Jakarta – The World Bank on Monday urged Indonesia to immediately defy provincial government attempts to take-over affiliates of state-owned cement producer Semen Gresik, warning the moves were endangering the future of investment.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Running low on rice and other staple goods, Indonesia is mulling over a barter programme with other Asean countries to trade for those commodities using locally produced planes, trains, coal and other goods, senior officials say.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – The news that Japan has authorised its troops to serve overseas, despite the country's pacifist constitution, sends shudders down the spine of Marta Pereira, an aged East Timorese woman who lives on the outskirts of Dili.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Indonesians will find out next week whether they will be able to vote directly for their choices of president and vice-president in the 2004 election, after the country's supreme legislative body reaches an agreement on the issue.

Surabaya – Around 3,000 Muslims Friday demonstrated against US-led attacks on Afghanistan in Indonesia's second largest city.

The peaceful rally in the city of Surabaya, some 800 kilometers, was the latest in a series of anti-US protests in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Sydney – Australian Prime Minister John Howard was forced to acknowledge Thursday the testiness of his country's relationship with Indonesia as a new diplomatic spat brewed.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – The Indonesian media, assessing President Megawati Sukarnoputri's first 100 days in office, said she did not live up to expectations and that her administration was heavy on rhetoric but achieved little.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Former Defence Minister and military chief General Wiranto yesterday denied having misused 10 billion rupiah (S$1.7 million) from the state food logistics agency known as Bulog.

However, General Wiranto did admit to prosecutors that the 10 billion rupiah had been used to fund a security outfit in East Timor prior to an independence ballot there.

Jakarta – Central Bank Governor Sjahril Sabirin was convicted of fraud for his role in allowing an illegal payment to PT Bank Bali, said state prosecutor Jan Mere.

Jakarta – Indonesians working abroad often become victims of extortion at the airport when they return home, a minister said in a newspaper report Wednesday, vowing to replace the relevant management.

Yemris Fointuna, Atambua – East Timorese refugees living in Atambua, East Nusa Tenggara, have destroyed some 700 hectares of protected forests in the regency of Belu for agricultural purposes following a halt in aid from the government.

Craig Skehan, Kelly Burke and AAP – Indonesia accused Australia of a failure in diplomacy over boat people yesterday, attacking Canberra's "unacceptable" practice of going public before raising problems with Jakarta.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – In line with the planned establishment of an independent East Timor early next year, Indonesia and East Timor have agreed to demilitarize their border areas to allow their people to visit one another freely.

John Aglionby, Jakarta – Megawati Sukarnoputri, Indonesia's president, marked 100 days in office yesterday with the threat of national disintegration, unchecked corruption and rapidly declining natural resources top of her agenda.

Banda Aceh – At least four people have been killed and three badly wounded in the latest violence to hit the restive Indonesian province of Aceh, the military and residents said Wednesday.

Jakarta – The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Tuesday that it has helped repatriate 188,646 East Timorese refugees from Indonesia's West Timor in the past two years.

Jakarta – Indonesia's state-owned electricity company, PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), is seeking foreign loans to avert a likely power shortage in the main islands of Java and Bali, a report said Tuesday.

Jakarta – Chief of the Udayana Military Command overseeing Bali, East and West Nusa Tenggara, Maj. Gen. Willem T. da Costa, said on Tuesday that he supported former rebel leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao as a possible president of neighboring Timor Lorosae (East Timor).

United Nations – The Security Council decided Wednesday that the UN-administered territory of East Timor should become independent on May 20 next year.

Jakarta – Indonesia's navy said on Wednesday it would not detain any asylum seekers found on boats in the country's waters and would even feed needy refugees before they resumed their journey.

Melbourne – Jakarta has failed to renew a key agreement that allowed Australian and Indonesian police to cooperate directly on stemming the flow of illegal immigrants to Australia, according to a report here yesterday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's cash-strapped state television station is to start carrying advertising for the first time since it was set up almost 40 years ago, a report said Wednesday.

Disparity between the lifestyles of UNTAET personnel and the people of Timor Lorosae is sowing the seeds of social envy.

Setiyardi, Timor Lorosae – Floating hotels are a symbol of high living, an irony in stark contrast to widespread poverty in Timor Lorosae.

Hong Kong – East Timor's future president Xanana Gusmao has recalled his fury when Australia refused to accept temporarily a handful of East Timorese students fleeing persecution in Indonesia.

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – Indonesian police on Monday forcibly evicted 100 Middle Eastern asylum seekers, some of them screaming hysterically, who had been holed up at the UN refugee agency's office in Jakarta since late last week.

