Jakarta – The military police team set up to probe the death of Papua Presidium Council leader Theys Hiyo Eluay has suspended its investigation, as there have been no further developments made, an officer said on Thursday.

Jakarta – Hundreds of supporters of Indonesia's former ruling party Golkar staged a show of strength outside parliament Thursday as legislators debated whether to call a special inquiry into corruption charges against Golkar leader Akbar Tanjung.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – After several delays, the Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN) announced on Wednesday the names of legislators who had not submitted a list of their assets.

Kurniawan Hari and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The Golkar Party is employing a strategy of intimidation and threats to block a plan on Thursday to establish an inquiry into a Rp 40 billion (US$4 million) corruption scandal, popularly known as Bulogate II, that implicates its chairman Akbar Tandjung.

Joanne Collins, Jakarta – Sportswear giants Nike Inc and Adidas-Salomon have taken steps to shed their sweatshop image in Indonesia but employees are still overworked and underpaid, a leading aid agency said.

Jakarta – Striking workers at state-owned aircraft industry PT Dirgantara Indonesia are likely to return to work on Thursday following the government's assurance that the company's management would be reshuffled.

Banda Aceh – Seven separatist rebels and three soldiers have been killed in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province, the military said Thursday.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – The newly installed public face of the Indonesian armed forces, Major-General Sjafrie Sjamsuddin, took office this week amid continuing debate about his appointment.

Jakarta – Indonesia's President Megawati Sukarnoputri shocked employees at the palace complex in central Jakarta with a snap inspection for cleanliness, a report said Thursday.

An Indonesian court has jailed a militiaman for six years for the brutal murder of a New Zealand peacekeeping soldier in East Timor in 2000.

Jacobus Bere was found guilty of murdering Private Leonard William Manning, 24, near Suai in East Timor on July 24, 2000.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Dozens of members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) rallied in front of City Hall on Wednesday to demand that Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso not be elected for a second term.

John McBeth/Jakarta and Murray Hiebert/Washington – Two-and-a-half years after Indonesian troops and local militias went on the rampage against pro-independence voters in East Timor, it is not clear whether Jakarta's top military brass is ready to accept responsibility for the bloodshed.

New York – Athletic shoe giant Nike Inc. on Thursday welcomed an aid agency report alleging its workers in Indonesia are overworked and underpaid, but said it had already made improvements to shed its sweatshop image.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – A tussle has broken out between the presidential palace and the Parliament in Jakarta over the control of foreign policy, and the focus of their dispute is, strangely – East Timor.

Jakarta – Australia and Indonesia are considering resuming joint military exercises, which Jakarta suspended in 1999 over Canberra's role in East Timor, as part of efforts to counter terrorism, visiting Defence Minister Robert Hill said Thursday.

Nana Rukmana, Cirebon – Of more than 1,270 companies employing a total of 95,000 workers in the West Java regencies of Cirebon, Indramayu, Majalengka and Kuningan, only 40 percent have participated in the obligatory social security programs, an official says.

Grassroots opinion on East Timor's draft Constitution has been summarized by Constituent Assembly members over the last three days before a final debate on the document.

John McBeth and Murray Hiebert – As the nation with the world's biggest Muslim population, Indonesia is high on Washington's list as a potential partner in the anti-terror war.

Jakarta – Around 100 PDI Perjuangan members from Surabaya, East Java, demonstrated at the party's headquarters on Jl. Pecenongan in Central Jakarta on Tuesday, prompting the cancellation of party chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri's arrival.

Dili – Almost half East Timor's population don't have enough food to eat and eke out a living on or below the poverty line, a survey carried out with the UN and other international agencies showed.

Max Lane – On February 26, Australian defence minister Robert Hill told reporters at the Asian Aerospace 2002 conference in Singapore that Canberra wanted to encourage the Indonesian authorities to "combat terrorist groupings within Indonesia more effectively than what they have been able to do to date".

Jakarta – The rupiah broke through on Tuesday the Rp 10,000 level against the U.S. dollar for the first time in five months, on what dealers attributed to rising confidence in a successful sale of Bank Central Asia (BCA).

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Complications have thwarted progress in the labor disputes at state-owned aircraft manufacturing industry PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PT DI) after the management and the Forum of Communications for Employees, the company's labor union, took matters into their own hands.

Jakarta – The Aceh provincial administration will soon set up religious police to help effectively enforce Islamic syariah law in the rebellious province, a local senior official said on Tuesday.

Banda Aceh – The government is considering holding peace talks inside Indonesia to end the decades-long separatist conflict in Aceh province if dialogue held overseas fails, a top minister said Wednesday.

At least 52 people have died of various diseases following floods that inundated much of the Indonesian capital Jakarta last month, an official said.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – A labor strike involving more than 8,000 workers again affected the country's only state-owned aircraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PT DI) in the West Java capital of Bandung on Monday. The workers are demanding the replacement of the company's board of directors.

