Jakarta – While the United States military and coalition troops moved closer to Baghdad, antiwar protests here continued on Thursday, with some targeting Arab countries which support the attack on Iraq.

Jakarta – At least 18,500 schoolchildren – some as young as seven – are believed to use drugs in Indonesia, National Narcotics Agency chief Togar Sianipar has said.

"From that number, primary school students account for about 1,000, junior high school students around 7,500 and senior high school around 10,000," Mr Sianipar was quoted as saying by the Antara news agency.

Controversy is growing over the draft bill on presidential elections in relation to an article that stipulates that only parties or coalitions of parties garnering 20% of national legislature seats will be allowed to field candidates in the country's first direct presidential election in 2004.

Max Lane – Todung Mulya Lubis makes some sensible points in his interview with The Jakarta Post on March 31. For example, he is correct to question the usefulness of a boycott of American goods – at least, at this point of time.

Thousands of Indonesians staged protests in several cities as the US-led war against Iraq entered its third week, with some burning President George W. Bush in effigy.

The National Human Rights Commission, Komnas HAM has called on the government to explain what has happened to information or intelligence reports about persons deemed to be political enemies of the Old Order. Such data should be declared invalid and totally destroyed.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights declared on Tuesday that gross human rights violations had occurred during massive riots in Jakarta in May 1998, which preceded the fall of long-time ruler Soeharto.

Pekanbaru, Riau – Thousands of field workers of American mining company PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia (CPI) threatened on Tuesday to go strike if the management went ahead with its decision to cut the days off in the company.

Jakarta – Indonesian police have stepped up security at vital installations in Medan after two bombings within 24 hours.

The first explosion rocked the parking lot of the Medan city administration's offices on Monday afternoon, shattering windows and damaging two cars. No one was hurt.

Jakarta – A parliamentary panel drafting an education Bill is retaining a controversial article requiring missionary schools to provide religious instruction in the pupils' own religion despite opposition from educators and mission schools.

Indonesia's defence ministry has defended a policy document which calls for the military's close scrutiny of civilian affairs to be maintained.

Not one charge has been laid in Sydney since the post-Bali raids on six Indonesian families, but 255 Indonesians have been locked up since and the community feels under siege. Now some have even lost trust in each other. Linda Morris writes.

Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – As Balinese prepare for the year 1925 on the Saka calendar, young men in every neighborhood banjar are busy building and displaying ogoh-ogoh, the colorful bamboo and papier mache demon effigies featured in celebrations leading to Nyepi, the day of silence marking the new year.

Ed Aspinall – Immediately after the bombings in Bali on 12 October, there was much speculation in the foreign, especially Australian, press, that this was a watershed event for Indonesian politics. Nothing in the country would now be the same, or so the commentators argued.

Medan (Agencies) – A strong explosion rocked the back parking lot of mayoralty building here on Monday, injuring one people, agencies reported.

Antara reported the blast in late afternoon damaged two cars and injured a staff of the city administration. The blast came from a bomb which was laid down at a bicycle in the parking lot.

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta – Life for Jakartans will get tougher starting this month as they face a 40 percent increase in water charges and a 20 percent increase in bus fares.

Jakarta – The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced six members of the Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR) on Monday to six months in jail for an attack on the offices of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) last year.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government launched on Monday a white paper on defense strategy, which calls for maintaining the military's much-criticized territorial function.

The United States State Department says serious human rights abuses occured in Indonesia last year.

It says Indonesian soldiers and police murdered, tortured, raped, beat and arbitrarily detained civilians and members of separatist movements.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia launches its election process today, beginning a census of its 210 million citizens and the registration of about 130 million people eligible to vote in April next year.

The plan, according to elections commission KPU, is to send 230,000 bureaucrats door-to-door with questionnaires, in the cities, rural areas and jungles.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – At a glance, Vila Ilhami is a typical housing estate, one of the dozens developed on the outskirts of Jakarta in the past decade to cater to the ever growing number of middle-class families.

Jakarta – A group of migrant workers officially established an organization on Saturday to help them in their struggle for justice and fair treatment.

Jakarta – The country's four largest political parties organized separate events over the weekend as they begin to gather pace for the general election in April 2004.

Jakarta – Around 1 million people – originating form at least 25 political parties and social organisations – held a demonstration in Jakarta on Sunday, in the framework of opposing the US invasion of Iraq.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Jakarta's main thoroughfares turned into seas of humanity as hundreds of thousands of people from various religions and ethnic groups took to the streets in the country's largest ever rally to protest the US-led war in Iraq.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – With Muslims in Indonesia becoming increasingly devout in recent decades, an exclusively Islamic market has now evolved, offering strictly halal products. They range from exclusive Islamic housing estates to cosmetics and foodstuff.

Take Pusaka Tradisi Ibu, a company that produces the only beauty products in the country with a halal certificate.

