Banda Aceh – Violence pitting Indonesian government forces against separatist rebles in the restive province of Aceh has claimed another four lives, police and the military said Monday.

G.K. Goh, Jakarta – Indonesia is targeting economic growth of 3.0-3.5 percent this year and inflation of below 10 percent by year-end, according to the draft agreement between the government and the International Monetary Fund.

Robert Go, Jakarta – It's just trash for most people, but some Jakarta residents are finding novel ways of using garbage to help build their impoverished community.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Campaigning for East Timor's first democratic elections began at the weekend, but hopes for a smooth start were marred by a strike and the seizure of a consignment of military uniforms sent from Indonesia.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Campaigning began yesterday for East Timor's first election, but confusion reigns in the minds of voters about what they are voting for and whether it bears any relation to what they want.

East Timor's transitional administration saw a flurry of moves today and over the weekend as political activity began to heat up in the half-island territory ahead of the United Nations-sponsored elections next month.

Dili – East Timor's defacto parliament, the National Council, was dissolved on Saturday, one day before the start of political campaigning for a new 88-seat Constituent Assembly, taking the territory closer to full independence.

Max Lane – There are now more political prisoners in Indonesia than there were during the last 12 months of General Suharto's 32-year rule. There are at least seven leaders of the West Papua independence movement in jail, some now on trial for so-called political offences.

Jon Land – The start of the formal election campaign period for East Timor's new Constituent Assembly began on July 15. Some 16 political parties and a number of independent candidates are contesting 88 seats in the election set for August 30, exactly two years after the historic referendum on independence.

Jakarta – Indonesians are bracing for a stormy countdown to the August 1 national assembly session which will decide the fate of embattled Abdurrahman Wahid, the country's first freely-elected president.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – It is personal ambition, not political partisanship, that is fuelling a dispute between middle and high-ranking officers over who should lead the Indonesian police force, according to police sources here.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The current standoff between Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid and his police chief, and within the top ranks of the force, could lead to a dangerous showdown in Jakarta, say analysts.

Sacked police chief General Suroyo Bimantoro's refusal to step down, has split a demoralised police force already suffering from discipline problems.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Thursday's order to arrest Indonesia's sacked police chief Bimantoro and yesterday's backdown from the arrest indicate that President Abdurrahman Wahid is willing to fight to the end in his bid to cling to power, said analysts.

Agencies in Cirebon and Jakarta – Isolated and facing open defiance within the police force, President Abdurrahman Wahid said yesterday he will declare a state of emergency next Friday unless lawmakers abandon their drive to impeach him. Political opponents said if Mr Wahid went ahead with his threat, they would hold a snap impeachment hearing.

Robert Go, Jakarta – A new draft agreement between the International Monetary Fund and Indonesia will impose fewer conditions and targets for the country, in what is perhaps an admission that IMF's past policies for the country may have missed the mark.

Jakarta – Top Army officials held on Friday a closed-door consolidation meeting at Wiladatika field in Cibubur, East Jakarta on Friday canceling the weekly Friday sports event between the police and military.

Surabaya – East Java's security forces were ready to anticipate possible outbreaks of violence, ahead of the August1 special session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), police chief Insp. Gen Sutanto said on Thursday.

Robert Go, Jakarta – A long-delayed International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan tranche to Indonesia, worth around US$400 million (S$728 million), would be released next month. But this was likely to happen only after Jakarta's political questions were resolved, a key Indonesian adviser and analysts said yesterday.

East Timor's Independent Electoral Commission Friday determined the order in which the territory's 16 political parties and five independent candidates will appear on the national ballot for August 30 constituent assembly elections.

Jakarta – Indonesian legislators have asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to write off the country's foreign debts, including those to other donors recommended by the Fund.

Jakarta – Indonesian police who rushed to their commander's home to protect him from arrest pulled back overnight after President Abdurrahman Wahid appeared to back down.

Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Adm. Widodo A.S. sounded on Thursday his strong support for stern measures taken by joint-security troops to restore law and order in strife-torn Ambon.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Two days before the start of East Timor's election campaign for a Constituent Assembly, the territory's United Nations administrator, Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello, has promised maximum security to ensure a peaceful and trouble-free ballot.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday ordered the arrest of the police chief he has been trying to sack for weeks, widening the struggle over his impeachment by raising fresh allegations of politicking by the police.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The Indonesian army is training and equipping Javanese migrants in Aceh to defend themselves against independence rebels in the province, non-governmental groups say.

Sadanand Dhume, Jakarta – If the script had unfolded as planned on June 30 officials at the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency, or IBRA, would have been popping champagne and posing for pictures after selling a 30% stake in Bank Central Asia, once the country's largest private bank.

