Joe Cochrane – When Indonesia and Australia agreed in 1989 to jointly exploit East Timor's offshore oil and gas fields, the countries' foreign ministers sealed the pact by sipping champagne in a private jet high above the Timor Sea.

Oscar Jukes, Darwin – East Timor's parliament is discussing a new law that would allow the interior ministry to deport any foreigner who engages in political activity or even attends a political meeting or demonstration.

Tony Stephens – Teresinha Maia's grandfather, Loloulo, helped Australian commandos fight the Japanese in Timor during World War II. Believing he had saved their lives, the Australians gave him a slouch hat. Loloulo wore it for years. It rests now in what Mrs Maia calls a holy place in East Timor.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – An Indonesian official has described the former East Timor governor Mario Carrascalao as unstable, following his allegations that the Indonesian Army systematically forced Timorese women to be sex slaves for officers and then killed their husbands.

East Timor's Serious Crimes Unit is losing its high profile chief – Siri Frigaard. She completes her mission this week, raising concerns about the unit's long term future. The United Nations is already cutting the number of international prosecutors from 13 to nine and says it can't guarantee any support for the project beyond June 2004.

Nigel Wilson – Negotiations are going ahead on the terms that will secure long-term gas supplies for Bayu Undan's $1.8 billion liquefied natural gas plant planned for Darwin.

Guido Guilart, Dili – The Indonesian military systematically forced dozens of East Timorese women to become sex slaves for officers during its 24-year occupation of the half-island, a former governor said Tuesday.

New York – The United Nations Security Council has approved a one-year extension of the UN mission in East Timor, while diplomatic sources caution that the new nation could experience massive difficulties after the world body pulls out next year.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – More than 500 East Timorese people still taking refuge in West Timor held a protest recently in front of the East Nusa Tenggara provincial legislative council, demanding the Indonesian government compensate them for the assets they left behind in East Timor.

For the first time, the East Timorese Government has begun taking control from the United Nations over its border with Indonesia.

East Timorese and UN authorities have today opened a new facility at Batugade to streamline immigration, police and border patrol operations along the border with West Timor.

New York – The UN Security Council is scheduled to meet Monday to discuss a one-year extension of the UN mission in East Timor, a recommendation by Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Jakarta – Two international human rights groups have strongly criticised a United Nations commission, saying it failed to demand justice for victims of atrocities in East Timor.

Amnesty International and the East Timor Action Network took issue with a recent statement from the UN Commission on Human Rights about Indonesia's trials of suspects in the 1999 bloodshed.

Dili – A moral and spiritual "darkness" still haunts East Timor's Catholics, the bishop of Dili said at the Easter Vigil service.

The Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR) and TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign, have condemned the UN Commission on Human Rights for failing to ensure that the perpetrators of gross violations of human rights in East Timor are brought to justice and for agreeing to drop the issue from its agenda next year.

The East Timor Action Network (ETAN) strongly criticized the UN Commission on Human Rights for turning its back on the East Timorese people and jeopardizing current and future UN missions.

In East Timor, continuing militia infilitration has put a spotlight on the United Nations failure to properly secure the border. Local police say militia groups have returned to East Timor, through numerous tracks along the West Timor border. The warning comes as the UN forces prepare to withdraw, leaving border security to the local police.

Dili – The head of the United Nations' civil police department urged East Timor Thursday to rapidly draft and approve legislation for its police forces. Calling on Dili for action "as quickly as possible", Kiran Debi challenged a seminar in the East Timorese capital "not to waste this opportunity" because "you are losing time and put the future at risk".

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Activists have urged the international community to ensure that justice is served against all perpetrators of the gross human rights violations in East Timor, now that hopes for a fair trial have evaporated.

Jakarta – People in the East Timor regency of Belu expressed disappointment over the country's recent ruling to impose a US$25 visa on visitors from Indonesia, which it borders.

A number of local figures warned on Tuesday that the visa ruling, which took effect on April 19, would burden East Timor more than it would Indonesia.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Despite the decision of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) to drop from its agenda human rights abuses in East Timor, the opportunity to reopen the rights cases, which have implicated a number of Indonesian Army generals, is still available, a noted lawyer has said.

Next month – our northern neighbour is celebrating it's first birthday as a free country. But while there's much to celebrate – the country's justice system is struggling. Critics say the government isn't doing enough – to bring those responsible for past violence – before a court of law.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The chance to bring justice to the victims of the 1999 human rights violations in East Timor has vanished, after the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) agreed over the weekend to drop the agenda from its future meetings.

Dili – The Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor (CAVR) has already heard over 2,000 statements on human rights violations committed during the 25-year independence struggle against Indonesia, but needs an extension of its mandate, the independent body announced Monday.

Megan Saunders – Ami is only six, but she knows her family is at crisis point. "What have we done wrong?" the youngest of five children asked her mother as the family fought to remain in Australia. "I said to her: 'I don't know, darling' and she starts crying," says her mother, Teresinha Maia.

The head of Indonesia's Supreme Court has hit out at Amnesty International for describing trials of suspects in the 1999 East Timor violence as "not honest, truthful or fair." "That group has never been satisfied with other people's work," Bagir Manan was quoted by the Koran Tempo daily as saying.

