Violence has left at least ten people dead as explosions and volleys of gunfire marked the start of a two-day strike called by rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province.

Jakarta – An Indonesian body charged with monitoring business practices on Wednesday began investigating reports of alleged collusion in the government's bid to sell it shares in the co

Dili – In a final step toward nationhood, East Timor will hold its first presidential election on April 14, the territory's UN administrator announced Thursday.

Jakarta – The total value of Indonesia's 2002 imports is expected to drop by 10 percent year-on-year, an official said Wednesday.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri has approved a list of 18 judges to sit on a human rights tribunal trying crimes committed during Indonesia's retreat from East

The East Timor Action Network (ETAN) said today that Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri's last minute approval of judges for an ad hoc court on East Timor does not alter its vie

Jakarta – The country's largest Muslim organisation, which founded the Nation Awakening Party (PKB), is giving up on attempts to reconcile two rival factions within the party.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Signs of a crack in the coalition government between the largest and second largest party, which catapulted Megawati Soekarnoputri to the presidency last July,

Aan Suryana and Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – The government's decision to reestablish the military command in Aceh and internal conflicts in nearly all major political parties would do

Robert Go, Jakarta – Aid money earmarked by the government to offset the effects of fuel-price hikes on the poor will not help the needy, said activists who work with Indonesia's impove

Emmy Fitri, Jakarta – The rising price of rice may not affect the middle to upper income households but it is surely having a major impact on the poor small-scale rice vendors.

Jakarta – The authorities in the Indonesian capital have refused to halt a wave of forced evictions of Jakarta's poor, which has left almost 50,000 people homeless in the past year, a w

Emmy Fitri, Jakarta – Governor Sutiyoso's plan to use more muscle to order the city, including evicting illegal squatters, will not solve his administration's many problems as he only l

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – As thousands of people displaced by the recent city-led forced evictions cry for help, their representatives in City Council are due to leave for the mountain

Jakarta – Former Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid was questioned by police yesterday over allegations that he received nearly US$2 million from an errant son of former president S

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Several legislators said they would boycott Parliament Speaker Akbar Tandjung, a key suspect in a financial scandal, if he refused to vacate his post temporaril

United Nations – Rejecting "implicit suggestions of racism," the United Nations on Friday denied an accusation made by one of its officials that the peacekeeping mission in East Timor w

Washington – US and Indonesian officials believe hundreds of al-Qaeda fighters trained last year at a camp in central Indonesia, and fear sleeper cells could soon become operational the

East Timor's religious leader, Catholic Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, called Friday for the holding of legislative elections for the first post-independence Timorese parliament, instead o

Jakarta – Indonesian vice president and prominent Islamic leader Hamzah Haz on Friday warned the United States not to target the world's most populous Muslim nation in its war on terror

Jakarta – The price of rice has increased by nearly 30 percent in several areas in Central and West Java, and many are attributing that to the government's plan to increase fuel prices

Banda Aceh – Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province on Friday accused US-based energy giant ExxonMobil Indonesia of providing funds and facilities to soldiers to wage "a brutal

Lisbon is negotiating with the United Nations over the possibility of taking over command of the UN peacekeeping force in East Timor, it was announced Friday by Portuguese Defense Minis

Jakarta – Indonesia's former armed forces commander General Wiranto has accused President Megawati Sukarnoputri and her predecessors of failing the reform movement.

Banda Aceh – At least 12 people, including a soldier, were killed in the latest outbreak of violence in restive Aceh province from Wednesday to Thursday, official and humanitarian activ

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – The Indonesian government has failed to lift the country out of the economic crisis despite initial confidence in the new economic team of President Megawati Su

Jakarta – The military is establishing a separate command in Aceh to spearhead the war against the rebel Free Aceh Movement, a move which means that soldiers in the province will no lon

Vaudine England – The chief of staff for the United Nations mission in East Timor has resigned, citing management failures and racism as reasons for his departure.

Cheah Chor Sooi, Koh Lay Chin and Shamini Darshni, Kuala Lumpur – Prominent personalities today came out in support of Datuk N.

Dili – The Constituent Assembly today passed a further four articles of East Timor's 151-article draft Constitution.

East Timor's General Prosecutor has issued more than 30 indictments in cases involving major incidents of mass killings and forced deportation, according to the latest figures released

Jakarta – Indonesia's disgraced former military commander Gen.

Indonesia's easternmost province of Irian Jaya was officially renamed Papua yesterday as part of an autonomy package aimed at reducing support for independence.

Dili – The Constituent Assembly today passed a further seven articles of East Timor's 151-article draft Constitution.

Jakarta – An Indonesian court on Monday charged two alleged hitmen with murdering a Supreme Court judge on orders from Tommy Suharto, a son of the former president.

A former leading anti-idependence militia leader has canceled his planned return to East Timor.

Vaudine England and Agencies, Jakarta – The stakes were raised in Jakarta's potentially most explosive political corruption case yesterday when the Attorney-General's Office announced t

Tim Dodd, Jakarta – Three East Timorese men killed in an armed raid on their villages on Saturday night were former independence activists.

Jakarta – Hundreds of Indonesian activists rallied outside the presidential palace Monday to protest plans to raise fuel and electricity prices.

Dili – The Constituent Assembly today passed a further five articles of East Timor's draft Constitution relating to the functions of the Council of State and of the National Parliament.

Jakarta – More women in Indonesia died during childbirth last year than in any other Southeast Asian country, a health ministry official said Monday.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Critics have urged the government of Megawati Soekarnoputri to speed up the ad hoc trial of military officers accused of human rights violations in East Timor

Banda Aceh – At least eight more people including two suspected separatist rebels have been killed in Indonesia's restive province of Aceh in recent days, the military and humanitarian

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – With the militia leader Eurico Guterres due to be charged with crimes against humanity next week, United Nations officials in East Timor are hopeful that 2002 may

The Constituent Assembly today returned from a three-day New Year's break to continue debate on East Timor's first draft Constitution, passing five articles contained in the section on

East Timor's chief minister, Mari Alkatiri, Thursday denounced an unexpected call for legislative elections as an attempt by opposition forces to provoke a political crisis.

Jakarta – Indonesian authorities have ceased providing food and cash for tens of thousands of East Timorese refugees stuck in squalid camps in West Timor, an official said Wednesday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's military said Thursday it would cooperate with a special human rights court set up to try top commanders and militiamen accused of crimes in East Timor in 1999.

Jakarta – The safety of refugees is still guaranteed: Even though the government has abolished refugee status for the refugees from East Timor with effect from 31 December 2001, Command

Indonesian military authorities have said they have discovered evidence of a new movement aiming to achieve independence for the whole of Timor island, according to an article in an Ind