Max Lane – Speculation on the future of East Timor is rife in Jakarta. There have even been unconfirmed reports that the Habibie-Wiranto military regime may allow East Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmao to move to house arrest.

The East Timor International Support Centre argues that the Australian government's supposed "historic shift" in policy on East Timor, recently announced by foreign minister Alexander Downer, is much ado about little.

Mike Head – Rarely does a veteran diplomat reveal the real concerns driving the foreign policy manoeuvres of a government he has served for decades.

Paul Daley, Canberra – Successive Australian governments have had access to intelligence reports on Indonesian troop movements in East Timor, including their skirmishes with Fretilin guerrillas and the killing of civilians in the troubled Indonesian province, since at least 1975.

Don Greenlees – Xanana Gusmao was willing to accept house arrest, an East Timorese resistance leader said yesterday after Indonesian authorities had "tested the water" over transferring him out of Jakarta's Cipinang jail.

Jakarta – Four masked men, believed to be members of a pro-independence group, have killed an East Timorese soldier in front of his horrified family members.

Canberra – Nobel Peace prize winner Jose Ramos Horta believes the release of classified documents on East Timor will reveal Australian complicity in Indonesian atrocities.

The East Timorese activist said full disclosure of government records on East Timor during the 1970s would also help Australia avoid similar mistakes in the future.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – Indonesia is paving the way to transfer Xanana Gusmao out of Jakarta's Cipinang jail and place him under house arrest, in a significant concession to international demands the East Timorese resistence leader be immediately freed.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – Indonesia is angry and the East Timorese are cynical. As Don Greenlees reports, the Howard Government's policy switch on Timor always ran the risk of pleasing no one

Louise Williams, Jakarta – "Indonesia is not so fragile," scoffed a former Indonesian ambassador in response to Canberra's claim that an independent East Timor would empower other separatist movements and threaten Indonesia's disintegration.

Jakarta – East Timor Governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares stressed that he would not resign, despite growing calls for his resignation on the part of prominent local public figures who rallied around the local House of representatives yesterday.

Maputo, Jan 14 (Lusa) - Mari Alkatiri, first vice-president of Fretilin, told Lusa in Maputo on Wednesday that while being "ambiguous" Australia's new policy towards East Timor amounted to a "substantial change." Alkatiri made the statement in reaction to the Australian government's announcement earlier this week that it was now supporting East Timor's right of self-determination as

Lincoln Wright – Risking possible friction with Jakarta, the Labor Party has backed a policy of funding an autonomous or independent East Timor using Indonesia's share of the oil and gas revenue from the Timor Gap.

Comment by Hamish Mcdonald – Could Alexander Downer be playing a deep double game with the Indonesians? Could he be luring them into agreeing to an act of self-determination by encouraging their hopes that it will result in some autonomy formula without East Timor leaving Indonesian hands?

Louise Williams, Jakarta – The Indonesian military will today begin sending more than 100 refugees camped in the East Timorese capital of Dili, who fled ongoing security operations around their villages, back to their homes.

Sydney – The Australian government announced Tuesday it will press Indonesia to grant East Timor an act of self-determination in a policy shift which East Timorese activists immediately said does not go far enough.

[The following is the text of a report by Portuguese radio on January 8.]

Lisbon – The senior commander of the East Timorese guerrilla movement has rejected all attempts to split or discredit the occupied territory's resistance to domination by Indonesia.

Canberra – Hundreds of East Timorese were fleeing the countryside because of ongoing civilian killings and torture by the Indonesian military, it was alleged today.

The fresh allegations of atrocities were contained in videotapes smuggled out of the former Portuguese island colony and broadcast nationally by SBS.

Dili – Two men were killed and five wounded in East Timor when supporters of a referendum on the future of the troubled territory clashed with an armed militia backing autonomy, a source said Monday.

Militia members at a security post in Ainaro district fired into a mob of about 100 people late on Sunday after warning shots were ignored, the source here said.

Madrid – Portuguese lawyers on Saturday demanded the extradition of Indonesia's ex-president Suharto to bring him to court for genocide of the population of East Timor, Portugal's former colony.

Jakarta – Visiting United Nations (UN) special envoy Jamsheed Marker said he was pleased with his meeting with Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto here Monday which can be useful for future dialogs on the East Timor issue.

Dili – A special envoy of the UN secretary general was airlifted by helicopter from the Komoro airport here Sunday as hundreds of protestors stormed the terminal, witnesses said.

Dili – More than 1,000 pro-independence residents of East Timor rallied in the capital Dili Saturday, preparing to greet the UN secretary general's special envoy on the territory Jamsheed Marker.

Helsinki – Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate Jose Ramos Horta said in Helsinki on Thursday he agreed with jailed East Timorese former guerrilla leader Xanana Gusmao's proposal for a transition period leading to a referendum on self-determination in his occupied home land.

Lisbon – There has been a mixed reaction to jailed East Timorese armed resistance leader Xanana Gusmao's interview with LUSA earlier this week.

Jakarta – The people of East Timor should consider accepting an Indonesian offer of autonomy before a referendum on self-determination is held in the former Portuguese colony, jailed rebel leader Xanana Gusmao said in an interview published Wednesday.

