[There are hopes of an end to hostilities in one of Southeast Asia's longest running wars. The Indonesian government and international mediators say they will sign a deal with separatist rebels in the province of Aceh on December 9, after the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

[One of the details of the peace deal, which is yet to be negotiated, is the inclusion of international monitors. It's an idea which has never before been accepted by the Indonesian Government. Outside monitors are a crucial ingredient because neither side trusts the other.]

Presenter/Interviewer: Graeme Dobell, Canberra

Sarah Stephen – Fatima is a widow and grandmother who has been in Australia for 10 years, living with her family who are financially supporting her. She has no remaining close family in East Timor and has grown very close to her grandchildren here. However, her case for refugee status has been refused and she is now appealing to the immigration minister, Philip Ruddock.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Indonesian authorities say they granted the alleged mastermind of the Bali bombings, Imam Samudra, two new identity cards in the last three years because they "forgot" police were searching him for his involvement in bomb attacks.

Darren Goodsir in Kuta and Wayne Miller in Surabaya – Sumarno, the stepbrother of the confessed Bali bomber, Amrozi, will be quizzed repeatedly in the next few days by Indonesian detectives for leads on the possible whereabouts of the six fugitives wanted over the October 12 attacks.

Jakarta – Prosecutors at Indonesia's human rights court on Wednesday demanded 10-year jail sentences for the former police and military chiefs in the East Timor capital of Dili for failing to prevent atrocities three years ago.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Residents of Lhoksukon and Pasai districts in North Aceh have accused ExxonMobil Indonesia Inc., the Indonesian unit of the US-based Exxon Mobil Corp., of polluting the environment with hazardous waste for the past two years.

Ian Bostock – Few issues continue to dominate Australia's security outlook more than our angst-ridden relationship with Indonesia.

Richel Langit, Jakarta – The news that the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) will soon sign a peace agreement with the Indonesian government came as a pleasant surprise to Indonesians who had long wanted to see the bloody conflict there to come to an end.

Banda Aceh – Indonesia and separatist rebels in Aceh province are expected to sign a landmark peace pact early next month, international mediators said on Tuesday.

Sri Wahyuni and Emmy Fitri, Jakarta – Experts are at one over the idea to disband paramilitary groups in the country but are at odds on the mechanism that should be used to dissolve these groups, which often assume the roles of defense and security forces.

Affiliated with the Indonesian Military (TNI)

Organisasi Pagar Desa: Founded in the 1950s by A.H. Nasution to help TNI eliminate Darul Islam/Tentara Islam Indonesia (DI/TII) separatist rebels; militaristic, co-opted by the government.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Intensive crackdowns on beggars and other people living on the street during Ramadhan has done little to restore order in the city. Instead, the raids are apparently worsening the administration's fading credibility, activists said.

Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) condemned the military in Cianjur, West Java, for getting involved in the street vendor problem in the regency.

Kontras coordinator Ori Rahman said in a press release on Saturday that the military's interference had led to violence against the vendors.

Jakarta – Hundreds of students of Ngruki Islamic boarding school staged a rally on Sunday outside the Surakarta Police in Central Java, demanding the police to release Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir.

The students of the school, which was established by Ba'asyir, urged the government to revoke the recent emergency decrees on terrorism.

Jakarta – Two students from the Jakarta Theology School (STT Jakarta) in Central Jakarta who have been on hunger strike since last week were rushed to the hospital last Saturday.

[The East Timor government says unsuccessful asylum-seekers forced to return from Australia will be a burden on the country's fledgeling economy. A quirk of the former Portuguese colony's status meant the claims of some 1,700 asylum-seekers were not resolved after their arrival in the early 1990's, and they are now being asked to leave.

Helen Signy and Cynthia Banham – The Australian Government issued a secret directive that refugee applications from the East Timorese community should be put on hold, documents obtained by the Herald claim.

East Timor may not seek a United Nations tribunal to try cases of militia atrocities three years ago even if Indonesia's human rights court fails to deliver justice according to its foreign minister.

Jakarta – Residents reported gun and mortarfire Sunday as the armed forces showed no signs of meeting a unilateral separatist deadline to pull back from their siege of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)positions AFP reported.

Dili – Violent clashes Monday between security forces and residents near East Timor's second city, Baucau, left two people injured, a police source said.

The violence erupted after about 20 inhabitants of Uailili, a village outside Baucau, created a road block and demanded cash from motorists wishing to pass, explained the source.

Andrew West – Under the threat of deportation, the Lay family celebrated the eighth anniversary of their arrival in Australia at their Fairfield home yesterday.

The Immigration Department has written to about 1,800 East Timorese asking them to show cause why they should be allowed to remain in Australia. Many of the refugees have been in Australia for up to 10 years.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – Indonesian armed forces commander General Endriartono Sutarto conceded this week that it was possible Indonesian soldiers carried out a deadly ambush on Freeport mine workers in Papua three months ago.

Banda Aceh – International mediators yesterday unveiled a peace plan that they hope will end 26 years of fighting between separatists and government troops in Indonesia's Aceh province.

The plan offers more autonomy for the province's four million people and elections for a provincial legislature and administration.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Kartini, a vegetable vendor, was standing on the sidewalk after shopping for vegetables at the Cengkareng traditional market in West Jakarta, when several Public Order Officers came and forced her into their truck.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – The city administration announced on Friday that the recent Bali bombing tragedy has affected the city's economic growth, and has forced a revision from the previously estimated 3.87 percent to between 3.5 percent and 3.7 percent this year.

