Jakarta – A choking and dangerous haze that has been blanketing the Indonesian city of Pontianak in the early morning has caused delays in flight arrivals and departures, officials said yesterday.

An airport official at the city in West Kalimantan, said one landing was delayed yesterday and about six flights were delayed over the weekend.

Dili – UN Police officials today announced they have seized two trucks loaded with sandalwood apparently destined for sale outside East Timor.

Officials would not disclose where the sandalwood originated but said there has been a recent upsurge in cases of this type. A number of people are being questioned in relation to the incident.

East Timor's parliament approved a draft bill Tuesday on maritime borders, paving the way for the ratification of the potentially lucrative Timor Sea oil and gas treaty, signed in May by Dili and Canberra during the new nation's independence celebrations.

The European Union is to give humanitarian aid worth nearly euros 2 million to East Timorese refugees still living in camps in Indonesian West Timor, it was announced Tuesday in Brussels.

The assistance includes food aid for the severely malnourished and supplementary feeding for nearly 10,000 children and 1,700 pregnant or breast feeding women.

East Timor's minister of health has said that his country has all the conditions necessary for the outbreak of an Aids epidemic and urgent measure are needed to prevent this.

Rui Araujo, currently attending a world conference on HIV/AIDS in Barcelona, said that Timor possessed "all the ingredients" needed for a serious epidemic.

Banda Aceh – At least two civilians and two suspected guerillas were killed in the latest violence to hit Aceh, residents and the military said yesterday.

But in Jakarta, the authorities and parliament have not yet reached the conclusion that a state of emergency is needed in Aceh.

Jakarta – As the government continued to secure more support for its plan to intensify military operations in Aceh, experts warned that an increased military presence in Aceh would not solve problems but would only create state-sanctioned violence against innocent civilians there.

Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights has launched an investigation into last year's massacre of 31 residents in Langsa, Aceh, Antara reported on Saturday.

B.N. Marbun, a member of the commission, said the team arrived in Langsa on Thursday and will return to Jakarta on Monday.

Jakarta – Traditional food supplements for children are selling well in Indonesia's capital city with parents convinced of their benefits despite many containing ingredients not suitable for children's consumption.

Catharine Munro – To walk into the world of Yunus Makasau is to enter a wonderland of exotic creatures stolen from across the – vast and sprawling Indonesian archipelago.

Mr Makasau is engaged in the risky work of confiscating endangered animals from Indonesia's rich and powerful and returning them to the wilderness.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – The city administration have turned a deaf ear to the warnings of experts that future floods could be worse if they fail to maintain or even expand the number of green areas in the city.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Cities around Indonesia are increasingly drowning under a sea of rubbish as local governments struggle to cope with the mountains of garbage produced every day.

But in Yogyakarta, residents have found an unusual way of processing their city's rubbish by using mobile and natural recyclers – cows.

Bernie K. Moestafa, Jakarta – With a United Nations fact-finding mission yet to set foot on Indonesian soil, legal experts said it would likely find here a judiciary far from being independent, and hostage to money and politics.

Patricia Nunan, Bangkok – Indonesia's Supreme Court has overturned a controversial bankruptcy ruling against the Jakarta branch of a Canadian insurance company. The case against Manulife-Indonesia had raised serious questions about the independence of Indonesia's judiciary and alarmed foreign investors.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Around 300 foreign vessels believed to be from Thailand are looting fish stocks in North Sumatran waters and robbing local fishermen of their livelihoods, according to Governor T. Rizal Nurdin.

Jakarta – Indonesian police questioned the local franchise holder of fast-food chain McDonald's for seven hours on Monday over a suspected graft scandal involving millions of dollars.

Dili – Amnesty should not be offered to those responsible for crimes against humanity during the violence that surrounded East Timor's 1999 bid for independence, said Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo of Dili.

Jakarta – At least 1,800 hot spots have emerged in fire-prone areas of Sumatra and Kalimantan this year with the dry weather, satellite images revealed.

Reporter: Ross Coulthart

Producer: In collaboration with Max Stahl of Gillan Films

Nana Rukmana, Cirebon – Thousands of sugarcane growers and workers at sugar plants in Cirebon, West Java, rallied on Friday to demand the government reduce sugar imports blamed for the steep fall in sugar prices.

The Indonesian government has asked parliament to approve "emergency" funds of more than 111 million dollars to help the military and police operate in areas of conflict like Aceh.

The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) yesterday transferred six trainer aircraft to its Indonesian counterpart, and will deliver another 13 more by the end of the year, Singapore's Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

Aceh separatist rebels slammed a statement by an Indonesian minister branding them terrorists as an "irresponsible and desperate" attempt to discredit the movement.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Nationalist politicians back a proposed civil emergency and a likely tougher military action in conflict-ridden Aceh, but legislators from the province oppose such an approach as a means to wipe out separatist rebels.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The hard line taken by the government will dash any hope for a peaceful solution to end the decades-long strife in Aceh, official and activists alike said.

Manila – The authorities in the Philippines said yesterday that they had received reliable reports that an Indonesian detained since March was involved in deadly bomb blasts in Manila and Jakarta.