Lisbon – Portugal and Indonesia will open interest sections in each other's capitals in January as part of a slow but sure fence-mending bid between states that became enemies two decades ago over East Timor.

The row goes back to 1975 when Indonesia invaded the territory a year after Portugal abandoned it to fractious independence movements.

The military commander in East Timor, Colonel Tono Suratman said that if you wanted to have a ceasefire, it would be necessary for UN monitors to be present. He was answering a journalist after holding a meeting at his command headquarters in Dili with Canadian ambassador Kenneth Sungults.

Dili – Hundreds of students from three universities and academies here Monday staged a demonstration at the local parliament to protest against violence and oppression by the Indonesian armed forces.

Vienna – In a decision welcomed as a landmark by Portugal, European Union leaders Saturday backed calls for a referendum to decide the fate of East Timor, the former Portuguese colony occupied by Indonesia since 1975.

Lisbon – Indonesian troops attacked East Timorese civilians in a village in the disputed territory, killing one person and wounding 22, an East Timor independence group in exile said Friday.

The attack took place Tuesday near Cailaco in East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, according to a statement by the pro-independence Christian Democratic Union of East Timor.

Louise Williams, Jakarta – The Indonesian military will draw more East Timorese into the war against the pro-independence Fretilin guerillas by creating village militias, a move which could escalate tensions in the troubled province by pitting one group of East Timorese against another.

Tomi Soetjipto, Jakarta – Thousands of East Timorese protesters rallied in the troubled territory's capital Monday to mark the anniversary of its invasion by Indonesian troops 23 years ago, witnesses said.

Crowds began gathering at around dawn in Dili and dispersed around midday after hoisting the East Timorese flag and laying a wreath outside the Santa Cruz cemetery.

After years of deadlock, President Habibie's offer in June of autonomy for East Timor has finally set wheels moving over the fate of the troubled territory. Every one seems relieved with the progress. Except, strangely enough, the East Timorese. Before dismissing East Timorese complaints as unrealistic, let's examine the facts.

According to a report received today from the Peace and Justice Commission in Dili, a religious teacher named Francisco Carvalho was shot dead by two unidentified men as he was teaching at a school in Uatolari, Viqueque.

A team of students which planned to visit Alas to conduct investigations into the human rights violations there was forced to return to Dili after being subjected to intimidatory actions by troops in Same to the north west of Alas.

Jakarta – Most Indonesian students and academics believe the people of troubled East Timor should be allowed to decide their own future, according to an opinion poll.

Asked for the best solution to the problem, 66.5 percent wanted the East Timorese people to decide on their own future, while only 7.7 percent wanted the matter to be left to the Indonesian government.

Christopher Henning, London – The former Australian ambassador to Indonesia Mr Philip Flood has rejected claims that he withheld information from the Australian Government concerning the murder of wounded Timorese at the time of the Dili massacre. Mr Flood is now Australia's high commissioner in London.

Jakarta – Indonesia's National Commission on Human Rights will investigate accusations that soldiers executed as many as 50 people in East Timor earlier this month in a military operation against armed rebels in the troubled province, the Government said Tuesday.

The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) has received reports from reliable sources in East Timor about the extra-judicial execution of approximately 50 East Timorese people between 10 and 16 November, 1998. The executions took place during a military operation by members of the Indonesian military (ABRI) in the sub-district of Alas in the south of East Timor.

Dili – Student organisations in Dili, the capital of East Timor, will hold a big demonstration on Monday to protest against a bloodbath perpetrated by the Indonesian army in Alas, a sub-district of about 1,000 inhabitants. According to reliable sources, between 9 and 19 November, at least 50 people were killed, including the village head. Others speak of more than 100 casualties.

We have been informed by Solidamor in Jakarta that major military operations are underway in sub-district Alas, district of Manufahi. The Indonesian military have launched these operations in retaliation for the capture of two of their men who are being held prisoner by FALINTIL, following an attack on the local military command, Koramil, in Alas.

Lisbon – Portugal Friday suspended a New York meeting with the United Nations and Indonesia over East Timor, following intelligence reports of a massacre in the disputed territory, officials said Friday.

Hamish Mcdonald – Australia's ambassador in Jakarta was told by a key Indonesian army officer a few weeks after the massacre at Dili's Santa Cruz cemetery on November 12, 1991, that on the same day, Indonesian soldiers and intelligence agents had killed a further 20 to 25 Timorese around the city.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – The former governor of East Timor has broken his silence on the 1991 Dili massacre, claiming dozens more people were executed and secretly buried at two sites in the month after the initial bloodshed at the Santa Cruz cemetery.

Jakarta – East Timorese rebel leader Xanana Gusmao has spelled out his blueprint for the territory's gradual independence from Indonesia, a process he said should take several years and possibly involve UN peace-keeping forces.

Lisbon – A Portuguese former governor of East Timor said Saturday that the 1991 massacre by Indonesian troops at a Dili cemetery was followed days later with more bloodshed, with 50 people shot dead and 100 buried alive.

Lewa Pardomuan, Dili – East Timorese on Thursday marked the killings of scores of unarmed protesters on this day in 1991 with tears and renewed anti-Indonesia sentiment in the former Portuguese colony.