Sydney – East Timorese voters go to the polls next week to pick the person who will declare their country independent next month.

1512 - Portuguese explorers reach Timor, an island already known to Chinese as a source of sandalwood

1556 - Dominican friary opens at Lifau, in the Oecussi-Ambeno enclave

Why is Francisco Xavier do Amaral running for president of East Timor when he knows he has no chance of winning?

Dili – The candidates are on the campaign trail, polling staff are ready and the stage is nearly set for East Timor's first presidential election, UNTAET's election chief announced toda

Joanna Jolly, Aileu – On a soccer field in East Timor's central mountains, thousands came to hear Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao make his campaign pitch.

Jill Jolliffe, Atambua – The East Timorese presidential candidate Xanana Gusmao has joined forces with a former enemy soldier in an attempt to repatriate about 60,000 refugees trapped i

Jakarta – The UN authority in East Timor said on Friday it was "incredulous" at reported remarks by former Indonesian military chief Wiranto that bloodshed there in 1999 was allegedly s

Dili – Nearly 2,000 refugees have already returned to East Timor from refugee camps in West Timor, Indonesia, during the first five days of this month, UN refugee officials said today.

Atambua – East Timor independence hero Xanana Gusmao on Thursday urged East Timorese refugees in Indonesia's West Timor to come home now, saying he guaranteed their safety.

New York – The East Timor government and the United Nations on Wednesday launched an AIDS awareness campaign on television, radio and print media, hoping the country can avoid the explo

Hamish McDonald – It will stand on a hill overlooking Dili, the capital of newly independent East Timor: a massive flagpole entwined with the trunk and branches of a symbolic banyan tre

Yemris Fointuna, Dili – The Indonesian government and the United Nations Temporary Administration at East Timor (UNTAET) have yet to find an appropriate way of solving the problem of In

Mike Steketee – East Timorese Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta yesterday urged rich countries, including Australia, not to use artificial barriers such as quarantine restrictions to di

Dili – Some members of East Timor's ruling party Fretilin were accused of waging a dirty tricks campaign to try to reduce the vote for independence hero Xanana Gusmao in this month's pr

Jason Koutsoukis – Negotiations between the Australian Government and US-based Phillips Petroleum over the tax treatment of a gas project in the Timor Sea remained deadlocked last night

Darwin – The Australian government is under pressure to make public its draft agreement on Timor Sea energy reserves to prove the East Timorese were not signing away their legal rights.

Andrew Trounson, Melbourne – East Timor Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta said Tuesday there will be no hitches to ratifying a treaty with Australia sharing potentially lucrative oil an

Jill Jolliffe, Gleno – Just two weeks after a lopsided campaign began for East Timor's presidential elections due on April 14, there are signs that it may be turning dirty.

Margot Cohen, Zumalai – Juana Dos Reis fought off a wave of revulsion as the woman held her in a tight embrace.

Yemris Fointuna, Dili – Life is hard in East Timor despite three years after it voted to break away from Indonesia, unemployment remains a serious problem plaguing the country's former

Dili - A Special Panel for Serious Crimes in East Timor sentenced a former Mahidi militiaman Wednesday to four years in prison for his role in a murder during the violent aftermath of t

Joanne Collins, Jakarta – Whether he wants to lead the world's newest nation or not, East Timor's independence hero Xanana Gusmao looks bound to get the job.

Yemris Fointuna, Dili – East Timorese residents want their compatriots – including former anti-independence militiamen – currently sheltering at refugee camps in East Nusa Tenggara to r

Hamish McDonald – Australia yesterday announced it would no longer submit to international legal rulings on maritime boundaries – after leading lawyers advised East Timor that Canberra

The Legislative Assembly, formerly known as the Constituent Assembly, called a two-week recess today after extending its powers over the weekend to cover the remaining two months before

Prangtip Daorueng, Jakarta – Two months after the Indonesian government put an end to humanitarian assistance to East Timorese refugees living in West Timor, these displaced people are

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – Indonesia's attempts to convince foreign critics that it is serious about justice in East Timor suffered two significant setbacks this week: a public show of so

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – The East Timorese are distinguished from their Islamic neighbours by their love of pigs, which normally amble at will around city streets.

Jakarta – An Indonesian court on Wednesday found three East Timorese militiamen not guilty of murdering a New Zealand peacekeeping soldier in East Timor in July 2000.

Carol Pineau, Dili – East Timor's reluctant president-in-waiting Xanana Gusmao said on Wednesday he would do his best if voters, as expected, choose him to lead the world's newest natio

Jakarta – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported a rise in the number of refugees returning to East Timor from camps in West Timor, Indonesia, a report said

Carol Pineau, Dili – Independence leader and presidential candidate Xanana Gusmao is no longer a national leader, East Timor Chief Minister Mari Alkatiri said ahead of April 14 election

The disclosure in the Herald this week of highly classified Defence Signals Directorate intercepts gathered during the 1999 East Timor crisis has, understandably, raised concerns within

A witness to any crime has responsibilities that are essential to maintaining a civilised society. The first responsibility is to the victim, to offer whatever help is possible.

Craig Skehan – Australian Federal Police are investigating the leaking of classified material showing that high-level Indonesian officials were involved in orchestrating the wave of vio

Hamish McDonald – Canberra's predictable reaction to the disclosure of signals intelligence material on the Indonesian Army's covert East Timor campaign has been to try to find and plug

East Timor4s presidential election campaign kicked off Friday with a rally in Dili and UN administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello predicting a peaceful race.

Hamish McDonald – The Australian Government sat on explosive intelligence material which showed the direct involvement of senior Indonesian army generals in the violence which swept Eas

Hamish McDonald – The evidence is contained in the most tightly held archive in Canberra: the electronic data base of the Defence Signals Direct-orate (DSD), the result of months interc

Kate Rope – On May 20, a new country will be born.

Dili – A candidate in East Timor's upcoming presidential election on Tuesday announced a concession which will allow his only rival, independence hero Xanana Gusmao, to stand in the pol

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General in East Timor Sergio Vieira de Mello today briefed the Council of Ministers on the services currently provided by UNTAET to governmen

Jakarta – An Indonesian legal team investigating the 1999 murder of a Dutch journalist in East Timor has ended a visit to the territory after making "significant inquiries", UN staff sa

Lela E.

Joanna Jolly, Dili – The United Nations is optimistic that a dispute threatening the participation of East Timorese independence leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao in the nation's fi

Dili – East Timor's reluctant presidential favourite, Xanana Gusmao, threatened Saturday to withdraw from next month's elections over an electoral technicality.

Jill Jolliffe – From the other side of the cyclone wire fence, a man with a large scorpion tattooed on his face peers into East Timor.

Fairus Husaini, Dili – The UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration have ass

Dili – East Timor, where women hold 24 per cent of Constituent Assembly seats, joined the world today in celebration of International Women's Day during a ceremony held in Dili attended

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – A tussle has broken out between the presidential palace and the Parliament in Jakarta over the control of foreign policy, and the focus of their dispute is,