The last Australian peacekeepers have left East Timor, after six years. At one point, there were 5,000 Australian troops in the country. East Timor used to be an involuntary part of Indonesia. Before that, East Timor was a Portuguese colony, with a largely Christian population. The UN intervened in 1999, to enable an independence vote, and provide peacekeepers to stop violence by pro-Indonesian militias. 

Indonesian and Filipino police have agreed to increase cooperation in dealing with Islamic terrorists, particularly Jemaah Islamiah. More of these terrorists are being reported in rural parts of the Philippines. The Indonesian police can supply more accurate, and timely, information on the terrorists, that would make it easier for the Filipino police to spot, and arrest, them.