Jakarta – A former pro-Indonesia militia member in East Timor has been jailed for 10 B1/2 years for crimes against humanity including one count of murder, East Timor's serious crimes unit said on Monday.

Alan Sipress, Dili – "Turn around!" the police cadet barked. "Get on your knees! Cross your legs!" The suspect dropped to the hot asphalt and obligingly stretched his arms behind him. The cadet grabbed a wrist. But as he produced a set of handcuffs, he fumbled with the mechanism.

Alan Sipress, Laga – On a narrow road strung perilously along a rock ledge above the beach, Cornelio Gama stopped his jeep and motioned to the spot where his rebel band had ambushed a column of three dozen Indonesian soldiers.

A bitter industrial dispute in East Timor has taken a turn for the worse, with the arrest of an Australian trade union official by United Nations police. The official was taking part in a protest at Dili Airport on Sunday, organised by striking East Timorese employees of Timor Aviation Services.

Paul Robinson – An Australian union official has been jailed in East Timor by United Nations police after a demonstration outside a local airline office owned by Australian travel company executives.

Gel Wilson – Australian officials expect talks on a maritime boundary between Australia and East Timor to be "long and intricate".

The issue is a major test of Australia's relations with the new country, with ownership of oil and gas reserves worth billions of dollars at stake.

Dili – Prosecutors in East Timor on Tuesday charged 17 Indonesian and East Timorese members of the Indonesian army with murderous attacks on independence supporters and other civilians.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Hundreds of students and East Timorese refugees continued their demonstrations on Tuesday at the East Nusa Tenggara legislative council following the reported misuse of funds intended for the refugees.

Quinton Temby – As development of the rich oil and natural gas reserves in the Timor Sea near East Timor takes off, the Government hopes that investment by oil-industry giants will bring the petroleum onshore for processing. Ten thousand jobs could be created and untold billions of dollars added to the Gross Domestic Product.

Singapore – Timor Leste President Xanana Gusmao said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad would make a two-day visit to the country beginning October 22.

Singapore – East Timor, the world's youngest nation, is struggling to find ways to achieve economic survival and needs external investment, President Xanana Gusmao said Tuesday.

Jakarta – East Timor prosecutors have indicted 18 people for crimes against humanity, including two Indonesian military officers, in connection with violence surrounding its 1999 vote for independence.

The tiny country's serious crimes unit said on Friday the 18 were indicted for crimes ranging from murder to torture and persecution.

Nick Ferrett – It may be that Australia fails in its bid to obtain chairmanship of the United Nations Human Rights Committee. That would make Greg Barns happy, apparently. It would also make the serial and serious abusers of human rights among the members of the committee happy.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – East Timor's chief prosecutor, Longuinhos Monteiro, has warned that the country could face internal problems if it drops cases against Indonesian human rights violators to further relations with Jakarta.

East Timor's Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri is today travelling to China, an old ally from his years in exile. The Prime Minister's critics say he's too close to the Chinese and too wary of foreign investment from Western sources. They're part of the growing list of criticisms levelled at the man who took over Timor's top job in 2001.

Paulo Gorjao – East Timor is seen at the United Nations headquarters as one of its state-building success stories in the past few years. Even though the UN had no prior experience in state-building, it administered and exercised all legislative and executive authority in the territory until its independence from Indonesia.

Kefamenanu, East Nusa Tenggara – East Timor should prevent illegal trade at the border between its Oecusse district and Timor Tengah Utara district in Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province, a local official has said.

Russell Thirgood – Four years after the East Timorese people voted overwhelmingly for independence from Indonesia, justice remains elusive for the victims of the violence that followed.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – A bid by East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao to further his campaign for reconciliation with Indonesia came apart yesterday when Jakarta's former foreign minister, Ali Alatas, was criticised during a visit to Dili by Bishop Carlos Belo and subjected to hostile questioning by the local press.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Assets remain a thorny issue in Indonesia and East Timor relations, as neither of the countries is willing to back down from its stance in settling the problem.

Dili – Ali Alatas, the former Indonesian foreign minister who negotiated East Timor's 1999 independence plebiscite, arrived in Dili Monday for a visit, expressing "lament" at the violence that scarred the process, but "satisfaction" with increasing bilateral cooperation.

Dili – A top East Timorese commander said Monday it was time to put the country's troubled past behind it and endorse an offer from Indonesia, its former occupier, of joint military training.

And they are the passions of Kiam Lay and Toto Djumanto, developed over a decade of growing up in Melbourne.

Djumanto, 21, a manager at McDonald's, avoids cruising Lygon Street but loves tinkering with his red VN Commodore while Lay, 20, is more interested in the Swans' finals chances.

Dili – A high-level delegation led by Indonesian Foreign Minister Hasan Wirayuda arrived Friday in East Timor, its former possession, to discuss issues including border security, trade and property compensation.

Kupang – Former deputy commander of pro-Indonesian fighters in East Timor Eurico Guterres on Thursday denied that he would attack East Timor.

"I think the East Timor problem is over, and I am thinking to make peace for its future. But certain parties have circulated rumors that I will attack the country with my 150 men," he said in a phone interview.

Jakarta – Indonesia will seek compensation for its nationals who lost property in East Timor when ministers from both countries meet in Dili for two days of talks beginning Friday, an Indonesian official said.

