Lindsay Murdoch – The President of East Timor, Jose Ramos-Horta, has pardoned 23 rebels involved in attacks in 2008 during which he was shot in the back and almost died.
Dr Ramos-Horta survived only after being flown to Australia for emergency surgery. The newspaper Tempo Semanal quoted Dr Ramos-Horta as saying he was releasing the rebels because they were also victims.
Sara Everingham – East Timor's prime minister, Xanana Gusmao, has thanked the Chinese government for funding the construction of the country's new military headquarters.
In Dili this morning China and East Timor signed a contract for China to fund a new $9 million headquarters for Timor's fledgling army.
Simon Roughneen, Bangkok – Burma Foreign Minister Nyan Win concluded a three-day goodwill visit to Timor Leste on Sunday, after being met by protestors at Dili's international airport on Friday.
On 20 August 2010, coinciding with the 35th anniversary of the establishment of Falintil, the President of the Republic of Timor-Leste issued Presidential Decree No. 31/2010 to pardon 26 convicted persons who were found guilty in a court of law for their involvement in the 2006 crisis as well as the attack and attempted murder that took place on 11 February 2008.
East Timor has taken exception to comments by Prime Minister Julia Gillard on the development of a gas field in the Timor Sea.
The development of the Greater Sunrise field has stalled because of a dispute between East Timor and Woodside. Yesterday Ms Gillard said Woodside's decisions should be in the best interests of its shareholders.
Dili – Human rights activists clashed with police in East Timor on Friday as they protested the visit of Myanmar's foreign minister and demanded the release of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Dili – East Timor's president said Friday his country is seeking to improve relations with Myanmar, including commercial ties.
"We want to increase our relations," President Jose Ramos-Horta said after meeting Myanmar's foreign minister during a visit that drew protests over human rights abuses in military-ruled Myanmar.
[The Circle of Silence: A Personal Testimony before, during, and after Balibo Author: Shirley Shackleton, Publisher: Pier 9, 2010, Pages: 390.]
East Timor says it will go ahead with a planned four billion dollar oil and gas hub on its southern coast whether Woodside Petroleum commits to onshore gas processing or not.
Ismira Lutfia, Jakarta – The Jakarta Administrative Court on Thursday rejected the Alliance of Independent Journalist's appeal to overturn the ban on the Australian film "Balibo."
Ismira Lutfia, Jakarta – Journalists have criticized Thursday's "vague" court ruling that upheld the government's ban on the controversial film "Balibo" as an indication of the government's unwillingness to confront its "dark past."
Dili – East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta said Wednesday he was waiting for the new Australian government to be installed before talks about a regional refugee centre could "re-open."
Abdullah Alamudi, Jakarta – The discovery of a grave in a South Jakarta cemetery of the five Australian-based journalists killed in Balibo, East Timor, nearly 35 years ago, may soon shed some light on their ashes or remains.
The journalists, known as the Balibo Five, died on Oct. 16, 1975 while covering the Indonesian invasion on the then Portuguese colony.
Dili – East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta said Wednesday his country had "no plans" to build a detention centre for asylum seekers as proposed by Australia, but remained open to discuss the idea.
"The government of Timor-Leste has no plans to build or authorise a processing centre to be opened in Timor-Leste," he told AFP, using his tiny country's formal name.
The Australian Government's proposal to develop a regional processing centre for asylum seekers East Timor looks more shaky by the day.
The Government says an Australian delegation visited East Timor last week for discussions and had productive talks. But East Timor's Deputy Prime Minister says the Australians arrived when many Timorese politicians were visiting China.
Mark Dodd – Negotiations for an offshore refugee processing centre in East Timor appear to have stalled.
Although talks are continuing, The Australian understands they are severely restricted by caretaker provisions during the election and no deal can be reached until after the poll.
Indonesia appears lukewarm on Australia's plan to build a regional asylum-seeker processing centre in East Timor.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith briefed his Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa on the Gillard government's proposal during talks in Jakarta today.
East Timorese Deputy Prime Minister Mario Viegas Carrascalao yesterday rejected an Australian proposal to process asylum-seekers.
Mr Carrascalao said East Timor had too many problems of its own to deal with Australia's as well.
Andrea Booth – Australia's failure to consult Indonesia about an asylum processing centre in East Timor is likely to exacerbate tensions between our two northern neighbours.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith arrived in Indonesia yesterday, with talks on the issue anticipated. Officials here won't say it, but it was wrong of Australia not to consult Indonesia on its policy.
Talek Harris, Sydney – Australia said on Tuesday it remained in talks with East Timor over a regional asylum seeker center despite a rejection by the tiny country's Parliament, which dealt the pre-election policy a severe blow.
Nelson da Cruz, Dili – Timor's parliament voted Monday to reject an Australian proposal for the impoverished country to become a regional refugee processing centre for Australian-bound asylum seekers.
Jakarta – A government spokesman said Sunday he had never heard of a grave at Tanah Kusir cemetery in Jakarta, believed to be the final resting place of five foreign journalists killed in then East Timor in 1975.
Australian officials will travel to East Timor this week to continue discussing plans for a regional asylum processing centre.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said today he had spoken with East Timor's foreign minister Zacarias da Costa about the plan.
Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – More than three decades have passed since Shirley Shackleton heard the devastating news that her husband, a journalist covering the conflict in then East Timor, was killed.
But Shackleton, now 78, still embraces every opportunity given to her to seek out the truth behind the tragedy.
Sydney – Australia's new prime minister Julia Gillard on Friday talked up her plan for a regional refugee centre to tackle people smuggling but backed away from suggestions it should be built in East Timor.
