Dili and a Portugal Telecom-led consortium signed a 15-year concession Friday for the Lisbon-headquartered company to establish and operate the new country's telecommunications systems.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Anti-corruption activists say widespread corruption in procurements of goods and services in most units of the city administration cannot be stopped due to the alleged involvement of the City Audit Agency (Bawasda).

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government is still pursuing its plan to impose a state of emergency in the restive province of Aceh, ignoring strong opposition from the provincial administration, councillors and students as well as non-governmental organizations there.

Muhammad Nafik and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri, once a popular opposition leader, has developed authoritarian and aloof traits during her one year as the nation's leader, a tendency that could undermine democracy, say analysts.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri has come under fire for issuing a decree ordering members of her Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) to support controversial Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso's re-election. Those who defy her order could face severe sanctions from the party.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Confusion over the powers of local regents, or district heads, who have been empowered under Indonesia's messy autonomy laws, has finally come to a head with Jakarta delegating powers to governors.

Maria Ressa, Jakarta – An Indonesian man is being linked to the top echelons of the al Qaeda terrorist network with officials saying he allegedly helped bring hundreds of operatives from Europe to a training camp he set up in Indonesia.

Agus Dwikarna was arrested in March in the Philippines and sentenced last week to up to ten years in prison for possession of explosives.

John Aglionby – Since the fall of the dictator Suharto, Indonesia's reputation in the field of law enforcement has always been near the bottom of the scale – for instance a British police officer who was meant to stay for 18 months to help improve the local force left half way through his term in despair.

The East Timor Defense Force (ETDF) assumes responsibility next week for all aspects of security in part of the new nation, and the Dili government was informed Thursday of progress in transferring defense control into Timorese hands.

President Xanana Gusmao called Thursday to the nations of the North to grant debt relief to the countries in the South, who would, in their turn seek to implement "good governance" with transparency and responsibility.

Berni K. Moestafa, Jakarta – On his third day of his mission to investigate the independence of Indonesia's judiciary, a United Nations legal expert said on Wednesday that it had serious problems.

UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers Dato' Param Cumaraswamy said his impression stemmed from the frequent corruption reports in the local media.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – After two months of hearings by the East Timor ad hoc human rights trial, held in the absence of eyewitnesses from East Timor, an East Timorese finally took the stand on Wednesday to testify about the military's support for pro-Jakarta militia groups at the time.

Jakarta – Indonesia's last governor of East Timor said on Thursday his trial for crimes against humanity during the territory's independence vote in 1999 was bogus and aimed only at deflecting international pressure.

New York – A proposed amnesty law in East Timor could undermine due process and equal protection of the law and allow those responsible for some of the most serious rights abuses to go unpunished, Human Rights Watch said today.

Jakarta – Sycophantic officials are getting on the Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri's nerves. Some of them, she complained yesterday, have developed a habit of asal ibu senang or "keeping Madam President happy".

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Anti-corruption campaigners questioned on Wednesday a demand from the House of Representatives (DPR) for additional funds for bill deliberations, arguing that the legislators' disappointing performance did not warrant a financial reward.

The Indonesian military said it has killed 12 separatist rebels in troubled Aceh province.

Soldiers killed eight Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members in a 30-minute encounter at Alam Jeumpa in West Aceh district on Wednesday, said provincial military spokesman Major Zaenal Muttaqin.

Jakarta – Most Indonesians and parliament would back the government if it imposed civil emergency status on the rebellious Aceh region, Indonesia's top security minister said on Thursday.

Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri has called upon party leaders to speed up the passing of key Bills which are holding up economic reforms.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Collusion and corruption are still rampant in procurements of goods and services in nearly all units of the city administration.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Inadequate naval patrolling and officials who can be paid off to turn a blind eye are the weak links enabling a thriving weapons trade through which Thai middlemen supply hundreds of guns, grenade and rocket propellers to the Aceh rebels.

John McBeth, Jakarta – His office overlooking Jakarta's central business district, the shirt-sleeved boss of a Western mining company gestures to a graph on his computer screen. It looks very much like the outline of Switzerland's Matterhorn, the right rock-face plunging precipitously onto a flat plain about the year 2005.

Rita A. Widiadana, Denpasar – The office of Animal Conservation for Life (KSBK) has reported that some members of the Indonesian Military (TNI) are involved in the transportation of hundreds of protected birds including parrots from Maluku and Papua provinces.

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta – As the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) opened on Wednesday the bidding for its ambitious sale of some Rp 145 trillion (US$16 billion) worth of non-performing bank loans, taxpayers may face a bitter reality that most of the loan assets could be retaken by their old owners at huge discounts off of face value.

Kathy Fairfax, Sydney – Husaini Hasan, chairperson of the Government Council of the Free Acheh Movement (MPGAM), told a meeting on July 11 that his people's struggle for a referendum would not be realised without international solidarity. The meeting was organised by Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific (APSN). Hasan has lived in exile in Sweden for many years.

John Roberts – Under considerable international pressure, the Supreme Court of Indonesia on July 8 overruled a decision by the country's Commercial Court declaring bankrupt the local subsidiary of the Canadian-based Manulife Financial Corporation.

