Paul Daley, Canberra – Paul Keating has launched another attack on John Howard's handling of the East Timor crisis, repeating his allegation that the Prime Minister is directly responsible for the bloodshed in the newly independent state.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Dili – Louis Nkopipe spent last week in the sweltering Dili courthouse conducting a crash course on elementary legal principles. "Defendants are presumed innocent," intoned Nkopipe, a French lawyer, at the start of one lecture. "And they have the right not to incriminate themselves."

Jakarta – Three hundred East Timorese crossed the border to return home from West Timor yesterday, a week before Jakarta cuts off all assistance to the tens of thousands of refugees still holed-up in camps in West Timor, an official said.

United Nations – The United States, Britain and other Security Council members have urged Indonesia to keep its pledge to disarm militias that continue to attack East Timor and to end army support for the militia.

Dili – The success of East Timor's struggle to become an independent country is crucial in promoting stability throughout neighboring Indonesia, a visiting senior US official said Tuesday.

Dili – The small, unassuming office of the CPD-RDTL (Council in Defence of the Democratic Republic of East Timor) in Balide belies the debate that is brewing over the restoration of the independence which was declared by Fretilin on November 28, 1975.

Jon Land – The recent spate of pro-integration militia incursions along the western border of East Timor highlights the failure and unwillingness of the Indonesian government to disarm its militia gangs in West Timor.

Vanya Tanaja, Dili – Frustration and discontent spilt over into another demonstration here on March 7 as 300 job seekers gathered outside the offices of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor. The job seekers alleged collusion and nepotism in the appointment of local UNTAET workers, an allegation strenuously denied by the UNTAET human resources department.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Dili – UN peacekeepers have concluded that the Indonesian military has been involved in a recent spate of attacks by paramilitary units across the increasingly tense border separating newly independent East Timor from Indonesian- controlled western Timor.

Mark Dodd – Five ex-militiamen who crossed into East Timor from Indonesia have been arrested by New Zealand United Nations peacekeepers and face murder charges related to last year's post-ballot violence.

Lincoln Wright – The United States freighted state-of-the-art intelligence equipment directly to Canberra during the East Timor crisis, providing Australia with vital information about the Indonesian army and the militia groups that opposed independence.

Xanana Gusmmo, East Timor's de facto leader, discusses the past and looks to the future. John Stanmeyer/Saba for Time. An enthralled crowd greets Xanana Gusmao, making his first visit to Oecussi, a remote East Timorese enclave.

Jakarta – Some 10,000 East Timorese repatriated by international agencies have returned to refugee camps in Indonesia because of uncertainties at home, including food shortages, a minister has said in Jakarta.

Terry McCarthy, Dili – The woman in black is waiting for him. Xanana Gusmao, East Timor's poet-revolutionary and de facto leader, is working his way through a crowd of admirers. When he reaches her, she throws her arms around him and sobs uncontrollably on his shoulder.

Anastasia Vrachnos, Ailieu – In the mountains south of Dili, men with long hair and guns stand in the pre-dawn mist. They introduce themselves to a visitor with noms de guerre.

Joanna Jolly, Jakarta – The respect of East Timorese for the United Nations transitional administration's work is waning and it is in danger of being compared to the previous Indonesian colonial regime, observers said yesterday.

Scott Burchill – Indonesia would not have been able to illegally occupy and terrorise East Timor for a quarter of a century without the support it received from the West, particularly Australia.

The tactics employed by pro-integrationists in Australia to ensure Canberra's diplomatic collaboration with Jakarta were often crude, but they were remarkably effective.

Vannessa Hearman, Dili – Activities to mark International Women's Day on March 8 here included performance art and a public forum on the place of women in the rebuilding process in East Timor. Held in a large indoor stadium, the events were organised by Fokupers, a local women's rights organisation.

Dili – The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) Thursday established East Timor's first customs and tax system to provide the territory with much-needed revenue.

Dili – Elements of the Indonesian military are providing direct support for armed pro-Jakarta militiamen infiltrating into East Timor, a senior US diplomat said Tuesday.

Dili – The United Nations peacekeeping force in East Timor has confiscated a number of weapons smuggled by ship from Indonesia's West Timor and detained at least five people, a UN spokesman said Friday.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Infighting involving senior United Nations staff is threatening East Timor's transition to independence, a senior official says.

The policy dispute has led to the resignation of the UN's head of district administration, who claims "Stalinist" and "colonialist" practises by several senior staff members are jeopardising the UN mission.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia's President, Mr Abdurrahman Wahid, responded quickly yesterday to protests from Australia and the United Nations, ordering his armed forces to disarm militia launching cross-border attacks in East Timor. He also ordered the closing of refugee camps in West Timor near the border with East Timor which militia groups use as their bases.

Vanya Tanaja, Dili – Whilst independence from Indonesian rule has been won, some things in East Timor have changed little. After the militia violence of September, many Timorese are worse off than ever and help is a long time coming.

Peter Johnston, Dili – On arriving in East Timor, one is struck by how little has been repaired in the months since the militia destruction. Very few buildings were not damaged in the post-referendum, Jakarta-sponsored orgy of violence and looting. Most remain in ruins.

