Australia's Woodside Petroleum has promised East Timor it will re-examine Dili's demands for gas from the Greater Sunrise field to be processed on East Timorese soil, an official said on Wednesday.

Karon Snowdon – Woodside Petroleum has denied reports it is willing to consider processing gas from the Greater Sunrise field in East Timor.

Dili – About 400 protesters shouted anti-Australia slogans on Tuesday asofficials from Canberra held talks with their East Timorese counterparts over a troubled joint gas development project.

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

Mark Dodd – East Timor wants Julia Gillard's proposal for an asylum-seeker processing centre linked to better co-operation with Canberra on maritime security.

Speaking by telephone from New York yesterday, Foreign Minister Zacarias da Costa told The Australian he would meet his counterpart Kevin Rudd today to discuss the plan on the sidelines of the UN.

Helene Hofman – Human rights advocacy groups for East Timor have urged the US president to overturn the appointment of Indonesia's new ambassador to Washington.

Katharine Murphy and Yuko Narushima – Immigration Minister Chris Bowen will head to East Timor to revive plans for an offshore immigration processing facility following talks between Julia Gillard and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.

Human rights advocacy groups for East Timor are calling on the president of the United States, Barack Obama, to reject the appointment of Indonesia's ambassador-designate to Washington.

East Timor's foreign minister says setting up a regional asylum seeker processing centre is not a simple bilateral matter for his country and Australia to decide.

Yuko Narushima – East Timor has refused to be party to humanitarian "trade-offs" in order to satisfy Australia's search for a country to detain asylum seekers.

Ambassador Abel Guterres said his country understood the plight of refugees and would not be bought by economic incentives offered by Australia.

Lindsay Murdoch – East Timor has rebuffed Julia Gillard over her plan to build a regional processing centre for asylum seekers there, referring the negotiations to a 50-nation meeting on people smuggling.

The decision means any talks to establish a centre will be more difficult and delayed for months until a meeting in Indonesia.

Daniel Flitton – Julia Gillard's plan to turn East Timor into a regional hub to process refugee claims has been boosted after the government in Dili identified a possible site in the country's south to house asylum seekers.

Paul Toohey – Attempts by Julia Gillard to get moving on her proposed asylum-seeker processing centre in East Timor have come at a bad time for Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, who is presiding over a shaky government and cannot afford unpopular distractions.

Damien Kingsbury – As the new consolation prize, Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd's first job will be to try to implement the government's "East Timor solution" for asylum seekers. The issue is whether this policy has any chance of success.

Hamish McDonald – The minority government era of openness and co-operation has begun with strike one for secrecy against an attempt to open up 35-year-old defence intelligence information.

Guido Goulart, Dili – Prime Minster Xanana Gusmao said Friday that the resignation of his deputy, whose party has threatened to withdraw from the ruling coalition, will not lead to the collapse of East Timor's government.

Guido Goulart, Dili, East Timor – One of East Timor's deputy prime ministers said he has resigned after Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao publicly called him a "liar" for his outspoken critiques of the government's failure to tackle corruption and improve people's lives.

Peter Alford – Australia remains East Timor's key strategic partner, says its Foreign Minister, Zacarias da Costa.

Mr da Costa said Australian fears of increasing Chinese influence on his tiny nation are "groundless".

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.

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.

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.

[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 – 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."

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.