Jakarta – Indonesia's currency and stock market were higher in early trading Monday after the Paris Club's agreement to reschedule 5.4 billion dollars in government debt.

Priandono, Jakarta - About 40 million Indonesian people go hungry, according to Bishow B. Parajuli, Deputy Country Director of the United Nation World Food Program.

He went on to explain that the 40 million people account for 17 percent of the Indonesian population.

Jakarta – In a bid to protect their business interests, underground gambling kingpins are pressing for legal casinos to be built in the capital here instead of on a northern island chain.

About 250 fierce-looking protesters from Metro Watch, an organisation allegedly backed by powerful underworld figures, besieged Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso's residence on Saturday.

Jakarta – A coalition of environmental groups here urged the government to withdraw licenses given to mining companies that plan to operate in around one-fifth of the country's protected forests and conservation areas.

Jill Jolliffe – Guerrilla hero Jose "Xanana" Gusmao is expected to win a sweeping victory today in a poll for East Timor's first elected head of state, despite an organised attempt to reduce his vote.

Jill Jolliffe – It could have been a Meet the Press show anywhere in the world – two presidential candidates on stage in elegant suits fielding questions before an audience of politicians, media and diplomats. They debated domestic and foreign policy, with press assessors watching closely

Hamish McDonald, Dili – A last-minute dispute has blown up over the treaty that will unlock oil and gas resources worth billions of dollars in the seabed between Australia and East Timor, and the new nation's likely prime minister has accused Canberra of mistrust and an "unfriendly act".

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Tomorrow, East Timor votes for its first president, taking its final steps towards independence.

It is a process that many in the Indonesian elite would probably rather forget but, of course, cannot.

Hamish McDonald – A tropical cyclone has been hovering close to East Timor, dumping frequent rain on a mountainous island still in wet-season green and leaving officials wondering if the depression will move onshore just in time to disrupt tomorrow's presidential election.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) seems to be trying to use the on-going ad hoc human rights trial to wash its hands of gross human rights violations in East Timor, blaming the United Nations and civilian authorities for the bloody terror campaign in the territory in 1999.

Paris – Indonesia's foreign government creditors on Friday said they had agreed to re-schedule a portion of the country's external debt service obligations.

Jakarta – Almost two-thirds of Indonesian households who answered a nationwide survey reported falling victim to corruption by public officials, according to a report issued Friday.

Traffic police ere considered the most corrupt body, followed by the customs department and the judiciary, said the report from the Partnership for Governance Reform.

[East Timor approaches the last formal step in its long hard road to democracy and independence – on Sunday the people go to the polls to elect a president. Xanana Gusmao, who led East Timor's struggle against Indonesian rule, first as a jungle fighter and then from prison, is the overwhelming favourite in a two-man presidential contest.]

Transcript:

Jakarta – The government plans to establish an agency to tackle issues concerning the country's migrant workers, Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea said.

Dan Murphy, Jakarta – An investigator has uncovered new evidence in the murder of a Dutch journalist in East Timor in 1999 that bolsters the case against an Indonesian Army unit accused of murdering 12 people as it pulled out of the former Indonesian territory.

R.K. Nugroho and Sri Wahyuni, Jayapura/Yogyakarta – Separatist leaders have rejected the presence of the Java-based Laskar Jihad militant group in the troubled province of Papua, which they said had sparked disquiet among local people.

Banda Aceh – Seven more people have been found dead over the past three days in Indonesia's rebellious Aceh province, aid workers and residents said Friday.

Lela E. Madjiah, Banda Aceh – The Indonesian Military (TNI) seems to be succeeding in its efforts to crush the armed separatist movement in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, with reports of an increasing number of armed separatists being killed and arrested, as well as a rise in the number of separatists surrendering.

Jakarta – Former Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. (ret) Wiranto on Wednesday evening launched a book on East Timor, titled Selamat Jalan Timtim, Pergulatan Menguak Kebenaran, Penuturan Apa Adanya Seorang Wiranto (Good Bye East Timor, Struggle to Uncover the Truth, the Revelation of Wiranto).

Annastashya Emmanuelle, Jakarta – Although the government has constantly vowed to eradicate graft and corruption, the level of budget malfeasance remains high as action is rarely taken by the relevant government institutions to follow up on reports of irregularities released by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).

East Timor's two presidential candidates publicly embraced each other Thursday in Dili, appealing to voters to cast ballots in Sunday's election, the last political milestone before the territory gains independence on May 20.

In calling for a heavy turnout, both Xanana Gusmao, the wide favorite, and rival Xavier do Amaral said more united than divided them.

Robert Go, Jakarta – A lack of investment in Indonesia's power sector has forced the government to schedule regular blackouts in more than 30 regions across the country.

Leo Wahyudi S, Jakarta – Temporarily employed doctors are winning more support for their plight, with the National Commission on Human Rights charging that the mandatory service required of new medical graduates by the government is a form of rights abuse.

Jakarta – Two men claiming to be members of the Aceh separatist rebel movement entered the Finnish Embassy here yesterday and requested political asylum, saying they feared for their lives.

The pair met Ambassador Matti Pullinen before leaving the office voluntarily through a rear entrance.

Padang – The Padang administration in West Sumatra has been criticized for appointing around 100 allegedly unqualified teachers as civil servants in public schools.

