In a televised address to Indonesians, President Abdurrahman Wahid on Thursday evening warned that security forces would intervene and crush separatists in Irian Jaya and Aceh.

Iraq Halts Oil Exports 
As Iraq asks the U.N. to permit a surcharge increase for its oil sales for the month of December, news reports convey differences on whether Iraq accepts or defies the U.N. refusal of the demand.

Thousands Flock To East Jerusalem As Violence In Territories Kills Two 

Tens of thousands of Muslims flocked to occupied east Jerusalem Friday for the first weekly prayers of Ramadan, a pilgrimage that went off peacefully but endemic violence elsewhere in the territories left two Palestinians dead, one a 12-year-old boy.

U.S. Supreme Court Steps Into U.S. Election Quagmire 

With a stroke of his gavel, Chief Justice William Rehnquist on Friday opened a historic session of the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether to get entangled in the legal quagmire surrounding the deadlocked U.S. presidential election.