Jakarta – Eight people were killed, and 12 others wounded in armed attacks on a Christian neighbourhood and a passenger boat in the strife-torn eastern Indonesian city of Ambon yesterday.

President Abdurrahman Wahid, fighting for his political life, named the deputy governor of the central bank, Mr Burhanuddin Abdullah, as the new chief economics minister yesterday.

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid turned down on Tuesday the demands of the Federation of All Indonesian Workers Union (FSPSI) to nullify two controversial ministerial decrees on labor issues but agreed to give some concessions to protect workers rights.

Jakarta – The city administration should discriminate in its handling of hoodlums and street vendors. The city should not arrest street vendors and other informal traders as the police arrest hoodlums, experts said on Tuesday.

Jakarta – Thousands of Indonesian workers held massive rallies in several cities on Wednesday to demand the scrapping of a ministerial labor decree cutting long-service payments.

More than 1,000 workers from at least 30 labor organizations in the capital Jakarta and its outskirts demonstrated in front of the vice presidential palace facing central Jakarta's Monas square.

Kupang – Changes in the results of last week's registration of East Timorese refugees have aroused suspicion in Kupang of the possible manipulation of registration results. The refugees chose last week whether to remain in Indonesia or return to East Timor.

A security operation conducted by United Nations peacekeepers in East Timor has resulted in the surrender of 34 suspected militia members in the eastern part of the territory, the UN Transitional Administration (UNTAET) said today in Dili.

Makassar, – Fifty students of the Indonesian Muslim University (UMI) put on a theater roadshow in Makassar on Tuesday as part of a renewal of their protest against the government's plan to raise fuel prices and electricity rates.

Joanne Collins, Jakarta – The IMF on Wednesday urged Indonesia's new economic team to forge ahead with the revised 2001 budget, saying it was an important precursor to mending frayed relations.

Hamish McDonald – A score of Australians has just been caught up in a nasty example of the repressive violence that could easily become the norm again in Indonesia as Soeharto-era forces regroup behind Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri's push for power.

Hundreds of protesters from the Student Action Front for Reform and Democracy (FAMRED), All-Indonesia Front (FIS), Peoples Action Committee for Victims of Violence (KARAT), and Student Union (IISIP) staged a demonstration in front of Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, this afternoon demanding the dissolution of both Golkar Party and parliament.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – While foreign activists at the Justice Ministry tried to avoid being fingerprinted, the prime local target of a police raid on a labour seminar last week was almost forgotten.

Scott Rochfort – Eight Australians detained by Indonesian police after attending a Labor rights conference in Jakarta returned, relieved, to Australia today.

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid changed his economics team Tuesday in a bid to rebuild his support ahead of impeachment proceedings and to smooth relations with disgruntled foreign lenders. It was the second major change to his troubled Cabinet in 11 days.

Banda Aceh - Police claimed on Monday that at least 16 people had been killed in guerrilla attacks on transmigration sites in Central Aceh since Sunday. Aceh Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Sad Harunantyo said the Javanese migrant settlers were killed when the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels on Sunday and early Monday attacked Kresek and Lindung Bulan villages.

Washington – A leading Timorese aid worker on Wednesday branded as a "sham" an Indonesian canvassing drive which found that 98 percent of East Timorese refugees confined to camps in West Timor did not want to go home.

Jakarta – Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab claimed here on Monday that the United States government under President George W. Bush had loosened its military embargo on Jakarta.

Dili - East Timor's UN administrators Tuesday said they would push ahead with historic elections in August despite fears of unrest. UN administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello has signed an order for the elections for a new governing assembly to proceed on Aug. 30 as planned, said UN spokesperson Barbara Reis.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesian immigration officials yesterday freed 29 foreigners, including 18 Australians, who were detained at an international conference in Jakarta, as criticisms grew of police-sanctioned brutality against the organisers.

East Timor may be forced to apply its future revenues from oil and natural gas exploration in the Timor Gap to cover its operational budget, rather than in investing in the territory's development, according to a study which will be presented to an international donors conference.

Aloysius Bhui, Jakarta – The revised budget currently being debated in parliament designed to contain the fiscal deficit to 3.8 per cent of GDP should be enough to satisfy the International Monetary Fund but will prove very tough and problematic to implement, analysts said.

Jakarta – The 13 rivers in the Indonesian capital are turning into a major health hazard as factories and families dump untreated toxic waste into the waterways.

Craig Skehan, Malcolm Brown and Lindsay Murdoch – Australian diplomats warned protesters last night against inflammatory action as attempts continued to get 18 Australians, accused of visa violations for attending a political conference in Jakarta, out of Indonesia. However, a protest outside the Indonesian Consulate in Maroubra went ahead yesterday as scheduled.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Originally imported from India in the 70s as a faster alternative to the motorised rickshaw, the bajaj – similar to Thailand's tuk-tuks – was never officially legalised in many parts of Jakarta.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – In a bid to cut down pollution in one of the world's most polluted cities, the government is planning to phase out the fume-emitting and noisy three-wheeled bajaj and replace it with more environmentally friendly vehicles.