Jakarta – The highest-ranking Indonesian officer implicated in a wave of violence that swept East Timor in 1999 defended its former police chief on Thursday, telling a court he had saved the lives of thousands of UN personnel.

Indonesia's powerful former military chief, General Wiranto, has published a book giving his version of East Timor's bloody 1999 breakaway, as he campaigns to clear himself of responsibility for the orgy of killing and destruction.

Agus Maryono, Purwokerto – Thousands of fishermen from Central Java canceled their plan to storm Jakarta on Wednesday in protest over the newly decreed fishing taxes, after Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Rohimin Dahuri heeded some of their demands.

Jakarta – A request for political asylum by two civilian members of the Aceh separatist movement has been turned down by both the Finnish government and the United Nations refugee agency, an Indonesian minister said Thursday.

"The asylum request has been rejected because they did not qualify for it," top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters.

Jakarta – A group of pro-democracy activists voiced concern over the ongoing amendment process of the 1945 Constitution on Wednesday, calling on the Assembly to soon form an independent constitutional commission to avoid a possible constitutional crisis, reports said.

Claire Harvey and A'an Suryana, Jakarta – The United Nations' reconstruction effort in East Timor will continue for at least the next decade, a military expert said on Monday.

Canadian Colonel (ret) Peter Leentjes, the former training chief of the UN's global Department of Peacekeeping Operations, said the magnitude of the task in East Timor was often underestimated.

Jakarta – Two members of the Infantry Battalion 141/Aneka Yudha Jayaperkasa under the Sriwijaya Military Command were killed in a rebel ambush in the restive Blang Mangat district ofNorth Aceh on Tuesday morning, according to news reports.

Banda Aceh – At least six people, including two soldiers and two separatist guerrillas, have been killed in violence in Indonesia's Aceh province, military and rebel spokesmen said Wednesday.

Jon Land – Two-and-a half years after East Timor's referendum on independence, the effect of the Indonesian military and militia's post-ballot destructive rampage are painfully apparent. Burnt out shells of buildings stand dotted around the suburbs of Dili, which remains a place, for most, of daily hardship and poverty.

Tony Parkinson – Former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid is planning to attend East Timor's independence celebrations next month, amid increasing doubts that his successor, Megawati Sukarnoputri, will accept her invitation to witness the emergence of the world's newest state.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – Being accused of espousing "public lies" has apparently offended Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso.

Dili – East Timor independence hero Xanana Gusmao rode on horseback through streets lined with adoring supporters here Monday as the campaign for the presidency of the world's newest nation entered its final week.

The charismatic former guerrilla commander, 56, seems certain to sweep to victory in the April 14 poll against his sole challenger Francisco Xavier do Amaral.

Sumber, West Java – At least 6000 students in the West Java city of Cirebon have been forced to drop out of elementary schools since January due to financial problems and individual values, local officials said on Tuesday.

UN transition administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello went to East Timor's border with Indonesia Wednesday to welcome a group of returning refugees, marking the repatriation of 200,000 people.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Witnesses at the murder trial of Tommy Suharto have retracted their previous statements. Withdrawals by three of them have raised suspicions that they are being intimidated with the aim of securing the defendant's release.

Jakarta – The Indonesian capital has been hit by floods again due to clogged drainage channels.

Residents in southern Jakarta complained that their homes were deluged due to the poor condition of drainage channels following the major floods that hit the city in January and February.

Jakarta – Thousands of people in Indonesia's West Nusa Tenggara province staged a rally on Wednesday to protest Israel's sweeping military offensive in Palestine.

Yogyakarta – The provincial police named on Tuesday two other policemen as suspects in the death of Aan Yulianto who died in the hospital after having been "interrogated" in relation to a brawl early this month.

Spokesman for the Yogyakarta police office Adj. Sr. Comr. Sudarsono said the new suspects are Joko Taruno and Adhofir.

Jakarta – Police have arrested 17 suspected members of a radical group campaigning to establish an Islamic state within Indonesia, reports said Tuesday.

1512 - Portuguese explorers reach Timor, an island already known to Chinese as a source of sandalwood

1556 - Dominican friary opens at Lifau, in the Oecussi-Ambeno enclave

1642 - Portuguese soldiers arrive from nearby Solor island

1653 - Dutch build fort in the west of the island at Kupang, now the capital of the Indonesian province containing West Timor

Sydney – East Timorese voters go to the polls next week to pick the person who will declare their country independent next month.

The winner of the April 14 presidential poll will take over the running of the half-island state from an interim United Nations administration May 20. The UN team was slotted in after Indonesia gave up the territory in 1999.

Dili – Francisco Xavier do Amaral, 66, only had nine days as East Timor's first president in 1975. More than a quarter of a century later, he is bidding for his old position – the only rival to reluctant but formidable presidential candidate, independence hero Xanana Gusmao.

Medan – Hundreds of students from six state-owned elementary schools in Medan Maimoon subdistrict held a rally on Monday to protest a land swap involving their school buildings.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The government has hinted at pursuing a security-minded approach, instead of dialog, in dealing with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), despite the increasing death toll from military operations in the troubled province.

Jakarta – Indonesia's economic growth in the next few years will be too low to lift millions of its people out of poverty, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Tuesday.