New York – Asking the international community to try those involved in criminal actions in East Timor is not a priority to the East Timorese at the moment, East Timorese Resistance Council's (CNRT) former president, Xanana Gusmao, said here Tuesday night.

Vaudine England – The politicians presiding over Jakarta's latest political crisis, currency tumble and perhaps national disintegration are doing so from lavish homes and luxury cars. Many attend self-promoting seminars in designer batik and shoes, sign deals with gold-tipped pens, clock up VIP jaunts to Mecca, toying with excess food and mistresses all the time.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday cast doubt on Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri's ability to run Indonesia as he fought to hold on to power.

Jakarta – The third-largest faction in Indonesia's national assembly yesterday did an about-face and called on President Abdurrahman Wahid to consider resigning if this would help to solve the country's political stalemate.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – The Marine Corps is to investigate the death of one of its own in a shootout in central Jakarta which arose after East Javanese supporters of President Abdurrahman Wahid were involved in a dispute over payment of hotel bills.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Clerics supporting Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid will decide today whether it is justifiable under Islamic law to kill those who have been attacking his presidency and attempting to unseat him.

Dili – New violence broke out along East Timor's border with Indonesia when unidentified gunmen threw grenades and fired shots at UN peacekeepers and villages in five separate clashes, officials said Tuesday.

No peacekeepers were injured in Monday's incidents. However, an East Timorese woman was wounded when attackers fired at her house.

Jakarta – Indonesia's major creditors have agreed to roll over the country's debt repayment based on an agreement in the Paris Club of official creditors, a report said on Tuesday.

Finance Minister Prijadi Praptosuhardjo said that in addition to Japan, Australia, Canada and the United States have also agreed to reschedule Indonesian debts.

Jakarta – Indonesia has admitted failure in meeting forestry protection commitments to its key donor group, the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI), weeks before a CGI meeting in Jakarta, a report said Tuesday.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Aceh could split from Indonesia within a year if the Indonesian armed forces (TNI) does not step up operations to crush the rebel movement in the restive province, a top security official said yesterday.

Indonesia's Bank Restructuring Agency (Ibra) yesterday rejected a local newspaper report that key officials, including the agency's chief, planned to resign.

Jacqueline M. Koch in Banda Aceh and Lindsay Murdoch in Jakarta – Soldiers patrol villages, their high-powered weapons ready to fire. Tanks rumble along rutted roads. Entire villages suspected of supporting separatist rebels are razed, forcing thousands of men, women and children into crude refugee camps.

Jakarta – Indonesia's foreign minister Tuesday denied claims reported by a local newsmagazine that President Abdurrahman Wahid accepted a $4 million aid donation from Kuwait in exchange for abandoning plans to visit Iraq last year.

Jakarta – Attorneys for East Timorese militia leader Eurico Guterres Tuesday demanded that weapons charges against him be dropped on the grounds that he was an Indonesian patriot, not a criminal.

Lawyer Suhardi Somomoeljono said state prosecutors had failed to prove Guterres' guilt during the course of the three-month trial.

Nuruddin Lazuardi/HY, Jakarta – Around 300 student from various universities in South Jakarta, who call themselves the Southern Students Forum (FMS) are holding a demonstration at the fountain in the Hotel Indonesia Roundabout. They demand Golkar be disbanded.

Yeoh En Lai – Almost two years after the independence referendum in East Timor, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is bracing itself for another crisis.

Jakarta – Indonesia's finance minister on Monday warned the 2001 budget deficit could be wider than expected, hit by a weak rupiah, high interest rates and low oil prices.

Nuruddin Lazuardi/Heather, Jakarta – Around 600 Postal workers from PT Pos Indo (Posindo) staged a rally outside the Ministry of Communication and Telecommunications (Dephubtel) office on Jl Medan Merdeka Barat, central Jakarta on Monday. They demanding a rise in pay.

Dili – An Australian member of the UN peacekeeping force in East Timor fired on two suspected militiamen near the border with Indonesian West Timor, a force spokesman said Monday.

Budi Sugiharto, Surabaya – Around 200 People's Democratic Party (PRD) activists blockaded a house in Jl. Darmo Kali, Number 28 in Surabaya, East Java which is believed to be the new headquarters of Golkar in Jatim after the previous offices was burnt down by the masses.

Singapore – The United Nations' transitional government in East Timor is still struggling, leaving much to "sheer luck" despite 18 months in power, the head of the UN mission running the new nation said Monday.

Jakarta – Indonesia is the largest labor supplier contributing 50 per cent to foreign worker requirement in a number of countries, the association of labor suppliers said.

Association chairman Sysferi said a few years ago Indonesia supplied only 10 per cent of workers needed by Singapore, Hongkong, Malaysia and Middle East, but now Indonesia has become the market leader.

I Made Sentana, Jakarta – Indonesia's state-owned Pertamina (P.PTM) oil and gas company has raised fuel prices for industrial users to between 50% and 100% of international market prices, effective Sunday, in a bid to reduce government fuel subsidies.

Jakarta – Student and Labor organizations have joined with the May 1st Action Committee to stage a major demonstration at Jakarta Police Headquarters today.

Jakarta – Indonesian corruption fighters on Monday slammed the Supreme Court's dissolution of an anti-graft team as an attempt by judges to protect themselves and a setback to efforts to clean-up Indonesia's judiciary.

