An Indonesian journalist faces trial over his decision to publish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Teguh Santosa, online editor of Rakyat Merdeka, is charged with inciting hatred towards a religious group.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The funds given to lawmakers to visit their constituents during their one-month recess are prone to abuse due to a lack of standard accountability procedures, say anti-graft activists and analysts.

A group of leaders of different faiths demanded Friday that the UN intervene to put an end to the Israeli military assault on Lebanon.

"We are here to urge the UN to immediately organize a special emergency assembly to discuss the issue," Muhammadiyah leader Din Syamsuddin (center in photo) said after a meeting with officials at the UN representative office here.

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – The country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), strongly reiterated its opposition Friday to efforts to turn Indonesia into a theocratic state.

Jonathan Lyons, Jakarta – A battle brewing over a draft anti-smut law has laid bare deep divisions within Indonesia and, say critics, threatens its traditionally tolerant approach to Islam.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – National Commission on Violence Against Women Chairwoman Tati Krisnawaty looked a tad irritated when most of the questions posed in a press conference Friday focused on the death of an Indonesian migrant worker in Lebanon.

Jakarta – An explosion at an oil refinery in Indonesia early Saturday injured nearly 150 people and caused about 7,000 residents to flee their homes, police said.

The explosion took place at a joint Pertamina-Petrochina oil refinery in eastern Java province as workers tried to contain a gas leak by setting it on fire, local police chief Rumhadi said.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Up to 1.3 percent of Indonesian Muslims nationwide admit using violence against people or objects they consider contradictory to their beliefs, a survey found, with more than 40 percent ready to wage war for their faith.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Two scholarly treatises on Indonesian communism remain banned more than 40 years after the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was obliterated in the wake of an abortive coup.

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) and the Customs and Excise Office prevented the entry of the two books imported by Jakarta-based publisher Equinox.

Bogor – About 100 tonnes of useless and out-of-date medicines donated by foreigners after a major earthquake last year have been incinerated this week, an official said.

Indra Harsaputra, Sidoarjo – Almost two months since it began, hot mud continues to pour from the ground in the East Java regency of Sidoarjo.

Work has been done, including setting up a snubbing unit to try and detect the exact source of the mud, building a relief well to block the mudflow and signing at least 140 contracts with various companies to speed up the work.

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – Critics are accusing the government of compromising individual rights in the newly drafted Criminal Code that provides stiff punishment for cohabitation and other private behavior.

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – Legal experts have faulted the bill on the Criminal Code, drafted by the government to replace its outdated antecedent, for glaring omissions on democratic and human rights principles.

Abdul Khalik, Kuala Lumpur – In an attempt to reduce outside influence over its eastern territories, especially Papua province, and to limit the danger of separatism, Indonesia on Wednesday hosted a Southwest Pacific dialog on the sidelines of the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Kuala Lumpur.

Adianto Simamora, Jakarta – Despite an ongoing land dispute and mounting protests from area residents, public order officers began demolishing the historic Menteng Stadium in Central Jakarta on Wednesday.

The stadium is also the base of city soccer club Persija, and is commonly referred to as Persija Park.

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – At least 35 shops and makeshift kiosks were demolished Tuesday by the Tangerang regency administration to make way for the construction of the Ciputat overpass.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – A special agency would protect Indonesian migrant workers and oversee the labor export program under a decree expected to be issued next month by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Medan – Some 800 employees of companies that are heavily reliant on gas staged a protest Wednesday at the North Sumatra provincial council and the governor's office demanding the government reduce the current gas-supply shortage.

Suherdjoko and Ridwan M. Sijabat, Semarang/Jakarta – Hundreds of members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's (PDI-P) Central Java chapter occupied the Panti Marhaenis building in Semarang on Wednesday.

The building has been the office of a splinter group of the PDI-P, the Reformed Democrat Party (PDP), since early 2005.

Jakarta – Acrid smoke from raging ground and forest fires on Indonesia's Sumatra blanketed the city of Pekanbaru, stinging eyes and reducing visibility, a meteorology official said.

Jakarta – The war against corruption has become tougher for the Attorney General's Office since the Constitutional Court ruled Tuesday that investigators can name suspects only if they are believed to have violated formal regulations.

Anissa S. Febrina, Jakarta – As soon as he got home from school Monday, eight-year old Yoga changed out of his uniform, reached for his yellow plastic kite and ran out to join several friends in a narrow alley in Cipete, South Jakarta.

Makassar – Hundreds of young people from across the country attended Monday the first congress of the newly formed Association of Young Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI Muda).

Jakarta – The conversion of jungles into plantations is becoming the biggest threat to the survival of orangutans in Kalimantan, while illegal logging will likely remain the most significant threat to the big apes in Sumatra, an environmentalist says.

