Jakarta – Influential security minister General Wiranto on Monday denied allegations of a systematic effort by militias to prevent East Timorese refugees in West Timor from returning to their homeland.

Jakarta – Indonesia has captured provocateurs, some of them formerly with the military, who were trying to stir up trouble in rebellious Aceh province, senior minister and former armed forces chief General Wiranto said on Monday.

Geneva – Conditions in refugee camps in West Timor are deteriorating, with provincial authorities reporting that at least 35 people, mostly children, died in one camp over a 10-day period, the UN refugee agency said at the weekend. Thirty-two of the victims were children under five.

Jakarta – The militia have been haunting the East Timorese refugees currently residing in camps in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). Militia are still emotionally charged over not succeeding in their "mission" and have been terrorising and threatening the refugees...

The bodies began to wash ashore about a week after Indonesia invaded East Timor 24 years ago.

"I buried one man over there on the beach," said Joao Pereira, 56, who was a waiter at the seafront hotel Turismo when Indonesian troops landed on December 7, 1975.

Jakarta – The Indonesian banking sector recorded a combined operating loss of 52.094 trillion rupiah (7.1 billion dollars) in the 10 months to October compared to a loss of 177.02 trillion rupiah for calendar 1998, Finance Minister Bambang Sudibyo said.

Raj Rajendran, Singapore – Indonesia will seal its next letter of intent with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in time to meet its budgetary obligations, Indonesia's chief economics minister Kwik Kian Gie said on Monday.

Edhi Pranasidhi, Jakarta – Indonesia's senior economic minister Kwik Kian Gie said the government plans to sell majority stakes in state-owned PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (TLK) and PT Indonesia Satellite Corp. (IIT) next year, a plan that surprised and impressed the market.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid, recently back from China, has injected new insecurity into his cabinet by saying he hardly knows some of them and suggesting some should resign.

Tim Dodd, Banda Aceh – Only months after Indonesia's ignominious exit from East Timor, the die is already cast in Aceh, the next rebellious province to demand independence from the Jakarta central Government.

Marianne Kearney, Banda Aceh – Wiry, 45-year-old Ainsyah Basyah is not the most typical victim of the Indonesian military's nine-year campaign to wipe out the Free Aceh separatist movement, which marked its 23rd anniversary on December 4.

Jakarta – Israel has quietly invested 200 million dollars in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-populated nation, via foreign companies, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has said.

"Israel does not extend the capital directly but through a third party, a Dutch or US company," he told members of his newly inaugurated National Economic Council Saturday.

Margot Cohen, Jakarta – It was a stirring reformasi passion play. On the night of November 29, six of former President Suharto's top generals – once untouchables – faced the hot glare of TV lights and fended off scorching questions from legislators about the military's human-rights record in rebellious Aceh province.

Jakarta – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said he would ask three ministers suspected of involvement in corruption to resign or face trial, reports said Sunday. "As soon as I get the information from Marzuki [Darusman], the attorney general, I will summon them [and ask them]: 'Will you resign or not?

Derwin Pereira, Pidie – Indonesia's generals are once again losing sleep over the country's westernmost province. Their concern: that Aceh is headed for East Timor-style separatism.

The signs are ominous. Up to a million people took to the streets in the capital Banda Aceh last month to call for a referendum on independence.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) rejected on Friday accusations that it was behind a plan to methodically undermine the "axis force".

Senior PDI Perjuangan executive Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno said the accusations were intentionally made by a "third party" in attempt to damage relations between PDI Perjuangan and the axis force.

Jakarta – Senior executives of the Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI) are shrugging off predictions of the organization's demise despite the descent of its chief patron, B.J. Habibie, from the presidency.

Andrew Kilvert, Timika – Tensions remained high in this isolated mining town on the Irian Jaya south coast yesterday, a day after Indonesian troops opened fire on unarmed pro-independence protesters, injuring 55 people.

The protesters yesterday re-established their burnt tent embassy in the Catholic church grounds where the shooting took place.

Pandrah Kandeh, Indonesia – Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province held peaceful flag-raising ceremonies Saturday in their jungle bases to mark their 23rd anniverary, which was marred only by an incident which left seven injured.

Jakarta – Bank Indonesia's deputy governor Ahjar Iljas said on Friday that Texmaco was among 20 exporting companies which received a preshipment rediscount facility from the central bank through state commercial banks in November 1997.

Keith Richburg, Jakarta – Juwono Sudarsono, a soft-spoken academic who has become Indonesia's new civilian defense minister, has acknowledged in an interview that the process of getting the army out of politics will be a gradual one and that the extent of his control over the military is not yet clear.

John Aglionby, Takengon – The last thing Suprianto heard before he passed out was his wife shrieking as she burned to death, locked inside their home by five masked gunmen. "It was horrible, her screams will live with me for ever," said the coffee farmer from Takengon. Mr Suprianto could do nothing to help; the attackers had sprayed bullets into his feet.

Jayapura – A day after dozens of people were injured in a clash between police and demonstrators, hundreds of protesters demanding independence for Irian Jaya rallied Friday at the site of the violence.

Agencies in Jakarta and Banda Aceh – Troops in Aceh will shoot on sight anyone found lowering the national flag tomorrow, the 23rd anniversary of the region's separatist movement, the province's military chief was quoted as saying yesterday.

