Download  Australia's new Prime Minister Julia Gillard has suggested sending asylum seekers from countries like Afghanistan and Sri Lanka to East Timor to be processed.

The topic was discussed when East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta met with the Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao in Dili this week.

Any decision rests with the Prime Minister, but the Australian leader Julia Gillard has yet to speak to Mr Gusmao.

There is also growing opposition to the proposal among East Timor's politicians in Dili.

Radio Australia’s Sara Everingham reports.

Download  East Timor has marked the tenth anniversary of the founding of its own police force.

At a weekend ceremony, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao said he hoped the handover of all police responsibilities from the United Nations to the Timorese force would be finished by the end of this year.

But the shooting death of a popular musician in Dili in December - allegedly shot by a Timorese officer - is just one incident that's raised questions about the capacity of the force.

Sara Everingham of Radio Australia reports.

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East Timorese have been marking ten years of independence from Indonesia.

It has not been an easy journey for the tiny nation.

More than half the population still lives on less than a dollar a day and unemployment is extremely high.

As Marianne Kearney reports from Dili while people have been celebrating the anniversary there is growing criticism that their independence heroes have not

done enough to improve everyday life.

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This weekend East Timor marks ten years since Independence.

It was on August 30, 1999 that the people of East Timor decided they wanted to be free of Indonesian rule.

More than 90 percent of the island's voting population braved the threats of violence and intimidation to express their will in the UN administered referendum.

But the breakaway vote sparked violence by Indonesian troops and pro-Jakarta militias. The bloody rampage left up to a thousand people dead.

It's not been an easy road for the world's newest nation but now the people of East Timor are beginning to tell their stories, mainly through poetry, without fear and repression.

Radio Australia’s Linda LoPresti reports.