Justice Under-Secretary Jose Calida said the reports, relayed by undisclosed international contacts, implicated Agus Dwikarna, a suspected Islamic militant, in the two bombings.

Jill Jolliffe, Maubisse – Like most country folk in East Timor, the 18,000 people of the Maubisse district are enthusiastic about independence, but worried about their future. The enormous challenges of survival they face are tougher than those facing their city counterparts.

Jakarta/Kupang – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Friday that 1,500 East Timorese children, placed in orphanages across Indonesia in 1999, had not yet been reunited with their parents in newly independent East Timor.

Rendi A. Witular and Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – The increasing number of incidents of labor unrest here has not only affected the flow of foreign direct investment but has also hit the country's export sector, Minister of Industry and Trade Rini MS Soewandi warned.

Robert Go, Jakarta – The Indonesian government will dig out 900 billion rupiah from its cash-strapped coffers to counter El Nino-induced droughts that could devastate this year's harvests and spark haze-forming fires.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Workers from dozens of hospitals in the capital organized a media conference on Thursday to protest their employers' move to halt their plan to establish workers' unions as an instrument for promoting their aspirations and welfare.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Maj. Gen. Achmad Yahya has a daunting task ahead him in safeguarding Jakarta when he takes up his new post as military commander in the capital city on Thursday.

Jakarta has witnessed a fragile peace over the past few months, although there have been a number of small explosions.

Jakarta – Indonesian air force officials have revealed that more than half their front-line aircraft have been grounded and a third of their radar stations are inoperable due to a lack of funding, days after the navy made similar admissions.

Thousands of endangered birds from Maluku and Papua provinces are caught and transported by the Indonesian military for sale at illegal markets, animal activists and officials allege.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri is riding roughshod over her party and sidelining many of her allies as she veers towards the military and the corruption-tainted Golkar party in order to shore up her position ahead of the 2004 presidential elections.

Amy Chew, Jakarta – Indonesia's once mighty military – which saw its powers reduced by democratic reforms following the ousting of former President Suharto – is expected to regain lost ground under its new armed forces chief General Endriartono Sutarto.

Debbie A. Lubis, Jakarta – Indonesia is edging closer to a HIV/AIDS crisis of epidemic proportion as infection rates of the deadly HIV virus increase rapidly, especially among injecting drug users.

An HIV/AIDS study group said more than 30 people in Indonesia are infected with HIV/AIDS every month, especially through shared needles.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – A bloody battle between security forces and rebels in Aceh looks imminent as the Indonesian government yesterday announced plans to declare a state of emergency to crack down on "terrorists" in the strife-torn province.

Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province have released 18 civilians they abducted late last month, a source involved in arranging the release said.

"They were released yesterday afternoon," the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP Friday, adding they are in good condition.

Banda Aceh – Apparently niggled by the continuing violence in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province, the government sent a strong signal on Thursday that the military operation in the restive province could be intensified.

Apriadi Gunawan, Jakarta – Approximately 20 percent of the forest in Mount Leuser National Park in North Sumatra had been illegally felled by the year 2000, local officials have announced, adding foreign investors might have been involved.

Jakarta – Over a hundred young supporters of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) united on Thursday to reject the nomination of City Governor Sutiyoso in the upcoming gubernatorial election.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – The government said on Thursday that doors were open for a United Nations legal expert who has been assigned to assess Indonesia's legal system later this month.

[Achieving justice in East Timor for the victims of the violence after the 1999 independence vote, is not proving to be an easy task. With just six months to complete its investigations, East Timor's Serious Crimes Unit is facing almost insurmountable problems, as this report from Karon Snowdon reveals.]

Geoffrey Barker – Sixty influential Chinese business association leaders arrived in Dili from Macau last week to talk to East Timorese leaders about investing in the impoverished new nation.

Within days the group had flown home disappointed and frustrated: senior government leaders would not meet them to discuss investment opportunities and rules.

Geneva – East Timor's Health Minister, Rui Maria de Araujo, warned Friday that his newly-independent country was in danger of an AIDS epidemic, saying its low official figures were "just the tip of the iceberg".

The Indonesian Government has denied reports that the extremist Islamic Laskar Jihad army is operating in it's province of Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya. It's been been investigating claims that the Islamic militants, who were involved in inter-religious violence in the Maluku Islands, had infiltrated Papua, but found no evidence to support the claims.

Police are awaiting a court's approval to question Tommy Suharto in prison over his claims that members of the security forces protected him while he was a fugitive last year.

"We are now waiting for permission from the Central Jakarta district court," said Commissioner Arismunandar on television Thursday.

Mark Dodd, Dili – At just four weeks old East Timor may be the world's newest nation, but its first big problem is how to deal with its past. Tensions over the treatment of veteran guerrillas who fought for its independence are challenging the authority of the country's new democratic government.

Raymond Bonner, Jakarta – The Bush administration's effort to re-establish military ties with Indonesia, which has been curtailed for nearly a decade because of its army's widespread human rights violations, has some unexpected support among Indonesians.