Two soldiers and three separatist rebels have been killed in Indonesia's Aceh province, the military and police said.

Jakarta – Three Indonesian army officers have been detained as suspects in the murder of Papuan separatist leader Theys Hiyo Eluay, the military police chief said Tuesday.

"Three officers of the Indonesian armed forces, all of whom are members of the Tribuana Task Force, have been detained in connection with the death of Theys Eluay," Major General A.B. Sulaiman told AFP.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) rejects an UNTAET (United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor) proposal that East Timorese public buses be allowed to pass through Indonesian territory to ply return routes between Dili and Oecusse, the East Timorese shelter in the Indonesian provinceof East Nusa Tenggara, an officer said on Monday.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – The more than 140,000 East Timorese refugees living in West Timor can not return home till March 20 at the earliest due to transportation problems.

Sydney – Foreign Minister Alexander Downer dismissed a claim Monday that Australia had been less than friendly towards East Timor, arguing it had been generous over sharing oil revenues from the Timor Gap.

Hamish McDonald, Maliana – For Isobelle de Araujo it was a bittersweet day. In the early morning she had walked in her best dress to Mass, then joined thousands of other Maliana townsfolk at the public gymnasium to vote in her new country's first presidential elections.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Over 120 labor activists from around the country warned on Sunday against pursuing trade liberalization and the privatization of state-owned enterprises, arguing that such moves would only inflict more suffering on Indonesian workers.

Dili – The government buildings around it are gutted, but surviving intact as a minor miracle in the center of Dili is a billboard urging the locals to speak good Indonesian, the language of East Timors most recent colonial master.

Dili – Almost anywhere else there would be unalloyed delight in an 86-per cent turn-out for a presidential election.

But this is East Timor, the world's soon-to-be newest nation, and Sunday's poll has pundits reflecting deeply on why 14 voters in every 100 either stayed at home or spoiled their ballot papers.

Jakarta – Indonesia's currency and stock market were higher in early trading Monday after the Paris Club's agreement to reschedule 5.4 billion dollars in government debt.

Prangtip Daorueng, Jakarta – The arrival of an Islamic militia group in Indonesia's restive province of West Papua is sowing fear among residents about sectarian conflict like that seen in other provinces before – and community leaders want its members out sooner than later.

Priandono, Jakarta - About 40 million Indonesian people go hungry, according to Bishow B. Parajuli, Deputy Country Director of the United Nation World Food Program.

He went on to explain that the 40 million people account for 17 percent of the Indonesian population.

Jakarta – A coalition of environmental groups here urged the government to withdraw licenses given to mining companies that plan to operate in around one-fifth of the country's protected forests and conservation areas.

Jakarta – In a bid to protect their business interests, underground gambling kingpins are pressing for legal casinos to be built in the capital here instead of on a northern island chain.

About 250 fierce-looking protesters from Metro Watch, an organisation allegedly backed by powerful underworld figures, besieged Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso's residence on Saturday.

Jill Jolliffe – Guerrilla hero Jose "Xanana" Gusmao is expected to win a sweeping victory today in a poll for East Timor's first elected head of state, despite an organised attempt to reduce his vote.

Hamish McDonald – A tropical cyclone has been hovering close to East Timor, dumping frequent rain on a mountainous island still in wet-season green and leaving officials wondering if the depression will move onshore just in time to disrupt tomorrow's presidential election.

Hamish McDonald, Dili – A last-minute dispute has blown up over the treaty that will unlock oil and gas resources worth billions of dollars in the seabed between Australia and East Timor, and the new nation's likely prime minister has accused Canberra of mistrust and an "unfriendly act".

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Tomorrow, East Timor votes for its first president, taking its final steps towards independence.

It is a process that many in the Indonesian elite would probably rather forget but, of course, cannot.

Jill Jolliffe – It could have been a Meet the Press show anywhere in the world – two presidential candidates on stage in elegant suits fielding questions before an audience of politicians, media and diplomats. They debated domestic and foreign policy, with press assessors watching closely

[East Timor approaches the last formal step in its long hard road to democracy and independence – on Sunday the people go to the polls to elect a president. Xanana Gusmao, who led East Timor's struggle against Indonesian rule, first as a jungle fighter and then from prison, is the overwhelming favourite in a two-man presidential contest.]

Transcript:

Jakarta – The government plans to establish an agency to tackle issues concerning the country's migrant workers, Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea said.

R.K. Nugroho and Sri Wahyuni, Jayapura/Yogyakarta – Separatist leaders have rejected the presence of the Java-based Laskar Jihad militant group in the troubled province of Papua, which they said had sparked disquiet among local people.

Lela E. Madjiah, Banda Aceh – The Indonesian Military (TNI) seems to be succeeding in its efforts to crush the armed separatist movement in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, with reports of an increasing number of armed separatists being killed and arrested, as well as a rise in the number of separatists surrendering.

Jakarta – Almost two-thirds of Indonesian households who answered a nationwide survey reported falling victim to corruption by public officials, according to a report issued Friday.

Traffic police ere considered the most corrupt body, followed by the customs department and the judiciary, said the report from the Partnership for Governance Reform.

Paris – Indonesia's foreign government creditors on Friday said they had agreed to re-schedule a portion of the country's external debt service obligations.

