Helen Signy and Cynthia Banham – The Australian Government issued a secret directive that refugee applications from the East Timorese community should be put on hold, documents obtained by the Herald claim.

East Timor may not seek a United Nations tribunal to try cases of militia atrocities three years ago even if Indonesia's human rights court fails to deliver justice according to its foreign minister.

Jakarta – Residents reported gun and mortarfire Sunday as the armed forces showed no signs of meeting a unilateral separatist deadline to pull back from their siege of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)positions AFP reported.

Dili – Violent clashes Monday between security forces and residents near East Timor's second city, Baucau, left two people injured, a police source said.

The violence erupted after about 20 inhabitants of Uailili, a village outside Baucau, created a road block and demanded cash from motorists wishing to pass, explained the source.

Andrew West – Under the threat of deportation, the Lay family celebrated the eighth anniversary of their arrival in Australia at their Fairfield home yesterday.

The Immigration Department has written to about 1,800 East Timorese asking them to show cause why they should be allowed to remain in Australia. Many of the refugees have been in Australia for up to 10 years.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – Indonesian armed forces commander General Endriartono Sutarto conceded this week that it was possible Indonesian soldiers carried out a deadly ambush on Freeport mine workers in Papua three months ago.

Banda Aceh – International mediators yesterday unveiled a peace plan that they hope will end 26 years of fighting between separatists and government troops in Indonesia's Aceh province.

The plan offers more autonomy for the province's four million people and elections for a provincial legislature and administration.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Kartini, a vegetable vendor, was standing on the sidewalk after shopping for vegetables at the Cengkareng traditional market in West Jakarta, when several Public Order Officers came and forced her into their truck.

Ahmad Junaidi, Jakarta – The city administration announced on Friday that the recent Bali bombing tragedy has affected the city's economic growth, and has forced a revision from the previously estimated 3.87 percent to between 3.5 percent and 3.7 percent this year.

Dili – The UN will respect its engagement with East Timor and has no plans for an anticipated reduction or withdrawal of its civilian team and peacekeeping forces, Dili's UN ambassador said Thursday in New York.

Jakarta – More than 1,000 Indonesian troops have tightened their siege of a separatist rebel group in Aceh and are ready to attack if necessary, AFP reported.

Troops have moved closer to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels but are delaying any attack for fear of hurting civilians who are with the rebels, saidLieutenant Colonel Firdaus Komarno.

Ahmad Pathoni, Jakarta – Police in the Indonesian province of Papua said yesterday that they have photographs of four Indonesian special forces soldiers suspected of involvement in the ambush near the Freeport mine that killed two Americans in August.

Denise Leith and John Wing – Over the past few years a growing body of evidence has linked the Indonesian military (TNI) with the activities of terrorist groups within the republic.

Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara – Armindo Soares Mariano, caretaker of UNTAS – an East Timorese refugee organization – disclosed here on Friday that East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao would not be granting amnesty to pro-Indonesia militiamen who fled to East Nusa Tenggara following the popular ballot in 1999.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – With the deadline for the closure of refugee camps here drawing near, 121 East Timorese families have registered for the government-sponsored resettlement program.

The head of the operation dealing with the refugees, Lt. Col. Pieter Lobo, said on Thursday the East Timorese families would be resettled on Sumba island in East Nusa Tenggara.

[In the wake of the October 12 bombing on the Sari Club at Kuta Beach, tourist arrivals to the island of Bali have fallen by 75 percent. Now, for each hotel bed that is occupied, six more lie empty. The impact is being felt throughout Indonesia – and if holiday makers don't come back, then more than two and a half million people could be permanently out of a job.

There are concerns two foreign women being held in Aceh will be used by Indonesian authorities to set an example to foreigners wanting to meddle in Indonesia's politics.

Former president Suharto's youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandla Putra, currently serving a 15 year jail sentence for murder, weapons possession and fleeing justice, is likely to be granted a one-month remission in conjunction with the Islamic holiday of Idul Fitri next month.

A lack of foreign investment rules has been highlighted as the main factor restricting economic growth in the newly independent East Timor.

East Timor's Australian-born First Lady, Kirsty Sword-Gusmao, says there have been plenty of enquiries from potential investors.

James Dunn – For the Howard Government to move to restore links with Indonesia's special forces command, Kopassus, at this time, would be an act of indecent haste.

Last week, the Defence Minister, Robert Hill, said: "Kopassus is the counter-terrorist capability in Indonesia and to defeat terrorists requires co-operation and mutual support."

[East Timor has marked the eleventh anniversary of the Santa Cruz massacre. Hundreds of people were killed in the Dili cemetery on November 12, 1991, when Indonesian forces opened fire on some 2,000 peaceful demonstrators. The East Timorese marked the day with a mass and flown the nation's flag at half mast.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – The House of Representatives (DPR) on Monday endorsed a bill on the formation of 14 new regencies in Papua in a bid to cut red tape and increase the people's welfare in the sparsely-populated, large province.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – The morning after a deadly bomb ripped apart a popular nightclub in Bali, three senior generals huddled together for a meeting with President Megawati Sukarnoputri at her residence.

