Atambua – The people living in border areas shared by Indonesia's province of East Nusa Tenggara and East Timor did not care about the UN Peacekeeping Force (UNPKF)'s plan to withdraw its troops from East Timor in May.

Jill Jolliffe, Bobonaro – There is a palpable fear in the town of Bobonaro, which sits on the Timorese side of the border with Indonesia.

It is not apprehension at the possibility of invasion, but rather a brewing conflict between the Timorese authorities and a band of locals set on creating their own field of influence.

Jakarta – East Timor's top prosecutor says he will ask an appeals court for help in securing arrest warrants for Indonesian presidential candidate Wiranto and five other senior Indonesian army officers indicted for crimes against humanity.

Jakarta – A senior Indonesian army officer denied Wednesday that Jakarta had any "concrete plans" to station security forces on an islet disputed with East Timor, but reaffirmed Indonesia's claim to it.

The East Timor Action Network (ETAN) today urged the United Nations and United States to strongly condemn Indonesia's use of military force in a territorial dispute with East Timor. ETAN called on Indonesia to negotiate claims through normal diplomatic channels according to international law. Indonesia recently bombed a small contested island to establish its claim.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – The Indonesian Military (TNI) says it will soon deploy troops to the disputed island of Batek, which is close to East Nusa Tenggara province and East Timor.

A UN assessment team returns to New York this week from East Timor amid speculation there may be an extension of its presence there.

Sophie Boudre – As violence against women is recognized as a major health concern worldwide, Timor-Leste is struggling to overcome domestic violence, which has been growing at an alarming rate. While the tiny new independent country is recovering from the wounds of a long fight for freedom, 51 percent of married East-Timorese women say they feel unsafe in their relationship.

Sian Powell – A delegation of senior Australian diplomats last week toured an Indonesian region considered by the UN to be more dangerous than Baghdad.

Australian deputy ambassador in Indonesia Peter Rowe and several other diplomats made an official visit to West Timor, an impoverished half-island in eastern Indonesia.

Ian Timberlake, Jakarta – Thousands of former East Timorese refugees have been given homes of their own in Indonesian West Timor after more than four years of living in decrepit refugee camps and other temporary accommodation.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara A senior Navy officer denied on Friday that a military exercise, held recently on Batek island that borders East Timor, was a display of military might aimed at instilling fear in the neighboring country.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – A headless skeleton discovered by workmen digging in the yard of East Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri is believed to be the remains of Nicolau Lobato, the charismatic resistance leader killed by the Indonesian army in 1978.

Kupang – The struggle of factions in East Timor to grab power in the government and political elite are viewed as having made the pro-integration group as the scapegoat.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – A senior Indonesian Military (TNI) commander in Kupang denied on Thursday recent reports in several local media that 78 armed pro-Indonesia militiamen have infiltrated Timor Leste (formerly East Timor) and were ready to stir up chaos there after UN troops have pulled out of the neighboring country in May.

Australia and East Timor are set to begin tough negotiations over marine boundaries this year, although Australia has refused to set a deadline. East Timor is contesting the boundaries set under a 1972 agreement between Australia and Indonesia, when East Timor was ruled by Portugal.

Atambua – Indonesian immigration officers in Mota'ain, a town on the Indonesia-East Timor border, on Friday turned away a group of UN lawyers who intended to visit Atambua because the latter lacked the necessary visa.

Jakarta – East Timor has expressed concern after Indonesian troops fired on an uninhabited island whose ownership has not yet been determined, a senior East Timor foreign ministry official said.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Pessure has been placed on the relevant authorities to investigate alleged irregularities in the use of Rp 53 billion (US$6.3 million) in aid for East Timorese refugees in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) province.

Dili – Foreign Minister Josi Ramos Horta said Thursday he was "convinced" the United Nations would extend its engagement with East Timor beyond the end of its current mission.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – East Timor's chief prosecutor has accused the United Nations of blocking an arrest warrant for war crimes against Indonesia's General Wiranto, a frontrunner for presidential elections in July.

"There are no legal obstacles, only political obstacles, both in Indonesia and East Timor," Longuinhos Monteiro said.

Indonesia's highest court has confirmed the acquittal of a senior policeman accused of human rights abuses in the last days of Indonesian rule over East Timor. The decision clears the way for the inspector to take up another controversial appointment.

By May, the last United Nations troops stationed in East Timor are due to hand over responsibility for security to the local army and police.

Dili – East Timor called on the United Nations Monday to extend its mandate in the country as the leader of a UN team arrived to assess whether the tiny nation was strong enough to go it alone.

Mark Dodd and Ian McPhedran – In a dramatic show of military muscle, an Indonesian warship has blasted a contested island near East Timor with gunfire and a missile just weeks after peacekeepers left the area.

Atambua – The Indonesian Defence Forces (TNI) is mulling the reopening of traditional markets on the Indonesian-East Timor border, a local military official said.

East Nusatenggara Military Commander Col Moeswarno Moesanip said here Saturday the markets were closed down after an incident in which a former East Timorese refugee, Vegas Biliatu, was shot dead last October 19.

