Antony Funnell – East Timor's Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, refused my interview request when he landed in Australia last Friday. We had just traveled from Dili on the same plane. His refusal came as little surprise. Even then, people in the East Timorese capital were bracing themselves for the possibility of street protests and violence.

Bill Guerin – In the past three years Japanese electronics giant Sony has shut down 16 plants across the globe and laid off thousands of its workers. Sony said last month it would stop making audio-visual products at its Indonesian subsidiary, PT Sony Electronics Indonesia, as part of its "overall, global restructuring effort".

Jakarta – Timber tycoon Mohammad "Bob" Hassan and Hutomo Mandala Putra, the son of former president Soeharto, received a one month cut in their jail terms as Idul Fitri from the state.

Jakarta – Two home-made bombs were detonated at a vacated behind a hotal in Ambon, Maluku, on Thursday night as Muslims in the area were preparing to celebrate Idul Fitri, the end of the Ramadhan fasting month. There were no fatalities as the area, near the Batumerah-Mardika bridge behind Hotel Wijaya II, happened to be empty at the time.

Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific is alarmed, but not surprised, at the violence that has erupted in East Timor in recent weeks. It is directly linked to the growing nation-wide frustration at continuing high unemployment, poverty and corruption in the Fretilin-led government.

David Shanks – Dr Dan Murphy is at his most passionate when describing the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder on the resilient people of East Timor.

Prime Minister John Howard's comments on November 29, December 1 and since then about the validity of Australia launching a pre-emptive strike against anyone from another country planning a terrorist strike on Australia have understandably angered many.

The explosion which killed three people at a McDonald's restaurant in the Indonesian city of Makassar was caused by a bomb, according to national police chief Da'i Bachtiar.

He told reporters a bomb was also the cause of a second explosion Thursday evening in the city in South Sulawesi province.

Dili – Foreigners fled East Timor as security forces fired warning shots in clashes with students yesterday, a day after two people were killed in riots that prompted angry mobs to loot shops and torch the prime minister's house.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – As residents of Dili swept up the debris yesterday, they wondered how things could have gone so wrong. The toll from the previous day's rioting was two students dead, more than 20 people injured, buildings and cars burnt out and a vicious attack on the Dili mosque.

Tim Dodd, Jakarta – UN administrator Sergio de Mello, who ran East Timor for 2 1/2 years until its independence in May this year, believes the country's 30-year history of violence is the main factor behind this week's riots.

The former Governor of East Timor, Mario Carrascalao, says the Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri must prove his claim that people with political aspirations are behind this week's violence in Dili.

[East Timor is quiet today after mob violence in the capital Dili, left at least two dead, scores injured, and key buildings burnt to the ground. The unrest began a few days ago with the arrest of a student at Dili University, and exploded after the killing of another student during protests outside UN police headquarters.

Dili – East Timor said on Friday that Indonesian-backed militiamen responsible for hundreds of deaths in 1999 were regrouping and may have been behind this week's violent rioting in the capital.

Rod McGuirk, Dili – The operator of a central Dili supermarket razed in riots this week vowed today never to do business in East Timor again.

The Hello Mister Supermarket has become an icon of the reconstructed city since it opened in March 2000.

The Indonesian military's (TNI) assault on armed elements of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) is bringing splits in the rebel movement to the fore, with one moderate leader accusing another leader of being a TNI agent.

Ibnu Mat Noor and Nani Farida, Kuala Simpang/Bireuen – Banda Aceh was largely deserted on Wednesday, with most public transport off the streets, as the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) celebrated its 26th independence anniversary.

Jakarta – The 26-year-old coordinator of the Coalition for West Aceh Students Movements (Kagempar) was found dead in the Senapit area in Lembah Seulawah subdistrict, Aceh Besar district on Tuesday, Antara reported.

Banda Aceh – A number of student activists and several family members identified on Wednesday a body found under Senapit Bridge in the city, as Musliadi, coordinator of the Coalition for West Aceh Students Movement (Kagempar).

Musliadi was kidnapped by unidentified men last week.

Devi Asmarani, Yogyakarta – The authorities in this cultural hub of Indonesia have declared war on militant Muslim groups whose presence in the city has given rise to a negative image of it being a "breeding ground for religious radicals".

Mark Egan, Washington – The International Monetary Fund on Thursday approved a $365 million loan payment to Indonesia under the nation's $4.8 billion loan and urged the nation to undertake further economic reforms.

John Martinkus – In a swamp in North Aceh usually home only to snakes, leeches, and the large biting iguanas the locals call Biawak, the Indonesian military has deployed roughly 3000 combat troops from five battalions backed up with armoured vehicles, three attack helicopters and light artillery.

Kathy Marks, Sydney – East Timor was placed undera virtual state of emergency yesterday, witha curfew in the capital, Dili, after student riots in which up to five people were killed and the Prime Minister's house was burnt down.

Jill Jolliffe (with Mark Forbes, agencies), Dili – East Timor's capital, Dili, was torn by riots yesterday in the worst violence since 1999, after police shot dead at least two student protesters.

The government last night imposed a state of emergency with a 7pm curfew after student rioters trashed the parliament building and torched hotels, shops and a mosque.

As many as five protesters were shot dead in the East Timor capital, Dili, yesterday when hundreds of students clashed with police near parliament, witnesses said.

United Nations peacekeepers surrounded the parliament as the crowd torched a supermarket and damaged other buildings. The witnesses said it was the police who had opened fire on the demonstrators.

