Jakarta  - Separatist rebels killed an army soldier and set a bridge on fire in Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua, media reports said Sunday.

Army Private Saiful was shot in the head Saturday when rebels of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) attacked security posts in Tigginambut of Puncak Jaya district, district police chief Chris Rihulay said.

It was the latest in a series of attacks by separatists in Papua province in recent days.

Yangon  - Myanmar's prime minister, General Thein Sein, is to visit Indonesia and Singapore shortly in response to invitations from the leaders of the two South-East Asian countries, state media reported Friday.

Jakarta - The leaders of Indonesia's two largest political parties met Thursday to discuss a possible alliance ahead of this year's presidential elections.

The meeting between Vice President Jusuf Kalla and former president Megawati Sukarnoputri could pave the way for a coalition that could threaten reelection chances of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Megawati, who chairs the Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), has been nominated to run in the July presidential election and is seeking a running mate that could boost her electability.

Jakarta - An Indonesian man had to undergo surgery after a horse bit off one of his testicles, news reports said Thursday.

Jakarta - More than 230,000 Indonesians lost their jobs between October and March as the world's fourth-most-populous nation was battered by the global economic downturn, media reports said Thursday.

Most of the lay-offs were recorded in the textile, garment, automotive, shoe-making, and paper industries, according to Sofyan Wanandi, chairman of the Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo).

Thousands of job losses were also recorded at palm oil plantations and in construction projects.

Jakarta - Indonesia tried to stop books written by three executed Bali bombers from being published but they made it to print in limited copies, a terrorism expert said Wednesday.

Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, Imam Samudra and Ali Ghufran, also known as Mukhlas, wrote the books called The Martyrs Trilogy in prison while they were awaiting execution for the October 2002 bombings.

Sidney Jones, adviser to the International Crisis Group think tank, said there was competition among radical publishing houses for their works before their executions last year.