Jakarta – The Association of Labor Exporting Companies (Apjati) and 18 labor unions signed on Friday an unprecedented memorandum of understanding (MOU) to provide protection and improve the bargaining position of Indonesian workers overseas.

Vaudine England, Jayapura – A protest in the Irian Jayan port city of Sorong yesterday left six people dead, highlighting the spread of problems from the tortured Maluku Islands as thousands flee the communal conflict.

At least 4,000 people have perished in the Malukus, also known as the Spice Islands, as a result of fighting between Christians and Muslims.

Jakarta – Two men attempting to hoist a separatist flag in Irian Jaya were shot dead by Indonesian police yesterday, hospital staff said.

The two men were killed during a raid on residents who had raised the "Morning Star" rebel flag in the coastal city of Sorong, hospital worker Ari Dimara said in a telephone interview.

Banda Aceh – Authorities in the strongly Muslim Indonesian province of Aceh have officially agreed to move towards the imposition of the Islamic Syariah law there, a local MP said Saturday.

Jakarta – Almost 20.1-million ha, or about half the 40-million ha of forests in Indonesia, have been damaged by fires and farming, Forestry and Plantations Minister Nur Mahmudi Ismail has said.

Jakarta – People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais has given President Abdurrahman Wahid up to three months after the August session to beef up the performance of his administration.

Lisbon – East Timorese youth rejected the foreign military base. It is one point of declaration of East Timorese Youth Congress that was held from July 10 to 15 in Dili, the capital of East Timor. They rejected a military base in East Timor because they are concerned on its negative impact, such as unstable situation in Southeast Asia and an acculturation with western culture.

Mark Dodd in Suai and David Lague in Bangkok – A price has been put on the heads of Australian and New Zealand peacekeepers in East Timor, with the ears of the young Kiwi soldier killed on Monday cut off as a bounty trophy, senior military sources said yesterday.

Marianne Kearney, Pekanbaru – Indonesian police, forestry employees and plantation companies are failing to fight the fires which have been burning on dozens of plantations over the last two weeks in the central Sumatran province of Riau.

Aulia Andri/FM & AH, Medan – The Indonesian Forum For the Environment (WALHI) is scornful of a plan from PT Inti Indorayon Utama (IIU) pulp and paper factory to give 1% of its production costs to the residents living in the factory's vicinity.

Susan Sim and Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid is taking a leaf from former President Suharto's manual for regime maintenance and cementing his iron grip on the Nation Awakening Party (PKB), the fourth-biggest winner in last year's election.

Chris McCall, Jakarta – Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Jakarta yesterday to demand a speedy trial for former president Suharto as the Government finished a corruption probe and prepared for prosecution.

Muchus Budi Rahayu/BI, Surakarta – Four hundreds supporters of Muslim Youth Front (FPI-S), from Surakarta, Central Java, staged a protest, Friday, to demand the abolishment of National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the Jakarta Chief of Police to step down.

Jakarta – One overriding theme, namely the bringing of former president Soeharto to justice, marked the fourth anniversary of the July 27 violent takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters nationwide on Thursday.

Yogyakarta – First Lady Sinta Nuriyah Abdurrahman Wahid bemoaned on Thursday the continuing violence against women, saying that no religion condones oppression or duress against women.

Jakarta – The government's announcement that it is ready to file corruption charges against former president Soeharto was greeted on Thursday with skepticism, with most observers saying that the indictment was not tough enough.

Jakarta – Office buildings of the former ruling party Golkar in the capital city and in a number of Java's major cities were guarded yesterday, as hundreds of protesters of anti-New Order government of former president Soeharto turned, attacking the Jakarta office of Soeharto's former political machine.

Vaudine England in Jayapura – About 200 Indonesian transmigrants took shelter under the Papuan independence flag in Jayapura this week, following the failure of the central Government to care for them.

Jakarta – Just hours after the UN Security Council called on Jakarta to crack down on anti-independence gangs conducting raids in East Timor, an Indonesian court Wednesday threw out criminal charges against a prominent militia leader.

Jakarta – More than 30 companies are under investigation for their alleged roles in the recent forest fires in Riau, a provincial administration official said on Wednesday.

Jakarta – Coal mining company PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) might lose some of its customers following the closure of its coal mine in the Sanggata regency, East Kalimantan, a company executive said on Wednesday.

Jakarta – The United States could seize Indonesian assets if Jakarta fails to settle a US$290-million claim by the US government's Overseas Private Investment Corp (OPIC), US Ambassador Robert Gelbard said.

R Maslan/SWA & AH, Jakarta – Today, exactly four years after the attack on the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) office, hundreds of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) demonstrators occupied Jl. Diponegoro, burning incense and Golkar Flags in commemoration the 27 July incident. Former militia leader, Eurico Guterres, was seen at this "commemoration ceremony".

Rizal Maslan/BS & AH, Jakarta – A march to commemorate the brutal occupation of Megawati's political offices (the Indonesian Democratic Party, PDI) on 27 July 1996, has been organized by People's Democratic Party (PRD) on Thursday. The march will start from the Salemba Campus of Universitas Indonesia to Jl. Diponegoro, where the PDI office stood at that time.

