Jakarta – At least seven separatist rebels and one soldier have been killed in the restive Indonesian province of Aceh in the run-up to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the military and the insurgents said Thursday.

Makassar – The authority of central government was challenged afresh as the South Sulawesi House of Representatives (DPRD) issued a statement rejecting a plan to sell PT Semen Tonasa, a local subsidiary of publicly listed, state-owned cement producer PT Semen Gresik Tbk., to Mexican cement company Cemex S.A. under a put option (shareholder's contractual right to sell).

Jakarta – Indonesia recorded year-on-year growth of 3.47 percent in the third quarter and full-year growth is likely to at least match this, the Central Bureau of Statistics said Thursday.

Jakarta – Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-populated nation, is bracing for the seasonal price rises, curbs on night-time entertainment and mass treks homeward that come with the holy fasting month, Ramadan.

Muslims, who account for more than 80 percent of the 210 million people here, will start Ramadan on Friday or Saturday depending on the sighting of the new moon.

Jakarta – Around 35,000 families here would be left homeless if the Jakarta administration continued with the controversial demolition of slum areas across the capital, including those along the city's riverbanks, an activist said on Wednesday.

Berni K. Moestafa and Tantri Yuliandini, Jakarta – Defying signs of a revenue shortfall in this year's state budget, the government denied it had begun planning spending cuts in the budget, arguing that other options existed to avoid this move.

Nana Rukmana, Indramayu – Illegal logging in the regency of Indramayu, West Java, has reached such alarming levels that stern police actions are needed to stop it, according to a coalition of non-governmental organizations (KLI) in Indramayu.

Chris McCall, Jayapura – Accompanied by thousands of grieving supporters the murdered Papuan separatist leader Theys Eluay was escorted home for the last time yesterday in his coffin, draped in the banned Morning Star flag.

R.K. Nugroho & Jupriadi, Jayapura/Makassar – Thousands of people, including many university students, on Tuesday accompanied the ambulance which was carrying the body of Theys Hiyo Eluay from the provincial legislative council building in Jayapura to his residence in Sentani.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – As Jakarta came under pressure to mount a credible investigation into the death of Papuan independence leader Theys Eluay, his widow and human-rights activists charged that he was killed by military personnel or someone with a military background.

Jakarta – President Megawati Soekartnoputri's political party on Tuesday condemned the (suspected) murder of Irian Jaya independence leader Theys Hiyo Eluai and urged that the security authorities uncover the mystery surrounding his death.

Annastashya Emmanuelle, Jakarta – Pollutants emanating from onshore are the largest contributors to the pollution of Jakarta Bay while there has been as yet no significant effort made by government agencies and the community to manage waste effectively, the head of Jakarta's Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedalda) said on Tuesday.

Agus Maryono, Banjarnegara – Eighty percent of 10,190 junior high school graduates in the Central Java regency of Banjarnegara did not continue their studies at senior high school this year because of economic problems, says a local official.

Jupriadi, Makassar – Thousands of local people and employees of state-owned cement company PT Semen Tonasa staged a demonstration at the South Sulawesi provincial legislative council compound in the city on Tuesday, demanding the government to spin off the cement factory from parent PT Semen Gresik.

Approximately 100 students from Atma Jaya University asked the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) on Tuesday to continue investigating the fatal shootings of Trisakti and Semanggi, which killed 30 people, mostly students.

Max Lane – Leaders of a militant union, including former political prisoner Dita Sari, have been arrested by Indonesian police during a crackdown on striking workers.

Darren Whiteside, Jayapura – Around 10,000 pro-independence supporters in Indonesia's remote Papua province marched peacefully behind the body of their dead leader on Tuesday, making the long trek to his home town.

Jakarta – Thousands rallied Tuesday in an Indonesian province to demand the central government cancel the sale of a local cement plant in another blow to Jakarta's stalled privatisation programme.

Atambua – A man lobbed a Korean-made grenade into the middle of a crowded East Timorese refugee camp in Manumutin village, Atambua, early Sunday but the device failed to explode, a local police spokesman said.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – Ten years after the massacre that shocked the world, memories are still raw in East Timor. When a short piece of theatre re-enacting the November 12, 1991, slaughter of more than 200 students in the Santa Cruz cemetery was shown to an audience of survivors and families on Saturday, it left them in tears.

Jakarta - Six people were injured when a group of Muslims tried to close down an entertainment area in a town in Indonesia's Sumatra island over the weekend, police said Monday.

Students and anti-vice activists tried to shut down the area in Pangkalan Kerinci near Langgam before the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, said a local police officer, Supardiansyah.

Joanna Jolly, Dili – Thousands of East Timorese gathered at the Santa Cruz cemetery on Monday to commemorate the 10th anniversary of a brutal massacre by Indonesian troops that shocked the world and paved the way for the territory's independence.

Rydha Arlini, Jakarta – Tom Beanal, Vice President of the Papuan Presidium, believes that the death of Papuan Presidium's President, Theys Hiyo Eluay, would not discourage the Papuan from continuing with their struggle. On the contrary, he said the incident would fire up the struggle.

Jakarta – Separatist rebels killed a soldier on Monday in the latest violence to hit Indonesia's Aceh province, the military said.

Banda Aceh – At least five civilians were killed in the Indonesian province of Aceh where separatist rebels are fighting government forces, residents said Sunday.

