Singapore – The United States said on Friday it had warned Indonesia "at the highest levels" that a failure by Jakarta to cooperate in solving the murder of two American teachers would seriously affect bilateral ties.

An Indonesian group linked to the al-Qaeda network held a high-level meeting last month in Indonesia, possibly to identify new terrorist targets, The Australian newspaper reported.

James Politi, Washington – The US on Friday raised the political pressure on Indonesia, urging the Pacific nation to allow independent monitors into Aceh, the restive island province where Jakarta recently launched a massive military crackdown on separatists.

New York, May 29 – The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by a recent series of sniper attacks in which unknown gunmen have targeted journalists in Aceh, a conflict-riven province on the northwestern tip of the Indonesian archipelago.

David Fogarty, Singapore – Deputy US Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz called on Indonesia on Friday to ensure transparency in its military offensive in Aceh province and said independent monitoring should be allowed.

Jakarta – Chief of the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) Gen Endriartono Sutarto said human rights group the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) should look into itself following the assault and vandalism by a youth organization.

Banda Aceh – Indonesia's military reported increased rebel casualties in Aceh province yesterday but admitted that troops were having a tough time confronting highly mobile guerillas who blended into the population.

Lhokseumawe – Fatimah stopped a car carrying several journalists and begged them to load her belongings into the car. "Please take my stuff to the Meunasah [mosque]; I will follow you by bicycle," pleaded a trembling Fatimah.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Despite several shortcomings, the government said on Wednesday the ongoing military operation to crush the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in the province had been nothing but a success and was moving faster then expected.

Dean Yates, Banda Aceh – Their allegations of Indonesian military brutality cannot be verified, but the pain etched on their faces is real. So are the tears, the quivering voices and the vacant stares.

Phar Kim Beng, Hong Kong – Aceh, like East Timor, has seen its share of separatist problems for the greater part of the past 30 years. Located in northern Sumatra, gas-and-oil-rich Aceh has also become the scene of one of the most neglected conflicts in Southeast Asia, certainly less conspicuous than the running battles between Manila and Mindanao.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Two key suspects in the Bali bombings testified yesterday that Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir is the head of Jemaah Islamiah, the al-Qaeda linked terror organisation blamed for the attacks.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Public bus drivers are forced to pay, on average, up to Rp 40,000 for legal and illegal fees each day, a factor that has caused their services and safety to worsen, a survey reveals.

Arya Abhiseka, Jakarta – A noted abortion expert said on Wednesday the high number of maternal deaths from unsafe abortions was partly the fault of the media, which has failed to educate the public about the issue.

Haidir Anwar Tanjung, Pekanbaru – With the beginning of the dry season, an increasing number of forest fires have been detected in Riau and Kalimantan, raising a thick haze that could disrupt air transportation in the region and neighboring countries, Malaysia and Singapore.

Jakarta – Flora & Fauna International (FFI) and the Team for the Conservation of Sumatran Tigers (TPHS) have received reports on the unchecked poaching of Sumatran elephants and other protected species in Kerinci Seblat National Park (TNKS) in Jambi.

London – Indonesia failed to take decisive action to end human rights violations last year, Amnesty International said Wednesday. The London-based rights watchdog, in its report on 2002, said the country showed "little progress" in its attempts to tackle impunity in human rights cases.

Nick Everett – On May 21, I was arrested for attending a protest in Jakarta. Australian Books not Bombs convener Kylie Moon, South Korean student activist Yung-Chan Choi and South African anti-war activist Lydia Cairncross were also arrested.

Phar Kim Beng, Hong Kong – As the international spotlight focuses its glare upon the Bali bombing trial in Jakarta and renewed separatist violence in Aceh, it is all too easy to assume that Indonesia is a hotbed of radical Islam. But this is to ignore the bigger picture, and the distinctive features of Islam as it is practiced in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta/Manado – Regionalism is the latest, unintended consequence of the much-debated national education bill, which has already divided the nation along religious lines.

Thousands of Muslims from the Islamic Solidarity Forum (FUI) held a rally in Yogyakarta on Tuesday to demand the House of Representatives endorse the bill as it is.

Ten days ago Indonesia launched a full-scale military invasion into the northern province of Aceh, just hours after talks broke down between the government and the Free Aceh movement. Aceh has now been subjected to aerial bombing and 30,000 to 40,000 Indonesian troops are on the ground. Accounts of civilian executions and other atrocities are now being widely reported.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – A court case in which a bodyguard of East Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri is said to have kicked a Chinese-Malaysian businessman, calling him a monkey, is being closely watched by foreign investors.

London – A weak judicial system in newly independent East Timor undermined human rights there last year, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

The London-based rights watchdog, in its report on 2002, said the new country inherited an incomplete institutional and legal framework which could not fully protect human rights.

Chris Brummitt, Lawang – By the time the military arrived at dawn, most men had already fled this isolated village in Indonesia's Aceh province. More than 70 soldiers herded the few that remained, along with the women, into a prayer house.

But what happened next was in dispute Wednesday as the military continued its offensive against separatists in Aceh.

Banda Aceh – Police in Aceh have named 43 persons linked with separatist movement as suspects for treason.

"Their case will soon be handed over to the prosecutor"s office,' Aceh regional police chief Inspector General Bachrumsyah Kasman said here on Tuesday. He said he would suggest their sentence would be directly implemented soon after it was given.