Washington (Agencies) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday approved a fresh loan worth US$469 million to Indonesia, bringing its total lending to about US$3.5 billion under the current US$5 billion loan program for the country.

Dean Yates and Telly Nathalia, Jakarta – More than 100,000 angry Indonesians, many carrying young children, jammed the streets of Jakarta on Sunday, shouting anti-American slogans and waving protest banners over the war in Iraq.

Ambon – Maluku island in Indonesia's Maluku province has been declared a foreigner-free zone, head of the provincial immigration office Wiryono said here on Saturday.

Foreigners who want to visit Maluku island should obtain permission from the Civilian Emergency Authority in Ambon, he was quoted by Antara as saying.

Takaras village in Central Kalimantan is an ecological disaster waiting to happen, with illegal miners reportedly dumping an estimated 160 kilograms of mercury into a local river every month.

Mercury, which is used to facilitate the extraction of gold ore, can cause crippling nerve disorders, brain damage, birth defects and death.

Around 200,000 people gathered in front of the United States embassy in the Indonesian capital in the biggest anti-war rally yet in the world's largest Muslim-populated nation.

The protestors gathered in the sprawling Monas square facing the US embassy, guarded by police wielding batons and shields.

Jakarta – Hundreds of Indonesians protested in several cities on Friday against the US invasion of Iraq, with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as well as President George Bush coming in for criticism.

Jakarta – Indonesia is drafting a regulation under which people who owe more than 100 million rupiah in taxes would be jailed for up to one year without trial.

The move comes amid concern that many taxpayers have been evading tax payments for several years, a burden to the cash-strapped government in Jakarta.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Which country has just passed a law to provide two days a month paid menstruation leave for women workers? Perhaps you're thinking northern Europe? Or maybe Scandinavia? If so, you're wrong.

Jakarta – A rally calling for peace by hundreds of students in Jakarta on Friday was in marked contrast to a number of other rowdier rallies around the country against the United States-led attack on Iraq.

Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – Along with the refusal of Iraqis to follow the United States and British "shock-awe-welcome liberators" script, a major surprise in the first week of the war has been the reaction of Indonesia.

Jakarta – Indonesia has criticized the United Nations' Security Council (UNSC) for its failure to take a clear stand against the United States' military campaign in Iraq.

Jakarta – Rallies to protest against the attack on Iraq continued on Thursday across the country, with demonstrators in some cities expanding their targets to parties not affiliated with the United States or its allies.

Jakarta – The South Jakarta district court decided that there was enough grounds to proceed with the lawsuit filed by Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung against Rakyat Merdeka daily's chief editor Karim Paputungan for defamation.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Smuggling of protected animals in Indonesia is valued at a whopping US$1.5 billion a year, with Jakarta topping the list with $1.5 million per day or $547.5 million per year, according to a survey.

Tens of thousands of Indonesian protesters took to the streets on Thursday to oppose the US-British bombardment of Iraq. Many prayed for peace, others wept, some hurled tomatoes at the US Embassy and others "sealed" a McDonald's outlet.

John McBeth, Jakarta – Controversial new legislation that would give the Indonesian armed forces unilateral authority to deploy troops in the event of an emergency appears to undermine efforts by reformers to impose civilian supremacy over the military.

Several Indonesian Non Government Organisations say they will refuse funds from America, Britain and Australia, in response to those countries involvement in the war on Iraq. The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, several women's rights groups and the country's leading environmental watchdog, known as Walhi, have joined in the action.

Jakarta – If a Muslim group has its way, moviegoers in the Indonesian city of Bandung will no longer get to watch films such as Daredevil or Chicago.

The Kabah Youth Movement yesterday urged 17 theatres in the industrial town 200 km south-east of Jakarta to stop screening US and British films because of the war in Iraq.

Jakarta – Environment Minister Nabiel Makarim said here Wednesday the government and the House of Representatives (DPR) had to settle the question of environmental pollution in PT Freeport Indonesia's mining field in Papua this year.

Jakarta/Bandung/Semarang – Thousands of workers from Jakarta, Bandung in West Java, and Semarang in Central Java staged separate, peaceful rallies to coincide with the new labor bill becoming law on Tuesday.

Tokyo – More than 4,000 Indonesians will join a lawsuit against the Japanese government, demanding compensation for a dam funded by aid from Tokyo and which they say has destroyed their livelihood, supporters said on Wednesday.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – A new Bill is set to unravel a dark side of Indonesian history, allowing cases of human-rights violations to be reopened for the sake of national reconciliation.

The Bill provides a legal basis for the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Thousands of workers from failing factories, formerly run in whole or in part by international companies, in Greater Jakarta are facing a bleak future as there is not yet an existing law that deals with foreign investors who close up shop without agreeing on settlements with the workers.

Bogor – Dozens of minivan drivers gathered at the council building here to protest against the injustices they face in the course of their work.