Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – Four people were injured Thursday when protests against a plan to name the winner of the West Sulawesi gubernatorial election turned ugly. Hundreds of protesters clashed with security officers guarding the province's General Elections Committee (KPUD) office.

Jakarta/Jambi – Haze from fires raging on the jungle-clad islands of Sumatra and Borneo thickened Thursday as officials met to prepare a plan for battling the blazes.

In Pontianak, the capital of Borneo's West Kalimantan province – which has also been badly hit by the haze – visibility at 7:00 am was only 100 meters, said Maroni, from the local meteorology office.

August 25 – The International Federation for East Timor (IFET) today said that the Security Council should create a new UN mission to Timor-Leste which fully integrates all international military components.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – Environmentalists warned Thursday that channeling treated water from hot toxic mud into East Java's Madura Strait posed a threat of pollution that could hurt the local fishing industry. The activists doubted the planned treatment would remove all the toxic chemicals from the mud.

United Nations – The UN Security Council voted unanimously Friday to authorize 1,600 international police and 34 military liaison officers for a follow-on mission in East Timor – but no troops.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The central government believes excesses in the implementation of regional autonomy are scaring away foreign investment.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Wednesday that local governments had imposed a slew of local taxes burdensome to investors since the onset of decentralization.

The mudflow disaster in Porong, Sidoarjo, East Java, has implicated many parties, not only Lapindo and the Bakrie family, but also the country's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama and some media companies.

Ahmad Pathoni, Jakarta – Caswali has sold live chickens in a crowded traditional market in the Indonesian capital for over 10 years, but he has never been given any information on how to prevent bird flu.

There is plenty of mud to go around in Sidoarjo, but the one party that looks set to come out of this disaster looking the dirtiest is the powerful Bakrie family.

Much of the blame for the disaster has fallen on the family, with Vice President Jusuf Kalla going so far as publicly demanding the family bear all the costs arising from the mudflow.

While no one knows when the hot mud in Sidoarjo regency will stop gushing from the bowels of the earth, efforts have to be made to handle the increasing volume of the sludge so that it does not endanger the lives of people living nearby or damage the environment.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Depok – NGO activists are treating reconstruction projects as "battlefields" to compete for donor funding and misuse it for their own benefit, leaving locals to fend for themselves, a top UN officer says.

"Dear Lapindo, I hope to go home soon I'm tired of living in the barracks. Will you be cleaning up the mud right away?"

Lapindo Brantas Inc., a unit under the Bakrie family, has responded to the unprecedented ecological disaster originating from its gas well by going on a public relations charm offensive aimed at cleaning up its image.

Sidoarjo in East Java is the base for the country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU). It is therefore not surprising that the organization spearheaded a move to help people displaced by the mudflow launch a class action suit against Lapindo, the company whose mining activities triggered the mudflow.

Jayapura – Police in Papua have issued an arrest warrant for Jefri Pagawak, a local activist wanted for allegedly masterminding violent demonstrations throughout the province.

The order came after Jefri eluded police who tried to arrest him in Timika on Tuesday night.

Warief Djajanto Basorie, Jakarta – The prime indicator of whether Indonesia is making strides toward greater freedom of information is the process at the House of Representatives surrounding the Freedom of Information Bill. Deliberation of the bill finally began on March 7, 2006, over five years after it was submitted in November 2001.

John McBeth – For three years now, the small white house across the street from the football field in the heart of the frontier town of Atambua has been used as a mess by Indonesia's paramilitary Police Mobile Brigade.

"The dam's breaking... it's collapsing...," a resident of Siring, Porong, Sidoarjo, shouted as he noticed hot mud flowing toward his house last week.

Hundreds of people living near the walls holding back the mudflow were sent scurrying in fear to Porong's main road, effectively blocking the road linking Surabaya and the eastern part of East Java.

Nelson da Cruz, Dili – At this makeshift camp, thousands of East Timor's displaced people fear for their safety as youths intermittently hurl rocks at their temporary homes and rumours swirl of more serious attacks.

Dili – East Timor expressed regret Wednesday over two Australian policemen injured in a mob attack by youths overnight, the latest unrest to hit the tiny nation.

Indra Harsaputra and ID Nugroho, Sidoarjo – Thousands of people displaced by the mudflow disaster in East Java held protests in two affected areas Tuesday to demand compensation commensurate with their losses.

Several protesters showed their frustration by covering themselves in the mud that has gushed from an exploration well accident in Sidoarjo regency since May 29.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The level of human rights violations in Papua has increased in recent years, according to one observer, who asked the international community to do more for the province.

Palu – Lawyers for three Indonesian Christians on death row say the Supreme Court had exceeded its authority by refusing to process their second demand for presidential clemency.

Mark Dodd – East Timor will double its spending on police and defence this financial year, under a national budget worth $US451.9 million ($601 million).

Jakarta – The government is standing firm against allegations it attempted to whitewash the reality of poverty and unemployment in the country in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's state-of-the-nation address last week.

