Jakarta – A hardline Muslim youth group in Indonesia said on Tuesday more than 200 of its members had signed up to participate in a possible holy war against the United States in Afghanistan.

Jakarta – At least one island near Jakarta still boasts of dazzling corals and plenty of fish, and the people owe the Suharto family for its conservation. For years, Pulau Pemagaran in the Thousand Islands area north of Jakarta Bay was one of the former ruling family's quick getaway spots.

Jakarta – A man accused of murdering a New Zealand peacekeeping soldier in East Timor last year is to face trial in Jakarta, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Indonesian police yesterday linked the blast at the Atrium Senen Plaza on Sunday to members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebel group who have been arrested for involvement in the Jakarta bourse blast last year.

Jakarta – Troops shot and killed two separatist rebels in separate clashes in Aceh province, officials said on Tuesday.

Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Agus Dwiyanto said an insurgent was killed during a clash in East Aceh on Sunday. On Saturday, a rebel was killed in western Aceh when guerillas ambushed a government patrol.

Banda Aceh – Separatist rebels in Indonesia's restive province of Aceh claimed yesterday to have killed 31 soldiers over the weekend, but this was denied by the military.

Jakarta – Former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid, also known as Gus Dur, was found guilty of defaming a former state official and was ordered to pay US$52,000 in compensation, court officials said yesterday.

Jakarta – Army Chief of Staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto's proposal to disarm the nation's police has received a big thumbs down. Observers say that, if unarmed, the police would be dysfunctional and their lives placed in danger because of the number of hardcore criminals brandishing guns nowadays.

Jakarta – Leaders of oil-producing districts predicted potential trouble over a new oil and gas law as President Megawati Sukarnoputri courted oil barons in the United States, reports said Tuesday.

Edith M. Lederer, New York – Indonesia's president offered Tuesday to cooperate with the United States in fighting terrorism and warned that terrorists are making a "big mistake" if they think they can destroy America.

Jakarta – The police were again made a promise by fugitive Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, who has been on the run for more than 10 months, that the latter planned to surrender himself to them provided they could guarantee him both security and justice.

Jakarta – The National Police Headquarters announced on Friday a reshuffle involving 50 high-ranking police officers.

Jakarta – Groups of militant Indonesian Muslims on Sunday showed up at five international hotels in the Central Java city of Solo, demanding to know if any American citizens were staying there.

Six groups of Muslims, each of about 25 to 30 men, separately checked the five hotels and the city's airport, Detikcom online said. No US citizens were found.

Jakarta – A series of explosions rocked the parking lot of a busy shopping centre in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta on Sunday morning, police said.

The blasts caused moderate damage but there were no immediate reports of injuries and the cause of the blasts was not known. A bomb exploded in the same shopping centre on August 1.

Jakarta – Hardline Muslim groups stepped up their anti-American campaign on Saturday, with several hundred Muslim students rallying in Surabaya, East Java, and Palu, Central Sulawesi, protesting US plans to wage war against Afghanistan.

Jakarta – Are there any strings attached to the promised military and financial aid from the United States? A number of analysts believe there are not.

Kupang – Of their own free will, hundreds of thousands of East Timorese who have been living in refugee camps in Indonesia's West Timor for the past two years, have now decided to return to their homeland following the successful general election in East Timor, held in a free, orderly and safe manner on August 30, 2001.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Militant human-rights activists selected as candidates for the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) are finding opposition within the splintered commission, as some members are not happy with their "pro-Western, anti-military, NGO-approach".

Washington DC – The United States government has pledged to assist President Megawati Soekarnoputri's government in building a stable, united and democratic Indonesia, according to a joint statement between the two countries' leaders here Wednesday night.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – The election victory on August 30 of Fretilin, the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor, sent UN and World Bank officials in Dili into an instant policy huddle which lasted three weeks.

East Timor's Constituent Assembly has been sworn in this week following a peaceful election at the end of August. All but two of the country's 16 political parties won seats in the new assembly which now has just 90 days to write a constitution for the country's future governance.

Dili – The UN peacekeeping force (PKF) in East Timor and Indonesia's military have signed an agreement on sharing information and coordinating military activity along the border between the UN-administered territory and Indonesian-ruled West Timor, a PKF spokesman said Friday.

John Aglionby, Jakarta – The United Nations' transitional administrator in East Timor, Sergio Vieirade Mello, appointed the territory's first entirely East Timorese government yesterday to lead the fledgling country to full independence next year.

Jakarta – Bribery is so rife in Indonesia's parliament that legislators consider the system to be normal, a report said Friday.

Jakarta – Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network has supplied money and weapons for Indonesians and other Islamic fighters waging a "holy war" against Christians in the Malukus, an expert said Friday.