Chaidir Anwar Tanjung/BI & LM, Pekanbaru – A public transport strike in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province, northwest Sumatra, has clogged main roads and left passengers stranded.

Vanja Tanaja, Dili – On July 19, an Indonesian investigation team arrived here to interview witnesses to the worst atrocities that took place from April to September last year.

Jon Land – As East Timor moves towards full independence under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), the obligations and conduct of the UN, international aid organisations and foreign governments continue to come under scrutiny.

Pip Hinman – As two of its warships docked in the east Javanese port of Surabaya on July 20, the administration of US President Bill Clinton made official its re-establishment of military ties with Indonesia, after a temporary suspension during last year's carnage in East Timor.

Slobodan Lekic, Asem Bagus – Dozens of elderly villagers wearing checkered sarongs wait patiently on cots while a US Navy corpsman prepares them for eye surgery. Nearby, US Marines and Indonesian servicemen, their uniforms drenched with sweat, help each other refurbish a dilapidated school.

The killing and mutilation of a New Zealand peacekeeper in East Timor threatens further damage to Australia's fragile ties with Indonesia after the Howard Government yesterday demanded that Jakarta stop militia raids from West Timor.

D.S Buana/SWA & LM, Jakarta – The appearance of a "confidential" document outlining a plot to topple President Abdurrahman Wahid has met denials all round from those allegedly involved in its production.

Mark Riley, New York – The United Nations had begun closed-door discussions with key diplomats to bring forward the withdrawal of peacekeepers from East Timor before the death of a New Zealand soldier in a gun battle on Monday.

I Triono/ SWA & LM, Jakarta – Fabianus Tibo (55), leader of the "Red" group as well as the alleged mastermind of massacres which claimed hundreds of lives in Poso, Central Sulawesi, has been arrested. In his confession, Tibo admits killing 40 people and to receiving assistance from the security forces.

Bangkok – Asean foreign ministers yesterday backed Indonesia against its rebellious provinces of Aceh and Irian Jaya, saying that the country's unity was crucial to regional peace.

Jakarta – Environmentalists on Wednesday slammed the Indonesian government for its failure to stop illegal logging at a national park in central Borneo, which has shrunk the local endangered orangutan population.

At least one protester was killed, more than 100 were injured and 57 were arrested when Indonesian security forces attacked an 800-strong protest in South Sumatra on July 20. The detainees were beaten in jail.

Jakarta – A trial witness has implicated Indonesia's defence ministry in a forgery ring which churned out 2.1 million dollars worth of fake local currency notes, a report said Wednesday.

James Balowski – Four years ago on July 27, television images of the Indonesian military bashing and kicking helpless protesters exposed the world to the brutality of the Suharto dictatorship. The Australian government's and the Jakarta lobby's carefully cultivated image of the regime was shattered.

BK & LH/BI & LM, Jakarta – Hundreds of students gathered together in the Indonesian Youth Struggle Front (FPPI) have staged protests today in Yogyakarta and Jakarta against the Golkar party.

Pip Hinman – A group of unions has demanded President Abdurrahman Wahid disallow a new labour rights bill, which was unanimously passed by the House of Representatives on July 10 but needs the president's approval to become law.

Max Lane – On July 20, huge banners, which dwarfed the activists who daringly scaled the walls of Indonesia's parliament building in Jakarta to hang them, announced the demands of the People's Democratic Party (PRD).

A Andri/FW & LM, Jakarta – For the umpteenth time, hundreds of representatives of the Batak Toba tribe went to the North Sumatra Provincial Legislative Council demanding the closure of PT. Indorayon Utama Wednesday.

Mark Riley, New York – A United Nations Security Council member has rejected claims by the Indonesian President, Mr Abdurrahman Wahid, that the council is pressing for a peacekeeping mission to the Maluku islands.

Jakarta – Indonesia's parliament has approved income tax cuts that halve the burden on low income earners, as well as a radical new amendment that will provide regional administrations with 20 percent of income tax receipts, reports said Tuesday.

Dharmastuti/SWA & LM, Jakarta – The thick palls of smoke choking North Sumatra and Riau Provinces has compelled the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations to announce that it plans to sanction as many as 12 business people.

Jakarta – An Indonesian mob rounded up three men and beat them to death after accusing one of them of murdering his wife with black magic. Kompas newspaper reported that the woman died earlier this month in Kedungsari village on the island of Sumatra.

Tangerang – Thousands of members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) burned and destroyed 82 kiosks on the Tahang riverbank in Salembaran Jati village of Kosambi district here on Monday, accusing the owners of running vice activities on their premises.

Banda Aceh – The government has allocated Rp 1.4 trillion (US$155 million) to finance the implementation of the Joint Understanding on Humanitarian Pause in Aceh, Acting Governor Ramli Ridwan said on Monday. "The fund would be disbursed in August," Ramli said.

Mark Dodd, Dili – An Indonesian judicial team in East Timor to investigate violence by Jakarta's military and its local allies last year faced a hostile reception at the weekend.

East Timor – The United Nations High Commission for Refugees announced Friday that it has withdrawn its personnel from the Betun refugee camp in Indonesian West Timor. UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told media in Geneva that the decision followed violent incidents carried out by armed militias opposed to the repatriation of East Timorese refugees.