Jakarta – The quiet surroundings of Jakarta Hospital on Jl. Sudirman suddenly turned into a war zone on Wednesday midnight when some 50 frustrated military officers ran amok searching for suspected militant students hiding on the premises.

Prangtip Daorueng, Seoul, Oct 22 (IPS) – Unable to cope with soaring food costs, many women workers in Indonesia are giving up work to breast feed their babies, cutting back on their own meals – or skipping altogether.

Jakarta – Violence across Indonesia subsided Friday after popular opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri was sworn in as vice president and the world's newest and third largest democracy took shape.

Yang Razali Kassim, Jakarta – It was clearly not something which Indonesians have seen before. The tension and high drama began last Thursday when then President BJ Habibie presented his account of his leadership – the so-called "accountability speech".

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Megawati Sukarnoputri's victory in yesterday's vice-presidential race illustrated both the risks of upsetting her supporters any further and the continuing strength of an Islamic alliance inside the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

Dili – East Timorese independence leader Xanana Gusmao returned to a tumultuous and emotional welcome in his devastated homeland Friday, and told his people: "We are independent now and forever."

Darwin – East Timor resistance leaders plan to use the Portuguese escudo as their currency for at least the territory's transitional period under UN administration.

Raphael Pura, Jakarta – Megawati Sukarnoputri's election as Indonesian vice president is likely to defuse an angry backlash against her defeat in Wednesday's presidential vote. But it could also make President Abdurrahman Wahid's new government more unwieldy.

Jakarta – Indonesian cities were hit by riots and protests Wednesday after the national assembly elected Muslim leader Abdurrahman Wahid as president, enraging followers of his popular rival Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Joanna Jolly, Jakarta – The mood was excited and boisterous inside the assembly hall as legislators were called forward to cast their votes.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Suai – Scores of 7.62mm shell casings litter Father Francisco's bedroom floor. At least 60 bullet holes pockmark the bamboo-scaffolded facade of Ave Maria Cathedral. A thick coating of dried blood stretches across the entrance to a church schoolroom. A pile of underwear sits at the foot of a staircase.

Jakarta – Anti-riot troops fired tear gas Wednesday at thousands of angry supporters of Megawati Sukarnoputri who were marching on parliament after she lost the presidential election,

Megawati Sukarnoputri has lost the Indonesian presidential ballot to Abdurrahman Wahid, a revered and moderate Islam leader. The Indonesian Assembly backed Wahid over Sukarnoputri, the popular daughter of Indonesia's founding president, Sukarno.

[Colonel Haseman retired from the US Army in 1995, after 16 years of experience in defense liaison work – 13 in Indonesia and three in Burma. During this time, which included five years as US defense attachi to Indonesia, Colonel Haseman naturally became one of the premier US experts on the Indonesian military.

Jakarta – Indonesia's national assembly early on Wednesday ratified the results of East Timor's independence vote, clearing the way for the territory's freedom from the country that invaded it in 1975.

David Jenkins – Defence Minister General Wiranto, once portrayed as a possible kingmaker in Indonesian politics, appears to be an increasingly isolated figure, a man who may soon be out of a job and defending himself against charges that he oversaw his army's carefully laid plans to turn East Timor into a wasteland after the August 30 referendum.

David Boey – International relief teams sent to help displaced East Timor residents in the town of Suai have learned of alleged atrocities committed by roving gangs of militiamen working with Indonesian Army troops.

One incident was said to have involved the slaughter of about 200 Suai residents, who had sought refuge in the Church of Fatimah on Sept 6.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – The eastern island of Flores is the new front line in the battle over East Timor and between civilians and Indonesia's military, after the arrival there of thousands of troops withdrawn from East Timor, say residents and Jakarta-based analysts.

New York – US athletic apparel company Reebok on Monday released a report showing lax health and security conditions at two Indonesian factories producing its brand of athletic shoes.

Jakarta – Thousands of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) supporters staged simultaneous protests in major cities on Java on Sunday, encouraging Megawati Soekarnoputri to continue her struggle for presidency.

Lenore Taylor – A photo album of the past 30 years of Australian/Indonesian relations would contain some memorable snaps. Look closely and a lot of them would show the same faces. Here's Prime Minister Keating and President Soeharto in the Presidential Palace, beaming as their foreign ministers, Gareth Evans and Ali Alatas, sign a security treaty in 1995.

Jakarta – Supporters of opposition presidential hopeful Megawati Sukarnoputri returned to the streets on Saturday to press the national assembly to pick her as the new head of state.

Jakarta – Respected Indonesian academic Nurcholis Majid, considered by many as a dark horse presidential candidate, is recieving growing support from the country's Muslim parties to compete with the three declared nominees, a party official said Saturday.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – A growing sense of unreality has taken root in Indonesia's presidential contest in the wake of President Bacharuddin Habibie's speech.

Dili – Peacekeepers battled with anti-independence attackers on East Timor for more than an hour Saturday, killing three of the militiamen and wounding three others, peacekeeping officials said.

