Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid blasted the United States Monday for its embargo on weapons sales to Indonesia and said the military would procure arms elsewhere to deal with the multiple crises threatening the country's unity.

Dili – Manuel Carrascalao, a veteran of East Timor's 24-year struggle for freedom, was elected to head the territory's transitional legislature following last month's surprise resignation of independence leader Xanana Gusmao.

He was named speaker of the National Council after rival candidate, Nobel Peace laureate Jose Ramos Horta, withdrew from the ballot.

Jakarta – East Timorese refugees are dying from a rapidly spreading diarrhoea epidemic in fetid camps in Indonesian-ruled West Timor, a Catholic aid group said Monday.

Jakarta – Three policemen and six locals were killed in a clash during a police sweep for weapons in Indonesian Borneo, national Police Chief Surojo Bimantoro told reporters on Saturday.

Kusrini, Yogyakarta – Steadfast and unyielding in the face of ordeals – these are the two qualities one can find in Mardiyem, a former jugun ianfu, or comfort woman, a euphemism for a sex slave during the Japanese occupation.

Robert Go, Jakarta – The Indonesian government will step up tax-collection efforts, including the targeting of foreigners now living in the country, to boost revenues and control a mounting budget deficit.

Palembang, South Sumatra – The provinces of South Sumatra and neighboring Jambi are urging the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations to hand over reforestation funds amounting to more than Rp 15 trillion (some US$15 billion).

Surabaya – Pledges to defend President Abdurrahman Wahid to the death continued to pour in here on Thursday, with claims that over 20,000 people were ready to die for the President in a holy war.

Jakarta – Violence marred an anti-Soeharto protest held by the City Forum (Forkot) group in Central Jakarta yesterday. Police had to disperse the protesters with tear gas. Four protesters were wounded after being beaten by the police.

Reuters in United Nations – Xanana Gusmao, the popular East Timorese resistance leader, said overnight he would not be a candidate for president when the former Portuguese colony achieves independence next year.

Jakarta – An 18-year-old migrant worker said on Thursday that she had been taken hostage by a labor export company for a month because she failed to pay the compensation demanded by the firm after she was sent home by her dissatisfied employer.

Stephen Romei, New York – At the risk of exposing himself to political parody, Xanana Gusmao has a simple message for the international community: Read my lips, I will not run for the presidency of East Timor.

Jakarta – Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said on Thursday data processing was an obstacle in investigating alleged corruption cases involving conglomerates.

"There are no legal obstacles, only problems in processing data because there is so much data spread across so many institutions," Marzuki said.

Jakarta - A human rights commission has formally accused ten police officials in Irian Jaya are suspected of involvement in human rights abuses that took place after the Abepura incident on December 6 last year.

Jakarta – The government must shoulder its share of the blame for any consequences of a military deployment in restive Aceh province, a general has said quoted Thursday.

Palu – Police fired warning shots Thursday as a stone-throwing Muslim mob outside a court house where three Christians were sentenced to death for inciting a massacre and other religious violence that killed hundreds.

Vaudine England – The politicians presiding over Jakarta's latest political crisis, currency tumble and perhaps national disintegration are doing so from lavish homes and luxury cars. Many attend self-promoting seminars in designer batik and shoes, sign deals with gold-tipped pens, clock up VIP jaunts to Mecca, toying with excess food and mistresses all the time.

Jakarta – At least four people have been killed in the latest violence in Aceh, a report said Thursday, a day after the latest peace initiative in the troubled Indonesian province collapsed.

The bodies of two civilians, both with gunshot wounds, were found in separate locations in Langsa, East Aceh, on Wednesday, the province's main daily, Serambi, reported.

Civil disturbances in East Timor, the forthcoming elections and the resignation of Xanana Gusmco as president of the National Council dominated discussions in the Security Council today as members heard a briefing by a top United Nations peacekeeping official.

New York – Asking the international community to try those involved in criminal actions in East Timor is not a priority to the East Timorese at the moment, East Timorese Resistance Council's (CNRT) former president, Xanana Gusmao, said here Tuesday night.

Sydney – East Timorese independence leader Xanana Gusmao will inevitably become his country's first president, even though he says he does not want the job, Nobel laureate Jose Ramos Horta said.

Jakarta – The third-largest faction in Indonesia's national assembly yesterday did an about-face and called on President Abdurrahman Wahid to consider resigning if this would help to solve the country's political stalemate.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – The Marine Corps is to investigate the death of one of its own in a shootout in central Jakarta which arose after East Javanese supporters of President Abdurrahman Wahid were involved in a dispute over payment of hotel bills.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday cast doubt on Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri's ability to run Indonesia as he fought to hold on to power.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Clerics supporting Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid will decide today whether it is justifiable under Islamic law to kill those who have been attacking his presidency and attempting to unseat him.

Jakarta – Indonesia's foreign minister Tuesday denied claims reported by a local newsmagazine that President Abdurrahman Wahid accepted a $4 million aid donation from Kuwait in exchange for abandoning plans to visit Iraq last year.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Aceh could split from Indonesia within a year if the Indonesian armed forces (TNI) does not step up operations to crush the rebel movement in the restive province, a top security official said yesterday.

