Sydney – Indonesian military were rounding up East Timorese on the main Indonesian island of Java, one of Australia's leading pro-Timor activists said Thursday.

Elizabeth Becker and Philip Shenon, Washington – The United States is resisting direct threats of economic or military sanctions against Indonesia over the chaos in East Timor in hopes of preserving its relationship with that vast archipelago nation, even as the Clinton administration protests the chaos that has left hundreds of Timorese dead, senior officials said.

Darwin – An American UN worker recovering in an Australian hospital after being wounded in East Timor said Wednesday that he was shot by an Indonesian soldier.

Earl Candler was airlifted to the northern Australian city of Darwin after being shot twice in the abdomen while driving in an unmarked UN vehicle through the town of Liquica four days ago.

Jakarta – The rupiah breached on Monday the 8,000 level against the US dollar as international pressure increased over Indonesia's handling of the East Timor issue.

Currency dealers said investors dumped their Indonesian currency over concerns that the growing pressure would prompt donors to suspend loans to Indonesia.

Compere: Rafael Epstein has also been speaking to Inga Lemp, who was based in Baukau for the past month. She's been telling Rafael Epstein of conversations that she followed on a radio scanner.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – There are not many of us left, here in the United Nations' besieged compound. It seems the military's operation, to terrify the UN and media out of Dili, is running right on schedule.

Bernard Lagan, Darwin – Eyewitnesses have told how the Indonesian military combined with militias in Dili to storm Catholic Church and Red Cross compounds, forcing out thousands of East Timorese people sheltering there.

Jakarta – Enforcing a state of emergency in East Timor will not improve the situation because the military is unlikely to be neutral, said a former military commander in the province.

The Indonesian military – presented to the world as providing security while East Timor prepares for independence – is in fact orchestrating the brutal campaign of killings and intimidation, according to secret United Nations assessments.

The Democratic Socialist Party calls on all supporters of democracy to mobilise to demand that the Australian government insist that the United Nations authorise the immediate dispatch of Australian troops to East Timor.

Dili – There were no smiles of celebration on the faces of the East Timorese in the capital Dili today when the results of the historic independence ballot were announced.

Paul Daley – The resounding pro-independence result of East Timor's autonomy ballot yesterday allowed Alexander Downer to say what has been on the minds of foreign ministers since Indonesia invaded, then annexed, the territory 24 years ago.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – It was the birth of a nation, the victorious end to a 24-year struggle for independence. But in Dili today no champagne was flowing, few people were rejoicing.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – East Timorese have voted overwhelmingly to end Indonesia's rule of their territory and become one of the world's newest, and smallest, independent countries. But violent pro-Indonesia militias gave the pro-independence majority little chance to celebrate.

At least 20 people have been killed and the western East Timorese town of Maliana set ablaze and all but destroyed.

An Australian observer who left the town early this afternoon in an armed convoy of Indonesian police said over 200 houses were burning in the town and over 100 people had taken refuge in the Indonesian police compound.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Indonesia's armed forces have long used street gangs and self-styled militia to do their dirty work, with East Timor simply providing a contemporary example of a pattern which goes back to at least the 1940s.

Many of the army's earliest leaders themselves came from the local militia set up by the Japanese occupying forces during World War II.

Craig Skehan, Jakarta – Differences have emerged within the Indonesian Government over whether international peacekeepers could be needed in East Timor after tomorrow's announcement of results from the self-determination ballot.

New York, Friday: East Timor voted overwhelmingly to break its ties with Indonesia in favour of independence, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced here tonight.

More than 23 years after Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony, the voters rejected wide-ranging autonomy within Indonesia by 78.5 percent, he said.

Jakarta – President B.J. Habibie pledged Saturday to honor East Timor's decision to reject Indonesia's offer for a special autonomy and ordered the military and police to maintain law and order in the territory until the United Nations assumes transitional authority pending elections for a new government.

Jakarta – Leader of the National Council for East Timorese Resistance (CNRT) Xanana Gusmao hails the Aug. 30 ballot results as a victory for all East Timorese and calls for an immediate presence of an international force in East Timor to protect the people from the Indonesian Military (TNI).

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – A skinny boy in filthy threadbare clothes hangs around my hotel. Ameu, 10, is a good kid, keeping an eye on my room when I am out. He has suffered a great deal; both his mother and father are dead. This morning he was running his finger along the blade of a sharp dagger. I asked him where he got it but he just shrugged. "I will not be killed," he said.

Ian Timberlake, Dili – Furious United Nations staff – evacuated from Maliana following the murders of two UN poll workers in the district – yesterday blasted Indonesian police for doing nothing while anti-independence militiamen rampaged.

Dili – Hundreds of pro-Indonesian militiamen roamed through the East Timorese capital Dili early Saturday as fear gripped the territory with the United Nations announcing an overwhelming vote in favour of independence.

Jakarta – Indonesian opposition leader and presidential candidate Megawati Sukarnoputri said Saturday she was "very sad" East Timor had voted overwhelmingly for independence.

Megawati, who had opposed the separation of East Timor, said she was "very concerned and very sad about the autonomy ballot's result," the Suara Pembaruan evening daily reported.

Jakarta – Police fired warning shots to stop a convoy of 2,000 people heading for a rally in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province, press reports said Friday.

Jakarta – Indonesian forest and ground fires in Sumatra and Borneo island are on the rise again after dissipating in recent rains, satellite images produced by the Indonesia Space Agency showed Friday.