The sectarian bloodshed in the Indonesian province of Central Sulawesi is the direct result of Jakarta's failure to punish violence when it broke out four years ago, Human Rights Watch said.

An estimated 1,000 people have died and more than 100,000 have been displaced since violence between Christians and Muslims erupted in the province's Poso region in December 1998.

Bireun – Separatists in Indonesia's Aceh province commemorated the 26th anniversary of their fight on Wednesday with at least one military flag-raising ceremony and vows to keep fighting Jakarta's rule.

We are of the view that Prime Minister Howard's statement that [Australia] will carry out pre-emptive strikes against terrorist threats in South-East Asia is clearly an arrogant statement from an imperialist country which wishes to show its fangs to the poor people of South-East Asia.

Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh – The commander of the military wing of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Sabang was arrested and then executed by Indonesian security authorities in Aceh on Monday, GAM claimed Tuesday.

Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh – Having lived for years in violence, Acehnese are demanding that representatives of Jakarta and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels support all attempts that could pave the way for peace during their meeting in Geneva on December 9.

Acehnese need peace the most, therefore the warring factions should focus on this, an activist said.

Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province celebrated the anniversary Wednesday of their 1976 declaration of independence, despite warnings from the central government and the armed forces.

On November 25, the trials of Australian-based, British-born academic Lesley McCulloch and US nurse Joy-Lee Sadler began in Aceh. They are being tried for visa violations, after the prosecution failed to make espionage charges stick. McCulloch is a leading expert on Aceh and has documented human rights abuses in the province by the Indonesian military (TNI).

[East Timor authorities have imposed a curfew and sent troops onto the streets of the capital Dili, following a day of rioting in which as many as five people have died. Several businesses, including the ANZ bank, were targetted, after a large crowd which was demanding the release of an arrested student went on the rampage.

Max Lane, Jakarta – Any analysis of Indonesian politics during the last year three years, especially since the downfall of President Abdurrahman Wahid, has to take account of the steady rise in the masses' alienation from the Indonesian political elite.

More than ever, Australia has a direct interest in the reform of Indonesia's corrupt, politicised legal system. With the arrests of the main suspects in the Bali bombings it is to this legal system that Australia will now look to mete out the appropriate punishment for a horrendous crime.

Hundreds of Amarek village residents in Cikupa district, Tangerang, ran amok on Monday afternoon and damaged the office of PT Bintang Abadi at Jl. Raya Serang km.18.

James Balowski – On November 27, an Indonesian court sentenced notorious militia chief Eurico Guterres to 10 years in prison for crimes committed during the violence in East Timor following the 1999 referendum for independence.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Rising wages, coupled with a hyperactive labour force, are turning off foreign investors, some of whom are packing up and abandoning the country.

To bring back investors, Jakarta needs to better control workers and the rate of pay hikes. Indonesia has simply gotten too expensive.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Observers have said the US-led war against terrorism had caused a setback in the promotion of human rights, which was demonstrated in the continuing impunity among security officers charged with atrocities in East Timor.

David Fickling, Darwin – Absurdity is a concept particularly popular with politicians treading on shaky moral ground. Invoke absurdity, and you immediately set yourself up on the side of reason, while ushering all right-thinking people to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you. Those you criticise are self-evidently in the wrong.

Indonesia's West Kalimantan province has lost an estimated 300,000 hectares to illegal logging over the past two years and will become a desert by 2040, reports said today.

Research recently compiled by the University of Tanjungpura, in West Kalimantan, shows that the province has lost 165,631 hectares of forest per year in 2000 and 2001, said The Jakarta Post.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – Shortly after dawn on April 7, 1999, independence, let alone justice, for the East Timorese seemed a distant dream in the fearful and empty streets of Liquica.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Human rights activists see no hope that the ad hoc human rights court will uphold justice and punish military and police officers for their alleged involvement in the 1999 East Timor violence.

Dili – East Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri has rejected President Xanana Gusmao's demand that he sack Interior Minister Rogirio Lobato, saying his cabinet is characterized by "solidarity and cohesion".

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – Thousands of people packed Dili Cathedral yesterday to hear Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo's reasons for quitting as head of the East Timorese church and leaving the territory.

The special service followed his unexpected announcement last week that Pope John Paul had accepted his resignation on grounds of physical and psychological ill health.

Andrew Trounson, Melbourne – Plans to market natural gas from the Greater Sunrise fields in the Timor Sea to markets in Australia are to be abandoned, with the partners in the project now expected to target offshore markets, potential customers say.

Jakarta – At least six people, including two soldiers and a member of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), were killed in the latest violence to hit Aceh, AFP reported.

Three civilians were shot dead by soldiers searching for members of GAM in Manyang Baroh, in the North Aceh district, early on Sunday, the local GAM spokesman Teungku Jamaica said.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Defying President Megawati's instructions, some 500 Papuans gathered outside the residence of former Papuan Presidium Council (PDP) chairman Theys Hiyo Eluay on Sunday to commemorate what they called the independence day of the country's easternmost province.

Jane Perlez, Denpasar – His fingers clasp a long brush and with the finest of strokes, Nyoman Kantor paints the figures of a Balinese myth onto eggshell. Luscious reds, greens and yellows sparkle on the egg, a memento popular with tourists who come to Mr. Kantor's outdoor studio and salesroom.

Robert Go, Jakarta – After the private bank that Ms Sri Astuti worked for folded in 1998, she sought a clerical job at other offices. When no suitable offer came after three months, the mother of two used most of her savings to open a warung, or foodstall, near her home.