TO a sea of Albanian and American flags, Prime Minister Hasim Thaci called the republic of Kosovo into being last Sunday week, setting off a diplomatic firestorm, raising Russian- backed Serbian ire and sparking fears that minority ethnic groups from Spain to China would have a new basis for resistance.

Prosecutors in East Timor prepared arrest warrants today for 18 rebel soldiers allegedly involved in assassination attempts against the president and prime minister, while foreign troops boosted security amid fears of more unrest.

Australian troops backed by a warship arrived in East Timor today after rebels shot and seriously wounded the president.

EAST TIMOR President Jose Ramos-Horta was shot and seriously wounded yesterday by rebel soldiers in an assassination attempt that plunged the fledgling nation into a fresh crisis.

The president of East Timor was seriously ill in an Australian hospital today after being shot during a failed coup.

Rebel soldiers shot and badly wounded East Timor's president and opened fire on the prime minister in what was said to be a failed coup in the recently-independent nation.

East Timor president Jose Ramos-Horta was wounded in a pre-dawn attack on his home that killed a guard.

Australia’s foreign minister today became the highest-level foreign official to visit East Timor since it installed a new government.

Nobel Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta vowed to heal deep political and social rifts in East Timor after poll results showed him on course for a landslide victory in presidential elections in Asia’s newest nation.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta was heading for a landslide victory today in East Timor’s presidential elections, according to figures released by the poll commission.

Troubled East Timor today voted for a new president, choosing between a Nobel Prize winner and an ex-freedom fighter in an election critical to maintaining peace a year after the tiny nation was pushed to the brink of civil war.

East Timor began voting today for a new president, a critical step in Asia’s newest nation following violence and political turmoil last year that took it to the brink of civil war.

East Timor goes to the polls tomorrow to pick a new president, with voters in the tiny nation to choose between Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta and an ex-fighter who spent years in the jungle battling Indonesian rule.

East Timor’s presidential elections may require a second round of voting, a top election official said today.

Voters in East Timor lined up today to choose a new president, hoping the election would end bitter political rivalries and widespread poverty threatening the future of Asia’s youngest nation.

Uniting crisis-torn East Timor is more challenging now than the task of building it from the ruins of its bloody separation from Indonesia in 1999, Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said today.

Irish aid agency Concern today welcomed the appointment of a former Nobel Peace Prize winner as the new prime minister of East Timor.

East Timor’s ruling party will give the country’s president a list of prime ministerial candidates tomorrow – and Nobel prize-winning Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta may be on it, party members said.

East Timor’s leaders were trying to decide on a new prime minister today following the resignation of Mari Alkatiri, raising hopes for an end to months of political paralysis and violence in Asia’s newest nation.

East Timor’s embattled prime minister announced his resignation today, triggering celebrations in the violence-scarred capital and raising hopes for an end to weeks of political turmoil and unrest.

THE European Union signed a €18 million aid deal with East Timor’s government yesterday, pledging to support democracy and economic development in the nation which has been torn by violence in recent weeks.

The UN should help oversee elections in East Timor and stay involved in the violence-scarred nation for at least a decade, the foreign minister said today, noting that restoring order and building a democracy would take time and money.

A UN-led police force will be deployed in East Timor for at least two years to help restore stability to one of the world’s youngest nations, the country’s foreign minister said today.