Reports are coming in from all around East Timor that the country's poorest people are missing out on a government rice subsidy aimed at relieving the pressure of the global food crisis

Australia's military may be responsible for introducing into East Timor the nation's worst pest – the cane toad.

Dili – The East Timor government on Monday began emptying the largest displacement camp left in the capital in the first step in helping 2,000 displaced people return home.

Dili – Rosalina Soares has no idea who cut off her fingers. She also has machete scars across her upper back and neck. The middle-aged mother of two lost everything.

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – East Timor's top prosecutor, Longuinhos Monteiro, is flying to Canberra to be briefed on the investigation into the February 11 dawn attacks in Dili.

East Timor's prime minister has signalled a gradual reduction in the number of international troops needed in his country.

Simon Roughneen, Dili – East Timor's post-independence politics have confounded outside observers, and for the most part the Timorese themselves.

East Timor's six month gun amnesty has ended.

[Review essay by Dr Clinton Fernandes, UNSW@ADFA The UN in East Timor: Building Timor Leste, a Fragile State, by Dr Juan Federer, Charles Darwin University Press, 2004.]

Table of Contents

Executive Summary
I. Introduction
II. The Security Sector

For the part six weeks, a group of forensic anthropologists from Australia and Argentina have been in East Timor searching for a mass grave allegedly used to bury hundreds of East Timor

Ben Doherty and Daniel Flitton – Australia's 750-strong troop commitment to East Timor could be over by the end of next year, as security in the nation steadily improves, the East Timor

Hamish McDonald – Xanana Gusmao has had many difficult roles in his 62 years: as rural teacher, guerilla leader, political prisoner, symbolic president of a raw and traumatised new nati

Havana – A farewell ceremony for a group of six Cuban healthcare service providers in East Timor was held at that country's Health Ministry (MINSA).

Chris McCall, Sydney – East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao says he believes his country has turned the corner, and divisions in the military that triggered several years of civil un

Marianne Kearney, Dili – Plans to build a massive new power station in East Timor have stirred debate over the use of the tiny and impoverished country's oil profits amid fears the gove

Saul Salavador – Thousands of Internally displaced refugees in Timor Leste are finally going home.

Jessica Mahar, West Timor – All Charles Meluk wants is a better future for refugees in West Timor.

Judicial authorities in East Timor are investigating more than 40 allegations that armed forces have used violence, intimidation, and death threats against civilians.

Ben Doherty and Sarah Smiles – A new guest worker scheme, this one to bring East Timorese workers to the labour-starved Kimberley region of Western Australia, appears likely to be annou

Paul Toohey – A secret recording of the last meeting between East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta and rebel leader Alfredo Reinado reveals that the two men had run out of ways to end

Complaints of human rights abuses by East Timor's fledgling national police have shown a "notable increase" over the past year, the United Nations says.

Lucy Williamson, Jakarta – The UN in East Timor has rejected claims by the country's president that it was slow to act in the aftermath of his shooting earlier this year.

As East Timor's defence force celebrates it's 33rd anniversary, analysts say it will take time to build the force's strength.

Jo Chandler – Two weeks ago, the families of "disappeared" victims of the 1991 Santa Cruz Cemetery massacre gathered at a site west of the East Timor capital, Dili, and held a ceremony

Paul Toohey - East Timor President Jose Ramos Horta has delivered a furious tirade against The Australian, accusing it of inventing an article.

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – Evidence has emerged that challenges the belief that East Timor President Jose Ramos Horta was shot by a member of rebel leader Alfredo Reinado's gang.

Paul Toohey – Inside the Hotel Becora, as they call Dili's prison, some of the 22 men who face spending the rest of their lives behind bars for the attempted murders of East Timor's Pre

Stephen de Tarczynski, Melbourne – East Timor's most prominent independence leaders – currently holders of the young nation's two highest political offices – may now be the main obstacl

East Timor's main opposition party, Fretilin, is calling for an independent international investigation into the assassination attempt on the country's leadership in February.

Paul Toohey – Questions have been raised as to whether rebel leader Alfredo Reinado was lured down from the mountains of East Timor to be executed after it emerged he was shot dead at a

Stephanie March, Dili – Six months ago Victor Alvez's voice rang out through radios and televisions, appealing for peace and calm from the people of East Timor.

Tito Belo, Dili – The United Nations urged on Thursday East Timor not to let those responsible for bloodshed surrounding Dili's 1999 independence vote from Indonesia off the hook, pledg

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – An offer by a notorious Jakarta gangster to develop the site of a refugee camp in Dili has been accepted by the East Timor Government.

Canberra – East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta has defended his decision to pardon a notorious Timorese militia leader, saying it was unfair to keep him in prison while Indonesians re

Jeff Kingston – On July 15 in Bali the leaders of Indonesia and East Timor met and received the final report of the Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) and issued a joint statement

Filmmakers have recreated scenes of chaos in the heart of East Timor's sleepy capital, blocking streets and sending up plumes of smoke for Balibo – an Australian movie about Indonesia's

[Unfinished Nation: Indonesia before and after Suharto. By Max Lane. Verso 2008 312 pages. RRP (Australia) $49.95. Reviewed by Nick Everett.]

Stephanie March, Dili – East Timor's inaugural Journalist of the Year awards last week provided much-needed encouragement for professionals facing an uncertain future, as authorities dr

Matt Chambers – Woodside Petroleum has ruled out a $15 billion East Timor liquefied natural gas export plant to process output from its Greater Sunrise fields.

Dili – Since it was built in 1983, residents of Dili have watched the retaining wall of the Pantai Kelapa road along Timor-Leste's coastline slowly erode.

Katie Chalk – Every morning, when Madalena opens her front door, she is faced with what has to be one of the most beautiful views on earth.

Dili – The report of the Commission for Truth and Friendship on who was behind the violence surrounding East Timor's independence vote in 1999 ignores justice, a Catholic Church officia

Australian Paul Stewart was just 15 when Indonesian soldiers murdered his cameraman brother in East Timor.

Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless

- TS Eliot, The Hollow Men

Ben Doherty – There is food now, for the markets are open, and the men have found work on local farms.

Dawn Gibson – As the mini-bus pulls to a stop, a swarm of excited children press their faces against the windows, all big brown eyes and grins.

Last week saw the much-anticipated release of the Truth and Friendship Commission (CTF) final report. The Commission was established by the governments of Indonesia and East Timor.

Mike Steketee, National Affairs Editor – Downer's achievements as our longest serving foreign minister aren't all he claims and must be balanced against some calamitous mistakes

HS Dillon, Jakarta – The report of the joint Commission for Truth and Friendship, recently presented to the two heads of state who established the body, could certainly be lauded for en