G. K. Goh, Jakarta – Embattled Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has stepped up his defiance saying he will not resign and challenged the military and police to try and use force to oust him, media reported on Monday.

The decision by Indonesian police to detain local and foreign participants at a human rights and labor rights seminar on the outskirts of Jakarta has further tarnished the nations international image. Last Fridays raid was seen as a return to the tactics of ex-president Suhartos regime, which routinely used police and thugs-for-hire groups to repress pro-democracy activities.

Sergio Vieira de Mello, the head of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), has called the dissolution of the East Timor resistance umbrella organization CNRT a difficult and painful decision, but a "politically courageous, wise and timely one."

Jakarta – Around 2,500 workers rallied in front of Indonesia's presidential palace on Monday demanding the government drop plans for a 30.1 percent fuel price hike later this month. There were no reports of trouble from the protesters who shouted slogans under the watchful eyes of 200 policemen and dispersed by midday.

Robert Go, Jakarta – The economic crisis, as much as fashion, is responsible for the current fad among Indonesians for wearing body-hugging, belly-button-baring clothes.

Robert Go, Jakarta – For cabby Sutardjo, the petrol-price increase scheduled for this coming Friday could erode his daily take-home earnings of around 40,000 rupiah (S$6.80) by as much as 20 per cent.

Mark Dodd, Dili – As its final act, the organisation that united ordinary East Timorese in the struggle to end Indonesian rule called for all political parties contesting the August elections to sign a national unity pact.

Mark Forbes, Canberra – Jose "Xanana" Gusmao will become East Timor's first president next year despite his pledge not to nominate, according to fellow independence campaigner Jose Ramos Horta.

Mark Dodd, Dili - Amid emotional scenes, the organisation that united ordinary East Timorese in the struggle to end Indonesian rule dissolved itself on Thursday evening.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The thousands of East Timorese still languishing in West Timor's camps are not free to choose to return to home as they have been intimidated by pro-Indonesian militia during a registration programme to determine their future, say aid workers and international observers.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia's new Attorney-General pledged yesterday to restart corruption proceedings against former President Suharto, who spent his 80th birthday praying at a mosque and giving out charity packages to orphans.

Soraya Permatasari, Jakarta – Indonesian police said on Saturday that more than 30 foreigners, including a four-year-old girl, detained at a human rights seminar were suspected of immigration violations and would be questioned next week.

Agence France Presse in Jakarta – Disgraced and ailing former dictator Suharto was moved to tears by an orphan when he marked his 80th birthday yesterday, two days after the man he overthrew, founding president Sukarno, would have turned 100.

Surabaya – An investigation team formed by the National Awakening Party (PKB) faction at the East Java provincial legislature claims to have found evidence that people arrested following riots in Pasuruan were tortured during police questioning.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – The bodies of six people, including a boy, have been found in Aceh, taking the death toll from a military offensive launched on April 11 to almost 200. Police said the bodies of five of the latest victims were bullet-riddled while a sixth bore torture marks.

Susan Sim, Jakarta – Opposition politicians with no skeletons in their closets need not fear the new Attorney-General.

Chris Brummitt, Jakarta – With calls growing for her to lead the nation, Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri lashed out at critics who say she lacks the experience for the presidency.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – In a further sign of the animosity between Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri and President Abdurrahman Wahid, Ms Megawati yesterday snubbed a Cabinet meeting she was supposed to chair.

Irwin Arieff G. K. Goh, United Nations – East Timorese refugees eager to return home are being threatened and intimidated by militia who forced them into squalid camps in Indonesian West Timor two years ago, an aid worker charged on Thursday.

Jakarta – An overwhelming majority of East Timorese refugees languishing in West Timor camps want to stay in Indonesia, early results of a registration drive showed Friday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's central bank (BI) and the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) on Friday agreed to repatriate the equivalent of around 20 million dollars of Indonesian rupiah now circulating in East Timor.

Jakarta – Indonesia's Parliament wants stiffer cuts in petrol subsidies and price hikes more drastic than the 30 per cent jump already slated by the government – a development that could inject additional fuel to the escalated political tension in Jakarta and spark further mass demonstrations later this month.

Indonesian language Internet media sources have published comments by East Timorese refugee representatives and IX/Udayana Military Area Commander Maj- Gen Willem T da Costa on the post-registration future of the refugees.

Kupang – Allegations of widespread fraud and reports of intimidation of voters marred an Indonesian-run vote Wednesday for thousands of East Timorese refugees in West Timor to decide whether if they wish to return to their homeland.

On June 6 and 7, the Indonesian government conducted a procedure throughout the refugee camps in West Timor. One stated objective was to allow each family to choose whether to be resettled in Indonesia or to return to East Timor, their homeland from which they were forcibly abducted 21 months ago.