Dili – The UN Transition Administration of East Timor (UNTAET) has denounced the "disinformation campaign" waged by militia groups in Indonesian West Timor, whose aim is to make East Timorese refugees afraid to return to their homeland.

Mark Dodd – United Nations peacekeepers have captured a suspected pro-Jakarta militiaman after a gun battle in highland country deep inside East Timor.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Heavily armed intruders from across the Indonesian border are believed responsible for a weekend attack in which one person was killed, another injured and a third person taken hostage.

Eric Wright, Dili – The former colonial power of East Timor, Portugal, is creeping back through an open door, more than 25 years after fleeing ignominiously from the mainland. The Timorese, in dire need of cash and assistance to build their new country, are willing to accept the Portuguese gifts.

Mark Dodd, Dili – In the local Tetum language it is known as Uma Mutuk, or Burnt House, restaurant. It is arguably Dili's most popular eatery, and, like the mythical phoenix, its proud owners say their flourishing business has risen from the ashes.

Dili – A vice president of the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT), Jose Ramos Horta, said Friday he was "amazed" by a news report that Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid had suggested East Timor could yet opt for integration in Indonesia.

Dili – More than 600 people are known to have been killed in East Timor last year , but the actual toll is likely to be higher, the United Nations said yesterday. No cases have yet gone to trial under East Timor's fledgling judicial system.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Australian and New Zealand peacekeepers based along East Timor's border with Indonesia have come under sustained fire from suspected militia in the most serious test so far of United Nations military readiness after the departure of Interfet.

Jakarta – A visiting senior US official Friday called the prevailing situation in camps holding tens of thousands of East Timorese in Indonesian West Timor since September "untenable."

"The situation in West Timor [refugee camps] is untenable," US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Pickering told a press briefing here.

James Balowski – "In a forest west of Dili, Filomena Amaral is about to learn the details of how her husband, a village schoolteacher and church leader, was tortured and killed. Photographs of her husband's shattered bones are needed as evidence in the event that his killers are ever brought to trial.

Chris Latham – One hundred and fifty East Timorese refugees refused to leave the East Hills army barracks in Sydney on February 22. The government was determined to remove the refugees from the camp for a "voluntary" flight home on February 22.

Jackie Coleman spent January working at the Maubere Cultural Institute (MCI) in Dili, East Timor. Her visit, on behalf of Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET), was in response to a request for assistance from the institute. In this article, Coleman describes her stay.

Michael Ware – The capture of a militia reconnaissance team inside East Timor just one day after Major-General Peter Cosgrove's departure marks a heightened campaign of militia activity in the wake of the Interfet pullout.

Wilson da Silva, Dili – An impost on coffee exports in East Timor, among tax measures to be announced by the governing United Nations authority this week, was introduced at the insistence of the International Monetary Fund, despite resistance from the World Bank, UN staff and most Timorese leaders.

John Martinkus, Salale – Indonesian military and New Zealand troops mix freely on the bridge that forms the border here. It is hot, isolated and boring, surrounded by crocodile-infested mangroves. The main problems for the New Zealand troops here are the mosquitoes carrying dengue fever and malaria.

Dili – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid made a historic visit to East Timor Tuesday, braving the wrath of the population over 24 years of repression, to pledge the opening of a new chapter in the two countries' bloodstained history.

Mark Dodd, Ermera – The coffee trees in this prime highland growing area are laden with berries, promising aficianados of arguably the world's finest arabica renewed supplies from East Timor and a welcome flow of cash to its destitute population.

Sharon Labi, Sydney – At least 100 police officers were called in to disperse a blockade formed by East Timorese refugees refusing to leave Sydney's East Hills safe haven and return home. About 250 refugees formed a blockade at the site, protesting against their imminent return to East Timor.

Paul Daley – Operatives from Indonesia's special forces, Kopassus, made extraordinary efforts to implicate Australia in illegal spy flights in East Timor last year, according to Australian intelligence sources. The Indonesian operatives are also alleged to have posed as United Nations employees in an attempt to influence political outcomes in Timor.

Jon Land, Dili – The Socialist Party of Timor (PST) held its first national congress here on February 10-11. The event marked an important stage in the development of the PST and the socialist movement in East Timor. Some 250 delegates from across East Timor discussed and debated the way forward for the party.

Jon Land, Dili – East Timorese workers at the floating Hotel Olympia and Amos W. complex have won better wages and conditions following a 24-hour sit-in strike. The action, which began on February 10, involved 40 hospitality and housekeeping workers. The dispute reflects increasing discontent within East Timorese society at low wages and high prices for basic commodities.

Reuters, Dili – World Bank president James Wolfensohn yesterday signed over its first US$21.5 million in reconstruction aid for East Timor, amid criticism the bank has dragged its feet in providing funds to help rebuild the ravaged territory.

Arnold Zeitlin, Dili – In impoverished, war-devastated East Timor, the most urgent needs are food, water, shelter, clothing – and a printing press.

Reuters in Dili – Australian troops in East Timor have been accused of sexual harassment of local women, the second such incident since multinational troops were sent in, a force spokesman said on Monday.

Mota'ain – Indonesian troops fired in the air yesterday to halt fighting that broke out among East Timorese refugees and residents at an informal reunion at this border crossing point between East and West Timor, witnesses said.