Ambon – Indonesian soldiers opened fire on a church in the ravaged island of Ambon killing 24 people, the priest who buried most of the dead told Reuters Thursday.

Hong Kong – The Review has obtained a confidential report prepared for the central bank by consulting firm McKinsey & Co. that shows Bank Indonesia bent its own rules to save seven institutions earlier this year. The most prominent is Bank Nusa Nasional, owned by the family of influential businessman Aburizal Bakrie, a member of Habibie's board of economic advisers.

Jakarta – Amien Rais praised Abdurrahman Wahid for the latter's willingness to be presidential candidate of the new political alliance that Amien forged, called "the axis force," and said the assent was a boost to democratization.

Jakarta – A group of around 200 students rallied outside the General Elections Commission (KPU) on Monday, demanding the disbandment of its Team of 15, whose members have been suspected of abusing their authority in the selection of interest group representatives for the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

Ambon – Muslim and Christian mobs fought street battles in eastern Indonesia, killing at least 18 people and injuring about 120, police and hospital workers said today. Riot police shot and killed some people, witnesses said. Mobs stabbed or beat others.

Jakarta – Hundreds of Confucians gave orchids to Indonesian riot police, burnt incense and chanted prayers on Monday to demand the government officially recognise their religion.

The 200 ethnic Chinese protesters gathered outside the office of Indonesia's General Election Commission to demand parliamentary seats to represent their community.

Jakarta – At least 10 hot spots, spread across five regencies, have been pinpointed in South Kalimantan since the end of July.

Madjedi, the head of the Environment Impact Management Body in South Kalimantan, told Antara on Sunday the sites were in Banjar Barat in Banjarmasin, Sungai Pinang in Banjar regency, Tabukan and Kuripan districts in Barito Kuala regency.

Jakarta – About 3,000 civilians have been roped in to help put out forest fires in the Indonesian province of Riau which have caused pollution to hit hazardous levels and the authorities to close kindergartens and put clinics on 24-hour standby.

Jakarta – Indonesian police on Saturday baton-charged hundreds of students protesting during President B.J. Habibie's visit to West Java and injured seven, witnesses said.

Jakarta – An Indonesian rights watchdog group has said 82 people were killed, four were missing and 141 injured in recent days of Moslem-Christian violence in riot-torn Ambon, a report said Saturday.

Jakarta – Some 42,300 troops and 11,000 civilian auxiliaries will be deployed to guard the first session of Indonesia's new national assembly in October, reports said Thursday.

The new People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the country's highest lawmaking body, reconstituted by the June 7 elections, will meet on October 1 and then elect a president in November.

Amy Chew, Jakarta – Indonesia's two main opposition parties have agreed to join forces in local-level politics, cementing an alliance that opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri hopes will carry her to the presidency in November.

Jakarta – The government says an estimated 470,000 refugees are now sheltering in the South Sulawesi capital of Ujungpandang after fleeing unrest in the troubled provinces of Maluku, East Timor, Aceh and Irian Jaya.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government needs to act soon to stop forest fires spiralling out of control in a repeat of the widespread disaster in 1997, the country's leading environmental watchdog WALHI warned Wednesday.

Washington – The United States on Tuesday called for the quick selection of a new Indonesian president following the validation of last month's election results which show the opposition party of Megawati Sukarnoputri beating the ruling party of current President B.J. Habibie.

John Aglionby, Medan – Dozens of uncontrolled forest fires are breaking out every day across western Indonesia, blanketing much of south-east Asia in a polluted haze and raising fears that there could be a repeat of the smog crisis of two years ago.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Comments by armed forces chief and Defence Minister General Wiranto since opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri's dramatic political speech suggest he is a vital kingmaker in the months of politicking ahead – but one whose loyalty remains to the armed forces.

Vaudine England – Getting a small box of books out of the cargo office at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport was how one friend learned about corruption in Indonesia.

As soon as she got out of her taxi near the warehouse, the touts arrived, waving cardboard folders that carried all the documents she required, insisting she pay for their help.

Jakarta – About 80 workers, representing thousands of fellow workers at PT Tripatra Caltex Pacific, in the Sumatra province of Riau, yesterday reported a string of military cruelties to the House of Representatives (DPR).

They said, military personnel has shot workers at two separate demonstrations, on July 15th and 23rd, causing dozens of workers to be injured.

Geraldine Yeo and Yeoh En-lai – Bustling Batam became a ghost-town yesterday as residents stayed indoors and shops stayed shut after at least nine people died in ethnic clashes that started over the weekend.

Jakarta – Former Indonesian president Suharto was discharged from hospital and returned home Friday after 10 days of treatment for a minor stroke, witnesses said.

Singapore – Singapore was enveloped Thursday by haze from raging plantation fires largely in the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the meteorological service department said. It said the hazy conditions were expected to prevail over the next two days.

Andreas Harsono, Jakarta – Indonesian presidential front-runner Megawati Sukarnoputri broke her long silence after winning the parliamentary elections here and spoke for 80 minutes Thursday in a speech that answered critics on issues ranging from Islamic law to separatist movements in East Timor, Irian Jaya, Maluku and Aceh.

Vaudine England, Jakarta - Efforts by the Muslim-based political parties to offer a new presidential candidate are gathering steam, partly to avoid having a woman in the top job and partly to avoid what Muslim leaders label a "polarisation" of society.

