Jakarta – Students in many cities continued rallying for reform yesterday, with most demanding a fresh presidential election through a special session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and the trial of former president Soeharto for alleged abuses of power.

Louise Williams – In the early hours of yesterday morning a deal was done – the last deal for President Soeharto.

His old ally, Mr Harmoko – the longest-serving Information Minister in Mr Soeharto's New Order Government, who helped manipulate and restrain the media to hide the realities of the President's rule – reappeared as executioner.

Indonesian soldiers entered the Parliament building Friday and ordered student protesters who have occupied the building for several days to leave.

After dark, dozens of military trucks arrived loaded with soldiers, who leapt out and started beating the students with sticks. The students had taken over Parliament to press their demands for political reform.

Jakarta – After pledging that his forces would protect ex-President Suharto and his family, powerful military chief Gen. Wiranto Friday rejected calls for an investigation into the former leader's wealth.

Since Suharto resigned Thursday, student protesters and other opponents have called for an inquiry into the fortune amassed by the Suharto clan during his 32-year rule.

David Storey, Washington, May 21 Reuters - The United States went through the final motions of an ungainly diplomatic dance as Indonesia's President Suharto, one of its old guard of allies from the Cold War days, slid reluctantly from power.

World leaders have welcomed the resignation of Indonesian President Suharto, and have urged for a peaceful continuation of political and economic reforms.

Bernard Estrade, Jakarta – The Suharto family is one of the richest in the world worth up to $ US40 billion ($ A64 billion) according to some estimates.

That is similar to the figure that the International Monetary Fund and other countries pledged to help save the ruined Indonesian economy.

Following is an unofficial translation of Indonesian President Suharto's resignation speech.

My fellow countrymen. I have been following closely the recent developments in the national situation, especially the aspirations of the people for reforms in all aspects of the nation's life.

Hundreds of thousands of Indonesians marched against President Suharto across the nation Wednesday, while political leaders jockeyed for his ouster and the military took control of Jakarta.

On May 15, emergency pickets were held in many Australian cities to demand that the government cut all ties with the Suharto dictatorship and the Indonesian military, and to show solidarity with the Indonesian democracy movement. The protests were organised by Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET).

[The following statement is being circulated by Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) for endorsement.]

Harold Crouch, Canberra – President Suharto's three-decade rule seems about to end, but the succession is still far from clear.

John Hamilton, Jakarta - Jakarta is a city of fear ringed by steel as Indonesia hovers on the brink of rebellion and anarchy.

Yesterday I drove through the tense central city area where office buildings were locked and stores shuttered and barred.

Jakarta – Thousands of students and other demonstrators occupied the state Radio Republik Indonesia station at Semarang in Central Java and forced their demands to be broadcast, a report said yesterday.

An announcer read out the five demands on Friday and the broadcast was repeated an hour later, the official Antara news agency said.

Jim Della-Giacoma, Jakarta – Indonesia said Saturday almost 500 people had died in the devastating riots which swept its capital this week as President Suharto moved to restore his shaken authority over the battered nation.

Armed forces commander in chief General Wiranto has confirmed that the six students who were killed during protests at Trisakti University, Grogol, Jakarta, had been hit by live bullets aimed from above.

Habibie's position fell to him as a result of intra-elite manoeuvreing. It was hardly a victory for people's power. Consequently, his cabinet is by no means revolutionary or even strongly reformist in policy terms. It remains a New Order creation. None of the most prominent among the opposition figures of recent months are included in it.

The names of some fifty members of the People's Council set up in Jakarta yesterday have been announced. The Council is known by its Indonesian acronym MAR which stands for Majelis Amanat Rakyat.

Members of the Council had their first meeting at a cafe in Jakarta yesterday and agreed to put forward three immediate demands:

Richard Read, Tangerang – Shoe factory worker Dominguez Pirida strained Wednesday to comprehend workplace improvements pledged by Nike Chairman Phil Knight, a man whom he'd vaguely heard of half a world away. Better air quality inside plants sounded good. Improved independent monitoring of Nike's contract factories seemed fine.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – Rioting spread to new areas of Jakarta last night after Indonesian special forces troops, dropped by helicopter, sealed a major toll road to the airport, which had earlier been cut off by students protesting at the death of six of their colleagues.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – From the top of a pedestrian overpass that straddles the chaos raging across the 12-lane highway in central Jakarta, there is a clear view to a kill.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – A third political activist has confirmed the existence of an interrogation centre near Jakarta, where torture allegedly is being used against kidnapped opponents of the Soeharto regime.

The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) has received information from reliable sources that an East Timorese man, Costodio da Silva Nunes, was extra-judicially executed by Indonesian security personnel on 7 May, 1998.

The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) has received further information in relation to Sabino Barbosa Ximenes who was detained in Dili on 11 September, 1997, by members of SGI (Special Intelligence Unit).

Mark Landler, Jakarta, Indonesia – Security forces killed at least four students and injured more than 20 others when they opened fire on a demonstration that had spilled from a college campus onto a major highway here.

Raphael Pura, Jakarta – As Indonesia teeters on the edge of economic disaster, most eyes are on President Suharto, its stubborn, aging leader. But the brunt of the burden of saving Indonesia's economy rests on the shoulders of another man: Ginandjar Kartasasmita, an ardent nationalist and born-again reformer.

