Canberra – Australia will leave around 100 peacekeeping troops in East Timor if the United Nations extends its mission in the world's newest country for another year as expected, the government said on Wednesday.

Andrew Burrell, Manila – A United Nations-backed tribunal yesterday issued an arrest warrant for Indonesia's former military chief Wiranto, in a move that could become a wildcard issue in next month's presidential election campaign.

Indonesian's ex-military chief Wiranto has formally announced his presidential candidacy whilst dismissing an arrest warrant issued against him by an East Timor judge as "character assassination." "There are several pieces of information that are behind these charges, there clearly is an involvement of political activities in this country," Wiranto told reporters.

John Aglionby, Jakarta – A UN tribunal issued an arrest warrant yesterday against Indonesia's former military commander General Wiranto for crimes against humanity allegedly committed in East Timor five years ago.

East Timor's Prosecutor General has filed a court motion for a "revision" of the case against Indonesian presidential candidate Wiranto, a day after a UN-backed court issued a warrant for his arrest.

Sydney – An Australian journalist has been arrested in East Timor, accused of subversion and threatened with expulsion, an international press freedom organization said Tuesday.

The claim by the group Reporters Without Borders came just a week after the Paris-based group lauded the fledgling nation for having one of Asia's freest presses.

Indonesian presidential candidate, former armed forces chief Wiranto continues to attract controversy. United Nations prosecutors in East Timor have issued an arrest warrant against General Wiranto for alleged crimes against humanity.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – A United Nations-funded court in East Timor has issued an arrest warrant for the Indonesian presidential candidate Wiranto, beginning a process that could see the former military commander arrested if he leaves the country.

Four Corners investigates the increasingly rancorous fight between Australia and East Timor over the multi-billion dollar oil and gas bonanza that lies beneath the waters dividing them.

Mark Colvin: Indonesia's former military commander in chief, General Wiranto, is a man of shifting fortunes. Just a few weeks ago, he tasted his first ballot box victory, storming to the presidential nomination for the Golkar Party, formerly led by President Suharto.

East Timor's existence is under threat because of Australia's claims over the poor nation's natural resources, President Xanana Gusmao claims.

Mark Colvin: It's unlikely that Indonesian authorities will act on the arrest warrant against General Wiranto. They've already failed to act on similar warrants in hundreds of other cases.

The Deputy Prosecutor for Serious Crimes in Dili, Nicholas Koumjian, outlined the case against Wiranto to Anne Barker.

Daniel Dasey – A Sydney man accused by East Timor's Prime Minister of being a subversive has denied any wrongdoing, saying he is the subject of a political vendetta.

Journalist and PhD student Julian King, who has lived in East Timor for four years, was arrested in Dili on Thursday and was being held in the city's police station yesterday afternoon.

Jakarta – The US-based Human Rights Watch on Saturday urged East Timor's parliament to exclude serious human rights crimes from a general amnesty law now under consideration that proposes to pardon culprits in the country's 1999 bloodbath.

Rochelle Mutton – The worm-ridden body of a 12-year-old girl, who was suffocated by hundreds of the parasites, has alerted authorities to the spectre of worm infestations in East Timor.

Like thousands of other East Timorese children, the girl could have escaped death with the help of a 10-cent tablet.

Deborah Snow – The then head of the Defence Department, Paul Barratt, was angry and perplexed in late December 1998. He had just learned of Prime Minister John Howard's letter to the Indonesian President, B.J.Habibie, suggesting he grant autonomy to East Timor in advance of an eventual act of self-determination.

East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said that an Australian activist and freelance journalist ordered expelled from the country a day earlier had participated in the looting of his home in 2002.

Aboeprijadi Santoso, Amsterdam – Two former generals both have a strong chance of becoming the nation's new leader, even if they have blood on their hands. The rise of these generals-turned-party-leaders, however, rests on the shaky assumption that military leaders are more capable of providing stability than civilian leaders.

