Mark Dodd, Dili – Australian soldiers have taken control of two towns in militia heartland along East Timor's volatile border with Indonesian West Timor, in their biggest operation since landing in the territory 12 days ago.

Dafna Linzer, Kupang, – In the ramshackle Tuapukan camp, home to 10,000 refugees from East Timor's chaos, Indonesia's red-and-white flag flies proudly above unfinished roofs of dried palm fronds and straw.

Dili – The bodies of 13 people, many of them showing traces of violence, have been found in a mass grave near Dili, a spokesman for the United Nations said on Saturday.

Bandar Lampung – Lampung Military Police yesterday began investigating eight military officers allegedly involved in the shooting that took place during a students protest in front of the Bandar Lampung University (UBL) campus on Tuesday. One student was killed during the demonstration.

Jakarta – A second day of clashes between local tribesmen and migrants in the mining town of Timika in Indonesia's remote Irian Jaya province killed four people, raising the death toll in two days to 14, reports and a tribal activist said Friday.

Agencies in Dili, Los Palos and Jakarta – British Gurkha soldiers yesterday arrested two members of a group of East Timorese militiamen who were holding more than 4,000 people in the eastern port of Com, military sources said.

The militiamen appeared to be preparing to move the 4,000 people out of the territory, the sources said.

Claudia Gazzini, Jakarta – Protests broke out across Indonesia on Thursday over grievances ranging from the UN-backed intervention in East Timor to the pace of democratic reform.

Dili – The mutilated and charred remains of at least nine people were discovered in a burnt-out pickup truck on the outskirts of Dili Wednesday, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

Waimori – Pro-independence guerillas said yesterday they had seized control of most of the eastern part of East Timor after clashes with retreating militia and Indonesian soldiers.

Mark Dodd, Dili – When paramilitary toughs supported by Indonesia's discredited military force in East Timor finally set down their cans of petrol and matches, hundreds of innocent people had been killed, tens of thousands made homeless and whole towns and villages razed.

The UN Human Rights Commission will go ahead with an inquiry into alleged human rights atrocities in East Timor with or without co-operation from Indonesia, a spokesman said yesterday.

"We would hope for co-operation from Indonesia, but if they fail to give their co-operation, it will not deter us from going forward," UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

The multinational force in East Timor must rapidly expand to start building peace and security in the territory, East Timorese leaders Xanana Gusmao and Jose Ramos Horta told correspondents at a press conference, sponsored by Portugal, at Headquarters this afternoon.

Tony Wright, Canberra – The Federal Government is considering selling billions of dollars worth of prime defence land throughout Australia to pay for its massively expensive military commitment to East Timor.

Ambon – A total of 217 fatalities were recorded in communal clashes across the province between July and September, police said on Tuesday.

Maluku Police chief Col. Bugis Saman told a media conference that the number of casualties was likely to be higher due to unconfirmed reports by people of missing relatives.

Compere: Well, finally returning to East Timor. The crisis may have soured Australia's relationship with Indonesia, but the Federal Government is making it very clear it's not going to encourage independence elsewhere in our giant northern neighbour. Yesterday AM reported on smuggled footage from Ambon showing demonstrators being fired on by the military.

Jakarta – Australian flags were burned Monday in at least two Indonesian cities, while anti-Australian rallies took place in two other cities amid whipped-up resentment against Canberra's role in East Timor, witnesses and reports said.

Bandar Lampung – The mourning of Yap Yun Hap who died of gunshot wounds had hardly lifted from the Indonesia University campus grounds, when news broke through that another student, M. Yusuf Rizal (23), has fallen victim at the Bandar Lampung University of Lampung on Tuesday (28/9).

Jakarta – A human rights lobbyist on Wednesday called on the United Nations to conduct the same sort of inquiry it is making into alleged atrocities in East Timor in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province.

Jakarta – In an unprecedented move, Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Wiranto brought together on Tuesday leaders of six major political parties to hammer out a commitment to ensure the General Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) runs smoothly.

Craig Skehan, Jakarta – East Timorese independence supporters say they are being terrorised in Jakarta and elsewhere by militiamen with shadowy political connections.

Jakarta – Some 1,000 Indonesian students returned to the streets here Wednesday in a peaceful protest against military violence.

The protesters, mostly from the University of Indonesia, massed at a busy roundabout in the capital's main thoroughfare, chanting slogans and brandishing signs against what they called the military's meddling in all aspects of life.

Jakarta – Protests against a new state security bill in Indonesia claimed another life Tuesday when security forces shot dead a student in clashes in the Sumatra island city of Bandar Lampung, hospitals and reports said. At least 27 others were injured in the protest, which followed the deaths of at least seven people, one a student, in similar protests in Jakarta last week.

[The following is a compilation of several reports sent to ASIET (Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor) by the Central Leadership Committee of the People's Democratic Party (KPP-PRD) in Jakarta.]

East Timorese refugees in Indonesia, including the resort island of Bali, are being threatened with death by soldiers and militiamen, but plans for a large-scale evacuation are being delayed by the reluctance of foreign governments to accept large numbers of refugees.

Chris Michaud, New York – Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer on Tuesday praised Indonesian President B.J. Habibie's policies on the troubled East Timor region, saying that without Habibie the saga may never have been resolved.

