1.   Amnesty International says China began a new wave of arrests among Tibetans monks, nuns and independence activists about the time it broke off talks with the dalai lama.

2.   Pro-Jakarta militias have launched a bloody fight against independence activists recently, putting the safety and fairness of that vote in doubt.

3.   Other prominent independence activists are in hiding or have fled East Timor altogether after similar attacks.

4.   A militant separatist movement warned it would hold U.S. authorities responsible for any harm suffered by imprisoned independence activists.

5.   A U.S. federal judge on Friday sentenced four Puerto Rican independence activists to time served for trespassing on U.S. Navy land on the island of Vieques.

6.   Among the last to be arrested was independence activist Enrique Pesquera, brother of pro-statehood gubernatorial candidate Carlos Pesquera.

7.   Ayala Lasso left Friday to visit Indonesia and its disputed territory of East Timor to investigate allegation of widespread government abuses again independence activists.

8.   Before their arrival, town residents said a militia group had killed several independence activists and were patrolling its streets after dark unchallenged.

9.   Berrios and other independence activists who spearheaded the movement have received tremendously sympathetic coverage, and demonstrations by tens of thousands for Vieques took on anti-American airs.

10.   Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and exiled independence activist Jose Ramos-Horta are sharing the coveted prize.