Beijing – China supports the building of an East Timor army and will work toward friendly ties with it, state media quoted China's defense minister saying Tuesday.

Concerns are being raised that Indonesia's military is once again in the political driver's seat. After the fall of president Suharto in May 1998, and the first free election of a president in 33 years, initial steps were taken to reform the armed forces.

Indonesia rolled out the red carpet for the man it once jailed as a subversive as Xanana Gusmao arrived in the capital for his first visit as president of newly independent East Timor.

A smiling Gusmao was garlanded and given a 21-gun salute and honour guard on arrival Tuesday at the palace for talks with President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – The army is back in the driving seat in Indonesia four years after the fall of Suharto, flexing its muscles against separatist insurgencies and pulling the strings in domestic politics.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto has overseen the first major reshuffle of the armed forces since taking over last month.

Flaws in the indictment of notorious militia leader, Eurico Guterres, are the clearest indication yet of Indonesia's lack of commitment to justice for the victims of human rights atrocities in East Timor, says Tapol, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign.

New York – After one year in office, President Megawati's administration has restored a degree of political stability in Indonesia. But her efforts to secure support and stability have led to a retrenchment of many of the old interests of the Soeharto regime that ruled for three decades, most notably the military.

Mansour Fakih – My first visit to East Timor was early in 2000. The towns were still smoldering, and the atmosphere was tense. I was shocked, angry, and so disillusioned. I never suspected my own people could have done such a thing.

The United Nations food agency launched a program to feed 2.1 million of the poorest Indonesians, including hundreds of thousands of people displaced by sectarian and separatist violence.

The operation by the World Food Programme (WFP) will cost 65 million dollars and run until the end of 2003, the organisation said Monday.

Indonesian police will investigate former and current officers who may have helped Tommy Suharto during his year-long flight from justice.

A team from national police headquarters will carry out the investigation as soon as possible, said deputy spokesman Chief Commissioner Prasetyo on Monday.

Jakarta – Corrupt Indonesian businessmen used Australia's high-rolling Christmas Island casino to launder money when it was owned by a crony of Indonesia's former dictator Suharto, a former shareholder believes.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Workers of the Sidoarjo-based plastic goods producer PT Maspion went back to work on Friday, ending a week-long stand off with the management of the factory over working days.

Jon Land – East Timor's recently elected president, Xanana Gusmao, arrived in Canberra on June 17 for his first official state visit to Australia. Accompanied by foreign minister Jose Ramos Horta and other East Timorese representatives, Gusmao stressed that "Australia is the first country that we came to visit and to talk about the future".

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta – The latest data showing a precipitous drop in foreign direct investment (FDI) should serve as a wake-up call for the government to quickly take action to improve the country's investment climate, analysts said.

Berni K. Moestafa and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Once the big brother amongst Southeast Asian military forces, the Indonesian Military (TNI) now suffers from acute budget constraints which are crippling its arsenal and diluting its might.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The nine military suspects in the murder of pro-independence Papuan leader Theys Hiyo Eluay should be tried in civilian court, instead of a military tribunal, analyst Kusnanto Anggoro of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and noted rights activist Todung Mulya Lubis said on Friday.

Jill Jolliffe – The United Nations has increased pressure on the Indonesian Government to produce results over war crimes in East Timor by releasing its own detailed indictments for several cases including the Liquica church massacre.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Human rights activists warned on Friday of another red mark against the country's judicial system should the ad hoc Human Rights Tribunal fail to hold a fair trial on the 1999 East Timor human rights abuses.

Hundreds of East Timorese refugees demonstrated outside the governor's office in East Nusa Tenggara province Saturday demanding a resumption of humanitarian aid, the national news agency Antara reported.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Forking out $60,000 for a five-year-old Mercedes S-Class, bound for the scrap yard is a luxury few Indonesians can afford.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – Frequent cases of violence and intimidation against journalists by police personnel across the country reflects their serious lack of understanding of the freedom of the press, an activist says.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – A recent series of gatherings involving Muslim politicians could lead to the establishment of an Islamic alliance against President Megawati Soekarnoputri should she insist upon deterring the amendment process for the 1945 Constitution, analysts said.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Eurico Guterres, former commander of the pro-Jakarta Aitarak militia in East Timor, stood trial at the Central Jakarta District Court on charges of murder and torture in the attacks on East Timorese leaders before the 1999 ballot.

[Siri Frigaard Deputy Prosecutor in East Timor's Serious Crimes Unit, overseeing investigations into crimes against humanity in East Timor has admitted that history may be critical of the justice dealt out to perpetrators of the bloodshed and destruction in 1999.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Some 1,000 Acehnese refugees staged a protest in front of the North Smatra provincial legislature on Thursday, asking the government to keep its promise to provide them with financial assistance.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – Calls are mounting for the government to revamp or scrap altogether the Ministry of Religious Affairs following a recent proposal to establish a joint religion office to promote interfaith harmony.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – Activists on Thursday cast doubts over the upcoming Aceh peace talks, as violence continued unabated with neither the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) nor the government willing to back down from preconditions to move into a dialog.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – An Indonesian human rights court yesterday launched the prosecution of notorious former East Timorese militia leader Eurico Guterres – one of the crucial tests of justice over the violent campaign waged by militias and Indonesian military against East Timor's bid to gain independence in 1999.

