Jakarta – Separatist guerillas in Aceh are increasingly cornered and disunited, Indonesia's top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said yesterday.

Jakarta – As it is difficult to curb international terrorism in the country, the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) will focus on fighting its domestic accomplices, agency chief A.M. Hendropriyono said on Thursday.

Bronwyn Curran, Dili – East Timorese voters are relishing their first-ever taste of democracy but some parties in next week's elections have tried to intimidate them, local poll watchdogs said Thursday.

Mark Dodd, Dili – An East Timorese anti-independence leader said yesterday he would tell refugees in camps in West Timor that the world's newest country was on the road to democracy.

Andi Asrun, Jakarta – Former Indonesian president Suharto has been out of power for three years now, but authorities agree with the suspicions of political analysts and activists that members of his family are still busy – wreaking havoc with bombings and bomb threats.

Jane Counsel – Delicate negotiations over a new Timor Gap revenue sharing agreement were further unhinged yesterday, after a small American group launched legal action against the Federal and Indonesian governments and Phillips Petroleum.

Jakarta – Observers welcomed the Indonesian Military (TNI) headquarters' plan to drop its territorial function and to focus on defense duties, saying it was a positive move to improve its professionalism.

Mark Dodd, Dili – The UN Serious Crimes Unit, charged with investigating human rights violations in East Timor in 1999, says it is investigating 674 documented murders but has insufficient resources to do the job.

Tom Wright, Jakarta – Indonesia's independent debt restructuring review body issued a report late Thursday criticizing key deals which it said favored debtors over the government. The International Monetary Fund, which is visiting Indonesia this week, has said it will only resume lending under a stalled $5 billion program if the government first made the report public.

Canberra – Australia is unable to dictate a solution to a dispute between East Timor and a US-based oil company that has stalled construction of a key gas pipeline, the government said Wednesday.

An American Civpol officer stationed in Bobonaro District was stoned by a group of Timorese at the border area. The Indonesian Commander of the Border Security Task Force in West Timor, Lieutenant Colonel (Infantary) Magna Candra confirmed the incident.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – The political party of East Timor's independence heroes, Fretilin, has been accused of using intimidation, threats and "Indonesian-style" campaigning ahead of next week's general election.

The Senate has rejected a proposal for an international war crimes tribunal covering the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. Instead, it backed Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri's moves to prosecute those committing atrocities during the 1999 independence ballot.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Those responsible for some of the worst atrocities committed in East Timor in 1999 are likely to escape prosecution by a special Indonesian war crimes tribunal, according to senior United Nations and Timorese human rights officials.

The number two in East Timor's Fretilin party hierarchy, Mari Alkatiri, strongly critized Wednesday the territory's Independent Eletoral Mediation Panel, which has complained about the movement's campaign use of an expression deemed to be provocative.

Robert Karniol, Bangkok – Indonesia's new government appears intent on completing intelligence-related reforms, including an expanded role for the civilian National Intelligence Agency (Badan Inteligen Nasional, or BIN).

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia will fight corruption by focusing on bureaucratic reforms, not on the prosecution of serving and former government officials who are suspected of graft.

Jakarta – An Indonesian court on Wednesday sentenced an army corporal and a former soldier to life in jail for a devastating blast at the stock exchange that killed 15 people. Prosecutors had demanded death for ex-sergeant Irwan Ilyas and Corporal Ibrahim Hasan. Both at one stage escaped authorities, but Ilyas was recaptured and Hasan remains on the run.

Lewa Pardomuan, Kuala Lumpur – A rally in palm oil prices is fuelling widespread looting in plantation areas in Indonesia, with armed gangs targetting mainly state-owned farms.

Jakarta – Indonesia's state-owned forestry company could lose its profitable "ecolabel" certificates if it does not act to stamp out illegal logging on Java island, it was revealed Wednesday.

Many foreign companies will no longer accept wood products without the ecolabel stamp, a guarantee the wood has come from a renewable source.

Nick Squires, Sydney – The Government planned to help build a counter-terrorist training base in Indonesia for the country's elite special forces, according to confidential government documents. The 1994 plan, which was never made public, was proposed by Canberra despite controversy over the poor human rights record of Kopassus, the Indonesian army's special forces.

Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday drew a "clear commitment" from the Indonesian government to accelerate its economic reform programs. The IMF mission arrived in Jakarta on Sunday to try and strike a new economic reform agreement with the government.

Canberra – Australia said on Tuesday it would urge Phillips Petroleum Co chairman and chief executive Jim Mulva to talk tough with East Timor over tax proposals which are stalling a Timor Sea gas project.

East Timorese women's rights groups have gathered more than 10,000 signatures backing the inclusion of a "Women's Rights Charter" in the territory's future constitutiuon, activists announced Tuesday in Dili.

Jakarta – Dita Indah Sari, a noted woman activist who is the one of the recipients of the 2001 Ramon Magsaysay Award, said here on Monday that winning the award would encourage her to continue her fight for the basic rights of workers.

Muhammad Abdul Rachman had some trouble uttering his oath of office as he was sworn in as attorney general last week. His voice tripped up a bit on the words "I will act honestly". Fortunately, with a little coaxing from President Megawati Sukarnoputri the words finally came out.