Linda Silaen, Jakarta – The International Monetary Fund has warned the Indonesian government of the possibility of a higher-than-expected deficit in the state budget this year due to a delay in the implementation of a tax regulation and only a limited fuel price increase, Finance Minister Prijadi Praptosuhardjo said Monday.

Jakrarta – Hoodlums, locally known as preman, have established themselves in every corner of the capital, "guarding" almost every public place, including bus terminals, traditional markets, shopping centers and even road junctions.

Jakarta – Police and Irian Jaya's rebels were involved in a shootout Saturday when the rebels attacked a base camp of PT Dharma Mukti Persada logging company in Wonggema village, Wasior district, Manokwari regency. o casualties were reported in the clash, Antara reported.

Jakarta – The Information Center for Aceh Referendum (SIRA) will soon file lawsuit against the Indonesian Police Chief General Surojo Bimantoro over the murder of three human rights activists in South Aceh on March 29. We will file lawsuit against the Police Chief, said SIRA Presidium Ridwan in Jakarta on the weekend.

Devi Asmarani, Aceh – A simple bus trip at night can turn deadly in this violence-wracked province, where residents live in constant fear of being caught in vicious clashes between Indonesian troops and separatist guerillas.

Jakarta – More than 600 people signed up on Monday to join a death squad aimed at preventing beleagured Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid from being ousted, a group leader said.

Jonathan Thatcher, Jakarta – The speaker of Indonesia's top legislative assembly on Monday said President Abdurrahman Wahid should quit, accusing him of being stupid, corrupt and of leading the nation to ruin.

Jakarta – Claims that President Abdurrahman Wahid was medically unfit for office was just a political ploy by the President's enemies, an aide said on Saturday.

"The President noted that the issue of his health was always brought up to discredit him", presidential spokesman Adhi Massardi told reporters at Merdeka Palace. "I know the President is very fit."

Jakarta – Legal experts have called on the government to take strict measures against judges whose verdicts spark controversy, instead of just giving them administrative sanctions.

Jakarta – The discovery of a headless corpse and the torching of houses have heightened tension in a district of Indonesia's Borneo island where at least 500 people were killed in over six weeks of ethnic violence, police said Monday.

Jakarta – Communal violence in Central Kalimantan which has left at least 500 dead since it first erupted six weeks ago has claimed another five lives, police said on Sunday.

Charles Scheiner – Eighteen months have elapsed since the Indonesian military and its militia proxies devastated East Timor. A quarter century has passed since the US-supported Indonesian invasion of East Timor began an occupation which killed one-third of the population and kidnapped, raped, tortured and terrorized hundreds of thousands more.

Arifin Asydhad/Heather, Jakarta – The National Front for Indonesian Labour Struggle (FNPBI) is planning a demonstration for workers from PT Kadera-Ar. They demand justice for the attack by hoodlums which killed one worker and injured others.

Ati Nurbaiti, Dili – The rains finally poured in late December, too much in some areas for a good corn harvest. Emergency operations over the past year have alleviated fear of widespread starvation as crops and cattle had been abandoned by farmers who fled the violence with their families.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government has rejected as unacceptable the trial in the United States of an Indonesian general accused of gross human rights abuses in East Timor in 1999.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Indonesian Parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tandjung has called on President Abdurrahman Wahid to transfer substantial powers to his deputy to defuse a ticking political time-bomb.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Indonesia will face mass violence "worse than the riots in 1998" if President Abdurrahman Wahid is impeached, Parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tandjung has warned.

On the move by the lawmakers to oust him, he said: "They want him out at all cost. But I have asked them to reconsider because it is very risky to force him out even if we do it by the book.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Questions over President Abdurrahman Wahid's health swept through Jakarta yesterday as two separate medical teams issued contradictory opinions on his fitness to remain at Indonesia's helm.

Jakarta – Former President Suharto remains unfit to stand trial despite some improvement in his health, said the chief prosecutor in the graft case against the former ruler.

Reuters in Jakarta – Senior politicians yesterday warned President Abdurrahman Wahid that discontent with his erratic 17-month rule was so intense he had little chance of surviving much longer in office. Mr Wahid, fighting for his political life, on Wednesday answered Parliament's February 1 censure of him over two financial scandals involving more than US$6 million.

Jakarta – The US embassy here on Friday deplored the "senseless" and "brutal" murder of three Indonesians involved in the peace process in restless Aceh province, and urged the government to investigate the killings.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Indonesia's biggest political party yesterday fired the first salvo against President Abdurrahman Wahid by pressing ahead with a potentially fatal second censure motion against the embattled leader.

Jakarta – The guilty verdict handed down to Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) chief Muhammad Nazar drew condemnation on Thursday with some saying the trial, criticized as a political maneuver which made Nazar a prisoner of conscience, contained legal defects.

Jakarta – Two human rights activists and their driver were shot dead in Aceh in an attack that suggests humanitarian workers were being targeted by Indonesian security forces in the rebellious province, a rights group said on Friday. Police confirmed the killings, but said they suspected rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were responsible.

Jakarta – Hundreds of workers of car upholstery producer PT Kadera AR Indonesia in Pulogadung industrial estate were attacked while on strike in the early hours of Thursday, leaving one dead and 11 injured.