Elcid Li, Kupang – The reunion took place in no-man's-land. Also called the tactical coordination line, a 300-meter-long strip of beach just outside of Belu regency between East Timor and Indonesia, where neither country's laws apply.

Three and half years after East Timor voted for independence, 1500 East Timorese asylum seekers are still in Australia. For many it is more than a decade since they escaped the former Portuguese colony's murderous Indonesian regime. Some had fled the 1991 massacre of about 200 East Timorese in Dili's Santa Cruz cemetery.

An investigation into allegations of unlawful killing and brutality by Australian special forces in East Timor led to a soldier being charged with kicking a militiaman's corpse after an ambush, Army chief General Peter Leahy said.

Mari Alkatiri – As the world watched events unfold in the Middle East, we heard talk of the territorial integrity of the nation of Iraq.

Jakarta – Indonesian prosecutors yesterday demanded that a former military chief in East Timor be jailed for 10 years for failing to stop violence leading up to the territory's vote to split from Jakarta's rule in 1999.

Brig-Gen Tono Suratman controlled Indonesian troops in East Timor, now known as Timor Leste, until two weeks before the August 30, 1999, independence vote.

Amnesty International slammed Indonesia's trials of suspects in the 1999 East Timor violence as "not honest, truthful or fair" and urged the United Nations to consider setting up a tribunal.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – A human rights activist has expressed doubts that Indonesia and East Timor are serious about resolving the question of human rights abuses in the former Indonesian province as both are still lack the necessary legal instruments to deal with the cases.

Megan Saunders – Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock has rejected a plea by the East Timor President, Xanana Gusmao, to allow up to 1600 temporary visa holders to remain in Australia because his country is too poor to take them back.

Dili – Police in East Timor have launched a crackdown on prostitution, raiding two massage parlors in the past month and arresting four people, an officer said Friday.

Prostitution has become an increasing problem in this predominantly Catholic country, while the foreign population rises and an undermanned police force struggles with rising crime.

The Federal Government has been accused of leaving East Timorese asylum seekers to starve by cutting off their welfare payments while they wait to hear if they are allowed to stay in Australia.

William Birnbauer – A benign attitude to his country's tormentors is not widely understood, but East Timor's "Mandela" wants to move on. William Birnbauer reports.

Human rights activists and legal experts in East Timor have condemned proposed moves to limit the freedom of foreigners. Under its controversial immigration and asylum law, the goverment aims to curtail the activities of foreigners, effectively giving it the green light to deport anyone involved in activities of a "political nature".

Transcript:

Dili (Agencies) – Prosecutors in East Timor said on Wednesday they have indicted 16 people including eight Indonesian army officers for crimes against humanity before and after the territory's bloody breakaway from Jakarta in 1999.

As East Timor prepares to mark its first anniversary of independence, the nation's opposition parties have united to present a strong alternative to the government. The newly-formed platform of national unity is an attempt to combat what the opposition says is an undemocratic and corrupt government. It's a testing time for the players in the world's newest democracy.

Cynthia Banham – Refugee groups are claiming the Federal Government is close to making a decision on the fate of East Timorese asylum seekers that would prolong their limbo status for three to five years.

President Xanana Gusmao concedes security will be a concern when United Nations peacekeepers pull out of East Timor.

The troops are due to leave next June, almost five years after the nation gained independence from Indonesia.

Dili – Most of East Timor's opposition parties signed a so-called "national unity platform" Monday, bitterly criticizing Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's cabinet and demanding the formation of a broad coalition government.

Ellen Nakashima, Jakarta – On a recent day in a weathered courthouse in Jakarta sat defendant Tono Suratman, an army brigadier general accused of failing to prevent two massacres in East Timor during its bloody breakaway from Indonesia in 1999.

Beside him were eight defense attorneys. Opposite them was the prosecution: two lawyers called out of retirement.

Reuters in Melbourne – Corruption poses the biggest risk to the future of East Timor, says its president, Xanana Gusmao.

The world's newest country, which will celebrate its first anniversary next month, was struggling to make democracy work beyond just holding elections every five years, he said.

Jakarta – United Nations peacekeepers have arrested two former East Timorese militiamen for alleged involvement in crimes against humanity during East Timor's bloody breakaway from Jakarta in 1999.

Dili – An East Timorese court on Saturday sentenced a senior militia leader to 12 years in prison for crimes against humanity committed during the country's bloody break from Indonesia in 1999.

Jose Cardosa Fereira was found guilty of murder, rape and torture against East Timorese civilians who supported the territory's independence from Indonesia .

David Rood – East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao said yesterday he opposed Australia's involvement in the US-led war on Iraq.

Mr Gusmao's views appear to conflict with those of his Foreign Minister, Jose Ramos Horta, who has previously endorsed the use of force in Iraq.

Kalinga Seneviratne, Sydney – Australia's international profile, already hurt by criticism against its role in the US-led invasion of Iraq, is under fire for is its desire to boot out East Timorese asylum seekers who fled the former Indonesian territory more than a decade ago.

Paul Kelly – Iraq is not the only humanitarian issue facing the Howard Government today. East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao made an urgent and desperate appeal to Australia last week and failed to raise a flicker of media interest.

Dili – An East Timor-Australia treaty that serves as the basis for the development of the major oil and gas deposits in the Timor Sea between the two countries came into force Wednesday.