Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – Pat Burgess wipes away the tears. He doesn't want to make the life-or-death decision. The Australian political officer working for the United Nations has just been told that staff and their dependants, including Timorese, are evacuating from the besieged UN compound in Dili.

Kupang – The mayor of the East Timorese capital Dili warned Wednesday that the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) had to leave the territory or the killing and destruction there would continue.

Louise Williams – Catholic Church leaders were hiding in remote East Timor mountains last night after pro-Jakarta militia gangs went on a rampage of bloody retribution, murdering at least 14 priests and nuns and stabbing the Bishop of Baucau.

Patrick Mcdowell, Jakarta – Drunk on stolen beer, pro-Indonesian militiamen looted the UN compound in East Timor on Friday, smashing equipment and terrifying East Timorese still inside after most of the UN staff were evacuated.

When Sister Margaret arrived in Kupang yesterday after a 30- minute flight from East Timor's capital Dili, she suddenly realised how lucky she was to be a nun. "I was able to go off with the other sisters and priests to the bishop's house. I was not herded into a truck like an animal and driven off to a camp. We managed to retain some dignity."

Sydney – Indonesian military were rounding up East Timorese on the main Indonesian island of Java, one of Australia's leading pro-Timor activists said Thursday.

Jakarta – Antiforeigner sentiments marked a series of demonstrations which took place across the capital on Wednesday.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – The looting never stops. It's brazen now: soldiers, police and militia are stealing whatever they can carry.

Compere: Rafael Epstein has also been speaking to Inga Lemp, who was based in Baukau for the past month. She's been telling Rafael Epstein of conversations that she followed on a radio scanner.

Darwin – An American UN worker recovering in an Australian hospital after being wounded in East Timor said Wednesday that he was shot by an Indonesian soldier.

Earl Candler was airlifted to the northern Australian city of Darwin after being shot twice in the abdomen while driving in an unmarked UN vehicle through the town of Liquica four days ago.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – There are not many of us left, here in the United Nations' besieged compound. It seems the military's operation, to terrify the UN and media out of Dili, is running right on schedule.

Jakarta – Enforcing a state of emergency in East Timor will not improve the situation because the military is unlikely to be neutral, said a former military commander in the province.

Bernard Lagan, Darwin – Eyewitnesses have told how the Indonesian military combined with militias in Dili to storm Catholic Church and Red Cross compounds, forcing out thousands of East Timorese people sheltering there.

The Democratic Socialist Party calls on all supporters of democracy to mobilise to demand that the Australian government insist that the United Nations authorise the immediate dispatch of Australian troops to East Timor.

The Indonesian military – presented to the world as providing security while East Timor prepares for independence – is in fact orchestrating the brutal campaign of killings and intimidation, according to secret United Nations assessments.

Dili – There were no smiles of celebration on the faces of the East Timorese in the capital Dili today when the results of the historic independence ballot were announced.

At least 20 people have been killed and the western East Timorese town of Maliana set ablaze and all but destroyed.

An Australian observer who left the town early this afternoon in an armed convoy of Indonesian police said over 200 houses were burning in the town and over 100 people had taken refuge in the Indonesian police compound.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – East Timorese have voted overwhelmingly to end Indonesia's rule of their territory and become one of the world's newest, and smallest, independent countries. But violent pro-Indonesia militias gave the pro-independence majority little chance to celebrate.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – It was the birth of a nation, the victorious end to a 24-year struggle for independence. But in Dili today no champagne was flowing, few people were rejoicing.

Paul Daley – The resounding pro-independence result of East Timor's autonomy ballot yesterday allowed Alexander Downer to say what has been on the minds of foreign ministers since Indonesia invaded, then annexed, the territory 24 years ago.

Dili – Hundreds of pro-Indonesian militiamen roamed through the East Timorese capital Dili early Saturday as fear gripped the territory with the United Nations announcing an overwhelming vote in favour of independence.

Ian Timberlake, Dili – Furious United Nations staff – evacuated from Maliana following the murders of two UN poll workers in the district – yesterday blasted Indonesian police for doing nothing while anti-independence militiamen rampaged.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – A skinny boy in filthy threadbare clothes hangs around my hotel. Ameu, 10, is a good kid, keeping an eye on my room when I am out. He has suffered a great deal; both his mother and father are dead. This morning he was running his finger along the blade of a sharp dagger. I asked him where he got it but he just shrugged. "I will not be killed," he said.

Jakarta – Indonesian opposition leader and presidential candidate Megawati Sukarnoputri said Saturday she was "very sad" East Timor had voted overwhelmingly for independence.

Megawati, who had opposed the separation of East Timor, said she was "very concerned and very sad about the autonomy ballot's result," the Suara Pembaruan evening daily reported.

Jakarta – Leader of the National Council for East Timorese Resistance (CNRT) Xanana Gusmao hails the Aug. 30 ballot results as a victory for all East Timorese and calls for an immediate presence of an international force in East Timor to protect the people from the Indonesian Military (TNI).

Jakarta – President B.J. Habibie pledged Saturday to honor East Timor's decision to reject Indonesia's offer for a special autonomy and ordered the military and police to maintain law and order in the territory until the United Nations assumes transitional authority pending elections for a new government.