The newly ordained bishop of Dili, Alberto Ricardo da Silva, has promised to work for reconciliation between East Timorese living in and outside of the country.

Dili – The East Timorese parliament narrowly approved Wednesday a controversial general amnesty for all crimes committed up to March 31, including the so-called "serious crimes" carried out by anti-independence militias and Indonesian troops in 1999. The bill, presented by Justice Minister Domingos Sarmento, passed in generality by 24 votes to 18 with 14 abstentions.

Jason Koutsoukis, Canberra – Prime Minister John Howard may face further pressure to call a royal commission on Australia's intelligence services following new claims that the Defence Department for six weeks ignored warnings that a spy was operating in the army with impunity.

Lisbon – East Timor's Roman Catholic Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, who was awarded the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, has ruled out running for president in 2007.

"I have decided to leave politics to politicians," he said today in comments broadcast on Portuguese state television RTP.

Dili – Just two years after gaining independence, East Timor has one of Asia's freest presses, an international watchdog group said.

A reduced number of Australian troops and police are set to stay in East Timor after United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today proposed that the UN extend its mission in the fledgling nation for another year.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer welcomed Mr Annan's call for a one-year extension of the UN mandate in East Timor.

The language in the border negotiations between Australia and East Timor is heating up. East Timor says Australia is trying to steal its oil reserves while Canberra responds that Dili is trying to stir up emotion to create controversy. The latest idea from East Timor is a call for a third country or neutral umpire to step in to the border negotiations.

Toni Somes – It is an arduous task being "mother of the nation" when you are also the mother of two small boys, but Kirsty Sword Gusmao has never been one to sidestep challenges.

But East Timor's first lady did admit to being slightly weary in Charters Towers yesterday.

East Timor President Xanana Gusmao says his country will cooperate with former general Wiranto, indicted for crimes against humanity in the territory, if he was elected Indonesian president.

"We will support anyone who is elected democratically in the July presidential election [in Indonesia], including Wiranto," Gusmao told a news conference.

Jakarta – The Indonesian military is investigating reports that pro-Jakarta militiamen are stockpiling weapons along the border between East and West Timor, an officer said Saturday.

"We don't know how many are stashed. We suspect that the weapons were from past unrest," said Indonesian Army Col. Moeswarno Moesanip, who is in charge of security in the region.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – A joint military and police force in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) are keeping a watch on pro-Indonesia militiamen suspected of attempting to create chaos in neighboring East Timor.

The militia are hoarding thousands of firearms, grenades and ammunition in NTT territory bordering East Timor, the Indonesian Military (TNI) said on Friday.

Brendan Nicholson – Prime Minister John Howard has rejected the calls of army intelligence analyst Lieutenant-Colonel Lance Collins for a royal commission into Australia's intelligence agencies.

Mr Howard dismissed Colonel Collins's claims that there were serious systemic failures in the military intelligence agencies.

Tom Allard – Defence Intelligence Organisation chief Frank Lewincamp ordered that a crucial flow of intelligence to Australian troops during the East Timor conflict remain shut down, in an extraordinary act that came amid a major row among Defence spies.

John Kerin – John Howard has used a previously top-secret report to comprehensively reject explosive claims of intelligence agency failures by Lieutenant-Colonel Lance Collins.

The rebuff comes in a seven-page letter to Lieutenant-Colonel Collins, obtained by The Australian, in which the Prime Minister rejects the whistleblower's call for a royal commission.

Dili – Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri launched a public debate Friday on proposed legislation to facilitate and promote private investment by East Timorese entrepreneurs.

In presenting the draft bill at a Dili conference, Alkatiri said it currently cost 30 percent more to set up a new business in East Timor than in neighboring countries.

David Jardine – In the commentary Wiranto must face the storm by Pitan Daslani (The Jakarta Post, April, 26) there appears a truly astonishing paragraph, "Everybody put the blame on Wiranto as well as the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the police, despite their self-sacrificing devotion to the conception of the Republic of Timor Leste."