Vannessa Hearman, Melbourne – Zito da Costa, president of the East Timor Confederation of Trade Unions (Konfederasaun Sindikatu Timor Leste – KSTL), one of several trade union groupings in East Timor, addressed a small gathering at Trades Hall on August 21. Da Costa was attending the Australian Council of Trade Unions congress.

Aderito Soares – A car bomb exploded at the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta on August 5, killing 12 people. That same day, across town, a man responsible for many more deaths received a slap on the wrist as Indonesia's ad hoc human rights court ended its judicial charade. Major-General Adam Damiri received three years in jail for his involvement in the 1999 devastation in East Timor.

Kupang – The Indonesian government has reiterated the five options offered to former residents of East Timor who have continued to stay in Indonesia's West Timor area despite East Timor's declaration as the Republic of Timor Leste.

Dili – East Timor's leaders met Monday to discuss "urgent" measures to control the activities of a militant nationalist group that has been accused of fomenting instability in the new nation.

Atambua – A cultural festival to be held in Timor Tengah Utara district in Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province on September 22, would serve as the barometer for security in the border between Indonesia and East Timor, a local official has said.

Eugene Bingham – Indonesia's military, from the top brass down to regular soldiers and members of the militia, have gone unpunished for the massacres, assassinations and executions carried out in East Timor in 1999.

Dili – East Timor's attorney-general's office has granted immunity from detention to about 150 former anti- independence militias and pro-Indonesia integrationists to return home temporarily for reconciliation meetings with officials and relatives.

Kupang – About 700 members and civil servants who worked for the Indonesian Defence Forces (TNI) when East Timor was an Indoneisn province are still staying in ex-refugee camps here, a top military officer said Tuesday.

Of the number, 600 families had settled in houses the TNI had provided for military personnel, Udayana regional military chief Maj.Gen. Agus Soeyitno said.

The President of East Timor, Xanana Gusmao, has held the first in a series of reconciliation talks with former militia leaders near his country's border with Indonesian West Timor.

Many ex-militia did not show, but Mr Gusmao took advantage of the border visit to convince refugees to come home.

Jeffrey Smith and David Webster – Four years ago this month, East Timor voted for independence following a quarter-century of brutal foreign occupation. Invaded and occupied by Indonesia in 1975, it finally took its place as the first independent state of the new century.

Kupang – Indonesia and East Timor have agreed to set up nine gateways and seven markets at their border.

The markets are intended to become a center of economic activities among the people of the two neighboring countries, Supartantyo, head of the industry and trade office of Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province, said here Friday.

Joao da Silva Tavares, widely regarded as one of the most feared and hated pro-Jakarta militia leaders of East Timor, is these days enjoying retirement in Indonesia's ancient temple city of Yogyakarta.

Tavares is the former leader of Bobonaro district's notorious Halilintar militia and also served as supreme commander of the East Timorese Integration Fighters Legion (PPI).

Aboeprijadi Santoso, 'Radio Netherlands', Amsterdam – A mere three years' imprisonment was the controversial verdict for Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri for his role in the 1999 wave of terror and destruction in East Timor that killed hundreds of people and caused great suffering. Yet there is more to the violence that made him a symbol of impunity.

Dili – Civil and military officials in East Timor have recently exhumed the bodies of over 250 people who died during new nation's quarter-century independence struggle against occupying Indonesian forces.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Indonesia should not be obliged to meet international standards in prosecuting the human rights abuse cases in East Timor, because the trial of perpetrators was conducted in mostly in accordance with the local law, says a government official.

William J. Furney – Spare a thought for the judges who heard cases of atrocities at Indonesia's special crimes tribunal for the former East Timor: With almost every major international human rights group slamming the trials of 18 former officials as an unabashed "whitewash", these are put-upon, mercurial justices of the law.

A court in East Timor jailed a former pro-Jakarta militiaman for eight years and eight months for crimes against humanity during the territory's bloody breakaway from Indonesia in 1999.

Nigel Wilson – Australia has agreed to begin talks with East Timor before the end of the year on changing the maritime boundaries between the two countries.

It was overshadowed by the Jakarta bombing. But the conviction last week of a senior Indonesian general for crimes against humanity should not be overlooked. Indonesia did all it could to avoid having its officers brought before international war crimes tribunals over their behaviour during East Timor's independence vote four years ago.

The Australian Army is considering further action against a SAS soldier accused of kicking a militia corpse in East Timor after the case against him collapsed in a military court.

Atambua – Former Chief of the Integration Fighters Legion (PPI) Joao da Silva Tavares has called on all East Timorese people to continue reconciliation process.

The only way to create stability in East Timor is to reconcile all East Timorese people, Tavares who is also a former chief of Bobonaro district between 1976 and 1989 told newsmen here Friday.

Deborah Snow – The case against a former senior SAS soldier charged with kicking a militiaman's corpse in East Timor in October 1999 is set to collapse, with crucial witnesses backing away from their original accounts.

United Nations – A UN official said today that an international tribunal to try Indonesian soldiers accused of massacring East Timor civilians is a possibility, given the light sentences meted out so far.

"The UN has been closely monitoring the conduct of the trials that had taken place in Indonesia and the secretary general is considering its options," a UN official said.

Rowan Callick – Australia's biggest investor in East Timor is reconsidering its role after losing a bizarre court battle against its former joint-venture partner, a local businessman.