He was a rebel, a guerrilla leader, the symbol of his country. She was A foreigner, a teacher, a spy. They fell in love though they'd never met.

This is a story, a pair of stories, as big as a nation and as small as A kiss. I know it sounds like a movie promo, but it's true. Please Welcome the President and First Lady of East Timor, Xanana and Kirsty Sword Gusmao.

Ellen Nakashima, Jakarta – Indonesian government officials said they expect to avert calls for an international war crimes tribunal on Indonesian military atrocities in East Timor, promoting instead a truth commission to probe abuses committed in the province after it voted for independence in 1999.

Amnesty International Secretary General, Irene Khan, wrote today to the members of the Security Council urging them to act upon the recommendations of a recent UN report on justice for Timor-Leste.

Australian businessman, Ian Melrose, has put to air a new television ad which aims to expose the Howard Government's tactics regarding a deal to be signed with East Timor over oil and gas resources in the disputed Timor Sea.

Jakarta – Human rights groups on Wednesday called on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to back a plan for international trials for Indonesian military officers accused of atrocities in East Timor in 1999.

Irwin Arieff – The Security Council is sitting on a UN expert panel's recommendation for an international tribunal to try Indonesian and local militia leaders blamed for a deadly 1999 rampage in East Timor, diplomats and UN officials said on Wednesday.

His Excellency Kofi Annan Secretary-General The United Nations 1 United Nations Plaza New York, New York 10017-3515

Tom Allard – It has to be the most unlikely of alliances, a concord that has defied a bloody history forged in battle. One man, Xanana Gusmao, was leader of a tenacious and elusive East Timorese resistance. The other, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was the first commander of the first battalion of Indonesian troops sent out to destroy them by any means necessary.

Trudy Harris, Mark Dodd – East Timor president Xanana Gusmao yesterday defended a lucrative weapons deal between his Government and the Prime Minister's brother.

A spokesman for Mr Gusmao rejected opposition concerns the deal lacked transparency, saying a public tendering process existed for procurements such as sophisticated military equipment.

"International justice is now a crucial last resort to bring justice to the victims particularly as both the Timorese and Indonesian Governments have agreed on a Truth and Friendship Commission that will not submit to a process for genuine justice and real accountability" (statement by the Bishops of Dili and Baucau, April 2005)

East Timor on Friday stood by its former occupier, Indonesia, in jointly rejecting a UN panel's recommendation that an international tribunal be created to try those accused of violence sparked by the territory's vote for independence in 1999.

Jakarta – A number of human rights non-governmental organizations questioned the Indonesian government's rejection of the recommendation of a UN appointed panel of experts following the settlement of human rights violation cases in East Timor.

1. Who says what:

It should be clear that most info coming out at present is from Australian government leaks.

The juxtaposition of Howard speaking 'after meeting with East Timor President Xanana Gusmao' does NOT mean Xanana had briefed the Australian PM.

Dennis Shanahan, Nigel Wilson – East Timor is expected to get more than $13 billion in gas royalties after a new deal with the Australian Government that is $8 billion more generous than first offered seven years ago.

The deal, which will take several weeks to put into a formal agreement, almost triples the revenue for East Timor over the next 15 to 30 years.

Mark Dodd – The East Timorese Prime Minister's brother has been granted a lucrative monopoly to sell weapons to the country's Government, with a licence to broker sophisticated military equipment including tanks, patrol boats and attack helicopters.

New York – The idea of forming an international tribunal to try the 1999 post-ballot human rights violations in East Timor is not likely to gain the support of UN Security Council members, an Indonesian diplomat said here Wednesday.

Sydney – East Timor is in danger of becoming a failed state without outside aid, the fledgling nation's President Xanana Gusmao said on a visit to Australia Thursday.

Gusmao told a function in Sydney that East Timor was struggling three years after its independence from Indonesia and needed Australia to continue providing aid and administrative support.

All of East Timor's fledgling dreams, and all of the threats to those dreams, are on display in The Australian today. First the good news. After a long negotiation, agreement is near on the mechanism for distributing tax and royalties on $30 billion worth of gas and oil under the Timor Sea.

Mark Dod – East Timor is Asia's poorest country. Its President, former guerilla fighter and national resistance hero Xanana Gusmao, says money is urgently needed to build hospitals, schools and stamp out endemic poverty.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer didn't arrive in Melbourne in time on Tuesday to see himself and his Labor predecessor Gareth Evans share a toast with oil-filled champagne glasses.

Mr Downer missed a small Melbourne street protest over the Timor Gap oil and gas reserves, at which two demonstrators acted the parts of the ministerial pair.

Negotiations to determine seabed boundaries and ownership of the oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea have been long-running between Australia and it's northern neighbours – previously Indonesia and now independent East Timor. But despite reports of agreement being near, it appears the issue of permanent maritime boundaries will again be deferred.

Jakarta – Indonesia today formally rejected a recommendation by a UN panel of experts that an international tribunal be set up to judge military officers and others accused of atrocities in East Timor in 1999.

Jakarta – The Commission of Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KONTRAS) has urged the government to follow up the United Nations' recommendations to reinvestigate the 1999 bloodshed in East Timor and to bring the case to the international rights tribunal.

Veronica Brooks, Canberra – East Timor's Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said Tuesday a revenue-sharing pact with Australia covering the US$5 billion Sunrise natural gas project in the Timor Sea was fair and he expects it to be signed in a few weeks.

