Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – The Jakarta Prosecutor's Office questioned City Governor Sutiyoso on Wednesday as a witness in a graft case related to a controversial foreign trip involving city officials and councillors.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri has come under fire from legislators for spending enormous amounts of money on the Indonesian military and even editors who accompanied her on a recent overseas trip.

Jakarta – Protesting Muslim students in favor of Palestinian solidarity tried to force their way into the US Embassy compound on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan in Central Jakarta on Wednesday, prompting clashes with the police officers who tried to block them away, reports said.

Jakarta – Applicants to join the Indonesian police must pay bribes of up to 15 million rupiah (1,500 dollars) if they want to pass the selection process, a newspaper reported Thursday.

Simon Montlake, Kebon Cengkih – The Dutch sailors who arrived here 500 years ago to barter for spices have long-since abandoned Kebon Cengkih, a village named for the clove trees that still line its lush slopes.

Agus Maryono, Pekalongan – In a move to step up pressure on the government to revoke newly decreed fishing taxes, thousands of fishermen from Central Java have planned to storm the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries office in Jakarta on April 10.

More than 1,000 Muslims rallied in the Indonesian capital Jakarta to protest against Israeli attacks on Palestinians.

Geneva – Fresh peace talks between Indonesian government officials and Aceh separatists could resume in Geneva at the end of the month, a spokesman for the centre that mediates the discussions said on Thursday.

Jakarta – A key witness in the Tommy Suharto murder-and-firearms trial said police beat her up and threatened her family to force her to implicate the suspect.

Almost 50 people were injured in the eastern Indonesian city of Ambon in the worst outbreak of violence since a Muslim-Christian peace agreement in February.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – Several party factions in the City Council challenged on Tuesday the practice of corruption in the city administration. The issue was raised in their feedback over Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso's 2001 budget speech, which was presented last week.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Poor law enforcement has allowed the sale of illegal narcotics to flourish in Medan, North Sumatra, causing a serious concerns for local residents, according to a prominent drugs analyst.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – One would expect applause for last week's announcement that Indonesia is planning to build a bridge linking Java with Bali, putting an end to the two-hour ferry crossing. Not so in Bali.

Yogyakarta – The relatives of Aan Yulianto, a bystander during last week's brawl in Yogyakarta who died on Sunday after being questioned by the authorities, said on Tuesday they will sue the local police for allegedly torturing him.

Jakarta – State Minister of Administrative Reforms Feisal Tamin said on Tuesday that the government was carefully considering a plan to lay off unproductive civil servants.

Dili – Some members of East Timor's ruling party Fretilin were accused of waging a dirty tricks campaign to try to reduce the vote for independence hero Xanana Gusmao in this month's presidential election.

"We have received information from most of the districts documenting these allegations," said Milena Pires, Gusmao's campaign coordinator.

Jason Koutsoukis – Negotiations between the Australian Government and US-based Phillips Petroleum over the tax treatment of a gas project in the Timor Sea remained deadlocked last night amid concerns that further delays may scuttle the project.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Indonesia's state-owned companies are being torn apart by internal rifts as employees fight against government attempts at privatisation.

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – Freedom from injustice as a result of political reform in the country has proven short-lived for Indonesian farmers, who are now facing tougher challenges in the form of a global regime, an activist said.

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – Street rallies slamming Israeli military actions against Palestinians hit at least three major Indonesian cities on Wednesday while a minister said Jakarta would not let local groups send fighters to join in the conflict.

Mike Steketee – East Timorese Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta yesterday urged rich countries, including Australia, not to use artificial barriers such as quarantine restrictions to discriminate against exports from his and other poor nations.

Yemris Fointuna, Dili – The Indonesian government and the United Nations Temporary Administration at East Timor (UNTAET) have yet to find an appropriate way of solving the problem of Indonesian assets in the soon-to-be independent nation – even though, until now, they have held six rounds of discussions.

Geneva – Amnesty International accused Indonesian forces on Wednesday of grave human rights violations in Papua, where the murder of the province's top independence leader last year remains unresolved.

Bandar Lampung – Around 300 part-time, non-contract doctors in Lampung ended their week-long strike on Tuesday after Minister of Health Achmad Suyudi promised them better pay and a clearer employment status.

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – Students, at the forefront of the reform movement in 1998, have been urged to take up their old role once more in the face of a political elite widely blamed for diverting the winds of change.

Jakarta – Indonesia's National Assembly Speaker Amien Rais on Tuesday accused police in the Philippines of engineering the arrest of three Indonesians on terrorist charges, a report said.

Rais said a friend of Tamsil Linrung – one of the three suspects detained by authorities in Manila – had told him that Philippine police were currently "creating a new charge" for them.

Andrew Trounson, Melbourne – East Timor Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta said Tuesday there will be no hitches to ratifying a treaty with Australia sharing potentially lucrative oil and gas production from the Timor Sea.