The widow of one of the Balibo Five has paid her first visit to his grave, 35 years after the death of the five newsmen in East Timor.
Shirley Shackleton, 78, sat today beside the grave in a Jakarta cemetery which holds the remains of her husband Greg Shackleton, together with those of Brian Peters, Gary Cunningham, Malcolm Rennie and Anthony Stewart.
Sara Everingham, Dili – Prime Minister Julia Gillard's plan to send asylum seekers to a regional processing centre in East Timor is running into increasing opposition from the country's politicians.
Dili, East Timor – East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao said Thursday his government was open to discussing Australia's proposal to process Australia-bound asylum seekers in the impoverished nation.
Stephen Coates – The wife of an Australian reporter allegedly killed by Indonesian forces in East Timor in 1975 told a Jakarta court on Thursday that she believed her husband was shot after surrendering to the Army.
Damien Kingsbury – A few years ago, a Burmese couple on the run from that country's brutal military regime sought asylum in Australia. They had landed in East Timor and went to the embassy. Their application for refugee status was ultimately refused and, unable to return to Burma, they stayed in Dili.
Damien Kingsbury – The announcement by the Gillard government that it intends to use East Timor as a processing stop-over for asylum seekers is either a very clever political ploy or a blunder that has the potential to derail her run for a second term for her government.
Stephen Fitzpatrick in Jakarta and Paul Cleary – East Timor MP Jose Teixeira was thoroughly perplexed yesterday by Julia Gillard's announcement of plans for an asylum-seeker processing centre.
The wife of an Australian reporter allegedly killed by Indonesian forces in East Timor in 1975 said on Wednesday that she trusted the Indonesian people to make up their own minds about what happened.
Rohan Sullivan, Sydney – East Timor's president said Wednesday he supports in principle an Australian plan to turn his country into a regional center for processing asylum seekers but does not want his tiny, impoverished nation to become an "island prison."
Hamish McDonald, Asia-Pacific editor – The East Timorese President, Jose Ramos-Horta, is "sympathetic" to the Australian Prime Minister's request to set up a processing centre for asylum seekers in his country, but has not yet given his agreement.
Meagan Weymes – East Timor's voters went to the polls Saturday in parliamentary elections seen as a key test for the young and fragile democracy and likely to determine if UN peacekeepers can leave by the end of the year.
Karlis Salna – Julia Gillard has flagged offshore refugee processing through East Timor as she seeks to reposition Labor on the asylum seeker issue ahead of the federal election.
The prime minister, in her second full week in the job, has torn up elements of Labor's border protection policy under Kevin Rudd and embraced the processing of refugees in third countries.
Rohan Sullivan, Sydney – Australia's new leader proposed Tuesday to stop an influx of asylum seeker boats by making East Timor a hub for processing UN refugee claims for people fleeing war and persecution – an idea the tiny, impoverished nation said it was still considering.
Sara Everingham, Kerri Ritchie and staff – East Timor's deputy prime minister says his country does not have the capacity to set up a regional processing centre for asylum seekers.
Earlier today Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced the Government was negotiating with East Timor on setting up a centre to handle new boat arrivals before they arrived in Australia.
People who committed war crimes in East Timor during Indonesia's 1975-1999 occupation are going unpunished because of a loophole in the country's penal code, Amnesty International says.
AI Index: PRE 01/206/2010
Amnesty International is urging Timor-Leste to close a legal loophole that is allowing war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 1975-1999 Indonesian occupation to go unpunished.
Dili – East Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao on Friday welcomed new Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and thanked ousted leader Kevin Rudd for his "steadfast support".
East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta is using a state visit to Australia to try to calm escalating tensions over the development of the Greater Sunrise oil and gas field in the Timor Sea. He's still pushing for a pipeline take the gas for processing in East Timor, rather than go with Greater Sunrise Consortium's preference of a floating processing facility.
Matt Chambers – When East Timor President Jose Ramos Horta fronts the National Press Club in Canberra today, the Greater Sunrise gas partners – led by Woodside Petroleum – are hoping for a softening in rhetoric from the small country, which has railed against development plans for the huge resource.
Kirsty Needham – Bringing an oil pipeline to East Timor would do more to alleviate poverty than Australia's $100 million aid program could achieve, East Timor's President, Jose Ramos-Horta, said last night.
Linda Mottram, Canberra
East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta is using a state visit to Australia to fight against plans to process gas from the Timor Sea on a floating platform, and not via a pipeline in East Timor.
Ray Brindal and Rachel Pannett, Canberra – East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta said Wednesday a decision on a site for a plant to process gas from the Greater Sunrise field will be made on commercial grounds, but whether the plant goes ahead will depend on the cost of a pipeline needed to haul the gas to East Timor.
Damien Kingsbury – Australia's relationship with East Timor is at its lowest ebb since 2005 when Alexander Downer bullied then Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri into accepting a fundamentally unfair division of the Timor Sea between the two countries.
On 14 June 2010, East Timor community figure Joao Quintao (57), a retired Indonesian military senior sergeant, said that the thousands of refugees from East Timor living in refugee settlements in East Nusa Tenggara have poor living conditions and were disappointed with government policy. Quintao made his comments at the Tuapukan refugee camp in Kupang.
Adam Gartrell – An Australian woman cleared of plotting to assassinate East Timor's top political leaders intends to sue the country's president for defamation.
Angelita Pires says President Jose Ramos Horta was a driving force behind allegations of her involvement in the February 2008 attempt on his life and the life of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.