Sara Everingham – A bitter dispute between East Timor's Government and the Australian-based oil and gas company Woodside is continuing.

Woodside and East Timor can't agree on how to process gas from the Greater Sunrise field in the Timor Sea.

Lindsay Murdoch – Another senior East Timor leader has questioned Prime Minister Julia Gillard's plan to build a regional centre to process asylum seekers in East Timor, suggesting Australia would be a better place.

Sydney – East Timor has again rebuffed Canberra's proposal that it host an immigration detention centre where asylum seekers arriving in Australia could be held while their applications for Australian visas were processed, news reports said Monday.

Dili, East Timor – East Timorese police evicted more than 1,000 long-term squatters from a former Indonesian barracks in Dili Thursday, sparking a rowdy protest.

Poor families had been living in almost 120 houses in the Bairro-Pite district of West Dili since Indonesian security forces evacuated the capital in the aftermath of a bloody independence referendum in 1999.

Jia You – Many things could come to mind when one imagines a hospital; but could livestock be one of them?

Matt Crook, Lautem – The nuns were creating an almighty din. In one room there was a sister getting down with a keyboard, while in another there were a couple of nuns bashing out chords on guitars.

The East Timorese government has hit out at the United Nations Development Program saying it's culturally insensitive about issues in the country.

The comments are in response to a UNDP draft report that is highly critical of the government for failing to address rising poverty and joblessness.

Presenter: Claudette Werden

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – A proposal has emerged for Woodside to supply gas for East Timor's domestic consumption as a way to break a deadlock in negotiations over the multibillion-dollar Greater Sunrise field in the Timor Sea.

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – East Timor's leaders have objected to large sections of a crucial United Nations agency report on the country only weeks before the UN Security Council reconsiders its $200 million a year mission in Dili.

Rory Callinan – Australia should set a date for withdrawing its forces from East Timor as the situation has improved and Dili is disregarding UN advice.

Rory Callinan – Indonesian soldiers have been linked to the alleged trafficking of crystal methamphetamine and other illegal drugs into East Timor.

The troops have been involved in a smuggling operation using remote bush tracks along the two nations' border, according to a local security-monitoring NGO.

Greg Roberts – Life in East Timor is as good as it's ever been but that does not mean Australian troops should leave, according to an expert on the tiny island nation.

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – East Timor's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao wants Australia's 400 troops deployed in his country to leave.

Mr Gusmao told police and military leaders in Dili that the tiny island nation, with a population of 1 million, was now capable of resolving its own problems, according to Timorese media reports.

The Australian Defence Force says the security environment in East Timor has been calm for the past two years and that has allowed troop numbers to be reduced.

But any discussion about the future of the International Stabilisation Force (ISF) in East Timor would need to take place between the governments of East Timor, Australia and New Zealand, defence said.

The opposition has called on the federal government to release the details of its proposal for a regional processing centre in East Timor.

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said no details of the plan had been made public since Prime Minister Julia Gillard first announced the idea more than five months ago.

Philip Dorling and Nick McKenzie – The Australian government has quietly blacklisted a prominent Indonesian political figure implicated in the Balibo Five killings while working with Indonesian authorities to manage the fallout from the scandal.

Sydney – The United Nations should cut the number of foreign police in East Timor to encourage one of world's newest countries to manage its own affairs, an influential security think tank said Thursday.

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – The construction of two second-hand Chinese power plants in East Timor is an escalating environmental and safety disaster that has been hit by delays and cost blow-outs, the project's supervisors say.

Dili/Brussels – The size of the policing contingent of the UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) should be sharply reduced to prepare for the peace operation's eventual end and encourage the country to assume full responsibility for ensuring its own security and future stability.

Lindsay Murdoch – East Timor has renewed its criticism of Woodside over its plans to build a floating liquefied natural gas platform above the Timor Sea's Greater Sunrise field, warning of potential cost blowouts and accusing the company of making misleading statements.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono conveyed his government's full support for Timor Leste's intention to join the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) next year, local media reported on Thursday.

Ross Kelly, Sydney – Three big oil companies have met a request by East Timor to submit different development concept studies for the Greater Sunrise gas field but an impasse over where to process the gas is showing little sign of breaking.

Singapore – East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta said Wednesday it would be symbolic if his fledgling country gained ASEAN membership next year when former occupier Indonesia takes over as chair of the regional bloc.

Thin Lei Win, Dili – East Timor, one of the world's youngest nations, is attempting to enact laws on land ownership eight years after gaining full independence.

A High Court judgment has raised questions over whether the government can successfully process refugee claims quickly and efficiently, Acting Prime Minister Chris Evans says.

But he says it does not undermine the government's pursuit of a regional processing centre in East Timor.

Lindsay Murdoch – Australian troops will withdraw from East Timor in 2012 – six years after hundreds of them arrived in the half-island nation to quell violent upheaval.

