Dili – East Timor's president in waiting, Xanana Gusmao, said Tuesday that amnesties must be considered for those who led the violence surrounding the territory's independence vote two years ago.

Jakarta – Thousands of activists of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) on Monday staged a rally at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)/House of Representatives (DPR), demanding the implementation of Syariah Islam (Islamic Law) as stipulated in the Jakarta Charter.

Jakarta – Authorities in a haze-shrouded Indonesian city will make artificial rain to wash away choking smoke from forest and ground fires, the state Antara news agency said Thursday,

Jakarta – An Indonesian court ordered mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia on Tuesday to improve its toxic waste management after it was found guilty of giving false information over a fatal accident at a mining site last year.

Jakarta – A coalition of watchdogs on legal affairs has lashed out at two court's decisions to dismiss cases against three Supreme Court justices who allegedly accepted bribes, arguing it was an insult to people's sense of law and justice.

Fretilin Party Secretary-General Mari Alkatiri has guaranteed there would be no radical behaviour on the part of his party as Fretilin were no longer a communist or socialist party.

Jakarta – Activists have urged the government to reform the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas-HAM), which they said was ineffective as it was dominated by a "conservative group". They claimed that the rights body had failed to carry out the mission laid out by the government, which founded it in 1993.

Jakarta – Following are the key points of Indonesia's agreement with the International Monetary Fund Monday. The agreement, known as a letter of intent, lays out a timetable for economic reforms which Indonesia must complete in return for loans under a $5 billion lending program. The fund has suspended lending since December due to failure to meet reform commitments.

Jakarta – Drastic restructuring measures introduced by the new leadership of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) to improve the agency's efficiency has left the agency mired in internal conflict, which analysts say could threaten its ambition to meet 2001 revenue target.

James Fox – Parliamentary elections will be held in East Timor on Thursday, two years from the day when the East Timorese turned out en masse to vote for their independence. It is expected that 400,000 East Timorese will take part in the coming election.

[Speaking for the first time, former Indonesian president B.J. Habibie tells David Jenkins how and why he made the fatal decision to leave control of East Timor in the hands of the military before the bloody referendum which secured the province's freedom.]

Lisbon – East Timor's UN administrator said in a newspaper interview Friday that a broad-based government will be named to govern the territory following next week's elections.

Mark Dodd, Dili – The East Timor independence leader Mr Xanana Gusmao has decided not to retire from politics to grow prize pumpkins for the Dili show. He ended months of speculation by announcing at the weekend that he would stand as president of the world's newest country.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – East Timor's leaders are planning an international campaign to pressure the Indonesian Government to allow Timorese children separated from their parents at the height of mayhem in East Timor to be reunited with their parents.

Bronwyn Curran, Baucau – In a good month Carlos Bovida makes 20 dollars selling sweet potatoes and bananas on a lonely road, winding through the sparse mountains of this half-island nation.

Banda Aceh – At least 11 more people have been killed in clashes between Indonesian troops and police and separatist rebels in Aceh province, police and residents said Monday.

Predicting his Fretilin party would win East Timor's first free elections by a landslide, Mari Alkatiri warned the territory's UN transition administration Monday his party could refuse to join a new interim government if UNTAET did not follow Fretilin's lead.

Jakarta – Clothes make the man, or the governor, in this case. Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso has proposed increasing his wardrobe allowance this year from 40 million rupiah (S$8,400) to 60 million rupiah.

David DeVoss – The East Timor branch of Portugal's Banco Nacional Ultramarino in Dili looks like a modern financial institution. It has a smiling receptionist, an unctuous guard and executives seated behind desks papered with documents. But don't bother asking for a Visa card, a letter of credit or interest on any money you might deposit.

Dili – It is easy to be optimistic about East Timor's future when you are sitting at the villa of its de facto king – UN diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dare Mulo – Some people wept. Others sang national songs they had rehearsed for days and stamped their bare feet in the dust. Rogerio Lobato this week brought the revolution to Dare Mulo, a village high in East Timor's mountains, 100 kilometres south of Dili.

Jakarta – Indonesia's intelligence chief has confirmed US government warnings that American interests in the country face possible terrorist attacks.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Indonesian police have said they will question an entertainer for allegedly inciting hatred against the state by defaming government and national symbols.

Jakarta – The military is losing patience with peace efforts in Indonesia's Aceh province and should be allowed to crack down on separatist rebels, a top general said yesterday.

Mark Dodd, Dili – East Timor's Cabinet member for foreign affairs, Mr Jose Ramos Horta, has blasted the United Nations mission in Dili for obstructing the implementation of Portuguese as the country's official language.

Jakarta – Indonesian newspapers yesterday rapped Jakarta city councillors for going on 'foreign junkets' at a time of economic crisis. Activists agreed that the current visits to Japan and China by 17 councillors, as well as earlier overseas trips, were a waste of taxpayers' money and could amount to corruption.

Jakarta – Nearly 300,000 people were displaced by communal and sectarian conflict in various parts of Indonesia between January and August, further straining government resources, officials said on Thursday.

Jakarta – Head of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) Goenawan Ibrahim warned on Thursday that the haze problem in Kalimantan might worsen as forest fires could easily be sparked by the protracted dry season in the region.

Jakarta – Rights group Amnesty International urged Indonesia's new President Megawati Sukarnoputri on Friday to bring policemen and soldiers to book for grave human rights violations.

Dili – A US-based election monitoring group said Friday it was satisfied with conditions for East Timor's first free elections next week, but expressed concern over cases of voter intimidation.

Some East Timorese political forces have set up security-style partisan groups in preparation for next week4s elections but have not generated any problems, UN administration officials said Friday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's crude oil output is expected to fall by an average 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) next year due to security disruptions in its fields, a senior mines and energy ministry official said on Friday.

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.