Suai – Indonesian soldiers and pro-Jakarta militia slaughtered as many as 200 people in a church compound in this town in southwestern East Timor in September, an eyewitness claimed Saturday.

Jakarta – A policeman and at least two, and up to nine, civilians were killed in renewed sectarian clashes in Ambon, the capital of the troubled eastern Indonesian province of Maluku, police and a report said Saturday.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesian police and armed forces last night fired tear gas and rubber bullets in clashes with thousands of people protesting against President B.J. Habibie after a speech defending his 16-month rule failed to appease opposition parties.

Agencies in Jakarta – President Bacharuddin Habibie's election bid appeared to falter yesterday as demonstrators launched another day of violent protest and opposition lawmakers condemned a speech that defended his troubled 16-month tenure.

Did ASIS (Australian Secret Intelligence Service) supply the bullets that killed the Balibo five? Brian Woodley investigates.

Leafing through the old man's passport with the Indonesian visas and clangingly pertinent dates, it dawned on Matthew Coffey that he was at last looking at evidence supporting his father's tales of clandestine involvement in Timor.

Jakarta – The Indonesian military has issued a "full alert" security status in Jayapura, the capital of Indonesia's remote eastern Irian Jaya province, as it enters third day Saturday of massive protests over the government's decision to split the province in three.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia's opposition leader, Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri, has struck a secret deal to secure the presidency that would split the Golkar party of the floundering incumbent, Dr B.J. Habibie.

Jakarta – A court yesterday found the youngest son of former president Suharto innocent of two corruption charges involving a shady land deal after a six-month trial.

Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, 37, was the first member of Indonesia's former first family to be prosecuted for graft.

Dili – The head of the multinational force in East Timor, Major General Peter Cosgrove said Thursday that Indonesia had admitted its forces fired the first shots in a border clash last weekend.

Jakarta – Indonesian President B.J. Habibie came under scathing criticism at the national assembly Friday as his bid for a new mandate triggered a second day of violent protests in the capital.

Andrew Marshall, Dili – Hundreds of anti-independence militiamen are still active in East Timor and the border is not yet secure against more entering, the head of the UN-mandated multinational force said on Friday.

Dili – The United Nations said Wednesday it had uncovered no evidence to support allegations that pro-Jakarta militia engaged in mass murder in East Timor.

"We've heard horrendous stories for which so far there's not a shred of evidence," Michel Barton, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) in Dili told Reuters.

Jakarta – Thirty MPs from Indonesia's Aceh province Wednesday urged the nation's highest legislative body to give the troubled region a broad-based autonomy along the lines proposed for East Timor.

Pravit Rojanaphruk – Suharto may be gone but respect for human rights and freedom of speech is still a long way off in the country he ruled with an iron fist for 32 years. A shameful chapter in history near its end as East Timor inches toward independence.

Jakarta – Thousands of students and taxi drivers were in an uproar yesterday over the dropping of the Soeharto probe and later staged a rally demanding the government continue its probe into the case.

Jakarta – Hundreds of protestors Wednesday demonstrated at the Australian embassy here Wednesday, hurling abuse, tomatoes and stones at the premises over the perceived arrogance of Australian troops in East Timor.

Sydney – Australia has begun talks with East Timorese leaders over the Timor Gap treaty under which Australia and Indonesia share oil revenue from the Timor Sea, officials said Wednesday.

Joanna Jolly, Dili – By 9am the crowd outside the stadium in East Timor's capital Dili has already begun to swell in anticipation of the arrival of the day's first refugees being flown back from Indonesian West Timor.

Melbourne – Independent East Timor will be a western-style democracy with open institutions and a diversified economy driven by exports of coffee, oil, gas and tourism, the man likely to be its first leader has promised.

Andi Jatmiko, Liquica – Dozens of anti-independence militiamen who fled East Timor are secretly returning with plans to launch a guerrilla campaign against the international peacekeepers charged with keeping them out.

Jakarta – Some 2,000 supporters of Indonesian opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri swamped a major roundabout in central Jakarta on Wednesday to back her bid to become the country's fourth president.

The supporters were from different groups that began pouring into the roundabout from various directions around noon.

Jakarta – Indonesian Armed-Forces Commander General Wiranto accepted the nomination by President B.J. Habibie as his running mate for the October 20 presidential election, a local newspaper reported Thursday.

Five hundred members of TNI battalions who are East Timorese met last Wednesday to pledge their loyalty to the pro-integration struggle by joining the PPI, the Force to Struggle for Integration, in a ceremony attended by Udayana military commander, Major-General Adam Damiri.

"I naturally welcome your dedication," said Adam, "but not as members of the TNI."

Vaudine England, Jakarta and Switzerland – Two probes into allegations former president Suharto amassed ill-gotten wealth have been dropped due to lack of evidence, the Government said yesterday amid howls of protest.

Dili – Australia and Indonesia Monday traded accusations over a border clash between the multinational forces in East Timor and Indonesian troops, as Australia called for urgent top-level talks to defuse the row.