Jon Land – Two-and-a half years after East Timor's referendum on independence, the effect of the Indonesian military and militia's post-ballot destructive rampage are painfully apparent. Burnt out shells of buildings stand dotted around the suburbs of Dili, which remains a place, for most, of daily hardship and poverty.

Yogyakarta – The provincial police named on Tuesday two other policemen as suspects in the death of Aan Yulianto who died in the hospital after having been "interrogated" in relation to a brawl early this month.

Spokesman for the Yogyakarta police office Adj. Sr. Comr. Sudarsono said the new suspects are Joko Taruno and Adhofir.

Jakarta – Two members of the Infantry Battalion 141/Aneka Yudha Jayaperkasa under the Sriwijaya Military Command were killed in a rebel ambush in the restive Blang Mangat district ofNorth Aceh on Tuesday morning, according to news reports.

Banda Aceh – At least six people, including two soldiers and two separatist guerrillas, have been killed in violence in Indonesia's Aceh province, military and rebel spokesmen said Wednesday.

UN transition administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello went to East Timor's border with Indonesia Wednesday to welcome a group of returning refugees, marking the repatriation of 200,000 people.

Dili – East Timor independence hero Xanana Gusmao rode on horseback through streets lined with adoring supporters here Monday as the campaign for the presidency of the world's newest nation entered its final week.

The charismatic former guerrilla commander, 56, seems certain to sweep to victory in the April 14 poll against his sole challenger Francisco Xavier do Amaral.

Claire Harvey and A'an Suryana, Jakarta – The United Nations' reconstruction effort in East Timor will continue for at least the next decade, a military expert said on Monday.

Canadian Colonel (ret) Peter Leentjes, the former training chief of the UN's global Department of Peacekeeping Operations, said the magnitude of the task in East Timor was often underestimated.

Tony Parkinson – Former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid is planning to attend East Timor's independence celebrations next month, amid increasing doubts that his successor, Megawati Sukarnoputri, will accept her invitation to witness the emergence of the world's newest state.

Jakarta – Indonesia's economic growth in the next few years will be too low to lift millions of its people out of poverty, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Tuesday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's first human rights court on Tuesday ruled that the trial of five officers accused of failing to prevent a church massacre in East Timor in 1999 should proceed, rejecting defence arguments it violated the constitution.

Medan – Hundreds of students from six state-owned elementary schools in Medan Maimoon subdistrict held a rally on Monday to protest a land swap involving their school buildings.

1512 - Portuguese explorers reach Timor, an island already known to Chinese as a source of sandalwood

1556 - Dominican friary opens at Lifau, in the Oecussi-Ambeno enclave

1642 - Portuguese soldiers arrive from nearby Solor island

1653 - Dutch build fort in the west of the island at Kupang, now the capital of the Indonesian province containing West Timor

Sydney – East Timorese voters go to the polls next week to pick the person who will declare their country independent next month.

The winner of the April 14 presidential poll will take over the running of the half-island state from an interim United Nations administration May 20. The UN team was slotted in after Indonesia gave up the territory in 1999.

Dili – Francisco Xavier do Amaral, 66, only had nine days as East Timor's first president in 1975. More than a quarter of a century later, he is bidding for his old position – the only rival to reluctant but formidable presidential candidate, independence hero Xanana Gusmao.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The government has hinted at pursuing a security-minded approach, instead of dialog, in dealing with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), despite the increasing death toll from military operations in the troubled province.

Jakarta – Police have arrested 17 suspected members of a radical group campaigning to establish an Islamic state within Indonesia, reports said Tuesday.

Yogita Tahilramani, Jakarta – Internal disputes within the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) took on a new dimension on Monday when PDI Perjuangan members protesting against Surabaya branch office party head, M. Basuki, were beaten up by police for forcing their way into the Surabaya Legislature building on Jl. Yos. Sudarso.

Jakarta – The release of Parliament Speaker Akbar Tandjung from detention may have been in accordance with the law, but legal observers and critics charged that the move had "severely offended the people's sense of justice".

Jakarta – Police said on Tuesday they had issued a summons to the Indonesian holder of the McDonald's fast-food franchise for a second time for questioning over alleged graft involving the country's largest pension fund.

Jakarta – One third of villages in the restive province of Aceh are used as bases for Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels, a report said.

Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Dadek Achmad said 32 percent of villages in the oil-and-gas-rich province were influenced by GAM separatists, AFP reported.

Kurniawan Hari and A'an Suryana, Jakarta – The suspension of the detention of corruption suspect and House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung may have been in accordance with the country's laws but has severely offended people's sense of justice.

Dili – The candidates are on the campaign trail, polling staff are ready and the stage is nearly set for East Timor's first presidential election, UNTAET's election chief announced today, nine days before the poll.

Why is Francisco Xavier do Amaral running for president of East Timor when he knows he has no chance of winning? Amaral's sole opponent, independence hero Xanana Gusmao, is the most popular man in the former Portuguese colony, which will finally achieve independence on May 20.

Oyos Saroso HN, Bandar Lampung – Hundreds of fishermen demonstrated in Bandar Lampung on Saturday to demand that local authorities crack down on their fellow fishermen using trawlers and dynamite in fishing.

They threatened to occupy the provincial legislative council building and the governor's office, should firm action not be taken against the rouge fishermen.