[Please note that this item was included to provide an example of the Indonesian media's anti-Australian campaign and is not intended to be taken as a serious news report - James Balowski.]

Jakarta – As the UN Human Rights Commission approved a probe into allegations of abuse by Indonesian-backed militias in East Timor, newspapers here were screaming about "atrocities" committed by Australian troops in the territory. "Australian troops torture militias," read a headline in the Indonesian Observer [article included below - JB] Tuesday.

Jakarta – The commander of the East Timorese militia has ordered his men to halt their campaign of terror, and apologize to their victims, the state Antara news agency said Tuesday.

Major political heavyweights hope to arrive at some consensus on the rules of the game for the presidential election scheduled for Nov 10

Jakarta – Fearing being visited and taken away by security authorities, at least four patients suffering injuries sustained in a violent rally in Semanggi cloverleaf on Thursday and Friday have fled Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, hospital employees said on Sunday.

Mark Dodd, Dili – A vast cache of documentary and forensic evidence linking Jakarta's involvement to hardline pro-Indonesian militias accused of horrendous human rights abuses continues to lie unsecured in Dili one week after the arrival of Australian-led peacekeepers.

Lisbon – Nine church workers including two nuns and a priest have been shot dead by Indonesian troops in the eastern part of East Timor, Bishop Basilio do Nascimento told Portuguese television on Monday.

The Bishop of Baucau said the group, all of whom worked for the Baucau diocese, were gunned down on Saturday and their bodies dumped in a river.

Jakarta – Drug abuse has become a major social ill in Indonesia, especially among the young, a report said Sunday adding without urgent preventive action, "a new catastrophe" was in the making.

Drug counsellors said peer pressure, poor enforcement and lack of treatment facilities were among the key factors contributing to the rise of the drug scourge.

Jakarta – Angry mobs paralyzed downtown Manokwari in Indonesia's remote Irian Java province on Saturday, a day after police shot dead one man and wounded two others during an outbreak of violence.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Moves to accelerate the constitutional process of finding a new Indonesian president are well under way, promoted by a group of opposition political parties.

Keith B. Richburg, Kupang – They fled here in abject retreat, packed onto trucks scrawled with the names of their militia gangs and bringing with them their assault rifles, machetes and dreams of revenge.

Philippe Naughton, Dili – UN forces tightened their grip on Dili on Saturday and began venturing into East Timor's interior to secure routes for desperately needed aid.

Jakarta – City authorities will deploy as many as 605 companies or about 60,000 security officers to safeguard the upcoming General Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), Governor Sutiyoso said on Friday.

Louise Williams, Darwin – Several days before he was killed in East Timor, the Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes was discussing his concerns over the political manipulations behind the public face of the Indonesian Government and military, and the violence and death that power struggle would wreak.

Craig Skehan, Peter Cole-Adams and Mark Metherell – Indonesia turned up the heat on Australia yesterday with accusations of torture by Interfet forces in East Timor and bans on wheat imports as it tried to deflect attention from worsening civil unrest.

Stephanie Nebehay, Geneva – Asian and Western states failed to agree yesterday on whether to launch a UN inquiry into killings in East Timor, and a UN Commission on Human Rights special session on the issue was due to resume on Monday.

Michael Zielenziger, Dili – His eyes are rheumy and his legs are weak, but for a man in his 80s, Manuel Francisco Gusmao looks fairly healthy – considering the father of resistance leader Xanana Gusmao was reported on September 7 to have been killed by pro-Jakarta militia.

Jakarta – The streets of Indonesia's capital were quiet on Saturday after days of bloody anti-military riots in which at least six people were reported to have been killed, but security forces were wary of more unrest.

Jakarta – Leaflets are circulating in the troubled Indonesian province of Aceh calling on all Acehnese civil servants to go on strike from October 1, a report said Saturday.

The leaflets, allegedly issued by the separatist Aceh Merdeka (Free Aceh) movement, called on the civil servants to halt work from the first minute of October 1, the Aceh-based Serambi daily said.

Nature has taken over the garden of Manuel Carrascalao's house in Dili. Tall weeds grow between paving stones and flies buzz in the air. As you approach the well at the back of the garden, the soft hum of millions of maggots becomes audible.

Geoffrey Barker – Few, if any, Indonesian military chiefs and their militia proxies are likely to be tried, convicted and jailed for atrocities committed in East Timor before and since the August 30 independence ballot.

Slobodan Lekic, Jakarta – The Indonesian government on Friday suspended a new law giving the armed forces expanded emergency powers, a day after its passage sparked one of the most serious protests to hit the capital since former President Suharto was forced from power.

Bernard Lagan – Suspected supporters of East Timor's independence were executed on ships taking refugees from the territory and their bodies dumped in the sea, according to witness accounts collected by an Australian election observer who has just returned from Kupang, West Timor.

Jakarta – Journalist Sander Thoenes, found dead in East Timor yesterday, recently exposed a US$250-million scandal at a company controlled by the brother of Lt-General Prabowo Subianto, the former commander of Indonesia's elite special forces or Kopassus.

Sydney – A map smuggled out of West Timor purports to outline Indonesian plans to disperse 100,000 East Timorese across the archipelago, Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio said Friday.