Dean Yates and Tomi Soetjipto, Jakarta – Indonesia will take tough action in its newly declared war on militant ideas that could include shutting an Islamic school co-founded by hardline jailed cleric Abu Bakar Bashir if serious teaching deviations are found, the vice president said on Saturday.

The United States' decision to restore military ties with Indonesia does more than draw a line under past human rights abuses in East Timor. It brings Indonesia's armed forces in from the cold after decades of embargoes and bans by Western governments.

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – To step up the fight against terrorism, the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) has demanded that intelligence units be empowered to be able to arrest and interrogate suspects for up to three days.

The request is likely to be accepted by legislators, despite strong reactions from human rights activists.

Importing rice, like raising fuel prices, is always politically controversial. However, the heightened political emotions set off by the importation earlier this month of 70,000 metric tons of rice from Vietnam seems to be inordinate.

Hera Diani, Jakarta – Entrenched cultural traditions as well as the religious teachings of certain religions here say it is causes dishonor if women publicly reveal things that will disgrace husband and family.

It is these two powerful pressures that keep many women from speaking out about domestic violence.

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – Environmentalists and foresters suggested on Thursday that more incentives be offered to countries that have vast areas of tropical forests, such as Indonesia, and to timber companies, which all play roles in preventing further deforestation.

Jakarta/Semarang – The amount of money obtained by local terror groups, including Azahari's network, is substantial with a staggering US$75,000 channeled to the terror groups in the country in the past few years, BIN has revealed.

Jakarta – The Golkar Party is discussing whether to demand the corruption charges against former president and party leader Soeharto be dropped, or that the case should proceed to court.

Tiarma Siboro and Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Military analysts cautiously responded to the United States' decision to resume lethal arms sales to Indonesia, warning that Jakarta may become trapped in Washington's foreign policy.

Malang – Lieutenant General Hadi Waluyo, Chief of the Indonesian Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), has stated that the number of Army weapons was sufficient.

Mark Forbes in Denpasar and agencies – The US has restored military ties with Indonesia, lifting a 13-year ban imposed due to human rights violations, stating the relationship was of the "utmost importance" in the fight against terrorism.

The United States has lifted its six year military embargo on Indonesia. Imposed in 1999, after the military ravaged East Timor during the territory's break from Jakarta, Washington now wants to help Indonesia in its fight against terrorism.

Presenter/Interviewer: Kanaha Sabapathy

Speakers: Bob Lowry, consulting analyst on political and military affairs in Indonesia.

Glenn Kessler – Acting swiftly with new congressional authority, the Bush administration said yesterday that it has restored military ties with Indonesia, formally ending the last of the restrictions imposed after violence in East Timor in 1999.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono hailed Washington's decision to resume some military aid as marking a new chapter in relations, but other officials and politicians were more cautious.

The decision yesterday by the State Department to override Congress-imposed restrictions on US military relations with Indonesia is a grave setback for Indonesian democracy and human rights, says TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign.

Telly Nathalia and Dean Yates, Jakarta – Indonesia has welcomed the resumption of military relations with the United States while human rights groups expressed concern and said monitoring of the armed forces would need to be tightened.

Chris Brummitt, Jakarta – Indonesia welcomed a US decision to lift a six-year arms embargo to help the mostly Muslim nation fight terrorism, but human rights groups said Wednesday it betrayed victims of military brutality.

Multa Fidrus and Abdul Khalik, Tangerang/Jakarta – Although the road access to Sang Timur Catholic school in Karang Tengah, Tangerang regency, has again been blockaded by protesting local residents, students keep coming to school.

As their cars cannot reach the school, parents have to drop off their children on the main road and let them to walk to school.

New Delhi – India and Indonesia, Asia's largest democracies, agreed Wednesday to forge closer defense and economic ties and cooperate in fighting terrorism, Indonesia's president said.

Max Lane – The Indonesian government's policy, announced last month, of giving a A$40 handout to people on an income of less than $25 per month as compensation for rises in fuel prices was only due to last for a few weeks, yet was supposed to help people out over a three-month period.

Ambon – Army soldiers and police officers were fought a pitched battle at dawn on Monday in Ambon city, leaving three civilians injured.

The brawl broke out as a wedding reception was winding down into the wee hours in Nusaniwe district of the city.

Slamet Susanto, Yogyakarta – Higher production costs prompted by the government's decision to raise fuel prices on Oct. 1 have forced hundreds of handicraft producers in Yogyakarta to cut production by up to 40 percent.

Hundreds of others have had to halt all production and lay off workers because of a fall in orders in the wake of the Bali bombings in October.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Indonesia's economy has continued growing at a slower rate, official figures from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) show, as high oil prices and rising interest rates dampened exports and investments, while consumption also stalled under a rising inflation.

Bambang Bider, Contributor, Kalimantan – Life becomes more meaningful when one becomes aware that everything in this universe is a whole entity, the parts of which are interrelated and interdependent.

