May 13, 2006: Australia has sent troops, via two amphibious ships, to East Timor, in case mutinous soldiers there overthrow the government. The Australian ships would also evacuate Australian civilians from East Timor if necessary.

May 10, 2006: In East Timor, police arrested a hundred people during riots by citizens upset with government incompetence. The tiny nation only has a population of 800,000, few natural resources, and is broke. The UN has provided aid, administrators and peacekeepers to keep the country going. The UN was supposed to pull out on May 19th, but has delayed that until June 20th.

May 3, 2006: Police have concluded that terrorist leader Noordin Top has split from Jemaah Islamiah, and is basically running his own Islamic terrorist operation. Noordin Top believes in more violence, and is far more deadly than Jemaah Islamiah. Noordin Top is more a believer in al Qaeda, while Jemaah Islamiah is more influenced by the Southeast Asian forms of Islam (which are much milder than the Middle Eastern varieties.)

April 30, 2006: Over a week of violence in East Timor left five dead, many injured and several thousand refugees. Some 600 soldiers, dismissed from the army for insubordination, rioted and fought with police. The former soldiers want more money, better treatment and respect.

April 29, 2006: A police raid caught two senior leaders of terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah (JI). This brings police a stop closer to Islamic terrorist leader Noordin Top, a Malaysian who has provided money and leadership for many local suicide bombing attacks..

April 12, 2006: Rebel leaders in Aceh announced they would run in the next local elections. This pretty much ends the Aceh rebellion, with the struggle shifting from fire fights to ballot boxes.