East Timor (extended coverage) – Pilot Strikes – Northern Ireland – Scott Watson Trial – Treaty Claim – Egypt – Tourism Board And APEC

EAST TIMOR: Pro Jakarta gangs are running wild in East Timor. The upsurge in violence follows last weeks referendum. Hundreds have been rounded up and driven off by the militias.

EAST TIMOR: The BBC’s Jonathan Head reports from Jakarta: Hundreds of people have been rounded up and driven off. There is mounting pressure on the Indonesian government to do something but the President no longer appears to be in control. Rather in East Timor he appears to be facing an armed rebellion.

EAST TIMOR: Australia has reduced the alert time of its troops for deployment in East Timor from 72 to 24 hours

EAST TIMOR: Antara news agency says that the militias have attacked Bishop Carlos Belo’s house and killed at least 30 people.

EAST TIMOR: Meanwhile the UN compound is looking increasingly vulnerable. 1500 East Timorese are sheltering in the compound which may soon be evacuated.

EAST TIMOR: NZer Andrew Ladley in Dili says that it appears the militias are closing off an area close to the West Timor border and taking a series of hostages possibly to use as bargaining chips to negotiate a separatist area.

PILOT STRIKES: Australian pilots are supporting the Ansett pilots. Countries have to be very careful about bringing in unexperienced pilots says an Australian pilots association spokesman.

NORTHERN IRELAND: US mediator George Mitchell has returned to Northern Ireland to carry out a review and try and agree a timetable for disarmament to implement the Good Friday accord.

SCOTT WATSON TRIAL: The prosecution evidence summary continues in the High Court in Wellington today. Paul Davison is expected to finish his address later this morning.

TREATY CLAIM: A heads of a agreement is to be signed with Ngati Ruanui in Parliament this afternoon. The settlement is expected to be $40 million and makes up an estimated 20% of the total Taranaki claim.

EGYPT: President Mubarak’s bodyguard shoot dead a clothes vendor who lunged at him with a knife.

TOURISM BOARD AND APEC: The Tourism Board says it has been working hard to maximise opportunities for media coverage out of APEC.

© Scoop Media

Alastair Thompson

Scoop Publisher

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

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