta and West Java commemorated World AIDS Day in different ways on Monday.

Jakarta – About one hundred street musicians rallied in front of East Java Police headquarters in Surabaya on Monday to protest the rounding up of their fellow street musicians in nationwide anti-thug sweeps.

The buskers, who said they were members of the East Java branch of the Indonesian Buskers Union, demanded the police stop criminalizing them.

Jakarta – Armed with wooden sticks, several young police officers were seen banging on public minivans loading passengers at Tanah Abang market, Central Jakarta, and blocking the roads.

One police officer turned to a line of fruit vendors on the roadside and picked up a rambutan with paying for it while chatting with the seller before returning to his job.

Dili – More than 100,000 people fled their homes in 2006 for welfare centres and relatives' homes when violence erupted following splits within the police and military.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – With the global financial crisis starting to affect Asian countries, hundreds of thousands of Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea could be laid off, officials and civil society groups warn.

Multa Fidrus, Banten – After being laid off in September along with 416 other workers by the same company in Serang, Prihatini, 36, said Saturday she had lost hope of finding employment.

"I have to feed my children. They also go to school and they need money for school fees, and I have no husband," she told The Jakarta Post.

Dian Kuswandini, Jakarta – The controversy over Tim Weiner's book The Legacy of Ashes: The History of CIA, which claims Indonesia's former vice president Adam Malik was a US spy, has seen the Attorney General's Office (AGO) launch an investigation into an alleged conspiracy to destabilize the country.

Canberra – Indonesian rights activists asked Australia on Monday to help bring reconciliation following a three-decade civil war in Aceh province, saying conflict will again threaten without more progress.

Winarno Zain, Jakarta – As the world economic outlook worsens dramatically, the Indonesian economy will be heading into a dangerous zone next year. It is clear now that the full impacts of the global economic meltdown will be felt here next year. All signs indicate the economy is decelerating rapidly.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Maimun panicked when a doctor told him he was infected with HIV, detected when he went to give blood for one of his relatives.

At the time, the fisherman from Tapaktuan district in South Aceh, thought of HIV/AIDS as an embarrassing disease, often viewed as an indelible shame in Aceh, where Islamic sharia law is applied.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – The absence of an electoral supervisory agency in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam could trigger violations in the upcoming 2009 election process and threaten stability in the area.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Several cases of alleged corruption involving Indonesian diplomats overseas, particularly its ambassadors in Washington and Moscow, have raised concerns over their credibility in representing the country abroad.

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has gained further public support since announcing one of his relatives is a suspect in the Bank Indonesia corruption case, a survey has found.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The government has been urged to change its "ineffective" approach to HIV/AIDS, as the number of people infected by the disease continues to grow each year.

Tom Allard – Yunus Wainggai and his daughter Anike – two of the 43 Papuans granted asylum in Australia in 2006 – returned to Jakarta last night, ending a two week saga which followed the disappearance of the independence activist and his seven-year old child from their Melbourne home.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Attorney General Hendarman Supandji announced Saturday that prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan, who was jailed for 20 years for taking bribes, was acting alone in the scandal and that a criminal probe into the bribery roles of his superiors lacked evidence.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Inconsistent standards and unethical recruitment methods in the health industry are to blame for Indonesia's costly yet ineffective medical services, a study says.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Activists from the Women Head the Family (Pekka) group in West Java have urged the legislature and provincial administration to allocate more funds and provide greater access to facilities for female heads of households.

More than 5 million women in the province are the main breadwinners in their households.

Fadli, Batam – About 200 members of the All-Indonesia Federation of Workers Union in Batam demonstrated outside the Batam municipal office Thursday, demanding the city's minimum wage be equivalent to the standard costs of living.