Kupang – The people of the western half of Timor Island, East Nusa Tenggara, must also enjoy their traditional rights as owners of the Timor Sea, the site of oil and gas explorations known as the Timor Gap, and not merely receiving the impacts of damage of the ecosystem in the Timor Sea.

Jakarta – The government has agreed to hold a special repatriation program for East Timorese refugees who want to go home late this year, Antara reported.

East Nusa Tenggara Governor Piet A. Tallo said on Friday that the decision was conveyed by Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Yusuf Kalla in a letter sent to a group tasked to handle the refugees.

Dili – The leadership of East Timor's ruling Fretilin party met Thursday with its deputies in the Dili parliament to discuss recent revelations of high absenteeism among Fretilin MPs and threats by the party's chiefs to expel "rogue" members.

A former militia chief has denied he had committed human rights abuses in East Timor three years ago and said he was a victim of the Indonesian government's desire to appease international criticism.

Dean Yates, Jakarta – Investigators in East Timor have issued an indictment against two Indonesian military officers over the 1999 killing of a Dutch journalist around the time the territory voted to break from Jakarta's harsh rule.

Jakarta – Two Indonesian soldiers were among seven people indicted Wednesday in East Timor for killing a Dutch journalist and 19 others during the country's independence struggle in 1999, the UN said in a statement.

Dili – Defense force recruits attacked traffic police in the East Timorese capital Friday, in an apparent act of revenge, injuring at least two officers.

East Timor's first Portuguese-language newspaper in more than a quarter century will be formally launched in Dili Thursday.

Jill Jolliffe, Atambua – East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao has called on the United Nations to lower its security rating for West Timor, which is now at a higher stage of alert than Afghanistan or Bali.

Dili – An average of 12 percent of lawmakers do not attend sittings of East Timor's parliament and only one in ten of these absentees offers a valid excuse for their non-appearance, a report commissioned by the Dili parliament reveals.

Jill Jolliffe, Kupang – President Jose "Xanana" Gusmao has led a delegation of more than 100 East Timorese, including parliamentarians, cabinet ministers, a football team and 16 entertainers, to West Timor in a new bid to empty refugee camps there.

Dili – International donations were used to plug East Timor's USD 22 million budget deficit in the financial year 2001-2002, although the world's newest nation's state receipts were higher than anticipated in this period.

Kupang – East Timorese president Xanana Gusmao told a sports stadium filled with East Timorese refugees Saturday that it was their decision whether or not to return home.

But Gusmao told the crowd of about 1,000 people that his country will welcome those who come back.

Jill Jolliffe, Lacluta – In the remote south coast town of Lacluta, nine villagers accused of violence against their neighbours during 1999 militia attacks have faced their victims in the presence of the community.

Kupang – The president of the Democratic Republic of East Timor, Alexander "Xanana" Gusmao, arrived here on Friday morning, amid tight security, for a four-day official trip that will include visits to East Timorese refugee camps.

Sydney – Portuguese intelligence has warned of terrorist attacks against Australian, Portuguese and US interests in East Timor, the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) said yesterday.

A court in East Timor has sentenced a former militia commander to five years in prison for crimes against humanity committed in 1999, the United Nations said.

Cindy Wooden, Vatican City – Catholics in East Timor held firmly to their faith during their struggle for independence, and now they must bring their Catholic values to bear on the new society they are building, Pope John Paul II said.

Dili – The East Timorese government is to undertake a review of its state budget plans after a fall in government receipts and delays in delivering aid funds have left the new nation with a deficit of about USD 1.9 million in the third quarter of this year.

President of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Francis Carroll, has written to the Minister for Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, the Hon Philip Ruddock, asking that 1800 East Timorese asylum seekers, who have been in Australia for at least eight years, be allowed to stay.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – He didn't wear sack cloth, but Timorese President Xanana Gusmao sent a clear message on austerity when he unveiled a burnt-out building as his new headquarters yesterday, dubbing it the "Palace of Ashes".

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Six Indonesians were wounded when a homemade bomb exploded at a traditional market in an East Timorese town near the border with East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), the military here said on Saturday.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – East Timor's President Jose "Xanana" Gusmao has repeated his opposition to trials for Indonesian officers accused of human rights violations in Dili, a stand supported by his Foreign Minister, Jose Ramos Horta.

Lisbon – The World Bank is studying, with a view to financing, a Portuguese publishing firm's proposal to produce 50,000 school books for use in East Timor's education system.

Jakarta – Suspected gross human rights violator in East Timor, Eurico Guterres, said he had felt neither guilt nor sorrow over what he did in the region before it separated as an independent country.