Dan Murphy, Jakarta – An investigator has uncovered new evidence in the murder of a Dutch journalist in East Timor in 1999 that bolsters the case against an Indonesian Army unit accused of murdering 12 people as it pulled out of the former Indonesian territory.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) seems to be trying to use the on-going ad hoc human rights trial to wash its hands of gross human rights violations in East Timor, blaming the United Nations and civilian authorities for the bloody terror campaign in the territory in 1999.

Banda Aceh – Seven more people have been found dead over the past three days in Indonesia's rebellious Aceh province, aid workers and residents said Friday.

Jakarta – The highest-ranking Indonesian officer implicated in a wave of violence that swept East Timor in 1999 defended its former police chief on Thursday, telling a court he had saved the lives of thousands of UN personnel.

Annastashya Emmanuelle, Jakarta – Although the government has constantly vowed to eradicate graft and corruption, the level of budget malfeasance remains high as action is rarely taken by the relevant government institutions to follow up on reports of irregularities released by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).

Agus Maryono, Purwokerto – Thousands of fishermen from Central Java canceled their plan to storm Jakarta on Wednesday in protest over the newly decreed fishing taxes, after Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Rohimin Dahuri heeded some of their demands.

Jakarta – A group of pro-democracy activists voiced concern over the ongoing amendment process of the 1945 Constitution on Wednesday, calling on the Assembly to soon form an independent constitutional commission to avoid a possible constitutional crisis, reports said.

Jakarta – Two men claiming to be members of the Aceh separatist rebel movement entered the Finnish Embassy here yesterday and requested political asylum, saying they feared for their lives.

The pair met Ambassador Matti Pullinen before leaving the office voluntarily through a rear entrance.

East Timor's two presidential candidates publicly embraced each other Thursday in Dili, appealing to voters to cast ballots in Sunday's election, the last political milestone before the territory gains independence on May 20.

In calling for a heavy turnout, both Xanana Gusmao, the wide favorite, and rival Xavier do Amaral said more united than divided them.

Indonesia's powerful former military chief, General Wiranto, has published a book giving his version of East Timor's bloody 1999 breakaway, as he campaigns to clear himself of responsibility for the orgy of killing and destruction.

Jakarta – Former Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. (ret) Wiranto on Wednesday evening launched a book on East Timor, titled Selamat Jalan Timtim, Pergulatan Menguak Kebenaran, Penuturan Apa Adanya Seorang Wiranto (Good Bye East Timor, Struggle to Uncover the Truth, the Revelation of Wiranto).

Jakarta – A request for political asylum by two civilian members of the Aceh separatist movement has been turned down by both the Finnish government and the United Nations refugee agency, an Indonesian minister said Thursday.

"The asylum request has been rejected because they did not qualify for it," top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters.

Robert Go, Jakarta – A lack of investment in Indonesia's power sector has forced the government to schedule regular blackouts in more than 30 regions across the country.

Leo Wahyudi S, Jakarta – Temporarily employed doctors are winning more support for their plight, with the National Commission on Human Rights charging that the mandatory service required of new medical graduates by the government is a form of rights abuse.

Padang – The Padang administration in West Sumatra has been criticized for appointing around 100 allegedly unqualified teachers as civil servants in public schools.

Sumber, West Java – At least 6000 students in the West Java city of Cirebon have been forced to drop out of elementary schools since January due to financial problems and individual values, local officials said on Tuesday.

Jakarta – The Indonesian capital has been hit by floods again due to clogged drainage channels.

Residents in southern Jakarta complained that their homes were deluged due to the poor condition of drainage channels following the major floods that hit the city in January and February.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – Being accused of espousing "public lies" has apparently offended Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Witnesses at the murder trial of Tommy Suharto have retracted their previous statements. Withdrawals by three of them have raised suspicions that they are being intimidated with the aim of securing the defendant's release.

Jakarta – Thousands of people in Indonesia's West Nusa Tenggara province staged a rally on Wednesday to protest Israel's sweeping military offensive in Palestine.

Jon Land – Two-and-a half years after East Timor's referendum on independence, the effect of the Indonesian military and militia's post-ballot destructive rampage are painfully apparent. Burnt out shells of buildings stand dotted around the suburbs of Dili, which remains a place, for most, of daily hardship and poverty.

Yogyakarta – The provincial police named on Tuesday two other policemen as suspects in the death of Aan Yulianto who died in the hospital after having been "interrogated" in relation to a brawl early this month.

Spokesman for the Yogyakarta police office Adj. Sr. Comr. Sudarsono said the new suspects are Joko Taruno and Adhofir.

Jakarta – Two members of the Infantry Battalion 141/Aneka Yudha Jayaperkasa under the Sriwijaya Military Command were killed in a rebel ambush in the restive Blang Mangat district ofNorth Aceh on Tuesday morning, according to news reports.

Banda Aceh – At least six people, including two soldiers and two separatist guerrillas, have been killed in violence in Indonesia's Aceh province, military and rebel spokesmen said Wednesday.

UN transition administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello went to East Timor's border with Indonesia Wednesday to welcome a group of returning refugees, marking the repatriation of 200,000 people.