Jakarta – Former minister of defense/Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto declared on Sunday the establishment of the Garda Muda Merah Putih (Red-and-White Youth Defenders), a youth group promoting moral movement.

More than 3,200 East Timorese refugees returned home from Indonesia during October, the UN High Commission for Refugees said Monday in Dili, underlining it was the biggest one-month influx since March of last year.

UNHCR official Iain Hall told Lusa there were signs the repatriation process could increase significantly by year4s end.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government has decided to halt humanitarian assitance to East Timorese refugees in West Timor at the end of the year, a senior minister said in remarks published Sunday.

Presenter: The commemoration of East Timor's newly-gained independence has been scheduled for 20 May [2002], however, the chief minister of the provisional government, Mari Alkatiri, said the UN is still needed in the territory. In an interview with RDP [state radio], Mari Alkatiri reiterated that he is not predicting general elections to take place in the immediate future.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Police deny allegations they forced asylum seekers at gunpoint on to a boat that subsequently sank, drowning about 350 people – but they admit "rogue" officers may take bribes from people-smugglers.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The government's city clean-up programme has put thousands of street vendors, beggars, becak drivers and traffic wardens out of work, and left many of them homeless.

Fitri Wulandari, Jakarta – The government will write a new book on Indonesian history in a response to the public's rising demand for the truth, an official said on Thursday.

Jakarta – The new US Ambassador to Indonesia said on Thursday that Washington fully understood the position which President Megawati Soekarnoputri had taken with regard to the US attacks on Afghanistan.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – House Speaker Akbar Tandjung said on Wednesday that protests and threats against Westerners had prompted unprecedented numbers of business travelers and holiday-makers to spend their tourist dollars somewhere other than Indonesia.

Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh – At least four people were shot dead in separate villages in Aceh, three of whom were believed to be members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), military and police sources said here on Wednesday, despite GAM's insistence that they were civilians.

Jakarta – House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung met on Tuesday night with Taufik Kiemas, president Megawati Soekarnoputri's husband, to seek support to block a move aimed at establishing a House special committee to investigate a graft case allegedly involving him.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – National Assembly chairman Amien Rais has quietly begun lobbying for the coveted presidential seat in 2004, making regular tours of Indonesian provinces as part of his safari politics to broaden his grassroots appeal.

Jakarta – Indonesian police said on Thursday they were investigating a report that policemen pointed their guns at asylum seekers who wanted to get off an overcrowded boat that sank last week killing 350 people.

Fitri Wulandari, Jakarta – Infant formula producers denied allegations on Wednesday that they had exploited breast-feeding experts to promote their products."Instead of taking advantage of these experts to promote our products, we fully support the campaign for exclusive breast-feeding," Cecep Fathoni, the secretary-general of the Association of Baby Food Producers (APMB), said.

Fitri Wulandari, Jakarta – Teachers, long deploring small pay and being treated as "cash cows" by corrupt officials, are calling for a law that provides legal protection.

They say that although corruption between school administrators and government officials is very well-known, their activities have received inadequate attention from authorities.

Jupriadi, Makassar – Muslim students in Makassar ignored explicit warnings from police, attacking and severely injuring two non-Muslims on Wednesday.

Virginia Marsh – If all had gone to plan, divers would now be laying a pipeline along the seabed linking Darwin to the substantial gasfields off its shores and a decades-old dream would be close to becoming reality.

Shoeb Kagda, Jakarta – As emerging market assets lose their shine in the current global environment, Indonesia faces an uphill task in implementing its privatisation programme, but not going ahead with it would prove more detrimental for the country in the long term, said the International Monetary Fund's senior resident representative yesterday.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Potholed roads, crumbling hospitals, torn school books – that is the bleak picture in store for Indonesia if the government fails to sell immediately some of its assets to investors, warned the top official of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Jakarta.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives finally approved on Tuesday a long-awaited new oil and gas law, which will end the decades-old lucrative monopoly of state oil and gas firm Pertamina.

Max Lane, Jakarta – The most right-wing elements among politically organised Islam have sought to use the US "war on terrorism" to seize the political initiative in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

A UN official of East Timor4s transitional administration Wednesday criticized Indonesia for its repeated delays in bring to trial military officers and officials indicted for human rights atrocities committed in the territory in 1999.

Jo Ellis, Cairuhi – Australian solidarity activists have spent nearly two weeks here helping East Timorese counterparts begin an ambitious educational program which will involve local people in discussions about socialism and democracy.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Canberra's strained relationship with Jakarta was highlighted at the Apec summit over the weekend when Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri refused to meet Australian Prime Minister John Howard.