Australia will phase out more than a third of its adviser positions in East Timor over the next two years. Australia's aid agency, AusAID, will cut 29 of its 82 advisory positions in East Timor in a shake up that is aimed at making its aid more effective.

Stephen Coates, Dili – A jade elephant rears majestically in the corner as patrons tuck into their burgers and fries at one of only three US-style fast-food joints in East Timor, all of which are Chinese owned and operated.

Paul Cleary – East Timor is continuing to entertain plans to drill for oil in waters as deep as 1900m. In one instance, it is using the contractor that was operating the Deepwater Horizon rig which exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in May.

Aubrey Belford, Gleno, East Timor – Gastao Salsinha, retired rebel and failed assassin, says it is probably politics that explains why he is free to roam East Timor's cloud-covered hinterlands rather than languishing in jail.

Dili – East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta has defended his decision to pardon rebels in the tiny nation following criticism by a UN envoy.

The UN special representative for East Timor, Ameerah Haq, raised concerns earlier this week about policing and the commuting of prison terms for some involved in unrest.

Bernard Lagan in New York and Yuko Narushima – East Timor has declared it does not want to become a mere transit point for boat people picked up in Australian waters.

Rina Jimenez-David, Bangkok – From 1975 to 1999, East Timor (or Timor-Leste as the people call their country) was subjected to a harsh and brutal conflict between the Indonesian occupying forces and a rebel force fighting for independence.

Aubrey Belford, Dili, East Timor – To Demetrio do Amaral de Carvalho, the explosion last spring on the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico – and the oil that then gushed for months into the surrounding waters – held alarming portents for his young, fragile nation.

Kupang – After taking refuge for 11 years at Belu regency, East Nusa Tenggara, following the 1999 referendum, 24 people returned to Timor Leste, facilitated by CIS Timor and the Care for Women and Children Forum (FPPA).

"They have been returned home through Mota'ain border in the north of Belu on Monday afternoon," CIS coordinator Deonato Moreira said Tuesday.

UN Security Council members and a special envoy have expressed concern over policing in East Timor and some decisions by President Jose Ramos-Horta.

Julian Drape – Australia will pay a "significant proportion" of the cost of building a refugee processing centre in East Timor, a senior government official says.

Labor is currently in talks with East Timor about opening a centre in the fledgling nation to house potentially thousands of asylum seekers.

Piers Akerman – Tomorrow marks the 35th anniversary of the killing of five Australian newsmen at Balibo in East Timor.

Their executions by Indonesian special force troops was the subject of an inquiry by NSW Deputy State Coroner Dorelle Pinch in 2007, with Ms Pinch finding that the men were killed because they may have made public Indonesia's invasion of East Timor.

Larine Statham – Fresh concerns have emerged that East Timor's economy will be dealt a savage blow, leaving hundreds of people without work, when United Nations forces withdraw from the country.

East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta has a plan to keep the country's many taxi drivers, hospitality workers, landlords and moteliers in business.

Kirsty Needham – East Timorese and Australian officials will develop jointly a proposal for a refugee processing centre to be put to both governments by early 2011, Immigration Minister Chris Bowen says.

Dili – East Timor has many problems of its own and is not ready to accept thousands of asylum seekers under an Australian plan to build a refugee hub in the tiny country, a lawmaker said Wednesday.

Tonight Ms. Dinorah Granadeiro, Director of Timor-Leste's NGO Forum, presented a public petition to the Australian Minister for Immigration and Citizenship at an invitation only reception in Dili.

Karlis Salna – Prime Minister Julia Gillard's vision for a regional refugee processing hub has been dealt a blow with East Timor's President insisting it will only be considered as a temporary solution.

Margie Mason, Oe-cusse enclave, East Timor – If there really was a place so remote it could be called the end of the earth, Adelino Quelo's shabby little hut would be prime real estate.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen says he won't return from East Timor this week with a final deal to address people smuggling and the offshore processing of asylum seekers.

Mr Bowen will travel to East Timor for talks with President Jose Ramos-Horta and other senior Timorese officials in Dili on Tuesday, before flying to Indonesia and Malaysia.

Dili – Australia's Woodside Petroleum has changed its position and will consider processing gas from East Timor's vast Greater Sunrise liquefied natural gas fields on East Timor shores, East Timor said on Friday.

Dili – East Timor on Tuesday got a favourable write-up in a United Nations human rights report that pointed to progress four years after unrest that killed nearly 40 people, despite some continued problems.

East Timor's deputy prime minister and foreign minister have been indicted over corruption allegations and may be suspended from parliament to face charges in court.

Liam Cochrane – The indictment of two senior ministers in the East Timor government over corruption allegations could disrupt negotiations with Australia over a regional asylum seeker centre, according to observers.

Nicholas Jones – East Timor will lose more than revenue if a dispute with Woodside Petroleum over where gas from the Greater Sunrise field will be processed is not resolved, says an academic researching politics in the country.