[East Timor is quiet today after mob violence in the capital Dili, left at least two dead, scores injured, and key buildings burnt to the ground. The unrest began a few days ago with the arrest of a student at Dili University, and exploded after the killing of another student during protests outside UN police headquarters.

Dili – East Timor said on Friday that Indonesian-backed militiamen responsible for hundreds of deaths in 1999 were regrouping and may have been behind this week's violent rioting in the capital.

Rod McGuirk, Dili – The operator of a central Dili supermarket razed in riots this week vowed today never to do business in East Timor again.

The Hello Mister Supermarket has become an icon of the reconstructed city since it opened in March 2000.

The Indonesian military's (TNI) assault on armed elements of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) is bringing splits in the rebel movement to the fore, with one moderate leader accusing another leader of being a TNI agent.

Ibnu Mat Noor and Nani Farida, Kuala Simpang/Bireuen – Banda Aceh was largely deserted on Wednesday, with most public transport off the streets, as the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) celebrated its 26th independence anniversary.

Jakarta – The 26-year-old coordinator of the Coalition for West Aceh Students Movements (Kagempar) was found dead in the Senapit area in Lembah Seulawah subdistrict, Aceh Besar district on Tuesday, Antara reported.

Banda Aceh – A number of student activists and several family members identified on Wednesday a body found under Senapit Bridge in the city, as Musliadi, coordinator of the Coalition for West Aceh Students Movement (Kagempar).

Musliadi was kidnapped by unidentified men last week.

Devi Asmarani, Yogyakarta – The authorities in this cultural hub of Indonesia have declared war on militant Muslim groups whose presence in the city has given rise to a negative image of it being a "breeding ground for religious radicals".

Mark Egan, Washington – The International Monetary Fund on Thursday approved a $365 million loan payment to Indonesia under the nation's $4.8 billion loan and urged the nation to undertake further economic reforms.

John Martinkus – In a swamp in North Aceh usually home only to snakes, leeches, and the large biting iguanas the locals call Biawak, the Indonesian military has deployed roughly 3000 combat troops from five battalions backed up with armoured vehicles, three attack helicopters and light artillery.

Kathy Marks, Sydney – East Timor was placed undera virtual state of emergency yesterday, witha curfew in the capital, Dili, after student riots in which up to five people were killed and the Prime Minister's house was burnt down.

Jill Jolliffe (with Mark Forbes, agencies), Dili – East Timor's capital, Dili, was torn by riots yesterday in the worst violence since 1999, after police shot dead at least two student protesters.

The government last night imposed a state of emergency with a 7pm curfew after student rioters trashed the parliament building and torched hotels, shops and a mosque.

As many as five protesters were shot dead in the East Timor capital, Dili, yesterday when hundreds of students clashed with police near parliament, witnesses said.

United Nations peacekeepers surrounded the parliament as the crowd torched a supermarket and damaged other buildings. The witnesses said it was the police who had opened fire on the demonstrators.

The sectarian bloodshed in the Indonesian province of Central Sulawesi is the direct result of Jakarta's failure to punish violence when it broke out four years ago, Human Rights Watch said.

An estimated 1,000 people have died and more than 100,000 have been displaced since violence between Christians and Muslims erupted in the province's Poso region in December 1998.

Bireun – Separatists in Indonesia's Aceh province commemorated the 26th anniversary of their fight on Wednesday with at least one military flag-raising ceremony and vows to keep fighting Jakarta's rule.

We are of the view that Prime Minister Howard's statement that [Australia] will carry out pre-emptive strikes against terrorist threats in South-East Asia is clearly an arrogant statement from an imperialist country which wishes to show its fangs to the poor people of South-East Asia.

Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh – The commander of the military wing of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Sabang was arrested and then executed by Indonesian security authorities in Aceh on Monday, GAM claimed Tuesday.

Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh – Having lived for years in violence, Acehnese are demanding that representatives of Jakarta and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels support all attempts that could pave the way for peace during their meeting in Geneva on December 9.

Acehnese need peace the most, therefore the warring factions should focus on this, an activist said.

Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province celebrated the anniversary Wednesday of their 1976 declaration of independence, despite warnings from the central government and the armed forces.

On November 25, the trials of Australian-based, British-born academic Lesley McCulloch and US nurse Joy-Lee Sadler began in Aceh. They are being tried for visa violations, after the prosecution failed to make espionage charges stick. McCulloch is a leading expert on Aceh and has documented human rights abuses in the province by the Indonesian military (TNI).

[East Timor authorities have imposed a curfew and sent troops onto the streets of the capital Dili, following a day of rioting in which as many as five people have died. Several businesses, including the ANZ bank, were targetted, after a large crowd which was demanding the release of an arrested student went on the rampage.

Max Lane, Jakarta – Any analysis of Indonesian politics during the last year three years, especially since the downfall of President Abdurrahman Wahid, has to take account of the steady rise in the masses' alienation from the Indonesian political elite.

More than ever, Australia has a direct interest in the reform of Indonesia's corrupt, politicised legal system. With the arrests of the main suspects in the Bali bombings it is to this legal system that Australia will now look to mete out the appropriate punishment for a horrendous crime.

Hundreds of Amarek village residents in Cikupa district, Tangerang, ran amok on Monday afternoon and damaged the office of PT Bintang Abadi at Jl. Raya Serang km.18.

