Sibylle Kaczorek, Sydney – On August 2, Sister Susan Connelly, assistant director of the Mary MacKillop Institute for East Timor Studies, said that "fairness" should be the overarching principle in the David versus Goliath stand-off that characterises the "negotiations" about the gas and oil deposits in the Timor Sea.

Comrades,

Kuta – The truth commission looking into Jakarta's bloody handling of East Timor's push for independence has a tough job ahead of it, the chairman of the newly established body said Friday after its first meeting.

Indonesia and East Timor have formally opened a truth commission to look into Jakarta's bloody handling of Timor's independence vote in 1999.

Jakarta – A number of non-government organisations (NGOs) have declared their opposition to the formation of the Indonesia-East Timor Truth and Friendship Commission (KPP). Aside from being little more than a political tool for the perpetrators of crimes can evade justice, the NGOs believe that the commission will become a political bargaining tool for Indonesia and East Timor.

Max Lane – East Timor's local elections are now in their eighth month. In Aileu, close to Dili, the Socialist Party of Timor (PST) achieved second place after Fretilin, pushing the Democrat Party into third place. Overall, in the districts contested so far, the PST has been averaging third position, up from the sixth place it achieved in the 2001 elections.

Jon Lamb – On July 25, Lieutenant Colonel Lance Collins, a leading intelligence expert on East Timor and Indonesia, blew the whistle on the Australian Defence Force's intelligence manipulation and cover-ups in East Timor in 1999.

Dili – East Timorese Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta has said he is convinced that none of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) members would accept the presence of an International Human Rights Court for human rights violation cases in East Timor.

The Catholic Church is demanding that an international tribunal investigate human rights abuses during East Timor's bloody breakaway from Indonesia six years ago.

Instead the two governments have announced the makeup of a largely toothless joint truth commission.

Dili – Domingas Casimira has spent the last six years trying to find justice for her husband and brother, gunned down in the Indonesian military's drive against East Timor's independence. But like others who suffered in the rampage that left 1,500 dead, she is starting to lose hope – and not without reason.

Kupang – Two Indonesian soldiers stationed at Nunura in Haekesak village, Raihat district, Belu regency, were attacked by Timor Leste residents on Wednesday.

The Timor Sea Justice Campaign (TSJC) is holding a series of public meetings next week ahead of the anticipated signing of a resource sharing agreement between the Governments of Australia and East Timor about the Greater Sunrise gas field.

Mark Dodd, John Kerin – A sobering World Bank report warning East Timor's Government to tackle corruption or face civil conflict has been rejected by a "furious" Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri but warmly welcomed by public advocacy groups in Dili.

Dili – Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri unveiled an enlarged government Wednesday in East Timor as part of his drive to improve the performance of the Dili executive and decentralize power in the world's newest nation.

Roger Maynard, Sydney – A report on the future of East Timor by the World Bank has painted a bleak picture of a nation in danger of imploding as it copes with the twin pressures of poverty and corruption.

East Timor's foreign minister countered claims that his tiny country was riddled with graft and burdened by poverty that could one day lead to civil conflict.

The Australian newspaper quoted a World Bank report as saying that newly independent East Timor was at a "crossroads".

Mark Dodd – East Timor is in danger of imploding into civil conflict, with corruption likely to erode the benefits of the billions of dollars that will flow to the fledgling nation from the development of gas fields in the Timor Sea.

Tom Allard – A vital intelligence database shut down during the East Timor conflict was restored only on the condition army intelligence officers ceased reporting on Indonesian-backed militia activities in West Timor, Lieutenant-Colonel Lance Collins has revealed.

Natasha Robinson – Businessman Ian Melrose will sue television stations that refused to run his advertisements criticising the Government's negotiations with East Timor over oil and gas revenues in the Timor Sea.

The Timor Sea Justice Campaign Melbourne, has taken the opportunity to respond to East Timor's Foreign Minister, Jose Ramos-Horta's media release (dated 14 July, 2005) by reiterating the campaign's motivations and aims in the statement below.

Nigel Wilson – East Timor President Xanana Gusmao has broken ranks with Prime Mininster Mari Alkatiri, threatening to veto the proposed deal struck with Australia to share the energy riches of the Timor Sea.

East Timor Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta has criticised an Australia-based campaign calling for a better oil and gas revenue deal for his country.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner said the Timor Sea Justice Campaign (TSJC), financially backed by Melbourne businessman Ian Melrose, had become counter-productive.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard was met by more than just praise and accolades during his recent visit to Washington, DC. While media tycoon Rupert Murdoch toasted. Howard at an exclusive business leaders' dinner held in his honor on July 18 at the US Chamber of Commerce, protesters outside decried his bullying of East Timor over maritime petroleum resources.

Washington – East Timor's future development depends on "effective administration of its new petroleum wealth" and the attraction of investment into the non-oil sector of the new nation's economy, the International Monetary Fund says in a report.

He was a rebel, a guerrilla leader, the symbol of his country. She was A foreigner, a teacher, a spy. They fell in love though they'd never met.

This is a story, a pair of stories, as big as a nation and as small as A kiss. I know it sounds like a movie promo, but it's true. Please Welcome the President and First Lady of East Timor, Xanana and Kirsty Sword Gusmao.

Members of both chambers of the US Congress have written to the leaders of Indonesia and Timor-Leste urging them to support international involvement in bringing to justice the perpetrators of crimes against humanity and other human rights violations committed against the people of Timor-Leste.