Louise Williams – East Timor's rapidly souring stance towards Australia is all about money.

Oil and gas money. It's an emotive tale of the world's poorest and youngest nation confronting the region's richest nation over a fair share of the wealth beneath the Timor Sea.

Naval lawyer Martin Toohey today continued his criticism of Australia's spy agency the Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO), saying it was politicised and misled the public.

Captain Toohey has attacked the Federal Government over its treatment of him and whistleblower Lieutenant Colonel Lance Collins amid allegations of failures by the DIO.

Jon Lamb – Human rights and solidarity organisations are deeply concerned by the Golkar party's nomination of General Wiranto for president of Indonesia. Wiranto, the former head of the Indonesian military, was indicted in February 2003 for his role in coordinating the 1999 terror campaign in East Timor, conducted by the Indonesian military and its militia proxies.

Robyn Waite, Dili – During April 14-16, an empty block opposite the Australian embassy in Dili became a fervent and colourful site of protest, as more than 1500 people mobilised to oppose the Australian government's violation of East Timorese sovereignty in the Timor Sea.

Sarah Stephen, Sydney – "Each of us has to choose between being either a champion of human dignity or a collaborator with an increasingly inhuman system", Sister Susan Connelly from the Mary MacKillop Institute of East Timorese Studies told a crowd of 600 people in the Sydney Town Hall on April 21.

The senior officer who wrote a damning report on the Australian intelligence services says he has been made a scapegoat in a "shabby, tawdry cover-up". John Lyons reports.

Lt Col Lance Collins' claims that Australian officials attempted to suppress crucial intelligence about East Timor may have found an unlikely new ally – a diplomat at the US embassy in Canberra. Paul Daley reports.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard rejected allegations by another senior military officer that his government was involved in a cover-up over a critical report into defence intelligence.

Federal Labor today supported a lawyer who wrote a damning report on Australia's intelligence services and who now claims the government has been involved in a shabby cover-up.

Bob Burton, Canberra – Australia's effort to block East Timor from billions of dollars of oil resources – by refusing to agree to a maritime boundary between the two countries – will be tested by an emerging coalition of community groups, which insist on economic justice for the world's newest nation.

Lisbon – East Timor's president lashed out at Australia, saying in an interview published Tuesday that Canberra had snatched oil reserves that belong to his country.

In an interview with the Portuguese newspaper Publico, President Xanana Gusmao added his voice to the increasingly public spat between the countries over a disputed oil field in the Timor Sea.

James Irwin, Singapore – Some cracks are appearing in Australia's refusal to renegotiate the Timor Sea Treaty with East Timor – the latest being the emergence of past testimony from a key member of the Australian negotiating team, Dean Bialek, that his country should negotiate in good faith with East Timor and not deplete resources in disputed areas.

Melbourne – East Timor would work with former military chief General Wiranto if he is elected Indonesian president despite his alleged war crimes, the fledgling state's first lady said Monday.

Wiranto was last week selected as the presidential candidate for the Golkar Party, which ruled Indonesia for 35 years under former President Suharto.

By anyone's standards, it's been a long day. The flight to Australia, the burden of intermittent media commitments, the trip to Sydney's Taronga Zoo with two screaming toddlers. It's her birthday, too, and no call yet from hubby, President Xanana Gusmao. Yet Kirsty Sword Gusmao, first lady of the fledgling nation of East Timor, is undaunted.

Alan Boyd, Sydney – Benefactor or bully? Australia has been portrayed as both in its protracted standoff with tiny East Timor over US$30 billion worth of deep-sea oil and gas reserves. So uneven is the contest, between the richest and poorest nations on the southern rim of the Pacific, that Canberra was always going to come off worse in the public relations battle.

Sydney – Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer accused East Timor of trying to stir up sympathy over its claims for a greater share of oil and gas revenues from the Timor Sea oil reserves.