Dili – The UN will respect its engagement with East Timor and has no plans for an anticipated reduction or withdrawal of its civilian team and peacekeeping forces, Dili's UN ambassador said Thursday in New York.

Jakarta – More than 1,000 Indonesian troops have tightened their siege of a separatist rebel group in Aceh and are ready to attack if necessary, AFP reported.

Troops have moved closer to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels but are delaying any attack for fear of hurting civilians who are with the rebels, saidLieutenant Colonel Firdaus Komarno.

Ahmad Pathoni, Jakarta – Police in the Indonesian province of Papua said yesterday that they have photographs of four Indonesian special forces soldiers suspected of involvement in the ambush near the Freeport mine that killed two Americans in August.

Denise Leith and John Wing – Over the past few years a growing body of evidence has linked the Indonesian military (TNI) with the activities of terrorist groups within the republic.

Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara – Armindo Soares Mariano, caretaker of UNTAS – an East Timorese refugee organization – disclosed here on Friday that East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao would not be granting amnesty to pro-Indonesia militiamen who fled to East Nusa Tenggara following the popular ballot in 1999.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – With the deadline for the closure of refugee camps here drawing near, 121 East Timorese families have registered for the government-sponsored resettlement program.

The head of the operation dealing with the refugees, Lt. Col. Pieter Lobo, said on Thursday the East Timorese families would be resettled on Sumba island in East Nusa Tenggara.

[In the wake of the October 12 bombing on the Sari Club at Kuta Beach, tourist arrivals to the island of Bali have fallen by 75 percent. Now, for each hotel bed that is occupied, six more lie empty. The impact is being felt throughout Indonesia – and if holiday makers don't come back, then more than two and a half million people could be permanently out of a job.

There are concerns two foreign women being held in Aceh will be used by Indonesian authorities to set an example to foreigners wanting to meddle in Indonesia's politics.

Former president Suharto's youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandla Putra, currently serving a 15 year jail sentence for murder, weapons possession and fleeing justice, is likely to be granted a one-month remission in conjunction with the Islamic holiday of Idul Fitri next month.

A lack of foreign investment rules has been highlighted as the main factor restricting economic growth in the newly independent East Timor.

East Timor's Australian-born First Lady, Kirsty Sword-Gusmao, says there have been plenty of enquiries from potential investors.

James Dunn – For the Howard Government to move to restore links with Indonesia's special forces command, Kopassus, at this time, would be an act of indecent haste.

Last week, the Defence Minister, Robert Hill, said: "Kopassus is the counter-terrorist capability in Indonesia and to defeat terrorists requires co-operation and mutual support."

[East Timor has marked the eleventh anniversary of the Santa Cruz massacre. Hundreds of people were killed in the Dili cemetery on November 12, 1991, when Indonesian forces opened fire on some 2,000 peaceful demonstrators. The East Timorese marked the day with a mass and flown the nation's flag at half mast.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The House of Representatives (DPR) on Monday endorsed a bill on the formation of 14 new regencies in Papua in a bid to cut red tape and increase the people's welfare in the sparsely-populated, large province.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – The morning after a deadly bomb ripped apart a popular nightclub in Bali, three senior generals huddled together for a meeting with President Megawati Sukarnoputri at her residence.

Jane Perlez in Denpasar – Two early breaks, including the discovery of a red getaway motorbike, combined with old-fashioned detective work, led Indonesian police to the first suspect in the Bali terrorist attack.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – The capital went into mourning on November 13, 1998, when 12 people were killed and dozens of others were injured, mostly by gunfire, during clashes between antigovernment protesters led by students and heavily armed police officers and soldiers.

Alison Dellit – "It was under the military rule of Suharto that Indonesia experienced the only decades of stability that it has so far enjoyed. They were decades of corruption and suppression, but also of increasing prosperity and stability.

Jakarta – Papua Military chief Maj. Gen. M. Simbolon said on Tuesday that the military would sue a non-governmental organization (NGO) for libel over an inaccurate report it released implicating its officers in the ambush of a bus in Timika in August.

Bambang Bider and Oyos Saroso H.N. Pontianak/Bandar Lampung – The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) staged a demonstration to protest attacks against three journalists in Lampung and Pontianak, and demanded authorities to investigate the incidents thoroughly.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – Witnesses at East Timor's truth and reconciliation commission have described atrocities going back to 1975 involving Indonesian soldiers, militia groups – and the Fretilin Party that liberated the newly independent nation.

Dili – East Timorese students and human rights groups called Tuesday for an international court to judge those responsible for human rights abuses during the Indonesian occupation of Timor, on the anniversary of a massacre in which over 100 people died.

Dili – About 1,000 protesters Tuesday demanding that the Indonesian soldiers who shot to death 200 people at a rally 11 years ago be brought to justice.

The November 12, 1991, massacre at the Santa Cruz cemetery, in the capital, Dili, was secretly caught on video and broadcast around the world. It galvanized opposition to Indonesia's brutal rule of East Timor.

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – Shocking government statistics show that more than 25 percent of Indonesia's 18 million under five-year-old children are suffering from malnutrition.

And experts are warning the "alarming" figure is worsening due to the government's lack of will to deal with the problem.

Linda Mottram – Out of control and not to be trusted: that's the caution being sounded this morning to the Federal Government about Kopassus, as Canberra contemplates re-establishing links with Indonesia's disgraced special forces unit, which is also the country's special counter-terrorism unit.