Vaudine England in Jakarta – A Javanese militia has formed in Central Aceh and, with encouragement from security forces, is stoking conflict between Acehnese and other ethnic groups in the separatist province, human rights workers and analysts believe.

Jakarta – A US lobbyist for Indonesia revealed on Wednesday that he would try to help foster dialog between the United States government and the Indonesian Military (TNI) to promote better mutual understanding.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia has started forming East Timor-style militias in oil- and gas-rich Aceh, where scores of civilians are being murdered under the cover of a brutal crackdown against separatist rebels, say Acehnese leaders and human rights workers.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – A three-day registration period now under way for the start of the new school year is bringing smiles – and extra income – to teachers and education officials ever eager to offer their "services" to frantic parents.

John McBeth, Jakarta – Smartly dressed in a suit, tie and polished shoes, the nervous Indonesian visa applicant gave the American consular official interviewing him a strange feeling that he wasn't the businessman he claimed. So the official, drawing on years of experience, asked him to take the ultimate test: Undo and re-knot his tie. Shamefaced, the man couldn't do it.

Jakarta – Smoke haze attributed to underground fires continued to choke the city of Pontianak on Indonesian Borneo Thursday, local officials said.

With Wednesday passing as the final deadline for East Timorese to challenge the list of proposed candidates for the upcoming elections, the United Nations transitional administration today said that all political parties and independent candidates had been officially registered.

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid shared the public's disappointment on Tuesday over the conclusions of the House of Representatives (DPR) on the Trisakti and Semanggi fatal shooting incidents in which 30 youths, mostly students, were killed.

On July 5, representatives of the East Timor Transitional Cabinet, the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor and the Australian government met in Dili and signed the Timor Sea Arrangement, concluding 10 months of negotiating and wrangling over a new deal to replace the Timor Gap treaty.

Jakarta – While neighboring countries have been complaining about the choking haze caused by Indonesia's forest fires and have called on Indonesia to take action to deal with the problem, the Ministry of Forestry said on Tuesday it had yet to formulate a program to swiftly remedy the situation. "So far, we don't have a clear blueprint of how to cope with the problem.

London – The situation within the Sukarno family is deteriorating with a clear split between the sisters widening and "becoming more serious now", political analyst Hermawan Sulistyo has said.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Political compromise, intimidation, constitutional deadlock and a divide-and-rule approach to weaken his enemies are some of the options that Mr Abdurrahman Wahid would likely turn to, so as to prevent the People's Consultative Assembly from impeaching him in August.

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid appointed on Tuesday his old friend and current Minister of Justice and Human Rights Marsillam Simanjuntak as the new attorney general to replace the late Baharuddin Lopa.

Jakarta – Relatives and parents of students slain in the Trisakti and Semanggi shootings expressed disappointment at the findings of a House of Representative special committee investigating the incidents by throwing eggs during a House session on Monday.

G.K. Goh, Jakarta – Smoke from land clearing by fire on Tuesday cast a haze over the skies of several cities in Borneo and Sumatra island, causing eye irritations and breathing problems, officials said.

Chris McCall in Tentena, Central Sulawesi – With guns that look like cut-out toys, a Christian army is fighting a war to hold on to its ancestral lands. It is based in Tentena, a beautiful lakeside town that visitors to Indonesia once flocked to.

Jakarta – Indonesia's army chief has played down President Abdurrahman Wahid's renewed threat to declare a state of emergency if political parties fail to compromise with him by July 20, local media reported Tuesday.

Only 666 of the 1,250 East Timorese refugees Indonesian authorities said wanted to return to their homeland last month have been able to do so, UN officials said on Tuesday.

Jakarta – UN officials in East Timor raised concern Tuesday about the fate of refugees who chose to be repatriated from squalid camps in Indonesia during an Indonesian-run census last month.

Dili – As a UN security team toured refugee camps near Indonesian controlled West Timor's border with East Timor Tuesday, officials of the world body in Dili warned that pro-Jakarta militias were still intimidating refugees.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Indonesian security forces have arrested 23 hardcore militiamen including the notorious leader of the gang involved in the 1999 massacre in East Timor's Suai cathedral.

Jakarta – More than 100 middle-ranking Indonesian police officers yesterday spoke out against their chief, who has defied his sacking by President Abdurrahman Wahid, accusing him of disobedience.

In a petition issued after a meeting at the national police headquarters, the officers stressed that the Indonesian police were under the ultimate command of the President.

Banda Aceh – Clashes in Indonesia's oil-rich province of Aceh have killed at least 12 people including five suspected separatist rebels, and endangered food supplies to residents, officials said Tuesday.

Guerrillas of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) said they had attacked an outpost of US oil giant ExxonMobil in retaliation for violence directed at locals by security forces.

Bandung – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) has asked its supporters across the country to revive community posts in the lead-up to the special session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) in August.