Four civilians were found dead, all with gunshot wounds in Muara Dua, North Aceh, near a pipeline of the ExxonMobil gas field on Saturday, a resident said.

Protestors set alight buildings in the hometown of Irian Jaya independence leader Theys Hiyo Eluay, whose body was found after he was abducted in the remote Indonesian province, an activist said.

Jakarta – One of two men arrested Friday shortly after the blast of a home-made bomb rocked a Protestant church in the Indonesian capital had fought with Muslim rebels in the Malukus, a report said here Sunday.

Abu Hanifah, Jakarta – Police briefly detained two activists for handing out cotton buds to legislators that they said never listened to the common people. The cotton buds were slipped under the doors of rooms at Hotel Mulia near the Assembly premises, where most legislators taking part in the People's Consultative Assembly session stay.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – The highest legislative body ends a remarkably peaceful annual session today, having achieved little more than deeper public disenchantment and an agreement to talk again.

Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh – Most of 13 Acehnese leaders who met with Vice President Hamzah Haz in Banda Aceh on Thursday said they preferred a cease-fire and dialog to settle the prolonged dispute between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the government of Indonesia.

Jakarta – The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) is the highest state body, so the text books say. Students all over the country should know that. But do they have any idea about the Annual Session? And what do the teachers say?

Robert Go, Jakarta – There is no guarantee that fresh aid to Indonesia will not be diverted by corrupt officials, as graft has become a way of life, said one of President Megawati Sukarnoputri's senior aides yesterday.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The Central Jakarta District Court began hearing a civil case on Thursday filed against Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, Jakarta Police Chief Gen. Ins. Sofjan Jacoeb and Jakarta Military Command Chief Lt. Gen. Bibit Waluyo, in relation to the crackdowns against becak (pedicab) drivers and street vendors.

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – Defying police warnings, the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) maintained that it would raid nightspots violating city regulations governing the operation of entertainment centers during the holy month of Ramadhan.

Sydney – Australia should not seek to have constructive relations with Indonesia at any price, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has said amid new criticism from Jakarta.

Indonesia's Ambassador to Australia, Mr Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat, complained that both the Howard government and the Labor opposition had politicised the asylum-seekers issue to win votes.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Two new television stations have hit the Indonesian airwaves in the last fortnight, and another two will start broadcasting before the end of the year.

But these newcomers will face tough competition from the six existing private television stations to grab a share of the advertising market.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Only eight of 286 cases of trafficking of women reported to the police during the last two years have gone to court, according to North Sumatra's Kaukus Perempuan, a coalition of non-governmental organizations dealing with women's concerns.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Firm in its first vote on the contentious issue of presidential elections on Wednesday, the Golkar faction at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Annual Session finally agreed to support the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).

Jakarta – The current People's Consultative Assembly Annual Session, costing 18 billion rupiah (US$1.6 million), is talking gibberish, which people from Irian Jaya, Sulawesi, Java and Sumatra say has nothing to do with their lives.

Jakarta – Dadang Sukandar, chairman of the Raudlatul Jannah Foundation, on Wednesday revealed that he had accepted Rp 40 billion in non-budgetary funds from the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), but insisted that it had been properly spent on relief operations.

The admission to waiting reporters came following 10 hours of questioning at the Attorney General's Office.

Lhokseumawe – Indonesia might grant amnesty to rebels in Aceh province if they abandon their armed, separatist struggle, Vice-President Hamzah Haz said yesterday.

"If the rebels of the Free Aceh Movement ask for amnesty, the government will consider it. But they have to promise not to fight again in the future," Mr Hamzah said while on a three-day tour of the region.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – Justice will remain elusive if the government's move to install 60 judges for human rights courts is not complemented by the appointment of prosecutors, rights lawyers asserted on Wednesday.

Jakarta – Jakarta will maintain the status quo on a local government's unilateral takeover of a major cement firm's affiliate, Home Minister Hari Sabarno said Thursday.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – As of January 2002, the government will no longer provide any financial or food assistance to East Timorese refugees in West Timor as it will reinstate the Indonesian citizenship of those who choose to stay in Indonesia.

Jakarta – More than one thousand protesters from various non governmental organizations (NGOs), grouped into the newly-formed organization the Anti-Debt Coalition (KAU), staged on Wednesday an anti-foreign debt rally, urging the government to stop talks with the creditor nations of the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI).

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The South Jakarta District Court sentenced two student activists to five months in jail each on Wednesday for defying police officers during a demonstration against a fuel price hike in June.

Joanne Collins and Soraya Permatasari, Jakarta – International donors threw crisis-hit Indonesia a generous lifeline of $3.73 billion in aid on Thursday after one senior official bemoaned the need to "beg" for funds he said might be pilfered.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji, the first senior Chinese leader to visit Jakarta since diplomatic ties resumed in 1990, yesterday announced a 40-million-yuan (S$8.9-million) gift to aid Indonesia's infrastructure development.

Jakarta – A coalition of Indonesian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on Thursday called on the country's main donors meeting here to determine their new aid pledge, to allow the government to slow down its privatisation program.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Lost in the recent hoopla of Parliament's approval of special autonomy for Irian Jaya is the fact that four of the separatist-inclined province's leaders remain on trial for subversion.