East Timor’s prime minister blamed Indonesia for the death of three suspected militiamen, saying it should have better control over its citizens along the border.

Indonesia started pulling out the last of 24,000 troops from tsunami-ravaged Aceh province today, a key component of a peace accord to end a three-decade civil war with separatist rebels.

China and Vietnam banned poultry imports from countries with bird flu as US and Chinese officials met today to co-ordinate strategy on stopping the spread of the deadly virus.

The Australian government today offered to send two senior lawyers to help the appeal of an Australian woman who was convicted of drug smuggling on the Indonesian island of Bali and sentenced to 20 years.

AMERICA and Australia yesterday criticised the 30-month prison sentence given to militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali bombings.

THE global death toll from the Asian tsunami shot above 226,000 yesterday after Indonesia’s Health Ministry confirmed the deaths of tens of thousands of people previously listed as missing.

Indonesia's vice president has welcomed a ceasefire offer by rebels in the devastated Aceh province, saying today that Jakarta would "make efforts" toward keeping peaceful relations as it seeks to rebuild the tsunami-battered region.

One of the biggest US military disaster relief missions in history kicked into high gear today as an aircraft carrier battle group arrived off the shores of tsunami-battered Sumatra and began launching helicopters heavy with supplies.

They struggled to bury the dead and desperate residents looted shops on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island today, where the earthquake and tsunamis killed up to 25,000 people, according to government estimates.

Jakarta police seized documents last month showing terrorists were planning an attack in the area around the Marriott Hotel, where 14 people died yesterday in suicide car bombing.

Achmad Sukarsono, Banda Aceh

Riot police in Indonesia today used tear gas, warning shots and water cannon to disperse hundreds of Muslims staging protests against the United States outside the Parliament building in Jakarta.

United Nations prosecutors in East Timor today filed the first charges for ‘‘extermination’’ against nine anti-independence militiamen and two Indonesian soldiers for crimes committed after the territory seceded from Indonesia in 1999, officials said.