Banda Aceh – A leading rights activist warned Friday that including the option of independence in any referendum on the future of the volatile province of Aceh was non-negotiable.

Ted Bardacke, Jakarta – Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday formed an economic advisory council chaired by Emil Salim, a cabinet minister under former President Suharto.

Calls for independence for Aceh are growing by the day, raising fears of a dismemberment of the republic. Part I of a two-part special report looks at forces propelling the demands for self-rule in the province

The horror stays locked in Ms Norlailah's mind. Her eyes are dark-ringed holes in a pinched and exhausted face, bearing years of pain and hate against Indonesia.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Jakarta's political elite are starting to wonder who is running Indonesia.

Amid growing criticism that Mr Abdurrahman Wahid has spent too much time overseas since being elected president on October 20, the former armed forces chief, General Wiranto, has emerged as the country's strongman.

Beijing – On the eve of expected demonstrations for independence in Indonesia's restive Aceh province, Indonesian President Adurrahman Wahid vowed Friday to use "repressive force" to keep the country from splitting apart.

Dili – A five member UN mission Friday wound up nine days of investigation into allegations of atrocities in East Timor but it declined to say whether an international tribunal to try those responsible would be necessary.

Mark Dodd, Dili – As East Timor struggles to rebuild, a United Nations decision to introduce the Portuguese escudo into the fragile economy has caused mass confusion among an impoverished population now faced with a choice of four currencies, none of them freely convertible.

Jakarta – Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) Spokesman Major General Sudrajat has confirmed former vice president Try Sutrisno's controversial statement that Aceh province was never classified as a Military Operation Zone (DOM).

Jakarta – A government-sanctioned inquiry said on Wednesday that the Indonesian Military (TNI) was directly or indirectly involved in extra-judicial executions in the ravaged territory of East Timor after the August 30 self-determination ballot.

Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid said on Tuesday that he would order next week the release of 18 East Timorese political prisoners still in Indonesian jails.

He made the pledge at a meeting with East Timor independence leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, who received a red carpet welcome befitting a head of state, at Merdeka Palace.

Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor's People's Inquiry into Australian governments' "special relationship" with Indonesia and complicity in the East Timor genocide is attracting a lot of interest in several cities.

Dili – The number of East Timorese refugees returning from Indonesia has dropped despite Indonesian promises to help speed up their passage, the UN refugee said on Wednesday.

"We are very shocked," said Ariane Quentier of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). "If you look at the figures, they have even got worse."

Associated Press in Jayapura – Dozens were injured on Thursday when Indonesian security forces at a remote mining town fired on about 2,000 demonstrators who demanded independence for Irian Jaya province in West New Guinea, human rights activists said.

They said the shootings took place when troops tried to lower a rebel flag flying outside a church.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Activists in Aceh have called off anti-Jakarta protests planned for Saturday because they fear Indonesia's armed forces will use flag-raising rallies as an excuse for a brutal crackdown.

Pip Hinman – Following a fact-finding tour to East Timor, Indonesia's National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) has announced it will subpoena senior Indonesian generals, including General Wiranto, minister-coordinator for political and security affairs, to explain their involvement in the violence and human rights abuses in East Timor since January.

Max Lane – A formal administration of East Timor by the United Nations was established on November 27 when the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) issued its first regulation.

Karen Fredericks, Brisbane – The spokesperson for the Brisbane East Timorese community has hit out at the refusal by federal immigration minister Philip Ruddock to grant the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) access to refugees in safe haven facilities.

Amy Chew, Banda Aceh – The group which mobilised last month's huge pro-independence rally in the restive province of Aceh warned it would hold a referendum on ending Indonesian rule if Jakarta refuses one of its own.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos Horta has returned to East Timor after almost 24 years in exile. He writes of the task of rebuilding a nation.

I left East Timor on December 4, 1975, three days before the Indonesian invasion. A private plane took me from Dili to Darwin. I have been abroad ever since, representing the cause of East Timorese independence.

Jakarta – Hundreds of thousands of pro-independence supporters Wednesday joined peaceful demonstrations across Irian Jaya on the anniversary of the separatist movement as activists defied military warnings and hoisted their flag.

Dili – Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos Horta Wednesday returned to East Timor after 24 years in exile to a rousing welcome honoring his tireless efforts to end Indonesia's occupation of his homeland.

Lindsay Murdoch – A pro-Jakarta militia leader has told investigators he helped murder an Indonesian journalist, two priests, two nuns and three other people in East Timor on the orders of a general in Jakarta.

Jakarta – Military and civilian leaders, several allegedly behind large-scale human rights abuses in Aceh over the past decade, have defended their policies before parliamentary deputies, saying that tough measures were needed to maintain law and order.

Astrid Amalia, Jakarta – A top army official in Indonesia's troubled Aceh said on Wednesday that separatists were in control of the province amid intense pressure from the military for martial law.

"The situation in Aceh now is not safe as the rebels have already taken control of Aceh," Colonel Syafnil Armen told Reuters by telephone.

Jakarta – Around 75 percent of Indonesia's forthcoming state budget would be earmarked to repay domestic and foreign debts, an economic observer said.

Paul Daley, Canberra – Indonesia's former President Dr B.J. Habibie feared his armed forces commander-in-chief would stage a military coup in October, raising fears among senior Australian diplomats and defence analysts of a possible war with Indonesia.