Jakarta – More than 1,000 disadvantaged people, mostly becak (pedicab) drivers and street vendors, staged a rally at the Office of Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat, Central Jakarta, on Monday.

Jakarta – A live bomb was found outside the family residence of human rights activist Munir in Batu, Malang, East Java, in the early morning hours of Monday.

The police defused the high explosive bomb in the middle of a paddy field opposite the house on Jl. Diponegoro. The bomb squad claimed it was of TNT (trinitrotoluene) type.

Jakarta – The South Jakarta District Court sentenced two defendants to 20-years imprisonment each on Monday for their role in last year's bombing of the Jakarta Stock Exchange building, which killed 10 people and injured 46 others.

Terry Friel, Jeunieb – Indonesia's generals insist they are winning the war against the rag-tag rebels fighting for independence for the bountiful province of Aceh, but after dusk at one of hundreds of rebel barricades on the main north-south highway the reality is different.

Jakarta – Legislators of the National Awakening Party (PKB) resumed their participation in proceedings at the House of Representatives (DPR) on Monday, attending the House's first session for the 2001-2002 period.

East Timor's UN Transition Administration (UNTAET) praised Monday the weapons collection campaign conducted last week by the Indonesian Armed Forces and targeting militias in Jakarta's western half of Timor island.

A UN spokesman in Dili said UNTAET chief Sergio Vieira de Mello "welcomed the efforts" of the Indonesians, adding that he hoped they would continue.

The International Monetary Fund was fiercely criticised for its failure to salvage the Indonesian economy in 1997-98. Much of the criticism was justified. With financial markets crashing around it, the IMF's mission should have been to restore investor confidence and macro-economic stability.

The Asia Director of Human Rights Watch has serious doubts about therecently appointed attorney-general, MA Rachman, considering his trackrecord. She believes that he obstructed completion of the cases about humanrights abuses.

Seth Mydans – Just at the start of his ill-starred presidency, Abdurrahman Wahid slipped out of his official palace and made a secret pilgrimage to the tomb of a Muslim holy man who preached here in central Java 400 years ago.

Reuters in Jakarta – A leading international rights group yesterday accused Indonesia's security forces and Aceh rebels of violating human rights with impunity in an increasingly bloody conflict in the province.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Banned from Jakarta's streets in the late 80s because they were considered inhumane and backward, becaks – or pedicabs – have become the centre of a fierce struggle between the city authorities and the drivers who demand the right to earn an honest living.

Joe Leahy, Dili – Something resembling a commercial bustle has returned to Dili, East Timor's capital. Beaten-up taxis cruise streets frequented by illegal money-changers. Stores here and there have re-opened. New cafes serve Australian steak sandwiches and cappuccinos to thousands of foreigners working for the United Nations and other organisations.

Terry Friel, Lhokseumawe – Rebels in Indonesia's battered Aceh province said on Sunday they could not work with new nationalist President Megawati Sukarnoputri and demanded foreign intervention to help end the bloodshed.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Fitri, Jakarta – "Being a becak driver is easy. I just have to use my muscles," said Yatim.

Abdul Razak Ahmad – Only one road leads to the house of Pramoedya Ananta Toer and I am not on it. Lost instead in a maze of back lanes in the Javanese village of Desa Waringin Jaya, I am driving around in circles trying to find the house of the man generally regarded as the greatest living writer in Indonesia.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – Apocalyptic predictions are rife in East Timor as the territory approaches political freedom after centuries of Portuguese colonial rule and a quarter century of Indonesian military repression.

[The following is the state-of-the-nation address delivered by President Megawati Soekarnoputri before the House of Representatives on August 16, 2001 ahead of Independence Day.]

Robert Go, Jakarta – Less than four weeks after she became Indonesia's leader, Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri presided over an emotional Independence Day ceremony in front of what was the Dutch colonial governor's palace.

Jakarta – With an unstable security situation and well-entrenched separatist movements, Indonesia has become fertile soil for international terrorist groups to sow seeds of violence, experts warned.

Lely Djuhari, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri, a staunch nationalist, said yesterday she respected East Timor's right to secede from Indonesia, and apologised for atrocities in Aceh and Irian Jaya.It was the first time that Ms Megawati, who opposed East Timor's independence, has publicly acknowledged its right to self-determination.

Authorities in Indonesia's Aceh province have unearthed a grave containing the bodies of 48 people, a spokesman said yesterday. Lieutenant-Colonel Firdaus said the mass grave was found near Lhong village, in the west of Aceh, a province on the northern tip of Sumatra.

Banda Aceh – At least 30 bombs or grenade blasts were heard around the main city in the restive province of Aceh in the run-up to Indonesia's Independence Day Friday, residents said.

The blasts cut power to the provincial capital Banda Aceh for some hours Thursday night and badly damaged four banks, an AFP reporter saw. One was burnt to the ground.

Mark Riley, New York – The Prime Minister has asked to meet with the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, as the UN comes under pressure to accelerate its withdrawal from East Timor and leave an even greater bill to Australia and its regional partners.

Rodney Joyce, Aiwo, Nauru – South Pacific island nation leaders on Friday backed Indonesian plans for autonomy in Irian Jaya rather than the independence Melanesian separatists are seeking for the restive province.