New York, Friday: East Timor voted overwhelmingly to break its ties with Indonesia in favour of independence, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced here tonight.

More than 23 years after Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony, the voters rejected wide-ranging autonomy within Indonesia by 78.5 percent, he said.

Craig Skehan, Jakarta – Differences have emerged within the Indonesian Government over whether international peacekeepers could be needed in East Timor after tomorrow's announcement of results from the self-determination ballot.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Indonesia's armed forces have long used street gangs and self-styled militia to do their dirty work, with East Timor simply providing a contemporary example of a pattern which goes back to at least the 1940s.

Many of the army's earliest leaders themselves came from the local militia set up by the Japanese occupying forces during World War II.

Richard Lloyd Parry, Dili – Even before the automatic rifles started firing late yesterday afternoon, the scene around the United Nations headquarters in the East Timorese capital, Dili, was close to anarchy.

Jonathan Head --The militiamen simply appeared out of nowhere, and set upon us. We ran as fast as we could, and I sought shelter with my colleagues behind a building. I don't entirely recall what happened, though I gather colleagues of mine saw me being beaten. I think I'm quite lucky to be alive.

Mark Dodd, Gleno – Indonesian authorities have lost control of the strategic coffee-growing district town of Gleno which is now in the hands of hundreds of pro-Jakarta militia.

Yesterday afternoon a Herald journalist saw widespread destruction of property, including houses burning, and militia checkpoints throughout the town.

David Jenkins – The Indonesian Government was in disarray yesterday over the escalating violence in East Timor, with the civilian government of President B. J. Habibie wringing its hands and hinting at a possible foreign peacekeeping force as an increasingly defiant army showed no sign it was willing to stop instigating the unrest.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – When Indonesia-backed militias go on the rampage in East Timor, threatening the United Nations, the East Timorese and local and foreign observers, reactions in Jakarta vary from outright denial to ashamed recognition of national failure.

Mark Riley, New York – The Indonesian ambassador to the United Nations was ordered to appear before a special session of the Security Council yesterday to face international anger over his country's handling of the East Timor bloodshed.

Dili – Hundreds of anti-independence militiamen blocked the street outside the UN headquarters in East Timor's capital Wednesday, setting on fire a nearby house and shooting cars driving into the UN compound.

A taxi carrying journalists to the scene was fired on and had its rear window smashed by militiamen.

Joanna Jolly and Agencies in Dili – Anarchy returned to East Timor's capital yesterday with at least five people killed as hundreds of anti-independence militiamen targeted the United Nations. The violence came as the counting of votes from the autonomy referendum began.

Hamish McDonald – In Dili's airport, members of the Aitarak militia stand in the departure lounge, preventing Timorese and Indonesian families boarding the Merpati Airlines jet to fly to Denpasar and safety. Airport police just watch.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Thousands of Jakarta supporters in East Timor have packed their belongings, locked their homes and fled across the border into Indonesian West Timor in fear of renewed bloodshed following Monday's ballot.

Jakarta – Indonesia's leading pro-Moslem newspaper on Tuesday called the UN-run independence ballot in East Timor a conspiracy to undermine the world's most populous Moslem nation.

Despite fears of militia intimidation, the people of East Timor turned out in their thousands to vote yesterday on independence. David Shanks reports from Maliana.

In one of East Timor's most populous and strategic border areas, people power yesterday seemed to blow away the militias.

Lindsay Murdoch – Pro-integration forces blockaded Dili airport and set up roadblocks around the East Timorese capital late yesterday amid unconfirmed reports that militia had killed two more United Nations staff.

Dili – Indonesian authorities on Tuesday deported four Australian journalists from East Timor, accusing them of inciting violence during the territory's autonomy ballot, a military official said.

Paul Daley, Canberra – Australia has rejected advances from the United States to cooperate on peacekeeping plans for strife-torn East Timor. The diplomatic snub comes as Washington considers whether to send the Marines into East Timor if a United Nations peacekeeping force is needed.

Steven Gan – Today the people will decide. After 23 years of brutal Indonesian occupation, East Timorese will be given a choice: independence or autonomy. Some 450,000 people are due to vote in a historic referendum to either opt for a union with Indonesia or to put their half-island on the road to eventual independence.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – Australia's senior observers have given a gloomy assessment of Monday's historic ballot on the future of East Timor, but said there was no alternative but to press ahead.

Washington – US President Bill Clinton has warned the president of Indonesia that relations with the US will be seriously damaged – including an implicit threat to curtail international aid – if there is mass violence during next week's referendum on self-rule in East Timor, The New York Times reported Saturday, citing senior administration officials.

The battle for the hearts and minds – and votes – of the East Timorese people will not lose its passion, writes Hamish McDonald from Dili, even after Monday's referendum.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Under intense diplomatic pressure, Jakarta has recalled from Dili a senior intelligence officer alleged to be a key figure behind militia activity in East Timor.

Brian Toohey – Australian policy makers have fought long and hard to get the international community to trust Indonesia's security forces to prevent a bloodbath in East Timor.