Jakarta – Sales of T-shirts bearing the picture of Muslim militant Osama bin Laden have surged in Indonesia, home of the world's largest Islamic population, since Washington named him as its chief suspect in last week's attacks.

Jakarta – Some 30 Muslim students set fire to two US flags outside the US consulate in Indonesia's second largest city of Surabaya Thursday during a protest against any plans to attack Afghanistan, police said.

Christine T. Tjandraningsih, Dili – UN-administered East Timor's transitional government Thursday swore a new cabinet comprised mostly of figures from a long-established political party that won last month's election.

Dili – The following is the lineup of the new cabinet of East Timor's transitional government.

Jakarta – Vigilante justice rules the streets of an Indonesian city near here, with at least 42 suspected petty criminals burnt alive or beaten to death by mobs so far this year. Criminologists say the attacks reflect a widespread loss of faith in the police and the justice system. Police say they do not condone the lynchings but can do little to prevent them.

Agencies in Jakarta and Baradan Kuppusamy in Kuala Lumpur – A radical Indonesian Muslim group said yesterday it would attack the US Embassy and seek the expulsion of Americans in Jakarta if Washington carried out revenge strikes against any Islamic nation.

Jakarta – An elite Indonesian army unit has sacked two top officers as well as 20 soldiers from the battalion following a deadly street battle with police in an East Java town. Lieutenant-General Ryamizard Ryacudu, chief of the Kostrad strategic reserve, ordered the sackings.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Indonesia's commitment to prosecuting human-rights cases in East Timor has come under fire following revelations that it has apparently stopped its probe into the 1999 murder of a Dutch journalist, possibly by Indonesian troops.

Jakarta – Indonesia expects to have repatriated 190,000 East Timorese refugees, currently still living in East Nusa Tenggara province, by the end of 2002, a minister said on Wednesday.

"So far, an average of 10,000 refugees are being sent back to their homeland every month," Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla said as quoted by Antara.

Jakarta – At least 500 East Timorese members of Indonesia's armed forces have resigned to return to their homeland, a report said Wednesday.

Tangerang – Vigilantes here are increasingly regarded as more effective in curbing crime than the police.

Violent mobs have killed at least 42 criminals in the last nine months, while police turn a blind eye and even seem to applaud the bravery of residents who kill criminals.

Jakarta – Muslim communities in Indonesia are playing down a call for a jihad by Taliban rulers in Afghanistan against the United States should the US attack Middle East countries.

East Timor's new parliament convened Tuesday for its second session to choose deputy speakers, following Monday's election of Fretilin party leader Francisco Guterres (Lu-Olo) as speaker.

Proceedings were interrupted for several minutes due to an earth tremor, which was felt throughout East Timor. When the session continued, the two deputy speakers were elected.

Seth Mydans, Dili – They are the new missionaries. Steeped in the values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, they travel from one emerging nation to another to share their gospel.

Jakarta – Two civilians were shot dead yesterday when police battled soldiers in the streets of an East Java town after a dispute at a petrol station.

Jakarta – Preliminary questioning of alleged bombers revealed that they planted bombs to incite terror and sow hatred between people of different religions in the country, an officer said on Saturday. "So far we've had a confession that the arrested bombers wanted to see people of different religions blaming and fighting each other," Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr.

Jakarta – A senior UN refugee official rapped Indonesian authorities Monday for failing to properly punish the "cold-blooded" killers of three of its staff.

Christine T. Tjandraningsih, Dili – Francisco Guterres, a veteran of East Timor's long struggle for independence, was elected the territory's first speaker of the Constituent Assembly on Monday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's vice president, a leading Muslim politician, urged the United States not to make Muslims a scapegoat for last week's terror attacks, which he said could help atone for Washington's past sins.

Jakarta – Labor unions have called on the government to ratify the international convention on the protection and rights of all migrant workers and their families to help safeguard Indonesian migrants working overseas.

Lindsay Murdoch, Bali – Eight children and their parents, who were separated at the height of violence in East Timor two years ago, have been reunited after a year-long tug-of-war with pro-Jakarta Timorese activists. The children, part of a group of 130 aged between seven and 16, have been living in Indonesian orphanages.

Jakarta – Labour activists are sceptical about the government's resolve to weed out corrupt airport officials, and believe that any plan to prevent them from extorting money from returning Indonesian migrant workers will be futile.

Jakarta – Indonesian police are under fire again, this time for using cars and motorcycles impounded as criminal evidence. During an internal raid at the Jakarta Police headquarters last month, 32 cars and 52 motorcycles were recovered as the vehicles – meant for crime evidence – were being used by policemen.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Simmering differences are emerging between President Megawati Sukarnoputri and her generals on how to resolve the bloody conflict in Aceh. Both sides share the aim of keeping the restive province within the Indonesian fold.

Banda Aceh – At least 11 people were killed in an armed clash in strife-torn Aceh on Wednesday night, local police said.