Gerard McManus – Don't run over the chooks or goats ... that's unofficial rule No. 1 in the Australian Defence Co-operation Group's manual for troops operating in the villages and remote mountainous regions of East Timor.

The directive has an obvious practical purpose in an economy that still mostly operates at near-subsistence levels.

Australia has made a huge investment in East Timor for which the nation can be proud, but now is not the time to give up on it. From a position just years ago where Indonesian-sponsored militia were shooting and hacking to death supporters of independence, East Timor now has a semblance of order as a free state.

Allesandra Fabro – The sustainability of Australian aid activities in East Timor is at risk despite the significant contribution made by bilateral aid programs, an Audit Office report has found.

The report assesses AusAID's planning and management of aid programs to East Timor, which has continued since the independence ballot in 1999.

Hundreds of people have marked the death of the East Timor independence activist Andrew McNaughtan at a memorial service in the Australian city of Sydney.

Dr McNaughtan was the convenor of the Australia East Timor Association in New South Wales. He died in Sydney on December 22, aged 49.

Patrick Walters – From the rocky, tree-shaded summit of "Mount Everest", 1980m up in the cool, moist highlands of the Bobinaro ranges in East Timor, Lieutenant-Colonel Glen Babington surveys his domain.

[Obituary - Dr Andrew Ian, McNaughtan, campaigner for East Timorese Independence, 21-2-1953 – 22-12-2003.]

John Martinkus – Dr Andrew McNaughtan, who has died in Sydney, was an outstanding human rights activist who devoted himself to changing the situation in East Timor throughout the 1990s and to improve the lives of ordinary East Timorese living under theIndonesians.

East Timorese freedom campaigners are mourning the death of a leading Australian human rights activist, Dr Andrew McNaughtan.

The 50-year-old was found dead in his Mosman home in Sydney's north on Christmas Eve after friends and neighbours noticed he had not been seen for some days.

Andrew Hewett – Governments from around the world gathered in East Timor recently to hear news of a looming economic crisis facing the world's newest nation.

This crisis is triggered by declining foreign aid and uncertainty about future revenue flows to East Timor from the oil and gas fields of the Timor Sea.

Dili – President Xanana Gusmco challenged East Timor's parliament Monday to make 2004 "the year of stability" for the newly independent nation.

Atambua – Indonesian military and police personnel assigned to the border regions shared by Indonesia and East Timor have shown reformed attitudes in accordance with current era of reforms, a local legislator has said.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – The minister known as the strongman in East Timor's Government wept like a child as he confessed publicly to beating a prisoner during the 1975 civil war.

Patrick Walters – East Timor is calling for the United Nations to deploy a 400-strong paramilitary force at least until 2006 to bolster its tiny security forces.

As East Timor continues to delve into its painful past, there's been a suprising confession from Timor's last European governor. During this week's final hearings at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Major General Mario Lemos Pires publically admitted that Portugal failed to prepare the former territory for democracy.

Presenter/Interviewer: James Panichi

East Timor's tiny military has discharged 27 soldiers and will soon fire more than 60 others for being absent without leave or skipping training, a spokesman said Wednesday.

The country's 1,500-strong East Timor Defense Force is slowly taking over responsibilities from UN peacekeepers in the newly independent nation.

Rob Taylor – An East Timorese human rights crimes court today sentenced a former member of Indonesia's military to 11 years in jail for murder and torture committed during the wave of violence which followed the country's 1999 independence vote.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – In the hope that the seasonal spirit will prevail, East Timor's Truth and Reconciliation Commission is asking former political leaders to seek forgiveness for triggering the civil war that paved the way for Indonesia's bloody 1975 invasion.

Since gaining independence in 2002, the people of East Timor have struggled with the legacy of violence of Indonesia's 24-year occupation. Now they are being asked to turn their minds to what many people was an even more disturbing chapter of country's recent history.

Australia will leave some 50 to 60 troops to assist with training of the East Timorese military once the peacekeeping force comes home, defence chief General Peter Cosgrove said today. He rejected suggestions that Australia could continue to deploy peacekeepers beyond the end of the United Nations mandate on May 20.

Cynthia Banham – East Timor has accused Australia of dragging its feet in talks over billions of dollars in oil and gas rights under the Timor Sea.

An East Timor court has jailed a former Indonesian army sergeant for crimes against humanity during the territory's bloody breakaway from Jakarta.

It is the first time a soldier has been convicted of such an offence since trials began two years ago.

Canberra – East Timor Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said Wednesday it is too soon to fret over the final shape of a permanent maritime boundary between his impoverished nation and Australia.

Canberra – East Timor Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta has demanded Australia halt development of massive natural gas fields in the Timor Sea until a dispute over their ownership is settled.

Ramos Horta said Australia should not exploit resources potentially worth billions of dollars before a treaty detailing how they will be distributed is finalised.

Michelle Nichols, Canberra – East Timor appealed to the United Nations Wednesday not to desert the world's newest nation by diverting its assistance to flashpoints like Iraq and Afghanistan.

Kupang – Twenty-six East Timorese who have been seeking asylum in Belu district since last October have sent a petition to President Megawati Soekarnoputri asking for protection and expressing their objections to being deported.