East Timor's Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta says his country is ready to ratify the Timor Sea Treaty and the Australian Government will owe his people an explanation if it decides to delay proceedings.

President Xanana Gusmao defended Wednesday a dynamic of national reconciliation rather than the setting up of an international court to try human rights abuses committed in East Timor.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Hundreds of East Timorese refugees sheltering in Kupang and Belu regencies have refused to be repatriated, pending the disbursement of Christmas bonuses promised by the Indonesian government.

Jill Jolliffe, Balibo – The Victorian Government will establish a medical clinic in the East Timor house used by five Australian-based journalists whom Indonesian invaders killed.

The villagers of Balibo, where the journalists were killed in 1975, are enthusiastic about a State Government plan to build a memorial clinic there.

Sarah Stephen – The 168 East Timorese asylum seekers whose claims were rejected by the immigration department on September 25 are the first of almost 1700 asylum seekers who face the prospect of being forcibly returned to East Timor, despite many having lived in Australia for up to 10 years.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a report on East Timor Thursday, stressing what he termed "the vital necessity" of continued UN aid for the world's youngest nation.

Lisbon – East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao says he would like to quit but will stay in the job to help his recently independent country grow. "If I could, I'd quit today," Gusmao said in an interview published Wednesday in daily paper Diario de Noticias.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Indonesia and East Timor agreed on Tuesday to convert Indonesian assets in East Timor, mostly corporate assets, into equity investment in the newly born state.

Concluding the first joint commission meeting on Tuesday, the delegations of both countries agreed to further discussions within the next six months.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – A leader of East Timor's parliamentary opposition has described an agreement regulating conditions for US troops in the territory as "an affront to East Timorese sovereignty".

An East Timorese man, wounded in an attack on a refugee-packed compound in Dili in April 1999, told a court here that Indonesian soldiers were among the attackers.

Karen Polglaze, Canberra – Australian ratification of the Timor Gap Treaty could increase the risk of political instability in East Timor, a parliamentary committee was told today.

Jakarta – Nearly 400 displaced East Timorese sheltering in West Timor have been forced to eat leaves for the past month as they cannot afford to buy rice, a government official says.

The International Finance Institutions (the IMF, World Bank, the ADB) present a real threat to East Timorese economic independence.

East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao called Monday for Portugal to strengthen the "bridge" connecting his country and the European Union, adding that Lisbon's backing would be invaluable in developing Dili's embrionic foreign policy.

Jakarta – East Timor said on Monday it wants its land border with Indonesia to be gradually de-militarised and hopes all frontier disputes with its former ruler can be solved by next year.

Yogyakarta – East Timor's Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said on Saturday he doubted allegations Australian troops tortured pro-Jakarta militiamen and shot one in the head during a peace mission in the territory in 1999.

Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo – My native East Timor became the 191st member of the United Nations last week. We reached this milestone after a 24-year war in our island nation that left few families unaffected. Justice and common sense dictate that positive lessons be drawn from these tragic events, not only for my people but for many others throughout the world.

Jill Jolliffe, Bazartete – Ever since Lysistrata and her sisters refused sex to their warmongering husbands in ancient Greece, women have had a special role to play in brokering peace.

In East Timor, the militia violence of 1999 was almost exclusively the work of men. They may have been bit players in an Indonesian master plan but that, too, was men's business.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – East Timorese authorities are fighting an invasion by Indonesian prostitutes, who have swarmed into Dili since independence on May 20.

Adam Morton, Melbourne – Australia will have to step in and "sort out" East Timorese politics within five years unless the Timor Sea Treaty is balanced, the ACTU said today.

Rod McGuirk – East Timorese private sector groups today urged the federal government not to ratify the new Timor Sea Treaty.

Leaders of the East Timor National NGO Forum, Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring Analysis and Independent Information Centre for the Timor Sea flew to Darwin to address the Federal Parliament Treaties Committee.

East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao appealed to business leaders in the former colonial power Portugal Friday to invest in his war-battered country, recently admitted to the United Nations.

Mark Forbes and Jill Jolliffe – The Australian Defence Force has promised a vigorous investigation into allegations that SAS troops carried out torture and murder in East Timor, and will examine the exhumed bodies of two militia fighters.

Tom Allard and Jill Jolliffe – The bodies of two militia fighters, one of them alleged to have been summarily executed by the Australian SAS in East Timor, have been exhumed by United Nations order as part of investigations into the incident.

The alleged war crime centres on claims someone using a handgun of a senior SAS officer shot one of the militia members in the head.

The bodies of two Timorese militiamen shot dead in a gun battle with Australian soldiers in 1999 have been exhumed as part of an inquiry into allegations of torture and brutality by SAS troops.