Aboeprijadi Santoso, The Hague – A Dutch study on Papua, charged with political implications for Indonesia, has been greeted with rejoicing by many Papuans, and led to controversy in the Netherlands and growing concern about the prospects for Papua.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Tight regulations for government officials whose families run businesses will be not enough to keep them from abusing their powers, an expert says.

It would be better for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to replace his Cabinet ministers who had direct links to business enterprises, the expert suggests.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Labor unions say the government should scrap the current minimum wage system, which according to them does little to protect the vast majority of workers outside the formal sector.

Jakarta – The country's leading Islamic figures, grouped in a special task force set up last week by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, are set to launch a war against militant ideas spread by terrorists using the Islam brand.

Dean Yates, Jakarta – A move by Indonesia's mainstream Muslim groups to form a team to counter militant ideas, work with the police and review radical publications is an important step but must be more than just rhetoric, analysts said on Monday.

Rendi A. Witular, Busan (South Korea) – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has met US President George Walker Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks on how to enhance Indonesia's defense capabilities and of ways to contain the bird flu outbreak.

A perusal of the backgrounds of the suicide bombers who wrecked havoc in Bali on Oct. 1 can serve to tell us a lot about why there seems to be no shortage of terrorists. Mat Sukarto, a 57-year-old farmer and father of one of the bombers, said he did not fully understand why his less-than-religiously-inclined son, Misno, had decided to take his own life in such a manner.

Muhammad Nur Hayid, Jakarta – An action by hundreds of people from Indonesian Farmers Youth (Pemuda Tani Indonesia, PTI) became heated when demonstrators broke down the gates and forced their way into the national parliament building while hundreds of police stood ready to contain them.

Leony Aurora, Bandung – Analysts and industry players have expressed a wide range of views over the government's target of raising the country's oil production to 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2009, with some saying it would be challenging and others saying it would be downright impossible.

Indonesia's economy expanded in the third quarter at the slowest pace in a year as rising fuel costs, higher inflation and interest rates curbed consumer spending.

Rusman, Samarinda – The timber industry in East Kalimantan is on the brink of collapse due to rising production costs and a lack of raw materials, an executive with a timber firm association says.

US President George W. Bush and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono agreed Saturday to work toward expanding bilateral military ties, a senior US administration official said.

Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta – A cosmetics salesgirl was attacked and murdered on Friday morning by three machete-wielding men in Palu, Central Sulawesi, in yet another grisly terror attack on young females in the tense province.

The police shot dead Indonesia's most-wanted bomber, Dr. Azahari bin Husin, and one of his followers, Arman, in a raid on their hideout in the East Java hill resort of Batu a week ago, and subsequently arrested at least five terrorist operatives. Former National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief A.M.

Batam – Batam employers rejected a workers' proposal on Friday for an increase in the regional minimum wage, leading to widespread grievances among Batam workers, who now have to bear the brunt of increased costs following the fuel price hike on Oct. 1.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, currently on trial for the murder of human rights activist Munir, on Friday gave a different account from his earlier testimony as cited in the indictment. However, judges and prosecutors did little to question why defendant had changed his story.

Evi Mariani, Jakarta – An online, global sex survey carried out by condom manufacturer Durex revealed that 31 percent of the Indonesian respondents said they wish to have sex more frequently, while only 34 percent of the total 1,112 respondents said they are happy with their sex lives.

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – A herd of some 20 wild elephants from the South Bukit Barisan National Park (TNBBS) in Lampung ventured again into nearby settlements in the past week, ravaging dozens of hectares plantations and residents' houses as their habitat continues to shrink.

Bandung – Some 500 workers in the Cimahi industrial zone held a protest on Thursday in front the Cimahi regency council, demanding that the administration increase the local minimum wage.

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – Thousands of workers grouped under the Cisadane Workers Coalition (KBC) staged a rally in Tangerang municipality on Thursday to demand that the administration double the current minimum wage for next year.

Jakarta – Former deputy chief of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), Muchdi PR, claimed that he did not know Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, the main suspect in the murder of top human rights activist Munir, but acknowledged there had been several phone contacts from his cellphone to that of Pollycarpus.

Arin Widiyanti, Jakarta – The importation of rice from Vietnam which is being done by Bulog (the State Logistics Agency) with the permission of trade minister Mari Elka Pangestu, has been opposed unconditionally by hundreds of farmers. This is because the price of rice at the moment is good so they believe the policy is intentionally being implemented to "kill" them.

M. Rizal Maslan, Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) has expressed regret over the attack by three unknown assailants on an action by supporters of Munir at the Central Jakarta State Court. The actions by the three mysterious men will be reported to police.

Jakarta – A website purportedly set up under orders from a leading Asian militant gives instructions on how to shoot foreigners in the streets of the Indonesian capital or throw grenades at motorists stuck in traffic.

Jakarta – Thousands of secretariat employees in villages across Java and Bali went to the House of Representatives on Wednesday, demanding they become officially recognized as civil servants.

The employees said they had been working for the state for years without a clear job status.

Rendi A. Witular, Busan (South Korea) – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will soon issue a presidential instruction regulating government officials' roles in dealing with projects funded or initiated by the state.