R.K. Nugroho, Jayapura – A district court in the easternmost province of Papua acquitted on Monday three pro-independence leaders of the Papua Presidium Council, who had been tried on charges of subversion.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Muslims in Aceh who do not wear Islamic dress will be barred from urban areas from the middle of this month as the authorities start enforcing the Islamic syariah law.

The Acehnese provincial government yesterday announced they will enforce Islamic dress code as part of syariah law introduced in the province last year.

Dominic Whiting, Bangkok – East Timor independence hero Xanana Gusmao, the front-runner to lead the nascent Southeast Asian state, said on Tuesday he wanted to be defeated in his country's first presidential elections. Last month Gusmao, backed by 11 of the tiny territory's 16 political parties, accepted their nomination as a presidential candidate.

Jakarta – The government confirmed on Monday plans to sell its stakes in five firms to meet the privatization target of Rp 3.5 trillion (some US$340 million) for the first half of the year, State Minister of State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi said on Monday.

Jakarta – The government has decided to look the other way and write-off the expenditure incurred on 46 legislators who allegedly used their status to gain access to state facilities during personal haj pilgrimages in Saudi Arabia last month.

Joanna Jolly, Dili – The first contingent of 24 Japanese military engineers arrived Monday to join a U.N. peacekeeping force amid protests over Japan's brutal occupation of East Timor in World War II.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Controversy continued to dog the selection of Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin as the new Indonesian Military (TNI) spokesman, as he disclosed a new policy that would restrict access to him.

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – The territorial function the Indonesian Military (TNI) has adopted for the past four decades is no longer relevant and should be immediately phased out, a seminar concluded.

Indonesian police allowed a small group of Falungong practitioners to hold a protest outside the Chinese embassy in Jakarta after banning a march by hundreds of the sect's supporters the previous day.

The Chinese embassy confirmed Monday it had approached police and government officials about Sunday's planned march by what it called an "evil cult."

Jakarta – Indonesia made progress in some areas last year in its transition to democracy but the government's human rights record remains poor, the US State Department says.

Jakarta – Prosecutors of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) have launched cases against three men accused of 27 crimes against humanity during a violent campaign against pro-independence supporters in 1999.

Mark Baker, Manila – Burma's military regime has sparked a rift within the Association of South-East Asian Nations by blocking moves towards East Timor joining the regional grouping after the country achieves independence next year.

Jakarta – Money talks. Even though prostitution and gambling is officially illegal, the Kalijodo red light area in Pejagalan subdistrict, North Jakarta, which later also developed into a gambling den, had been going strong for five decades.

Banda Aceh – Indonesian troops have shot dead three suspected separatist rebel in the restive province of Aceh, the military said Sunday.

Jakarta – An Indonesian court in the easternmost province of Papua on Monday acquitted three pro-independence leaders of subversion.

"Praise the Lord, justice prevailed," said Reverend Herman Awom, who was cleared along with fellow Papua Presidium members Don Flassy and Thaha Al Hamid.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – Slimming product advertisements that have been bombarding people, especially women, have turned out to provide misleading information. Many of these products do not include sufficient information to warn consumers properly of the possible side effects of substances they contain.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Gourmet snacks and wine, not stiff seats and long queues, await well-heeled patrons at Indonesia's first luxury cinema, which opened at a glitzy mall two weeks ago.

The Premiere, which is located in the city's Plaza Senayan mall, opened for business on Valentine's Day, and has been drawing in steady crowds ever since.

Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri urged employers and their employees on Saturday to exercise restraint when seeking settlements to industrial disputes.

The President suggested that both parties sit down and talk together to seek a favorable solution that would leave nobody to feel they had lost out.

Jakarta – A military team is currently conducting extensive excavations at the headquarters of a the elite army battalion in Papua province to try to locate a missing key witness in the murder of local pro-independence leader Theys Hiyo Eluay, a report said Sunday.

Jakarta – Rumours that the construction of a bridge linking Indonesia's densely-populated East Java province with Madura island would need the sacrifice of a child have caused fear and panic among parents there, a report said Sunday.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – National Assembly Speaker Amien Rais has openly declared that he will quit the leadership of the National Mandate Party (PAN) in a move seen as a public relation gimmick to pave the way for him to contest the 2004 presidential election.

Jakarta – The huge funds provided by the city administration for flood-rehabilitation projects appear open to misuse, as several city agencies allegedly marked up their post-flood expenditure.

Jakarta – Human rights activists paid tribute to one of their modern day heroes, the late Johanes Cornelis Princen, for his lifetime's work, by naming the library of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institution Foundation (YLBHI) after him on Friday.

The library was built in 1969 by Princen, a former Dutch soldier who deserted and changed his nationality to Indonesian.