The Indonesian military, until recently occupiers of East Timor, may soon begin training officers for Dili's fledgling defense force, the UN mission in the newly independent country said Wednesday.

Jim Lobe – More than 50 human rights groups in Washington D.C. are pressing a key Senate committee to retain tough conditions on military aid to Indonesia which the administration of President George W. Bush sees as an important ally in its "war on terrorism."

Jakarta – An investigation into the murder of a Dutch journalist in East Timor in 1999 is still open, a Dutch police officer said Wednesday after giving Indonesian prosecutors fresh evidence in the case.

Jakarta – Indonesian prosecutors said Wednesday they would seek to reopen the investigation into the killing of a Dutch journalist in East Timor, after receiving new evidence from Dutch authorities.

A survivor of a bloody attack on a refugee-filled church compound in East Timor in April 1999 said Wednesday he saw uniformed Indonesian soldiers and police fire shots into the compound.

Antonio Concecao Santos, 27, was testifying to Indonesia's human right court in the trial of two officers and one former official for gross human rights violations in the territory.

Catharine Munro, Jakarta – Indonesian human rights prosecutors today raised the prospect of dropping charges against some defendants facing trial for gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999.

American military cooperation with Jakarta, suspended during the Suharto dictatorship over the Indonesian Army's human rights abuses, should not be resumed without strict conditions and careful controls.

Rachel Clarke – Indonesia's leaders are trying to work out what to do next with strife-torn Aceh.

More troops could be sent to the northern province, a civil emergency could be declared to give the authorities more powers or full military law could be imposed.

Seven young women belonging to a pro-democracy group in rebellious Aceh province have been arrested for insulting President Megawati Sukarnoputri and Vice President Hamzah Haz.

Andrew Trounson, Melbourne – East Timor is getting down to business. And that means playing tough, even with your friends.

Max Lane, Jakarta – Sukarno, the first president of Indonesia, was 27 years old when he became chairperson of the Indonesian National Party in the 1920s. Mohammed Hatta was a similar age when he took over the leadership of the nationalist Pendidikan Nasional Indonesia a little later.

Ainur R. Sophiaan, Surabaya – Some 300 people rallied in front of the Surabaya legislative council on Monday, claiming its decision to dismiss the city's mayor last week was illegal.

The protesters, calling themselves the National Generation Forum, urged the council to lift its motion against Surabaya mayor Bambang Dwi Hartono, otherwise it would have to be dissolved.

The Indonesian embassy appealed to all its citizens living in Malaysia illegally to return home before an amnesty period ends in two weeks.

Ambassador Hadi Wayarabi Alhadar said only 216,000 Indonesians have responded to the Malaysian amnesty, which runs from March 21 to July 31 to allow illegals to leave the country without being prosecuted.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Despite public opposition to a state of emergency in Aceh, Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has asked the President to deploy 8,000 more troops to the restive province.

Bangkok – The Aceh separatists' regional connection was bared after police in Thailand seized a major arms cache, including 68 AK-47 rifles, bound for the rebels in Indonesia's troubled northern province.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – Senior politicians from Muslim-based parties met again here on Monday in an apparent move to counter a coalition between the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and the Golkar Party, the two largest political parties.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Two of the largest parties in the Indonesian Parliament, the ruling PDI-P and Golkar, are trying to dislodge Mr Amien Rais as the National Assembly Speaker next month in an apparent bid to thwart his presidential ambitions.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Former president Suharto's children enjoy a measure of protection from the establishment even today, analysts said after prosecutors pressed for a lighter sentence for murder suspect Tommy Suharto.

Irwan Firdaus, Jakarta – The former commander of Indonesian troops in East Timor went on trial Tuesday on charges of crimes against humanity for allegedly allowing his soldiers to commit atrocities in the former province.

"I am not a human rights abuser," declared Brig. Gen. Tono Suratman – now Indonesia's deputy military spokesman – moments before his trial began.

A draft bill on amnesty and pardoning of sentences has been criticized as being "unconstitutional", "too general" and open to "dangerous interpretation", by a leading Timorese nongovernmental organization concerned with legal matters.

Cilacap – Hundreds of fishermen in Donan subdistrict here have protested to state oil company Pertamina for allegedly polluting the river from which they making their living.

The fishermen went to the local legislature to seek its support for their fight against Pertamina, which for some time has been dumping waste from its refinery in Cilacap into the Donan river.

After signing and approving East Timor's state budget Tuesday, President Xanana Gusmao called for revision of the measures within four months, while also lamenting the lackluster nature of parliamentary debate and opposition parties in the new country.

Theresia Sufa, Bogor – Hundreds of residents from Kampung Walahir in Nambo village, Klapa Nunggal district, protested on Monday to demand the closure of a waste treatment plant located in the village. The plant is owned by PT Prasadha Pamunah Limbah Industry.

Jakarta – Over 60 per cent of Indonesians back the imposition of a civil emergency in the restive Aceh province, according to a nationwide survey.