Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Hopes for East Timorese refugees to escape starvation went up in smoke in just 24 hours on Thursday as the East Nusa Tenggara administration announced it did not have enough rice for them.

Jakarta – A UN legal investigator looking into Indonesia's judiciary added his voice on Friday to criticism of how the trials into East Timor violence in 1999 were being handled.

But United Nations special rapporteur Param Cumaraswamy declined to specify the problems he had raised in a meeting on Friday with Indonesian Attorney-General Muhammad Abdul Rachman.

Dili and a Portugal Telecom-led consortium signed a 15-year concession Friday for the Lisbon-headquartered company to establish and operate the new country's telecommunications systems.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – The British Government has told families of the two British journalists killed in Balibo, East Timor, in 1975 that it will soon release classified documents concerning the deaths.

Margaret Wilson, a cousin of Malcolm Rennie, one of the slain reporters, said she was surprised at the news. "We were always told there was nothing to release," she said.

East Timorese officials today told a United Nations meeting on children that the new nation was on the verge of adopting an international treaty that protects the rights of youngsters.

Berni K. Mustafa, Jakarta – Legal experts have welcomed the presence of the United Nations' special rapporteur on the Indonesian judicial system, saying it should increase the pressure for legal reform amid mounting criticism that the government is not doing enough.

New York – A proposed amnesty law in East Timor could undermine due process and equal protection of the law and allow those responsible for some of the most serious rights abuses to go unpunished, Human Rights Watch said today.

Jakarta – Indonesia's last governor of East Timor said on Thursday his trial for crimes against humanity during the territory's independence vote in 1999 was bogus and aimed only at deflecting international pressure.

The East Timor Defense Force (ETDF) assumes responsibility next week for all aspects of security in part of the new nation, and the Dili government was informed Thursday of progress in transferring defense control into Timorese hands.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – After two months of hearings by the East Timor ad hoc human rights trial, held in the absence of eyewitnesses from East Timor, an East Timorese finally took the stand on Wednesday to testify about the military's support for pro-Jakarta militia groups at the time.

John Aglionby – Since the fall of the dictator Suharto, Indonesia's reputation in the field of law enforcement has always been near the bottom of the scale – for instance a British police officer who was meant to stay for 18 months to help improve the local force left half way through his term in despair.

President Xanana Gusmao called Thursday to the nations of the North to grant debt relief to the countries in the South, who would, in their turn seek to implement "good governance" with transparency and responsibility.

Jakarta – Indonesian prosecutors said Wednesday they would seek to reopen the investigation into the killing of a Dutch journalist in East Timor, after receiving new evidence from Dutch authorities.

A survivor of a bloody attack on a refugee-filled church compound in East Timor in April 1999 said Wednesday he saw uniformed Indonesian soldiers and police fire shots into the compound.

Antonio Concecao Santos, 27, was testifying to Indonesia's human right court in the trial of two officers and one former official for gross human rights violations in the territory.

The Indonesian military, until recently occupiers of East Timor, may soon begin training officers for Dili's fledgling defense force, the UN mission in the newly independent country said Wednesday.

Catharine Munro, Jakarta – Indonesian human rights prosecutors today raised the prospect of dropping charges against some defendants facing trial for gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999.

Andrew Trounson, Melbourne – East Timor is getting down to business. And that means playing tough, even with your friends.

Jakarta – An investigation into the murder of a Dutch journalist in East Timor in 1999 is still open, a Dutch police officer said Wednesday after giving Indonesian prosecutors fresh evidence in the case.

Irwan Firdaus, Jakarta – The former commander of Indonesian troops in East Timor went on trial Tuesday on charges of crimes against humanity for allegedly allowing his soldiers to commit atrocities in the former province.

"I am not a human rights abuser," declared Brig. Gen. Tono Suratman – now Indonesia's deputy military spokesman – moments before his trial began.

A draft bill on amnesty and pardoning of sentences has been criticized as being "unconstitutional", "too general" and open to "dangerous interpretation", by a leading Timorese nongovernmental organization concerned with legal matters.

After signing and approving East Timor's state budget Tuesday, President Xanana Gusmao called for revision of the measures within four months, while also lamenting the lackluster nature of parliamentary debate and opposition parties in the new country.

President Xanana Gusmao will address the East Timorese Tuesday in a nationally broadcast speech that an aide described Monday as centered on his two-week delay in signing the government's budget.

Nigel Wilson – East Timor's decision to pursue maritime boundaries that might include substantial Australian oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea will not derail talks aimed at defining the legal and commercial position of the Sunrise gas reservoirs.

Thalif Deen, United Nations – East Timor, the world's newest nation, will ask the United Nations to designate it a "least developed country" (LDC).

Jill Jolliffe – An argument over who is to be East Timor's first ambassador to Australia could lead to a showdown between President Xanana Gusmao and Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

[The following letter to the the Sydney Morning Herald editor was issued by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Dr Jose Ramos-Horta.]