Jakarta – Papuan tribal leaders and students from Greater Jakarta urged the government on Tuesday to revoke forest concessions given to dozens of companies that have failed to preserve the environment. They argued that a lack of government control has caused illegal logging and forest fires to increase in the country's easternmost province.

International and local human rights activists condemned an attack on an Indonesian watchdog group over its opposition to the military offensive in Aceh.

As the do-gooders move on, carpetbaggers and corrupt locals are left to count the loot. Eric Ellis discovers that most East Timorese are wondering what went wrong a year after independence.

New York – Indonesian police failed to stop two organized attacks on Kontras, a prominent Jakarta-based rights group, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch called for a full investigation into the attacks, which appeared directed at the group because of its work in the embattled province of Aceh.

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – About 100 members of a nationalist youth organization attacked on Tuesday the office of a local human rights watchdog, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) here and assaulted five staff members for being critical of war in Aceh.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Three residents of Kuyawage village in the Papua regency of Wamena have reportedly starved to death after fleeing their homes to avoid a sweep by the Army for those responsible for last month's raid on the arsenal of the Wamena military compound. The identities of the three people were not immediately available.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – As part of the government's campaign to end separatism in Aceh, the state has begun prosecuting 18 alleged members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) for treason and terrorism.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – It was almost midnight in Tokyo when Indonesia's chief negotiator, Wiryono Sastrohandoyo, waited inside a holding room at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) office for Free Aceh Movement (GAM) leaders to reply to the third draft of the joint statement to salvage peace in the province.

Tiarma Siboro, Lhokseumawe – The Indonesian Military (TNI) will sue the Koran Tempo daily newspaper for allegedly publishing incorrect reports over the killing of 10 civilians during a raid in the first week of a major military operation to rout separatist rebels.

James Balowski, Jakarta – Following the breakdown of last-ditch talks in Tokyo between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Jakarta on May 19 launched a "security restoration operation" in Aceh – an all-out military offensive to crush GAM and "resolve" the question of Aceh once and for all.

Cokro Hamid, Jakarta – As Indonesian troops launched a full-scale military offensive in Aceh, there have been protests in other parts of Indonesia, especially Jakarta.

Protest and solidarity actions have been organised by the Solidarity Movement with the People of Aceh (SEGERA) and the Ungu Institute, a women's cultural centre.

Dean Yates, Banda Aceh – Indonesia has told foreign aid workers to leave troubled Aceh for security reasons and says Jakarta wants to take over all humanitarian assistance in the province.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Compared to Papua province's population of 2.1 million, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS cases in the province has reached an alarming level with a total of 1,263 people with HIV, including 539 who have contracted the fatal disease.

Kurniawan Hari and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – A number of legislators on Monday regretted most reports on Aceh by both domestic and international media, and demanded the government to find a mechanism to control media reporting in the troubled province.

Kathy Marks, Banda Aceh – The group of men drinking coffee at a roadside stall sprang out of their chairs as the convoy of trucks and buses passed by in a cloud of dust. They had seen little traffic on the main highway through Indonesia's Aceh province since martial law was declared a week ago.

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – A human rights activist criticized on Monday the arrest of Aceh students and rights activists during the first week of a major military campaign against rebels in Aceh, warning it could worsen human rights violations by the military and the police.

Matthew Moore, Banda Aceh – Indonesian soldiers in armoured personnel carriers have begun escorting truck convoys in war-torn Aceh in an attempt to break a blockade by separatists that has cut supplies of food, medicine and other goods to the province's 4.2 million people.

John Aglionby, Banda, Aceh – After only a week of its offensive against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which military commanders promised would end in the separatists' elimination, Indonesia yesterday conceded it would never defeat the rebel army.

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandar Lampung – With no protection from the government, farmers in Lampung are having a difficult time surviving a time of economic hardship. Over the last few years, thousands of farmers have cut down their coffee plants to grow rice because of falling coffee prices both at home and abroad.

Jakarta – Dozens of members of Pemuda Panca Marga (PPM), a youth organization which is supervised by the Indonesian Military (TNI) staged on Monday a rally in front of the office of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) on Jl. Cisadane, Central Jakarta.

Luhur Hertanto, Jakarta – The People's Democratic Party has responded cynically to the plans to prohibit non-government organisations from entering Aceh because this obviously shows that the government does not want to be control by parties outside of the armed forces (TNI).

The United Nations Serious Crimes Unit has indicted General Wiranto, the former governor of East Timor, Abilio Soares and six other senior military officers, for murder and persecution in the lead-up to East Timor's independence in 1999. But with the Indonesian Government unlikely to hand any of the men over for trial, will justice ever be done?

The UN Special Crimes Unit in East Timor has charged former militia commander, Joao Tavares, and four Indonesian TNI, or military, officers for atrocities in the territory before and after a UN sponsored vote for independence from Indonesia in August 1999. They are among 32 people, including 15 TNI soldiers, accused of murder, torture, persecution and other crimes.

A series of explosions rocked the district town of Lhokseumawe in North Aceh, as the death toll continued its climb at the end of the first week of a massive government operation to crush separatist rebels in the province.

Chris Brummitt, Banda Aceh – Indonesia moved heavy artillery into rebel areas of Aceh on Monday, stepping up its offensive against the region's poorly armed separatists.

The Free Aceh Movement said it wasn't intimidated and vowed to keep up its fight for independence in the tiny province. Rebels promised to increase hit-and-run attacks on vehicles plying the main roadways.