Marwaan Macan-Markar, Bangkok – Indonesia's hope of emerging as a force for democracy in Southeast Asia faces a reality check in regard to its stance on justice – especially justice for victims of human-rights violations in East Timor.

Dili – Leaders of martial arts groups in East Timor that have fought deadly clashes in the last year signed an accord Thursday to seek dialogue rather than violence to resolve future disputes.

A joint declaration was signed by the leaders of 10 of the 14 martial arts groups invited by President Xanana Gusmco to renounce violence against members of other gangs.

Anne Barker – The United Nations Security Council has been handed a report that recommends an International War Crimes tribunal on atrocities in East Timor, if Indonesia fails to retry those accused of masterminding the violence in 1999. But Indonesia has rejected the proposal.

Evelyn Leopold, United Nations – Six years after the Indonesian army and allied gangs waged a scorched-earth campaign in East Timor, a UN-appointed panel concluded that Jakarta's prosecution of suspects was seriously flawed.

Jakarta – Indonesia flatly rejected a recommendation by a UN panel to set up an international tribunal to prosecute Indonesian forces and militia leaders accused of rights abuses in East Timor, officials said Thursday.

The Indonesian Government has flatly rejected a United Nations demand that it punishes the military officers accused of masterminding the atrocities in East Timor in 1999.

Barker: In the pre-independence bloodshed that ravaged East Timor in 1999, more than 14-hundred people were killed, many of them in massacres.

Karen Michelmore – Australia and East Timor are close to striking a deal on a maritime boundary, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said tonight.

The East Timor Government was considering a draft deal, and it was likely there would be no need for further talks, he said.

A UN Commission of Experts has advised the UN Security Council to establish an international criminal tribunal if Indonesia fails to take action towards securing accountability for serious crimes committed in East Timor within six months.

The long-awaited final report of the UN Commission of Experts appointed to investigate the judicial processes for atrocities committed in Timor Leste in 1999, submitted to the UN Security Council this week, has called on the governments of Timor Leste and Indonesia to take important steps to truly bring to justice those responsible for the crimes.

New York – The United Nations Security Council should endorse a UN commission's recommendations for addressing Indonesia's failure to ensure justice for crimes against humanity in East Timor, Human Rights Watch said today. The commission's report, which was sent to the Security Council, should be made public as soon as possible.

Pressure was mounting on Indonesia to address its bloodstained exit from East Timor in 1999, as a UN team of experts called for an international tribunal to prosecute security forces and militia.

Slobodan Lekic, Jakarta – Human rights groups Tuesday hailed a UN panel recommendation that an international tribunal be formed to try Indonesian military officers accused of violence in East Timor in 1999 and attacks on the United Nations mission there.

A United Nations commission says Indonesia should be given six months to re-try those accused of destroying East Timor or they should face an international war crimes court.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has reportedly handed-over the report of the Commission of Experts on justice for East Timor to the Security Council. The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network issued the following statement:

The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) congratulates the UN's Commission of Experts (COE) for its thorough and thoughtful report.

David Rose – Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is facing MPs' demands to help clear up the mystery surrounding the slaying of two British newsmen 30 years ago.

The United States has offered full support in working with East Timor and Indonesia to make the Truth and Friendship Commission formed by the two countries as credible as possible as it investigates alleged atrocities in East Timor in 1999, US Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Pierre Prosper said Wednesday.

Washington – Poverty-struck East Timor has made "commendable progress" since wrenching its independence from Indonesia but needs to do much more to manage its new-found energy wealth, the IMF said on Monday.

Jill Jolliffe, Darwin – Indonesia should retry accused war criminals acquitted by a special court in Jakarta because the process was a sham, according to United Nations experts on East Timor.

Veronica Brooks, Canberra – East Timor's Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, said Friday he believes Dili and Canberra can quickly finalize a revenue-sharing agreement covering Woodside Petroleum Ltd.'s (WPL.AU) stalled US$5 billion Sunrise gas project in the Timor Sea.

"Yes, I think it is possible this month," Alkatiri told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview.

Michael Richardson – It has been a rollercoaster ride of more than two years of sometimes acrimonious talks between Australia and East Timor on how to share energy reserves in the Timor Sea.

Lisbon – A leader of East Timor's Roman Catholics warned Thursday that although the recent dispute between his powerful church and the Dili government is resolved, "nothing is definitive in these types of misunderstandings and conflicts".

Bloomberg – East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao said his country shouldn't rush to settle a dispute with Australia over offshore oil and gas fields before the three-year-old nation can handle the royalties, which may exceed $14 billion over two decades.

Commenting ahead of the East Timorese Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri's visit to Melbourne today, Timor Sea Justice Campaign co-ordinator Tom Clarke labelled the Australian Government's proposal on how to split gas and oil in the Timor Sea as miserly, deceptive and short sighted.

Ahead of a visit by the Prime Minister of East Timor, Mari Alkatiri, to Melbourne this week, the Australian Council of Trade Unions has renewed its calls for East Timor to gain a fairer share of the benefits from gas and oil development in the Timor Sea.

Commenting on the visit by East Timor Prime Minister, ACTU President Sharan Burrow said:

An inquest will be held into the death of Balibo Five cameraman Brian Peters, killed 30 years ago in East Timor.

An international relations academic says Australian peackeeping troops are being withdrawn from East Timor prematurely.