Jakarta – There are strong indications that the Kopassus, under the command of Major General (Army) Prabowo Subianto (now Lieut. Gen. and Commander of Army Reserve - Ed), is responsible for the abduction of activists. The intensive operation to kidnap activists began during the time of the General Assembly session in March l998.

David Watts, Solo – The absent President Suharto of Indonesia suffered a double political blow yesterday when an important Muslim leader and a group of retired generals came out against his continuation in office.

A prominent Muslim leader in Indonesia, also seen as the emerging leader of a People's Power movement against President Suharto, today, called for the right of self-determination of the East Timorese people to be respected. He also admitted that Indonesia's rule of the troubled territory is a severe drain on Jakarta's coffers.

Jay Solomon and I Made Sentana, Medan – All is quiet again in Indonesia's third-largest city – much too quiet.

After last week's rioting and looting left scores of people injured and caused massive property damage, residents are suddenly coping with a new problem: life without ethnic Chinese.

Keith B. Richburg, Jakarta – Indonesia's economic hardship worsening, social unrest spreading and anti-government protests showing no sign of abating, the key question on almost everyone's mind here is: What will the military do?

Award-winning Toronto Star foreign correspondent Paul Watson, who was arrested by Indonesian police after taking pictures of a riot in Medan, was deported to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, yesterday. Watson, The Star's Asian bureau chief, filed this story before being flown out of the country.

Jakarta – Scores of students were injured in clashes in central Java yesterday as campus demonstrations continued across Indonesia.

The trouble came despite the military's pledge to speed reforms and its call for the protests to end.

David E. Sanger, Washington – The United States today gave Indonesia $1 billion in loan guarantees, free of any conditions concerning human rights abuses surrounding the protests against President Suharto's rule. Almost simultaneously the Pentagon, citing the unrest, canceled a joint training exercise with the Indonesian military.

Alan Wheatley, London – Leading industrial nations bluntly told Indonesian President Suharto on Saturday they expected him to enact sweeping political reforms to head off social unrest triggered by the country's economic crisis.

Jakarta – As many as 80,000 villagers face starvation because of raging wildfires that have destroyed a vast forest area in the East Kalimantan province.

The newspaper Bisnis Indonesia reported Saturday that Juwono Sudarsono, minister for environment, said he will visit the region next Wednesday as part of the government's efforts to address the threat.

Andrew Marshall. jakarta – Church leaders representing more than 10 million Indonesian Protestants have added their voice to the growing chorus of demands for reform of the country's political system and pledged support for student protesters.

Jim Mannion, Washington – The United States called off a military training exercise with Indonesia and is reviewing all other scheduled joint military activities because of concern over political unrest there, a Pentagon spokesman said Friday.

Geoffrey Barker – Australia moved to distance itself from Indonesia's rulers yesterday as a prominent Australian expert warned that continuing economic and ethnic crisis could turn Indonesians towards ruthless, demagogic leadership.

Jakarta – Indonesian financial markets were edgy on Friday on renewed student protests and on continued unrest and looting in cities in north Sumatra.

Students ignored a call from the Indonesia's powerful military chief to halt their protests and staged a mock trial of President Suharto in Jakarta on Friday, condemned him to death and burned him in effigy.

Defiant Indonesian students called for the execution of President Suharto Friday as police and soldiers cracked down on the escalating nationwide protests with baton charges and hails of rubber bullets.

The wave of student actions across the country on Thursday led to a number of clashes with the security forces. There were casualties on both sides; the number of student injured was higher than on previous days, many caused by truncheons, rubber bullets, stone throwing and beatings.

Jakarta – Thousands of workers across Indonesians went on strike demanding wage increase after hikes in fuel, electricity and staple food prices, reports said on Thursday. About 4,000 workrs staged a rally in front of two ceramics factories in the greater Jakarta area town of Tangerang, demanding higher improved benefits and more transparent hiring policies.

Margot Cohen with John McBeth, Jakarta – The offer was on the table: silence or death. A petrified Pius Lustrilanang did not hesitate. He promised to keep his mouth shut about his two months in captivity in a detention centre outside Jakarta, and his kidnappers rewarded him with a plane ticket home to south Sumatra.

Medan – Rioting spread to nearby towns yesterday as parts of the North Sumatran capital remained tense.

East Medan's Tebung commercial area was littered with glass and debris yesterday evening after scores of shops had earlier been looted and set on fire by hundreds of rioters.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – Indonesian police shot and wounded at least two people during riots in Medan yesterday, as the North Sumatran capital was hit by a third consecutive day of mob violence sparked by steep increases in fuel and transport prices.

Jakarta – Former cabinet minister Siswono Yudohusodo stressed the necessity of immediate political and economic reforms yesterday, indicating that a cabinet reshuffIe may be needed to help defuse the national crisis.

The influential Association of Indonesia Muslim Intellectuals. ICMI, has called for sweeping political reforms in the wake of escalating violent protests, reports said Thursday.

President Suharto's latest reform proposals were "vague, too litte and too late", the ICMI statement saidm in a statement called for a cabinet reshuffle.

By Robyn Dixon in Melbourne and Jennifer Hewett in Washington

The IMF's managing director, Mr Michel Camdessus, has expressed "deep concern" over the rioting in Indonesia, but said the real cause of unrest was not price rises, but the deeper economic management problems which had led to the crisis in the first place.

Ian MacKenzie, Jakarta – Riots in the North Sumatran capital of Medan shook Indonesia for a third consecutive day on Wednesday, with local reporters saying at least six people were killed in blazing buildings or by gunfire from security forces.