Jakarta – Three people died in internal fighting within the Indonesian security forces in Aceh on Saturday as rebel leaders said they would attend fresh rounds of peace talks with the Indonesian government later this month in Switzerland.

Jakarta – A senior US envoy yesterday lauded the efforts of President Megawati Sukarnoputri's government to reform the Indonesian economy, nurture democracy and combat terrorism.

US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick lavished praise on the President and said her administration's success was vital to America's interests in South-east Asia.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – They do not have law degrees or expensive suits, and even go to court barefoot.

But Jakarta's "ghost lawyers", or "barefoot lawyers" as they are sometimes called, have been scoring significant victories in the courts against goliaths such as the Jakarta administration and the state oil company.

Thousands of Indonesian Muslims burned Israeli flags at a mass prayer rally for Palestinians in the capital, calling Israel "the real terrorist" for its latest offensive in the Palestinian territories and accusing Jakarta of being too weak in its criticism.

Jakarta – Several thousand Indonesians rallied on Sunday to protest against Israel's military operations in Palestinian areas, the latest demonstration in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Joanna Jolly, Aileu – On a soccer field in East Timor's central mountains, thousands came to hear Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao make his campaign pitch.

Soon to become the world's newest country, East Timor is holding its first presidential election April 14, and the former guerrilla leader is the overwhelming favorite.

Jill Jolliffe, Atambua – The East Timorese presidential candidate Xanana Gusmao has joined forces with a former enemy soldier in an attempt to repatriate about 60,000 refugees trapped in militia camps in West Timor.

Batam – As many as 30 student representatives from four universities and colleges in Batam, Riau, have urged the local prosecutor's office to arrest all related parties involved in a Rp 28 billion scam.

The students also demanded that the development of the Batam Legislative Council's building be suspended until the investigation is completed into the alleged mark-up case.

Tim Dodd, Jakarta – Some think he should be in the dock himself but yesterday former Indonesian armed forces commander Wiranto appeared at the East Timor atrocity trial in Jakarta as a witness rather than as one of the 18 accused of crimes against humanity.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Efforts to break the circle of impunity in the country hit a snag on Thursday as the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) further delayed the announcement of its response to an inquiry of three high profile violent incidents in Jakarta a few years ago.

Ian Timberlake – Former Indonesian armed forces commander General Wiranto testified yesterday that he took numerous steps to bring peace to East Timor in 1999 even though security was a police responsibility in the lead-up to the referendum on independence.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Part of the green zones in Jakarta's five municipalities are occupied by over 350 buildings owned by private enterprises, state-owned companies, the city police, street vendors and various youth organizations.

Jakarta – The government, through the Office of the State Ministry for State Enterprises, plans to sell or privatize 25 state enterprises this year, which include nine to be privatized in 2001, but carried over to 2002, and 16 new ones.

Jakarta – The UN authority in East Timor said on Friday it was "incredulous" at reported remarks by former Indonesian military chief Wiranto that bloodshed there in 1999 was allegedly sparked by an unfair independence ballot.

Dili – Nearly 2,000 refugees have already returned to East Timor from refugee camps in West Timor, Indonesia, during the first five days of this month, UN refugee officials said today.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – Defendants from high profile cases like former president Soeharto's son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra and ex-Bulog chief Rahardi Ramelan, who are currently being detained in prison, have reason to worry, as a senior health official revealed on Thursday that HIV/AIDS is spreading in the city's penitentiaries.

Kasparman, Padang – The Forestry and Plantation Agency in West Sumatra has secretly sold at least 17 truckloads of confiscated logs, which were being held at the agency's office compound on Jl. Raden Saleh in Padang.

Jakarta – Five people have been detained following a powerful blast this week that killed four people and wounded dozens of others in Indonesia's eastern city of Ambon, reports said Friday.

New York – The East Timor government and the United Nations on Wednesday launched an AIDS awareness campaign on television, radio and print media, hoping the country can avoid the explosion in HIV/AIDS seen elsewhere in the region.

Atambua – East Timor independence hero Xanana Gusmao on Thursday urged East Timorese refugees in Indonesia's West Timor to come home now, saying he guaranteed their safety.

Hamish McDonald – It will stand on a hill overlooking Dili, the capital of newly independent East Timor: a massive flagpole entwined with the trunk and branches of a symbolic banyan tree forged in steel.

On a plaque at the base of this $200,000 independence monument will be words of thanks to its corporate sponsor: a generous Australian company, it is hoped.

Amnesty International has condemned Indonesian security forces for "appalling" practices in Papua, Aceh and elsewhere and urged the United Nations Commission on Human Rights not to ignore the situation.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – An Army general revealed on Wednesday that members of the Indonesian Military (TNI) believed to be involved in the killing of Papuan leader Theys Hiyo Eluay would probably be charged with insubordination.

Jakarta – Citing budgetary constraints, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) has canceled a plan to meet in Bali from April 3 through April 7 to draft the amendments to the 1945 Constitution, which will be tabled during the annual MPR session in August, a report said.

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – Indonesia's political parties are self-centered, and ignore the public interest they claim to represent, resulting in a crisis over a loss of confidence, a new poll reveals.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Indonesia has introduced Islamic law in Aceh in an attempt to create the illusion that syariah is the cure for all of the province's political problems.

Acehnese observers point out that the demand for syariah came not from the Acehnese community, but originated in Jakarta during the Habibie government.