Jane Perlez in Denpasar – Two early breaks, including the discovery of a red getaway motorbike, combined with old-fashioned detective work, led Indonesian police to the first suspect in the Bali terrorist attack.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – The capital went into mourning on November 13, 1998, when 12 people were killed and dozens of others were injured, mostly by gunfire, during clashes between antigovernment protesters led by students and heavily armed police officers and soldiers.

Alison Dellit – "It was under the military rule of Suharto that Indonesia experienced the only decades of stability that it has so far enjoyed. They were decades of corruption and suppression, but also of increasing prosperity and stability.

Jakarta – Papua Military chief Maj. Gen. M. Simbolon said on Tuesday that the military would sue a non-governmental organization (NGO) for libel over an inaccurate report it released implicating its officers in the ambush of a bus in Timika in August.

Bambang Bider and Oyos Saroso H.N. Pontianak/Bandar Lampung – The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) staged a demonstration to protest attacks against three journalists in Lampung and Pontianak, and demanded authorities to investigate the incidents thoroughly.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – Witnesses at East Timor's truth and reconciliation commission have described atrocities going back to 1975 involving Indonesian soldiers, militia groups – and the Fretilin Party that liberated the newly independent nation.

Dili – East Timorese students and human rights groups called Tuesday for an international court to judge those responsible for human rights abuses during the Indonesian occupation of Timor, on the anniversary of a massacre in which over 100 people died.

Dili – About 1,000 protesters Tuesday demanding that the Indonesian soldiers who shot to death 200 people at a rally 11 years ago be brought to justice.

The November 12, 1991, massacre at the Santa Cruz cemetery, in the capital, Dili, was secretly caught on video and broadcast around the world. It galvanized opposition to Indonesia's brutal rule of East Timor.

A'an Suryana, Jakarta – Shocking government statistics show that more than 25 percent of Indonesia's 18 million under five-year-old children are suffering from malnutrition.

And experts are warning the "alarming" figure is worsening due to the government's lack of will to deal with the problem.

Linda Mottram – Out of control and not to be trusted: that's the caution being sounded this morning to the Federal Government about Kopassus, as Canberra contemplates re-establishing links with Indonesia's disgraced special forces unit, which is also the country's special counter-terrorism unit.

Jason Koutsoukis – The $3.5 billion Bayu-Undan natural gas project between Australia and East Timor received a major boost yesterday when a joint federal parliamentary committee recommended ratification of a joint ownership treaty.

The treaty will give project operator Phillips Petroleum the required certainty to proceed with the second phase of the project.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Press activists criticized the government's plan to establish a public information dissemination agency for fear that it would only pave the way for a return to the New Order's tight information policy.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Nani Farida, Jakarta/Banda Aceh – Fear of the worst bloodshed is looming in Aceh as the Indonesian Military (TNI) continue their siege on separatist rebels, who refused to budge and rejected calls for their surrender on Monday.

[Indonesia's Armed Forces chief, General Endriartono Sutarto, has agreed to send a special team to the province of Papua, to probe claims of military involvement in killings of three three people at the American-owned Freeport gold and copper mine, 10 weeks ago.

Fitri Wulandari and A'an Suryana, Jakarta/Bali – Oddities in the police investigation into the Bali bombing need further explanation for the sake of credibility, an intelligence analyst said on Sunday.

Debbie A. Lubis, Jakarta – Embattled former ruling party Golkar has recruited a number of retired police and military officers into its ranks, which analysts described as a move to maintain or even improve its performance in the 2004 general elections.

Jakarta – Prosecutors on Monday sought the minimum 10-year jail sentence for a former Indonesian army chief officer charged with crimes against humanity in East Timor in 1999.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri inaugurated on Sunday the Seroja Memorial, located inside the compound of the Indonesian Military (TNI) Headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta, as part of a ceremony commemorating National Heroes Day.

Todung Mulya Lubis – The Bali tragedy, which killed over 190 people and wounded countless others, has finally jolted the government into admitting the existence of terrorism in Indonesia.

Dili – Australia is using East Timor's vulnerability as one of the world's poorest nations to gain leverage in negotiations on the carving up of oil resources in the Timor Sea, Dili's prime minister said Monday.

Jennifer Hewett – The Minister for Defence, Robert Hill, has given his strongest backing yet to the controversial idea of Australia working with the Indonesian special forces unit Kopassus, despite concerns about its human rights abuses and possible links with some Islamic terrorist groups.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – A few days before the Bali bombing, a Yemen national quietly slipped into Indonesia.

Stephen Khan – A Scottish woman who has been under arrest in Indonesia since September for allegedly misusing a tourist visa faces being held for a further 20 days without charge.

[Just what was Jakarta trying to achieve two days ago by sending its acting ambassador scurrying back to Canberra with threats that the Government might have to withdraw its cooperation in the Bali investigation?

When neighbours become ensnared by mutual insults and perceived slights the easiest, and most perilous, course of action is to escalate the dispute.

Bill Guerin – Indonesian investors are to be wooed in a deliberate effort to release the potential of the domestic economy and get money flowing through the business infrastructures.

Mark Baker, Sarah Crichton, Mark Riley and agencies – The suspect who has allegedly admitted taking part in the Bali bombings has told police he wanted to kill as many Americans as possible and "wasn't happy" that Australians died.