Paul Toohey – East Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has taken in recent weeks to heavily bagging Australia, including a strange speech in which he, seemingly apropos of nothing, dug deep into the past and said Australia had selfishly cost the lives of 60,000 East Timorese by coming to Timor to "wage war" against the Japanese in World War II.

Simon Roughneen – East Timor's government has declined a proposal by Australian oil and gas company Woodside to process gas drawn from the Greater Sunrise field on board a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in the Timor Sea, claiming that it would be deprived of tens of billions of dollars in much needed revenues under the arrangement.

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta has attacked international aid agency AusAID for forcing the closure of what he says is one of his country's few successful aid projects.

East Timor's government is emphatic it would rather leave the Greater Sunrise gas deposits under the Timor Sea than drop its demand the gas be piped to East Timor for processing.

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – Two 43-metre Chinese-made navy patrol boats mounted with 30-millimetre cannon, initially to be crewed by Chinese sailors, will be launched in East Timor this week in what observers say is a slap in the face for Australian diplomacy.

A military parade and blessing ceremony is planned in East Timor later this week to formally mark the arrival of two patrol boats purchased from China. The Shanghai-three-class vessels will be used to combat illegal fishing and other illicit activities in East Timor's territorial waters.

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – East Timor has accused Woodside of "grandstanding" over its plans to build a floating liquefied natural gas platform above the Timor Sea's Greater Sunrise field, in the latest salvo in an acrimonious stand-off over the multibillion-dollar project.

Matt Chambers – Woodside Petroleum expects development of the Greater Sunrise gasfields through a floating liquefied natural gas platform to cost more than $US11 billion ($13 billion) – but this will be $US5 billion cheaper than building an onshore plant in East Timor.

Dili – East Timor on Tuesday accused Australian company Woodside Petroleum of trampling its sovereign rights as it again rejected plans to process Timor Sea gas on a floating platform.

Partners in the Sunrise gas field joint venture including Woodside and Shell submitted a report outlining their preference for a floating platform to the East Timorese government in May.

Canberra – East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao is prepared to block the multi-billion dollar Timor Sea development of the Greater Sunrise gas field by Australia's Woodside Petroleum, a report said on Monday.

Woodside and partners have come under pressure from Dili over their plan to develop a floating liquefied natural gas platform to exploit the fields.

Lindsay Murdoch – The Prime Minister of East Timor, Xanana Gusmao, has vowed to make a historic stand against corporate giants that plunder the resources of tiny nations, signalling his country is prepared to forgo billions of dollars from the Greater Sunrise gas fields in the Timor Sea.

East Timor's prime minister said an Australian consortium is trying to steal his country's natural resources from a gas field it's developing in the Timor Sea.

East Timor wants a pipeline to be built from the gas field to Dili, and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao told a gathering on Tuesday that the consortium was ignoring that preference.

Perth – Australia's Woodside Petroleum has not successfully lodged a proposal to East Timor's government to develop the Sunrise gas project using a floating liquefaction plant, the tiny nation's petroleum regulator said.

James Paton – East Timor's petroleum regulator has refused to accept Woodside Petroleum Ltd.'s plan to develop the Sunrise gas project, insisting on more detailed analysis of alternatives, including a plant in the southeast Asian nation.

James Paton – Woodside Petroleum Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Don Voelte said he's still seeking to resolve a dispute with East Timor over how to develop the Sunrise project after meeting with the country's president.

Matt Crook, Dili – East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta said his young country had finally achieved peace and could look forward to prosperity as it celebrated eight years of independence from Indonesia on Thursday.

New Zealand's military deployment in East Timor is being cut because the security situation there has improved, Defence Minister Wayne Mapp says.

The next rotation leaves tomorrow with 75 personnel, just over half the size of earlier rotations of around 140. "We have increasing confidence in Timor-Leste's journey towards permanent stability," Dr Mapp said today.

In three days time, the Timorese people will celebrate the anniversary of the restoration of our independence. Though we have been happily celebrating the day with festivities for nine years, a portion of the population is sad on this commemorative day because of wounds that have not healed and still inflict pain.

Lindsay Murdoch – The East Timorese government has complained to the ASX about Woodside's announcement that it plans to build a floating liquefied natural gas platform above the multibillion-dollar Greater Sunrise field in the Timor Sea.

Damien Kingsbury – East Timor President Xanana Gusmao is not budging over terms of a deal with Woodside on gas reserves in the Timor Sea.

Dili – Partners in the Sunrise gas field joint venture met East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta on Thursday after the government angrily rejected plans to process Timor Sea gas on a floating platform.

Lindsay Murdoch – The regulator of East Timor's petroleum industry has accused Woodside of failing to comply with its legal obligations before announcing plans to build a floating liquefied natural gas platform above the Timor Sea's Greater Sunrise field.

The Federal Government has told East Timor it cannot invite another company to develop the Greater Sunrise gas fields in the Timor Sea.

East Timor prime minister Xanana Gusmao has rejected a decision by the developer Woodside to establish a floating platform to process the gas rather than a pipeline to either Darwin or Dili.

