Ten Southeast Asian leaders concluded an ambitious accord today to fashion an European style economic community by 2020 in a region where democracies neighbour dictatorships and First World economies abut financial basket cases.

World leaders have criticised US president George Bush’s policy of “pre-emptive” military strikes and demanded that conflicts and global threats be resolved collectively by all nations.

At least 10 people were killed today when a suspected suicide bomber blew up a car in a huge explosion outside a luxury hotel popular with foreigners in the Indonesian capital Jakarta.

THE annual May Day demonstrations got off to a violent start overnight when police clashed with protestors in Berlin and the northern city of Hamburg.

Indonesian police have arrested a man matching the composite sketch of a suspect wanted for the Bali nightclub bombings that killed nearly 200 people, it was announced today.

THE ailing spiritual leader of an extremist Islamic organisation accused of involvement in the Bali nightclub bombings said yesterday he would submit to questioning but resist efforts to detain him.

Australia today vowed to fight terrorism on its Southeast Asian doorstep through diplomacy, not force.

Indonesia’s president today won crucial parliamentary backing for an emergency anti-terrorism decree after the bomb attack that killed almost 200 people on Bali.

The Bali nightclub bombing that killed almost 200 people may push Indonesian leader Megawati Sukarnoputri off the political fence and put her fragile hold over the world’s biggest Muslim country in question.

POLICE in Bali were last night intensively questioning two witnesses who may provide vital clues about Saturday’s bomb attack that killed almost 200 people.

Police in Bali were tonight “intensively” questioning two witnesses who may provide vital clues about Saturday’s bomb attack that killed almost 200 people.

Terrified tourists were fleeing the island resort of Bali today and the US Embassy in Jakarta ordered all nonessential staff and dependants to leave Indonesia, after a bomb attack that killed 188 people.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard today said the bomb attacks which killed nearly 200 people in a nightspot on the resort island of Bali were proof that the war on terror must go on.

The family of former Indonesian dictator Suharto pocketed hundreds of millions of pounds in the 1990s through huge mark-ups on arms deals, including the purchase of Hawk jets from Britain, it was reported today.

The Indonesian army has killed the military leader of the Free Aceh Movement, a rebel army fighting for independence in Indonesia’s oil and gas-rich Aceh province since 1976.

Mourners wept and flung themselves across the casket of Theys Eluay today as more than 10,000 supporters from Irian Jaya province attended a funeral in the slain independence leader’s home town of Sentani.

Around 3,000 Muslims have held an anti-US rally in the Indonesian city of Surabaya to protest at the ongoing attacks on Afghanistan.

Indonesian security forces were on alert today as Muslim students and activists opposed to US-led strikes in Afghanistan prepared to hold a mass prayer rally near the heavily guarded US Embassy in Jakarta.

At least two explosions have rocked a busy shopping mall in Jakarta.

Ousted Indonesian head of state Abdurrahman Wahid told his family he faced a potentially fatal stroke as he prepared to vacate the presidential palace and travel to the United States for medical treatment.

The ousted Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid remains in his palace this morning.

Megawati Sukarnoputri was sworn in as Indonesian head of state today minutes after parliament sacked President Abdurrahman Wahid and elected her in a unanimous vote.

The Indonesian parliament has dismissed President Abdurrahman Wahid.

Indonesia’s parliament met in Jakarta behind razor wire and barricades today with disgruntled politicians calling for a second censure to be issued against President Abdurrahman Wahid - setting the scene for possible impeachment.