Dili – East Timor's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao pledged to prioritise security as he read out his plans for governingthe tiny nation over the next five years to parliament on Thursday.

Alice Coster, Jakarta – The ruling Timor Leste government is "illegitimate" and "illegal", said former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, but building stronger relations with Indonesia based

Jakarta – East Timor's new government will not last beyond two years because of mounting friction among its coalition parties, ex-prime minister Mari Alkatiri said in an interview publi

Evelyn Leopold, United Nations – The UN Security Council called on East Timor to refrain from further violence after mayhem erupted when independence leader Xanana Gusmao became prime m

Jakarta – Secretary General of Timor Leste's Fretilin Party Mari Alkatiri visited the Prosperous and Justice Party (PKS) headquarters Monday in an attempt to foster relationships betwee

The former head of the Defence Intelligence Organisation falsely claimed he did not know the flow of intelligence to Australian troops in East Timor had been deliberately cut, the ACT S

Tito Belo, Dili – The United Nations mission in East Timor may be extended by another five years from 2008 to oversee the revamp of the young nation's fragile security forces, its chief

The top UN official in East Timor said Thursday the fledgling country that gained its independence five years ago remains fragile but is no "failed state" as recurring political turmoil

Hamish McDonald – A wealthy businessman will spend nearly $500,000 trying to get Asia-Pacific leaders to focus on human rights abuses this week.

Paul Cleary – Four years ago, then premier (of Victoria State) Steve Bracks led a solemn procession through the main street of Balibo, East Timor, wearing the headdress and rainbow-colo

Roderick Campbell – The Defence Intelligence Organisation's former director denied yesterday claims of a cover-up over a cut in intelligence to Australian troops in East Timor.

[Andre Vltcheck interviewed Mari Alkatiri on September 13, in the Sultan Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Dili – Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer arrived in East Timor on Thursday for a one-day visit on the anniversary of the tiny neighbouring nation's 1999 independence vote.

Tony Iltis – Former East Timorese prime minister Mari Alkatiri has called for the withdrawal of Australian troops from his country.

Dili – As a veneer of calm descends on East Timor after Thursday's clashes, the political tension remains high.

Defence has rejected claims from East Timor renegade Alfredo Reinado that Australian soldiers broke the necks of two wounded men and shot dead civilians during the raid on his hideout f

This mountain town in Timor's eastern highlands has known its share of horrors and in recent weeks bad times returned with a wave of violent demonstrations and the alleged rape of an 11

Gangs armed with steel darts and machetes clashed in the town of Metinaro in Timor Leste on Thursday.

Dili – East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has offered the disgruntled former ruling party Fretilin several seats in his cabinet, in an apparently conciliatory gesture, a report sai

Dili – Hundreds of rampaging youths torched dozens of houses and clashed across East Timor on Thursday, leaving at least two people dead, the UN said, in violence sparked by the appoint

Dili – Hundreds of machete-wielding youths clashed in an East Timorese town Thursday in the latest outbreak of violence following the appointment of a new government early this month, t

Tony Iltis – On August 6, East Timorese President Jose Ramos Horta appointed his predecessor, Xanana Gusmao, prime minister and asked him to form a government without Fretilin, the larg

[Shakedown: Australia's grab for Timor oil. By Paul Cleary. Allen & Unwin, 2007. 336 pages, $29.95. Reviewed by Vannessa Hearman.]

[East Timor: Beyond Independence. Edited by Damien Kingsbury and Michael Leach Monash University Press, 2007. 302 pages, $36.95. Reviewed by Jon Lamb.]

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – Australian troops in East Timor stole flags of the deposed Fretilin party, tore them up and wiped their backsides with them, Fretilin claimed yesterday.

Today, more than sixty organisations, comprising local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and United Nations agencies have issued a public statement condemning rece

East Timor's former ruling party has abandoned plans for a court challenge to the legality of the Government sworn in last week, an official said.

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Dili – A furious United Nations chief in East Timor has rejected as "lies" a claim by the former ruling Fretilin party that his staff was responsible for triggering

Dili – East Timor's newly-appointed Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao on Tuesday accused the former ruling party of Fretilin of failing to halt ongoing outbreaks of violence in the tiny nati

John Mcbeth, Senior Writer – Even the commissioners themselves privately acknowledge that there is one thing missing from the hearings conducted by the Timor Leste-Indonesia Truth and F

East Timor's former ruling party chief will sit in parliament with the opposition despite insisting the country's new government is illegitimate and has no right to rule.

Lisbon, Portugal – United Nations peacekeepers maintained a tense calm Monday in East Timor, which has been rattled by riots, rapes and arson since Aug.

Dili – Unidentified assailants opened fire on a UN convoy in East Timor amid ongoing violence following the appointment of resistance fighter Xanana Gusmao as prime minister, the United

Tito Belo, Dili – Armed gangs assaulted women students in a Catholic convent in East Timor, including a 12-year-old, a priest said on Saturday, in a wave of ethnic and political violenc

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Dili – Disgraced former East Timorese interior minister Rogerio Lobato has fled the country aboard a chartered Lear jet after a more than 24-hour standoff on the ru

Michael Leach – President Jose Ramos Horta's appointment of Xanana Gusmao as Prime Minister has once again set off conflict in East Timor's streets.

Rory Callinan, Dili – Pedro Belo hasn't slept in two days.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – East Timor is heading into a "people power" uprising, one of the country's most powerful politicians said yesterday, as the independence hero Xanana Gusmao took

Tim Costello – East Timor again appears engulfed in flames and violence, this time in the wake of a relatively free and fair election and the ascension of the revolutionary hero Xanana

Mark Dodd – As East Timor's capital Dili lay a smoking ruin and starving dogs picked at rotting corpses, victims of retreating pro-Jakarta militia in September 1999, a US diplomat turne

Rory Callinan, Time correspondent in Dili – East Timor's former ruling Fretilin party warned last night it had lost control of its supporters, who in a second day of rioting in the capi

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – Gangs attacked Australian and United Nations personnel in the East Timorese capital, Dili, yesterday as the former ruling party Fretilin planned sweeping protest

Dili – The top UN official in East Timor condemned on Wednesday violence in the tiny nation that has injured at least eight and led to more than 70 arrests since Xanana Gusmao was named

Ed Davies, Dili – It has pristine beaches, lush highlands and an exotic cultural mix – and lies just a few hours flight east of the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

Damien Kingsbury – The troubles currently gripping East Timor following the appointment of Xanana Gusmao as prime minister reflect many of the reasons the country was plunged into polit

David Robie, Dili – Jornal Nacional Diaro is the smallest and youngest of Timor-Leste's three daily newspapers, but it's one of the brightest and gutsiest.

Rory Callinan, Dili – Herminio de Oliveira was enjoying a beer at his tiny drinks and cigarette stall near Dili airport when he heard the yelling from the nearby refugee camp.

Dili – East Timor's president was scheduled to announce the formation of the next government on Wednesday as former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri declared he was in the running for his o

Tokyo – After five years as an independent nation, East Timor has declared its first national park.

Dili – East Timor's Fretilin party said Thursday its lawmakers would boycott parliament until it is asked to form a government by the president following national elections in June.