Ellen Nakashima, Jakarta – Indonesian government officials said they expect to avert calls for an international war crimes tribunal on Indonesian military atrocities in East Timor, promoting instead a truth commission to probe abuses committed in the province after it voted for independence in 1999.

Amnesty International Secretary General, Irene Khan, wrote today to the members of the Security Council urging them to act upon the recommendations of a recent UN report on justice for Timor-Leste.

Australian businessman, Ian Melrose, has put to air a new television ad which aims to expose the Howard Government's tactics regarding a deal to be signed with East Timor over oil and gas resources in the disputed Timor Sea.

Irwin Arieff – The Security Council is sitting on a UN expert panel's recommendation for an international tribunal to try Indonesian and local militia leaders blamed for a deadly 1999 rampage in East Timor, diplomats and UN officials said on Wednesday.

Jakarta – Human rights groups on Wednesday called on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to back a plan for international trials for Indonesian military officers accused of atrocities in East Timor in 1999.

His Excellency Kofi Annan Secretary-General The United Nations 1 United Nations Plaza New York, New York 10017-3515

Jakarta – A number of human rights non-governmental organizations questioned the Indonesian government's rejection of the recommendation of a UN appointed panel of experts following the settlement of human rights violation cases in East Timor.

Tom Allard – It has to be the most unlikely of alliances, a concord that has defied a bloody history forged in battle. One man, Xanana Gusmao, was leader of a tenacious and elusive East Timorese resistance. The other, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was the first commander of the first battalion of Indonesian troops sent out to destroy them by any means necessary.

Trudy Harris, Mark Dodd – East Timor president Xanana Gusmao yesterday defended a lucrative weapons deal between his Government and the Prime Minister's brother.

A spokesman for Mr Gusmao rejected opposition concerns the deal lacked transparency, saying a public tendering process existed for procurements such as sophisticated military equipment.

East Timor on Friday stood by its former occupier, Indonesia, in jointly rejecting a UN panel's recommendation that an international tribunal be created to try those accused of violence sparked by the territory's vote for independence in 1999.

"International justice is now a crucial last resort to bring justice to the victims particularly as both the Timorese and Indonesian Governments have agreed on a Truth and Friendship Commission that will not submit to a process for genuine justice and real accountability" (statement by the Bishops of Dili and Baucau, April 2005)

New York – The idea of forming an international tribunal to try the 1999 post-ballot human rights violations in East Timor is not likely to gain the support of UN Security Council members, an Indonesian diplomat said here Wednesday.

Dennis Shanahan, Nigel Wilson – East Timor is expected to get more than $13 billion in gas royalties after a new deal with the Australian Government that is $8 billion more generous than first offered seven years ago.

The deal, which will take several weeks to put into a formal agreement, almost triples the revenue for East Timor over the next 15 to 30 years.

Sydney – East Timor is in danger of becoming a failed state without outside aid, the fledgling nation's President Xanana Gusmao said on a visit to Australia Thursday.

Gusmao told a function in Sydney that East Timor was struggling three years after its independence from Indonesia and needed Australia to continue providing aid and administrative support.

Mark Dodd – The East Timorese Prime Minister's brother has been granted a lucrative monopoly to sell weapons to the country's Government, with a licence to broker sophisticated military equipment including tanks, patrol boats and attack helicopters.

Mark Dod – East Timor is Asia's poorest country. Its President, former guerilla fighter and national resistance hero Xanana Gusmao, says money is urgently needed to build hospitals, schools and stamp out endemic poverty.

All of East Timor's fledgling dreams, and all of the threats to those dreams, are on display in The Australian today. First the good news. After a long negotiation, agreement is near on the mechanism for distributing tax and royalties on $30 billion worth of gas and oil under the Timor Sea.

1. Who says what:

It should be clear that most info coming out at present is from Australian government leaks.

The juxtaposition of Howard speaking 'after meeting with East Timor President Xanana Gusmao' does NOT mean Xanana had briefed the Australian PM.

Negotiations to determine seabed boundaries and ownership of the oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea have been long-running between Australia and it's northern neighbours – previously Indonesia and now independent East Timor. But despite reports of agreement being near, it appears the issue of permanent maritime boundaries will again be deferred.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer didn't arrive in Melbourne in time on Tuesday to see himself and his Labor predecessor Gareth Evans share a toast with oil-filled champagne glasses.

Mr Downer missed a small Melbourne street protest over the Timor Gap oil and gas reserves, at which two demonstrators acted the parts of the ministerial pair.

Veronica Brooks, Canberra – East Timor's Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said Tuesday a revenue-sharing pact with Australia covering the US$5 billion Sunrise natural gas project in the Timor Sea was fair and he expects it to be signed in a few weeks.

Jakarta – Indonesia today formally rejected a recommendation by a UN panel of experts that an international tribunal be set up to judge military officers and others accused of atrocities in East Timor in 1999.

Jakarta – The Commission of Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KONTRAS) has urged the government to follow up the United Nations' recommendations to reinvestigate the 1999 bloodshed in East Timor and to bring the case to the international rights tribunal.

Marwaan Macan-Markar, Bangkok – Indonesia's hope of emerging as a force for democracy in Southeast Asia faces a reality check in regard to its stance on justice – especially justice for victims of human-rights violations in East Timor.