A realignment of political forces appears to be underway in East Timor, with the signing of an agreement for a strategic alliance for future elections between the largest party in parliament, the Revolutionary Front of Independent East Timor (Fretilin), and the Timorese Social Democratic Association (ASDT) the second largest party in the coalition of non-Fretilin parties that has held government since the July 2007 parliamentary elections.
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On July 24, 2003, the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) — an Australian-dominated force of police, military and bureaucrats — was deployed in the small island nation at the invitation of the Solomon Islands government.
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On the evening of April 21, 60-year-old Fatin Abu Daqqa died after being refused permission by Israeli occupation forces to leave the Gaza Strip for medical treatment.
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ACT police have been given enhanced stop-and-search powers for dealing with protests planned for the Canberra leg of the global Olympic torch relay on April 24. This comes as protests by the Tibetan diaspora and their supporters have turned the torchs world tour into a public relations disaster for the Beijing Olympics.
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Chinese authorities had detained more than 1000 Tibetans by April 3 in the wake of protests and riots calling for self-determination that started on March 10, the BBC reported on April 4.
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A demonstration by Buddhist monks in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, on March 10 to commemorate the anniversary of Chinas crushing of the Tibetan independence movement in 1959 triggered protests for self-determination that, by March 14, had escalated into anti-Chinese riots in which 19 people were killed.
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On March 4 and 5, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a brief visit to Israel, ostensibly to advance a “peace process” between Israel and the Palestinians, launched in the US resort of Annapolis last November.
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The unpopularity and increasing isolation of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 military coup, was demonstrated in the February 18 parliamentary elections with vote rigging, military interference and violence unable to prevent a landslide rejection of pro-Musharraf candidates.
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East Timorese President Jose Ramos Horta was rushed to Darwin to undergo emergency surgery after being shot three times in a February 11 attack on his residence by armed rebels. The apparent leader of the assailants, Major Alfredo Reinado, was killed in the incident.
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Leaders of the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) have vowed to defy court rulings banning them from participating in public assemblies. The court orders were placed on 35 opposition party and grassroots activists who were charged with illegal assembly following a January 26 protest against price hikes imposed by the government-owned oil corporation, Petronas.
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On January 23, a series of explosions ripped open the concrete and steel barrier that had sealed off the Gaza Strip from the outside world. The breach in the barrier allowed hundreds of thousands of desperate Palestinians, perhaps a third of Gazas 1.5 million residents, to surge into the Egyptian cross-border town of Rafah to buy some of lifes basic necessities denied them by Israels siege of the 10 kilometre wide, 40-kilometre long Palestinian enclave.
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A group of Australian writers, academics, NGO workers and activists have written an open letter to incoming Prime Minister Kevin Rudd calling for Australia to increase its development assistance to East Timor (see above).