Ambon – Clashes between Christians and Muslims in Indonesia's troubled Ambon island killed 24 people, hospital sources said Wednesday.

They died in fighting between late Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon, the hospital sources said, adding that most died of gunshot wounds. It brings the number killed in fighting there this week to at least 34.

Paris – Jakarta secured a pledge of $5.9 billion in foreign aid on Wednesday, despite demands from human rights groups that cash be held off pending a vote on self rule for the East Timor territory which Indonesia invaded in 1975.

Sigit Widodo and Andrea, Jakarta – Around two thousand people demonstrated at the National Election Commission (KPU) offices bringing the traffic on Jalan Imam Bonjol to a complete stop.

Jeremy Wagstaff and Puspa Madani, Jakarta – More than half of Indonesia's political parties – all but one of them without a seat – have refused to ratify last month's election, citing allegations of fraud. While delaying by at least a week official release of the results, the setback, analysts and politicians say, isn't likely to do any lasting damage to the political process.

Michael Shari, Jakarta – Eko S. Budianto, deputy chairman of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), thought there was something fishy about the small group of Western and Indonesian visitors from a foreign hedge fund who walked into his Jakarta office recently. He had never heard of the fund, which had an acronym for a name and was registered in a Caribbean tax haven.

Army chief Wiranto has brokered a deal to end the impasse. It means Megawati's in, Habibie's out – and Wiranto is in charge

Ati Nurbaiti and Santi W.E. Soekanto, Jakarta – Fifteen-year-old Ranti wept with pain when an elderly man deflowered her at a brothel in Jakarta, but she managed to stop crying upon being told he would pay her Rp 700,000 (US$106).

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri has launched a scathing attack on President B.J. Habibie, accusing him of being blinded by greed and trying to cling to power without listening to the Indonesian people.

Semarang – The long standing economic crisis in Indonesia since July 1997 has affected the lives of children nation wide, evidenced by the fact that around 10 million of them are suffering from malnutrition.

Jakarta – The Independent Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) joined other observers on Thursday in denouncing the newly submitted bill on state security, which it said would kill democracy in the country.

Jakarta – An Indonesian stringer for the US magazine Time on Friday answered a police summons in connection with a Time article which alleged the family of former Indonesian president Suharto was sitting on a 15-billion dollar fortune.

Jakarta – Experts are concerned by the increasing number of child prostitutes to be found on almost all major streets of Surabaya, the country's second largest city.

Jakarta – Abdurrahman Wahid came up on Wednesday with yet another surprising move when he praised President B.J. Habibie – whom he had often criticized for his links to Golkar and the past regime – as amenable to change and as less conservative than many people thought.

Jakarta – Around 2,000 workers staged a demonstration at the Manpower Ministry, demanding the government revoke its labor regulations deemed detrimental to them.

Jakarta – An aunt of a man injured in the Semanggi incident, a relative of a missing person and a friend of a Trisakti University student who was shot dead have established a group for victims of state violence.

State Violence Victims Solidarity (SKKN), announced on Tuesday, groups relatives and friends from several cases.

Jakarta – Speculation was rife on Tuesday over the health of former president Soeharto after he was rushed to the Pertamina Hospital in South Jakarta.

Hospital officials and his family were quick to play down the significance of the visit, stating that the 78-year-old was merely undergoing a routine medical check up.

Susan Sim, Jakarta – Indonesia's top generals are laughing off a report in an international magazine which alleged that they had cut a deal to support opposition leader Megawati Soekarnoputri for the presidency.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – A reshuffle of top officers in Indonesia's armed forces has prompted speculation that General Wiranto, the Defence Minister and armed forces chief, sees himself as the country's new vice-president.

Chris McCall, Tual – Nearly 40 people displaced by communal violence in Indonesia's remote Kai islands have died of malnutrition or disease in crude refugee camps that dot the once idyllic archipelago, local aid workers say.

Jakarta – Malnutrition? Intellectual confinement? None of these remotely describe the experiences of seven young political activists from the Democratic People's Party (PRD) who are incarcerated at Cipinang Prison, East Jakarta.

Yudha Kartohadiprodjo, Jakarta – At a quick glance, Budiman Soedjatmiko, 29 years old, could be mistaken for a compliant yuppie waiting for the next business deal or a young university lecturer waiting to teach.

Bespectacled and usually dressed in a light colored, short-sleeved shirt, he displays a calm composure while warmly greeting friends. But compliant he is not.

Keith B. Richburg, Jakarta – Some 38 days after Indonesians voted in the country's first free election in a generation, the final tabulation of the results was announced Thursday, and they confirmed what political analysts and others here long suspected – the party of opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri finished first in the crowded field.

Amy Chew, Jakarta – Indonesia's military will back presidential frontrunner Megawati Sukarnoputri if she picks armed forces chief General Wiranto as her vice presidential candidate, military sources said on Thursday.

Singapore – Indonesian opposition leader Amien Rais said here Wednesday that it was too early to declare a winner in the race for the presidency and witheld his support for frontrunner Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Susan Sim and Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – President B.J. Habibie has rejected opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri's claim to a popular mandate following last month's general election, insisting that it is misleading to assume that the party with the most votes will win the presidency automatically.

Jakarta – Hundreds of Muslim students in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, took to the streets on Monday voicing their rejection of Megawati Soekarnoputri's presidential bid.