Jacqueline M. Koch in Banda Aceh and Lindsay Murdoch in Jakarta – Soldiers patrol villages, their high-powered weapons ready to fire. Tanks rumble along rutted roads. Entire villages suspected of supporting separatist rebels are razed, forcing thousands of men, women and children into crude refugee camps.

Indonesia's Bank Restructuring Agency (Ibra) yesterday rejected a local newspaper report that key officials, including the agency's chief, planned to resign.

Jakarta – Indonesia has admitted failure in meeting forestry protection commitments to its key donor group, the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI), weeks before a CGI meeting in Jakarta, a report said Tuesday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's major creditors have agreed to roll over the country's debt repayment based on an agreement in the Paris Club of official creditors, a report said on Tuesday.

Finance Minister Prijadi Praptosuhardjo said that in addition to Japan, Australia, Canada and the United States have also agreed to reschedule Indonesian debts.

Jakarta – Attorneys for East Timorese militia leader Eurico Guterres Tuesday demanded that weapons charges against him be dropped on the grounds that he was an Indonesian patriot, not a criminal.

Lawyer Suhardi Somomoeljono said state prosecutors had failed to prove Guterres' guilt during the course of the three-month trial.

Dili – New violence broke out along East Timor's border with Indonesia when unidentified gunmen threw grenades and fired shots at UN peacekeepers and villages in five separate clashes, officials said Tuesday.

No peacekeepers were injured in Monday's incidents. However, an East Timorese woman was wounded when attackers fired at her house.

Jakarta – Student and Labor organizations have joined with the May 1st Action Committee to stage a major demonstration at Jakarta Police Headquarters today.

Jakarta – Indonesia is the largest labor supplier contributing 50 per cent to foreign worker requirement in a number of countries, the association of labor suppliers said.

Association chairman Sysferi said a few years ago Indonesia supplied only 10 per cent of workers needed by Singapore, Hongkong, Malaysia and Middle East, but now Indonesia has become the market leader.

Nuruddin Lazuardi/Heather, Jakarta – Around 600 Postal workers from PT Pos Indo (Posindo) staged a rally outside the Ministry of Communication and Telecommunications (Dephubtel) office on Jl Medan Merdeka Barat, central Jakarta on Monday. They demanding a rise in pay.

Yeoh En Lai – Almost two years after the independence referendum in East Timor, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is bracing itself for another crisis.

Dili – An Australian member of the UN peacekeeping force in East Timor fired on two suspected militiamen near the border with Indonesian West Timor, a force spokesman said Monday.

Singapore – The United Nations' transitional government in East Timor is still struggling, leaving much to "sheer luck" despite 18 months in power, the head of the UN mission running the new nation said Monday.

Nuruddin Lazuardi/HY, Jakarta – Around 300 student from various universities in South Jakarta, who call themselves the Southern Students Forum (FMS) are holding a demonstration at the fountain in the Hotel Indonesia Roundabout. They demand Golkar be disbanded.

Budi Sugiharto, Surabaya – Around 200 People's Democratic Party (PRD) activists blockaded a house in Jl. Darmo Kali, Number 28 in Surabaya, East Java which is believed to be the new headquarters of Golkar in Jatim after the previous offices was burnt down by the masses.

I Made Sentana, Jakarta – Indonesia's state-owned Pertamina (P.PTM) oil and gas company has raised fuel prices for industrial users to between 50% and 100% of international market prices, effective Sunday, in a bid to reduce government fuel subsidies.

Jakarta – The Information Center for Aceh Referendum (SIRA) will soon file lawsuit against the Indonesian Police Chief General Surojo Bimantoro over the murder of three human rights activists in South Aceh on March 29. We will file lawsuit against the Police Chief, said SIRA Presidium Ridwan in Jakarta on the weekend.

Devi Asmarani, Aceh – A simple bus trip at night can turn deadly in this violence-wracked province, where residents live in constant fear of being caught in vicious clashes between Indonesian troops and separatist guerillas.

Jakarta – More than 600 people signed up on Monday to join a death squad aimed at preventing beleagured Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid from being ousted, a group leader said.

Jonathan Thatcher, Jakarta – The speaker of Indonesia's top legislative assembly on Monday said President Abdurrahman Wahid should quit, accusing him of being stupid, corrupt and of leading the nation to ruin.

Jakarta – Claims that President Abdurrahman Wahid was medically unfit for office was just a political ploy by the President's enemies, an aide said on Saturday.

"The President noted that the issue of his health was always brought up to discredit him", presidential spokesman Adhi Massardi told reporters at Merdeka Palace. "I know the President is very fit."

Jakarta – Police and Irian Jaya's rebels were involved in a shootout Saturday when the rebels attacked a base camp of PT Dharma Mukti Persada logging company in Wonggema village, Wasior district, Manokwari regency. o casualties were reported in the clash, Antara reported.

Jakarta – The discovery of a headless corpse and the torching of houses have heightened tension in a district of Indonesia's Borneo island where at least 500 people were killed in over six weeks of ethnic violence, police said Monday.

Jakarta – Communal violence in Central Kalimantan which has left at least 500 dead since it first erupted six weeks ago has claimed another five lives, police said on Sunday.