The Editor, Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney July 11, 2002

Dear Sir,

[East Timor's fledgling parliament has made a key decision about the nation's borders which could be the first big test of its relations with Australia. Its declared a maritime boundary with Australia that would give East Timor full ownership of lucrative oil and gas deposits that now fall inside Australian waters ..

Prosecutors yesterday demanded that East Timor's former Indonesian-appointed governor be sent to prison for 10 and a half years – just six months more than the minimum sentence for crimes against humanity.

Two former top Indonesian ministers told a human rights trial yesterday that a savage outbreak of militia violence in East Timor in September 1999 caught the Jakarta government unawares.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expects to see half of the remaining 50,000 East Timorese refugees currently taking shelter in neighboring East Nusa Tenggara to enter the repatriation program.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – East Timor's Foreign Minister, Jose Ramos Horta, has put pragmatism ahead of human rights in his first foreign policy statement, describing China as the new nation's "closest possible ally".

[Deliverance by Don Greenlees and Robert Garran, Allen & Unwin.]

Rod McGuirk, Darwin – East Timor President and former freedom fighter Xanana Gusmao today said he did not want to see the Indonesian provinces of Aceh and Irian Jaya win independence.

His comments followed his Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta's advice to activists in the two trouble spots to settle for autonomy from Indonesia.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Dozens of people claiming to represent thousands of East Timorese refugees sheltering in camps in West Timor rallied at the gubernatorial office in the regional capital of Kupang on Tuesday to demand a quick disbursement of US$5.38 in humanitarian aid from the Japanese government.

Thomas Freitas, Dili – Activists from the NGO La'o Hamutuk and others were disappointed by Manuel Carrascalao's statement in Tuesday's edition of STL that "Foreigners can not come here to provoke conflict amongst East Timorese."

This information was given by Thomas Freitas, a coordinator of the peaceful action in front of the United States Embassy last Saturday.

East Timor's parliament approved a draft bill Tuesday on maritime borders, paving the way for the ratification of the potentially lucrative Timor Sea oil and gas treaty, signed in May by Dili and Canberra during the new nation's independence celebrations.

Dili – UN Police officials today announced they have seized two trucks loaded with sandalwood apparently destined for sale outside East Timor.

Officials would not disclose where the sandalwood originated but said there has been a recent upsurge in cases of this type. A number of people are being questioned in relation to the incident.

The European Union is to give humanitarian aid worth nearly euros 2 million to East Timorese refugees still living in camps in Indonesian West Timor, it was announced Tuesday in Brussels.

The assistance includes food aid for the severely malnourished and supplementary feeding for nearly 10,000 children and 1,700 pregnant or breast feeding women.

Dili – Amnesty should not be offered to those responsible for crimes against humanity during the violence that surrounded East Timor's 1999 bid for independence, said Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo of Dili.

East Timor's minister of health has said that his country has all the conditions necessary for the outbreak of an Aids epidemic and urgent measure are needed to prevent this.

Rui Araujo, currently attending a world conference on HIV/AIDS in Barcelona, said that Timor possessed "all the ingredients" needed for a serious epidemic.

Reporter: Ross Coulthart

Producer: In collaboration with Max Stahl of Gillan Films

Jill Jolliffe, Maubisse – Like most country folk in East Timor, the 18,000 people of the Maubisse district are enthusiastic about independence, but worried about their future. The enormous challenges of survival they face are tougher than those facing their city counterparts.

Jakarta/Kupang – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Friday that 1,500 East Timorese children, placed in orphanages across Indonesia in 1999, had not yet been reunited with their parents in newly independent East Timor.

Geneva – East Timor's Health Minister, Rui Maria de Araujo, warned Friday that his newly-independent country was in danger of an AIDS epidemic, saying its low official figures were "just the tip of the iceberg".

Geoffrey Barker – Sixty influential Chinese business association leaders arrived in Dili from Macau last week to talk to East Timorese leaders about investing in the impoverished new nation.

Within days the group had flown home disappointed and frustrated: senior government leaders would not meet them to discuss investment opportunities and rules.

[Achieving justice in East Timor for the victims of the violence after the 1999 independence vote, is not proving to be an easy task. With just six months to complete its investigations, East Timor's Serious Crimes Unit is facing almost insurmountable problems, as this report from Karon Snowdon reveals.]

Mark Dodd, Dili – At just four weeks old East Timor may be the world's newest nation, but its first big problem is how to deal with its past. Tensions over the treatment of veteran guerrillas who fought for its independence are challenging the authority of the country's new democratic government.

Kupang – East Timorese refugees living in various camps in West Timor continued with their protests on Tuesday, demanding aid from the government for some 20,000 refugee families, or some 54,000 refugees in all. Tuesday's protest was the third since Saturday.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Just four years ago, Mr Xanana Gusmao was Indonesia's most prized rebel prisoner. But yesterday, he returned as the head of state of an independent East Timor, saluted by the army that fought the separatist movement he led.

Jakarta – Indonesia and East Timor on Tuesday agreed to seek the best way of settling the issue of assets the former had left behind in what used to be its 27th province.