James Balowski – On November 27, an Indonesian court sentenced notorious militia chief Eurico Guterres to 10 years in prison for crimes committed during the violence in East Timor following the 1999 referendum for independence.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Rising wages, coupled with a hyperactive labour force, are turning off foreign investors, some of whom are packing up and abandoning the country.

To bring back investors, Jakarta needs to better control workers and the rate of pay hikes. Indonesia has simply gotten too expensive.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Observers have said the US-led war against terrorism had caused a setback in the promotion of human rights, which was demonstrated in the continuing impunity among security officers charged with atrocities in East Timor.

David Fickling, Darwin – Absurdity is a concept particularly popular with politicians treading on shaky moral ground. Invoke absurdity, and you immediately set yourself up on the side of reason, while ushering all right-thinking people to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you. Those you criticise are self-evidently in the wrong.

Indonesia's West Kalimantan province has lost an estimated 300,000 hectares to illegal logging over the past two years and will become a desert by 2040, reports said today.

Research recently compiled by the University of Tanjungpura, in West Kalimantan, shows that the province has lost 165,631 hectares of forest per year in 2000 and 2001, said The Jakarta Post.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – Shortly after dawn on April 7, 1999, independence, let alone justice, for the East Timorese seemed a distant dream in the fearful and empty streets of Liquica.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Human rights activists see no hope that the ad hoc human rights court will uphold justice and punish military and police officers for their alleged involvement in the 1999 East Timor violence.

Dili – East Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri has rejected President Xanana Gusmao's demand that he sack Interior Minister Rogirio Lobato, saying his cabinet is characterized by "solidarity and cohesion".

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – Thousands of people packed Dili Cathedral yesterday to hear Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo's reasons for quitting as head of the East Timorese church and leaving the territory.

The special service followed his unexpected announcement last week that Pope John Paul had accepted his resignation on grounds of physical and psychological ill health.

Andrew Trounson, Melbourne – Plans to market natural gas from the Greater Sunrise fields in the Timor Sea to markets in Australia are to be abandoned, with the partners in the project now expected to target offshore markets, potential customers say.

Jakarta – At least six people, including two soldiers and a member of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), were killed in the latest violence to hit Aceh, AFP reported.

Three civilians were shot dead by soldiers searching for members of GAM in Manyang Baroh, in the North Aceh district, early on Sunday, the local GAM spokesman Teungku Jamaica said.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Defying President Megawati's instructions, some 500 Papuans gathered outside the residence of former Papuan Presidium Council (PDP) chairman Theys Hiyo Eluay on Sunday to commemorate what they called the independence day of the country's easternmost province.

Jane Perlez, Denpasar – His fingers clasp a long brush and with the finest of strokes, Nyoman Kantor paints the figures of a Balinese myth onto eggshell. Luscious reds, greens and yellows sparkle on the egg, a memento popular with tourists who come to Mr. Kantor's outdoor studio and salesroom.

Robert Go, Jakarta – After the private bank that Ms Sri Astuti worked for folded in 1998, she sought a clerical job at other offices. When no suitable offer came after three months, the mother of two used most of her savings to open a warung, or foodstall, near her home.

[East Timor's independence celebrations have been marred by a series of anti-government protests, centered on the failure of former resistance fighters to find employment. This week a police station in Baucau has been attacked by an angry mob and 3000 anti-government protestors have rallied in Dili.

An explosion shook a government building in the main town of Indonesia's restive Poso district on Sulawesi island, but police say no one was hurt.

Local police say the blast, believed to have been caused by a home-made bomb, slightly damaged the office of a state social welfare group in Poso town.

They say the blast shattered several windows and part of the ceiling.

Joco Boavida – The riot of 4 December 2002 took residents of Dili and news listeners and watchers worldwide by surprise for the extent of anger and violence that suddenly erupted and vanished in so short a time.

Indonesia's sham prosecutions, the need to strengthen the trial process in East Timor, and the imperative of UN

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – Indonesia's Human Rights Court acquitted three army and police officers yesterday over charges of human rights crimes in East Timor – maintaining its unbroken record of refusing to convict senior security force personnel.

Jakarta – Thousands of poor people in Banggai and Banggai Islands in Central Sulawesi are reportedly facing famine, following the sharp decrease in theLuwuk logistics sub-depot's rice stocks, Antara reported.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Pressure is mounting on the police to release 16 people arrested for protesting against the planned reopening of the PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL) pulp mill in Porsea, North Sumatra, as the Sweden-based NGO, Jij Vecht Tegen Onrecht, protested the arrests on Friday.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Indonesia has expressed optimism over the possibility of the United States Congress allowing Indonesian Military (TNI) officers to rejoin the US International Military Education and Training (IMET) program.

Hamish McDonald – Reality seems to have dawned this week on Eurico Guterres, the long-haired young firebrand who led one of the most violent pro-Jakarta militia groups in the campaign to deter the people of East Timor from voting for independence just over three years ago.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The 10-year jail term given to notorious militia leader Eurico Guterres for instigating attacks on pro-independence leaders during East Timor's bloody referendum in August 1999 is the toughest sentence yet to be handed out by Jakarta's human rights courts.

The international community is the only hope East Timorese have of winning retribution for the crimes committed by Indonesia during its 24 years of occupation. Until this happens, justice will remain a mirage for the tens of thousands of people who lost relatives and property.

Japanese technology company Sony Corporation will close its audio equipment manufacturing plant in Indonesia due to labour and tax problems.

Japan's industry and trade minister, Rini Suwandi, has been quoted as saying Sony had been facing labour problems since early this year.