Xavier La Canna – Woodside Petroleum Ltd will send a high-level team including chief executive Don Voelte to East Timor, after the tiny nation threatened to sink plans for a multi-billion-dollar gas project.

Jakarta – East Timor has rejected a proposal for a floating liquefied natural gas platform in a disputed Timor Sea gas field as a waste of time and money.

A high stakes dispute between Australian Oil and Gas company Woodside and East Timor's Government has come to a head. Woodside operates the Greater Sunrise gas field, but negotiations over its development have been deadlocked over a disagreement about where a plant to process the gas should be based.

New York – Timor-Leste's police force has made considerable strides since its creation ten years ago, the top United Nations police official in the nation has said, while adding that the key challenge remains bolstering the trust of the people in the fledgling institution.

Ishaan Tharoor – For most, the presence of an outfit of ninjas conjures scenes of Japanese comic book assassins or, perhaps, of mutant turtles dwelling in a sewer. But in East Timor, ninjas have become a national security threat.

James Paton – Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia's second-largest oil and gas producer, continues to face opposition from East Timor's government to proposals for developing the Sunrise project in the Timor Sea.

The Australian government is standing by its aid program in East Timor after a scathing assessment of the performance of donors by Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – In a fiercely anti-Western speech, East Timor's Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao, has accused Australia of sacrificing the lives of 60,000 Timorese in World War II and secretly plotting for Indonesia to take over what was then Portuguese Timor in 1963.

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – Authorities in Dili have appealed against the acquittal of the Australian Angelita Pires on charges of conspiring to kill East Timor's top two political leaders.

An Darwin woman found not guilty of trying to assassinate East Timor's president two years ago says the country needs to review its judicial system.

Last month a panel of three judges found Angelita Pires not guilty of the attack on Jose Ramos-Horta in February 2008.

East Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao pledged Wednesday to increase government investment of the tiny country's oil wealth to boost economic growth and living standards.

Gusmao told international donors at the country's eighth annual development partners meeting that "the people need us to create conditions to improve their livelihoods".

Sara Everingham – East Timorese president Jose Ramos-Horta says it is time to break the impasse between Australia and his country over the development of the Greater Sunrise gas field.

Matt Crook, Dili – East Timor police have declared war on mysterious "ninjas" accused of murder and subversion in a new twist to the young country's struggle to establish security.

East Timor has marked the tenth anniversary of the founding of its own police force. At a weekend ceremony, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao said he hoped the handover of all police responsibilities from the United Nations to the Timorese force would be finished by the end of this year.

James Scambary – Here is the destruction of '99; here is the destruction of 2006, and here is the destruction of 2007," exclaims Mateus, a wide sweep of his hand encompassing a densely packed row of derelict, weed-infested houses covered in gang graffiti.

Dili – The tiny, impoverished nation of East Timor is on the cusp of an economic explosion that will eclipse even China in terms of growth, a top UN economist said on Tuesday.

Rory Callinan – The Indonesian soldier alleged to have stabbed Australian journalists to death at Balibo has denied any involvement in the 1975 killings and intends to move back to East Timor, where his daughter works for the government.

Tim Lee – There are two distinct seasons in East Timor – the wet season and the dry season.

For many East Timorese, the time in between includes three to four months known as the hungry months, when last year's supplies of rice and maize have run out and the new season's crops have yet to yield.

The Australian Defence Force Chief says he believes East Timorese forces will be able to take full responsibility for the country's security in the near future.

The number of Australian troops in East Timor has been recently reduced to 400.

H.E. Jose Ramos-Horta
President, Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
Dili, Timor-Leste

Dear Mr. President,

AI number: ASA 57/004/2010

Amnesty International has written today to President Jose Ramos-Horta to follow up on his meeting on 5 March 2010 in the United Kingdom with Amnesty International's interim Secretary General, Claudio Cordone. The letter also took note of President Ramos-Horta's remarks at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on 11 March.

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – Australian soldiers in East Timor have been accused of asking Timorese their political views, in violation of the country's constitution.

Tokyo – East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta said Tuesday that Indonesia still needs to apologise for its brutal occupation of the half-island even if relations between the neighbours have improved.

"The only thing still missing is an apology... by those who were directing all the suffering," Ramos-Horta told reporters during a visit to Japan.

East Timor's president Jose Ramos-Horta says his country is serious about making sure its interests are not ignored in the development of the Greater Sunrise Gas field.

Sara Everingham – The President of East Timor says it is embarrassing for Australia that Northern Territory police took five years to test remains believed to be those of the country's first prime minister, Nicolau Lobato.

Tito Belo, Dili – The construction of a luxury hotel near East Timor's capital has uncovered machine-dug graves containing remains of people who may have been killed during the country's occupation by Indonesia, scientists said on Thursday.

Dili – East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta on Wednesday denied claims by Amnesty International that he would support a tribunal for abuses committed during Indonesia's occupation.

Amnesty had claimed he was in favour of the establishment of an international tribunal for crimes committed during the 1975-1999 occupation, should the UN Security Council set it up.