Jakarta – A number of political leaders belonging to a loose grouping of Islamic parties, plus some Golkar Party legislators, met at the residence of deputy speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Cholil Bisri on Jl. Kemanggisan Ilir 2B, Slipi, on Thursday evening, with the host denying that the gathering had any political agenda.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – All 11 members of the General Elections Commission (KPU) have threatened to resign en masse if the House of Representatives passes a new election bill that would effectively undermine the commission's independence.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – As part of the campaign to put an end to the long list of assaults against the Indonesian media, Kompas daily vowed on Thursday to proceed with the legal process against the police for beating one of its reporters while reporting the Maspion worker strike in Sidoarjo, East Java.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – In an effort to lower book, newspaper and magazines prices, editors and legislators on Thursday agreed to demand the government remove the imposition of value-added tax (VAT) on reading material.

Cirebon – Hundreds of bus owners grouped under the West Java and Central Java Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) demanded on Thursday the release of 117 buses currently impounded by the Jakarta office of the Ministry of Transportation, apparently without good reason.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – Political experts criticized chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) Megawati Soekarnoputri dubbing her a "democracy killer" for defying her party's aspirations by supporting the reelection of Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives is expected to pass soon a long-awaited bill on the settlement of industrial disputes, which will allow workers and employers to take their disputes to labor courts.

Jakarta – In a further move to implement syariah, or Islamic law, in Aceh, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Police will soon recruit officers for its special religious police unit, YAntara news agency reported.

Jakarta – After participating in the Aceh provincial sports week in Sigli, nine athletes and officials from the Aceh Singkil regency were reportedly abducted by a group of unidentified armed men in Peureulak, East Aceh regency, Antara reported on Thursday.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri's overriding concern with securing her future through political deal-making is causing ripples in Indonesia's most hotly contested political race after the national elections.

Berni K. Moestafa, Jakarta – Widespread criticism of the government is growing as transportation fares are set to go up by 40 percent following its earlier fuel price increases.

Critics slammed the decision as a slap in the face of the poor, and called into question the government's unilateral approach of raising the fares.

Jakarta – The prosecution appeared to throw in the towel on Wednesday during the cross-examination of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the alleged mastermind behind the murder of Supreme Court Justice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita.

While Chief Prosecutor Hasan Madani normally asked probing questions, this time he seemed to skip from one question to another.

Jakarta – An armed Indonesian civilian group had held military training exercises outside Jakarta, the country's top security minister said yesterday.

Jakarta – Taking the stand for the first time, Tommy Suharto told a packed courtroom yesterday that Indonesia's security forces had protected him while he was on the run for a year.

The son of former president Suharto denied that he had killed a Supreme Court judge but admitted that he had tried to bribe associates of a former president to clear him of corruption charges.

Jakarta – Indonesia's Education Ministry plans to hire 366,630 temporary teachers next year to overcome shortages in schools around the country.

Education Minister A. Malik Fadjar said during a parliamentary committee hearing on Tuesday that his ministry was seeking a budget allocation of 2.3 trillion rupiah, or 200,000 rupiah per teacher, for the plan.

Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri presented and won an overwhelming vote of confidence from East Timor's parliament Thursday for his five-year government program. The confidence vote was approved by a tally of 69 to four, with seven abstentions. Eight MPs were absent.

Around 150 Islamic extremists armed with sticks and swords rampaged down a street popular with foreign tourists in Jakarta yesterday, forcing their way into cafes and smashing beer bottles, police and witnesses said.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Local security authorities have broken up a network that allegedly trafficked dozens of East Timorese toddlers over the last year.

The head of the Wirasakti Militry Command in East Nusa Tenggara, Col. Muswarno Moesanip, said on Wednesday that most of the children were taken from refugee camps in the province and sent to orphanages in Java.

Several members of East Timor's parliament called Thursday for proposed legislation to be translated into Tetum, as Portuguese is not understood by all of the 88-member assembly.

Jakarta – A notorious pro-Jakarta militia leader accused of atrocities in East Timor said on Thursday he was ready to die if found guilty of the 1999 massacres, but said the real blame for the bloodshed lies with Indonesia's president at the time.

Jakarta – The Indonesian export volume to neighboring East Timor increased from around 20 million US dollars in 2000 to more than 33 million US dollars in 2001, an official said Thursday.

Catharine Munro, Jakarta – Eurico Guterres, the militia leader who fought against independence from Indonesia in his native East Timor three years ago, today faced a human rights tribunal in Jakarta to hear charges of abuses.