Indonesia may be able to press ahead this year with its plan to fully repay its remaining debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – a year earlier than scheduled – on the back of recently strengthening foreign exchange reserves, the central bank said Monday.

Denpasar – Members of the Ahmadiyah religious group sought asylum Monday at the Australian diplomatic mission in Denpasar and claimed the government neglected their needs.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – Many have been raped, abused and neglected. But there is another factor that is rarely raised in discussions about the chronic struggles of Indonesian migrant workers: their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.

Jane Perlez, Denpasar – When Erwin Arnada, editor in chief of Playboy magazine in Indonesia, answered a summons at police headquarters in the national capital, Jakarta, he turned up smiling, behaved like a good citizen and, in turn, was treated politely during nearly six hours of questioning.

Jakarta – In the mist criticism over the performance of the political parties, a number of elite parties have initiated a process of internal consolidation as well as using public forums – not just the parliament – to issue statements. A new political party is also started to emerge.

Ken Yunita, Jakarta – Thousands of workers, farmers and urban poor have started the process of forming a new political party but launching a preparatory committee for a national party of liberation.

An Indonesian Islamic sect which claims it has been persecuted by extremist Muslims met with Australia's consul in Bali to seek support, warning they may lodge pleas for political asylum.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Activists want to know why Democrat Party lawmaker Aziddin has been the only legislator so far dismissed from the House of Representatives for unethical conduct. Aziddin is one of numerous unscrupulous lawmakers who should be made to leave by the House's disciplinary committee, they say.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – More public figures are adding their voices to the chorus of opposition against a planned government decree that would protect officials from prosecution for "erroneous" policies.

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh to take firm action against public prosecutors found guilty of unethical conduct to strengthen public trust in the profession.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri and Rendi Akhmad Witular, Jakarta – It was a terse, pessimistic message on a day when others chose to salute the country's youngest citizens with songs and stories.

Jakarta – Student activists, workers, farmers and the urban poor have started planning the establishment of the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) to fight for the welfare of the oppressed in the 2009 general elections.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – Kusnari had to wait 10 years before the Jakarta administration paid him a monthly salary for his position as a semi-permanent state teacher. He said his patience had paid off, however, because it put him only three years away from becoming a permanent civil servant with a guaranteed income and pension.

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Political parties have begun building strategies and forces ahead of Jakarta's first-ever gubernatorial elections, scheduled for next year.

Jakarta – Vice President Jusuf Kalla is supporting a campaign spearheaded by the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) to ensure journalists reject gifts from their news sources.

Slamet Susanto, Yogyakarta – Seven of 11 people who have been on a hunger strike outside the Yogyakarta provincial council building since July 12 have been hospitalized since Wednesday, including a hunger striker who was rushed to Sardjito Hospital on Friday.

Jakarta – Inaccurate blood pressure gauges and stethoscopes, broken wheelchairs and a short supply of sterile gloves – this is what doctors and nurses work with at the city-owned Tarakan Hospital in Central Jakarta.

Rendi Akhmad Witular, Jakarta – Vice President Jusuf Kalla has blamed the failure to curb bird flu deaths on regional administrations, which he said had deliberately defied orders from the central government to cull whole populations of infected poultry.

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – On taking office, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono advised his officials to divest their personal business interests to avoid any allegations of conflict of interest hounding his reform-oriented government.

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – At least 81 Indonesians have declared an intention to go to Lebanon and Palestine to join Hizbollah guerrillas in armed conflict against Israel.

Kafil Yamin, Bandung – As the death toll in the earthquake and tsunami that struck Java island's south coast on Monday passes the 500 mark, Indonesian officials admit they were caught by surprise – despite the elaborate precautions they took after the bigger December 2004 tsunami that killed an estimated 167,700 people in Aceh.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – Non-governmental organizations slammed the government Thursday for what they said was a lack of seriousness in handling the procession of disasters the country has experienced. This has resulted in a failure to protect citizens, they charged.

The House of Representatives' approval Tuesday of a bill on witness and victim protection hopefully will go a long way toward strengthening the legal system's ability to fight such major crimes as corruption, human rights violations, terrorism, illegal logging, gambling and smuggling.

Slamet Susanto and Tarko Sudiarno, Yogyakarta – Tired of waiting for reconstruction aid, a group of May 27 earthquake survivors in Yogyakarta decided the time had come for them to collect what they deserved.

On Wednesday, hundreds of the survivors staged a noisy protest outside a top-level coordination meeting at the Gedung Agung Presidential Palace in Yogyakarta.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – In a disclosure that quickly sparked doubt from lawmakers, a government team said Wednesday that the assets of military-owned businesses were worth a total of only Rp 1 trillion (US$108.2 million), far less than widely believed.

Anthony Deutsch, Pangandaran – Rescue workers dug decomposed corpses from ruined homes and hotels in this tsunami-devastated town Thursday, and a mass burial was held for some of the 547 people killed by the waves.