Darwin – The Australian government is under pressure to make public its draft agreement on Timor Sea energy reserves to prove the East Timorese were not signing away their legal rights.

Jakarta – Indonesia's highest Islamic authority is investigating reports that a boarding school is teaching a deviant version of the religion and is linked to a shadowy group campaigning for an Islamic state, an official said Tuesday.

Oyos Saroso, Bandar Lampung – More than 300 temporarily employed doctors in Lampung would continue striking this week to push their demand for a clear status and better payment, strike leaders said on Saturday.

Rita A. Widiadana, Karang Asem, East Bali – The Justice and Unity Party (PKP) is planning to merge with other parties in a bid to create a powerful coalition before general elections get underway in 2004, its chairman Gen. (ret) Edy Sudrajat, announced on Saturday.

Jakarta - One of the three Indonesians arrested in Manila on suspicions of terrorism has accused the Philippine police of planting explosives in his bags.

"I saw it myself, the hand of the police that put those things into my luggage," said Tamsil Linrung, according to the Koran Tempo daily yesterday.

Ahmad Junaidi and Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Actions speak louder than words, but sadly some equate this as wanton violence and are proud of it even if their actions are nothing more than thuggery.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) will soon dispatch at least 1,850 replacement troops to the rebellious Aceh province, Deputy Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Kiki Syahnakrie said on Saturday.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – A truck carrying a load of diesel fuel was trapped in traffic on Jl. Yos Sudarso in North Jakarta, when a teenager with a plastic bag in his hand crept toward it and slowly opened the fuel tap.

Jakarta – Street gangs in the Indonesian capital Jakarta are stealing fuel from tanker trucks which become stuck in heavy traffic, a newspaper reported Monday.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Major state-owned firms in Indonesia are sending their top executives to an Islamic training centre where they are taught to be better professionals – through lessons in ethics and Quranic studies.

At Ipenburg – There was always something ambiguous about Theys Hiyo Eluay. He became a focal point in the struggle for Papuan independence. But he was also seen as close to top army and police commanders, and the Kopassus special forces were his friends.

The Indonesian military claimed to have killed 12 suspected separatist rebels in the restive province of Aceh over the weekend.

Four suspected separatist rebels and a public transport driver have been killed over the past three days in Indonesia's rebellious Aceh province, the military and residents said.

A local rebel leader identified as Usman bin Rahmad was killed in a gunfight with soldiers at Simpang Nalep in Bireun district on Thursday, Aceh military spokesman Major Zenal Muttaqin said.

Jill Jolliffe, Gleno – Just two weeks after a lopsided campaign began for East Timor's presidential elections due on April 14, there are signs that it may be turning dirty.

Police in the Indonesian capital have arrested seven people after men wielding machetes and sticks attacked rights protestors, wounding at least 15, reports said.

Nine people were questioned on Friday for their involvement in the attack on Thursday but two of them were released, Jakarta police detective chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri said in the Jakarta Post.

Jill Jolliffe – An Indonesian human rights lawyer has criticised a special court appointed by President Megawati Sukarnoputri to hear war crime charges on East Timor, accusing it of running "show trials".

Margot Cohen, Zumalai – Juana Dos Reis fought off a wave of revulsion as the woman held her in a tight embrace. "In my heart I felt sick, but I could still control myself," says Dos Reis, recalling the February encounter at a refugee camp just across the border from East Timor in Indonesian-controlled West Timor.

Yemris Fointuna, Dili – Life is hard in East Timor despite three years after it voted to break away from Indonesia, unemployment remains a serious problem plaguing the country's former province, currently under the UN administration.

Most of the local workforce are jobless due to the limited vacancies and lack of business capital on their part.

Dili - A Special Panel for Serious Crimes in East Timor sentenced a former Mahidi militiaman Wednesday to four years in prison for his role in a murder during the violent aftermath of the UN-run ballot on the future of the territory.

Also Wednesday, a major Crimes Against Humanity trial resumed after a three-week recess.

Jakarta – An international research group says there is a "slim chance" for peace in the bloody 25-year separatist war in Indonesia's Aceh, but only with sustained international pressure on both sides.

Jakarta – Indonesia and the United States are to discuss a possible resumption of security cooperation, during a meeting here next month, foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said.

"We believe that talks on a possible resumption of military ties is one of the main items in the agenda of the meeting," Natalegawa told AFP.

Leo Wahyudi S, Jakarta – The United States and its allies should tread carefully in their recriminations of radical religious groups here, since over-emphasizing their potential threat may create unwarranted sympathy for these groups, a leading Islamic scholar warned.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Islamic boarding school staff in West Java are brainwashing students into supporting the fundamentalist group Indonesian Islamic State (NII), parents claim.