An explosive report in today's issue of The Bulletin has vindicated a field investigation into the activities of the Indonesian military (TNI) in the Papua New Guinea - West Papuan border region. This investigation was undertaken by fieldworkers from May 14 to 14 June 2006 on behalf of the Free West Papua campaign in Australia.

Jakarta – The United Nations has lodged a complaint after Muslim morality police in Indonesia's tsunami-ravaged Aceh province broke into a UN diplomatic compound and peered through windows at sleeping foreign diplomats, an official confirmed Wednesday.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – A bill aimed at outlawing racial and ethnic discrimination has gained a new lease on life, with members of the House of Representatives special committee resisting attempts to kill it off.

Fadli, Tanjung Pinang – Illegal immigrant worker Ahmad Affandi recently landed back at Tanjung Pinang's Sri Bintan Pura Port with nothing more than the shirt on his back.

Since that morning when the 35-year-old left from the repatriation terminal in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, he had only eaten a single piece of bread and drank one bottle of cheap water.

Ambon, Maluku – Angry residents attacked a police post in Nusaniwe, Ambon, with stones Saturday upon learning a man was killed in a fight with police.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – Corruption watchdogs say there is no point in increasing the national education budget to the constitutionally required 20 percent of total spending until corruption in the sector is dealt with.

Dili – Intra-mural opponents of former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's continued leadership of East Timor's dominant FRETILIN party said Monday they hope to convene an extraordinary congress to elect new party leaders.

Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia has urged Indonesia to tackle the forest fires it blames for the choking haze that has engulfed the region.

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said cooperation was ongoing with Indonesia over forest fires on Indonesia's Sumatra island and Kalimantan on Borneo island, but placed responsibility squarely on Jakarta's shoulders.

Youths burnt several houses to the ground in the East Timorese capital yesterday in the latest outbreak of unrest to hit the strife-torn country, eyewitnesses and international peacekeepers said.

"There were around 50 houses burnt," said Marito, a 46-year-old resident of the Comoro neighbourhood where gang battles raged earlier this year.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – Activists demanded Friday that authorities revoke the license of PT Lapindo Brantas Inc., arrest its shareholders, and confiscate their assets, in connection with the gas well that has unleashed a barrage of hot toxic mud on Sidoarjo, East Java.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Former Acehnese rebels are calling for rights abusers from the province's civil war to be put on trial.

They argue that the thousands of people who were tortured during the 29-year conflict are a ticking time bomb that could disrupt the peace deal signed a year ago.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono conferred honorary state medals Friday to former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari and three other foreigners for their role in bringing peace to Aceh.

Soeryo Winoto, Jakarta – Many had doubted Air Chief Marshal Djoko Suyanto's capabilities of overseeing all the armed forces, especially the Army, before he was appointed as Indonesian Military (TNI) commander early this year.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – Activists say women are still not treated as equals in many regions, since governments allocate comparatively small amounts of money to empower them and improve their quality of life.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's claim that his administration has made substantial inroads against unemployment is misleading and fails to recognize the urgent need for job creation, an analyst said Friday.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Foreign investment still appears to be in the doldrums, with the second half of the year starting off to a 24 percent decline in direct foreign investment compared with the same period last year.

A.J. Susmana – It has been 61 years since Indonesia declared itself as an independent nation. But the question so often asked by the cynical is: "Are we really free?".

Marlina MS, Jakarta – The government is targeting state revenue of privatization activities to reach Rp3 trillion by next year.

Politicians may consider President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's state budget proposal for 2007 a boring document, devoid of bold fiscal measures and without any frills at all.

But it is precisely the conservative assumptions used in the planned budget that will reassure the market that there are unlikely to be any painful amendments midway through the next fiscal year.

Jerry Norton, Dili – An agreement critical to advancing development of the Timor Sea's biggest gas resource could go to East Timor's parliament in September or October, and would likely be approved, the country's prime minister said.

Endy M. Bayuni, Jakarta – The real state of the nation, supposedly the content of Tuesday's speech by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, could have been summarized in just 10 words: Over 40 million people in Indonesia are out of work.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Palangkaraya – While millions of people celebrated the country's 61st Independence Day on Thursday, firefighters were busy battling flames in Central Kalimantan. Firefighter Aliansyah said it was worth missing the holiday so that he and around 200 others in the province could try to contain the blazes, which reached the capital, Palangkaraya.

Indra Manenda Rossi, Jakarta – The Department of Health has reported that until 2006 14 provinces have been classified as 'leprosy endemic' based on the high rate of death caused by the chronic disease. However, funds for handling the disease are said to be insufficient.

A terrorism researcher has warned of a new "bombing season" in Indonesia, as Islamic militants seek to repeat a pattern established since October 2002 of attacking Western targets between August and October.

Jerry Norton, Dili – During the day, Fernanda Gomez stands at her tiny roadside kiosk selling canned goods and sundries in front of the blackened remains of burned-out houses in her village near Dili.