Mark Riley, New York – The Indonesian ambassador to the United Nations was ordered to appear before a special session of the Security Council yesterday to face international anger over his country's handling of the East Timor bloodshed.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – When Indonesia-backed militias go on the rampage in East Timor, threatening the United Nations, the East Timorese and local and foreign observers, reactions in Jakarta vary from outright denial to ashamed recognition of national failure.

David Jenkins – The Indonesian Government was in disarray yesterday over the escalating violence in East Timor, with the civilian government of President B. J. Habibie wringing its hands and hinting at a possible foreign peacekeeping force as an increasingly defiant army showed no sign it was willing to stop instigating the unrest.

Mark Dodd, Gleno – Indonesian authorities have lost control of the strategic coffee-growing district town of Gleno which is now in the hands of hundreds of pro-Jakarta militia.

Yesterday afternoon a Herald journalist saw widespread destruction of property, including houses burning, and militia checkpoints throughout the town.

Jonathan Head --The militiamen simply appeared out of nowhere, and set upon us. We ran as fast as we could, and I sought shelter with my colleagues behind a building. I don't entirely recall what happened, though I gather colleagues of mine saw me being beaten. I think I'm quite lucky to be alive.

Richard Lloyd Parry, Dili – Even before the automatic rifles started firing late yesterday afternoon, the scene around the United Nations headquarters in the East Timorese capital, Dili, was close to anarchy.

Jakarta – Consumer prices in Indonesia fell 0.93 percent in August from July, the sixth consective monthly fall this year, Central Bureau of Statistics chief Sugito Suwito said Friday.

Exports in July were worth 3.971 billion dollars, up from 3.559 billion dollars in June, he added, while imports in the month totalled 1.964 billion dollars against 1.895 billion in June.

Jakarta – At least three people were killed and 14 others wounded Friday when Indonesian security forces opened fire to quell a new outbreak of Moslem-Christian in the strife-torn Ambon city, a report said.

Hamish McDonald – In Dili's airport, members of the Aitarak militia stand in the departure lounge, preventing Timorese and Indonesian families boarding the Merpati Airlines jet to fly to Denpasar and safety. Airport police just watch.

Joanna Jolly and Agencies in Dili – Anarchy returned to East Timor's capital yesterday with at least five people killed as hundreds of anti-independence militiamen targeted the United Nations. The violence came as the counting of votes from the autonomy referendum began.

Dili – Hundreds of anti-independence militiamen blocked the street outside the UN headquarters in East Timor's capital Wednesday, setting on fire a nearby house and shooting cars driving into the UN compound.

A taxi carrying journalists to the scene was fired on and had its rear window smashed by militiamen.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Thousands of Jakarta supporters in East Timor have packed their belongings, locked their homes and fled across the border into Indonesian West Timor in fear of renewed bloodshed following Monday's ballot.

Jakarta – Indonesia's leading pro-Moslem newspaper on Tuesday called the UN-run independence ballot in East Timor a conspiracy to undermine the world's most populous Moslem nation.

Despite fears of militia intimidation, the people of East Timor turned out in their thousands to vote yesterday on independence. David Shanks reports from Maliana.

In one of East Timor's most populous and strategic border areas, people power yesterday seemed to blow away the militias.

Lindsay Murdoch – Pro-integration forces blockaded Dili airport and set up roadblocks around the East Timorese capital late yesterday amid unconfirmed reports that militia had killed two more United Nations staff.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Elections Committee (PPI) on Wednesday finally agreed seat allocations for the national parliament elected on June 7.

Ambon – Fresh outbreaks of violence between Moslems and Christian Wednesday killed eight people and injured six others in two separate islands in the riot-torn Maluku province, police said.

Craig Skehan – Jostled by a media frenzy and a crowd of supporters, Mr Xanana Gusmao, the nationalist fighter almost certain to lead an independent East Timor, received a hero's welcome as he voted here yesterday.

The 53-year-old – imprisoned in 1992 for his guerilla action, but transferred to house arrest earlier this year – is expected to be freed in about a fortnight.

Paul Daley, Canberra – Australia has rejected advances from the United States to cooperate on peacekeeping plans for strife-torn East Timor. The diplomatic snub comes as Washington considers whether to send the Marines into East Timor if a United Nations peacekeeping force is needed.

London – The British government was forced Tuesday to defend a decision to invite Indonesia to Britain's biggest arms fair, after it emerged that British-made jets were used to intimidate people in East Timor.

Jakarta – An Indonesian group Tuesday slammed world bodies including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for failing to sound the alarm over an 80-million-dollar bank scam, despite closely monitoring the Indonesian economy.

Dili – Indonesian authorities on Tuesday deported four Australian journalists from East Timor, accusing them of inciting violence during the territory's autonomy ballot, a military official said.

Banda Aceh – Inspired by East Timor's independence referendum, students occupied a government building Monday, demanding a similar vote in the violence-torn Indonesian province of Aceh.

President B.J. Habibie, however, repeated that he would not allow a referendum in Aceh where hundreds have been killed this year in fighting between the military and separatists.

Born June 6, 1901 in Surabaya; 1927 - Founds movement for independence from the Dutch; 1945 - After Japanese surrender, declares independence and is elected President; 1963 - Names himself President for Life; 1965 - Overthrown by military takeover and later replaced by Suharto; 1970 - Dies June 21 in Jakarta after two years of house arrest.