Mica Barreto Soares – This month, Timor-Leste is in a festive mood, celebrating the 20th anniversary of its independence referendum. On 30 August 1999, the people of Timor-Leste cast their ballots in a United Nations – administered popular consultation to determine the fate of the country, with 78.5% voting to separate from Indonesia.

Christopher Knaus – Peter Galbraith was playing a high-stakes game. It was 2004 and, in the Dili heat, the distinguished US diplomat sat opposite Australian officials, bartering over a nation's future.

An ex-spy known as "Witness K" has indicated he will plead guilty to breaching the Intelligence Services Act, but his lawyer Bernard Collaery will continue to fight the charge in a case that was today committed to trial in the ACT Supreme Court.

Rod McGuirk – A former Australian spy will plead guilty to conspiring to reveal classified information about an allegation that Australia bugged East Timoe AKA Timor-Leste's government during negotiations over the sharing of billions of dollars in oil and gas revenue in 2004, splitting his case from his lawyer and alleged co-conspirator who will fight the charge, a court was told T

Alexandra Back – More than a year after the former spy Witness K and his lawyer Bernard Collaery were charged over the exposure of an Australian bugging operation on the tiny nation of East Timor, the pair have parted ways, with the spy to plead guilty and the lawyer to fight what he called a "contemptible" charge.

Sydney (AFP) – A former Australian spy announced a surprise guilty plea on Tuesday (Aug 6) for exposing an alleged 2004 bugging operation against Timor Leste officials, after years of fighting the charges.

Meaghan Tobin – When work began on East Timor's US$490 million deep water port, things went with a bang – literally.

Kornchanok Raksaseri – It has been eight years since Timor-Leste submitted a formal application to be a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) but so far, the regional bloc has not accepted what would be its 11th member.

Meaghan Tobin – Many saw it as the latest example of China's growing diplomatic and economic clout in the 17-year-old nation, which lies just 500km off the north coast of Australia.

Khoo Ying Hooi – More than eight years have gone by since Timor-Leste's formal membership application to the ASEAN on March 4, 2011. In 2017, I wrote about this topic, with the title "Unlocking Timor-Leste's Road to ASEAN." Time has proven that the road is not just long and narrow but bumpy as well.

Jose Ramos-Horta – As Timorese and Australians work round the clock preparing to celebrate two milestones in Timor-Leste's recent history – the independence vote on 30 August and the arrival of peacekeeping troops on 20 September 1999, intimately connecting the two countries like an umbilical chord – two brave Australians are on trial for exposing a perfidy unworthy of a great coun

Australia's Parliament has approved the ratification of a maritime boundary treaty signed with East Timor 16 months ago and the government is now under pressure to return tens of millions of dollars in royalties from a seabed gas field that it concedes solely belongs to the poor half-island nation.

Melbourne (Reuters) – Australia passed a legislation that sets down maritime boundaries with Timor-Leste on Monday (July 29), providing a framework for the two countries to split revenue from the offshore Greater Sunrise natural gas field.

Australia's parliament voted Monday to implement a maritime border treaty with East Timor, potentially unlocking billions in offshore oil and gas revenue after a bitter decade-long dispute.

Paulina Quintao – Rede ba Rai is urging the government to temporarily stop the land registration process being conducted throughout the territory and to establish an independent team to evaluate the quality of the work undertaken so far before the work is complete.

Oki Raimundos – The parliament of Timor-Leste voted in favor Tuesday of ratifying a maritime boundary treaty with Australia that governs how the two countries will share billions of dollars of oil and gas riches lying beneath the Timor Sea.

Celestina Soares – The Timorese government through the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MEJD) indicated it will include Tetum sign language in public schools as part of learning activities, given most Timorese speak Tetum.

Australia's attorney-general has shot down suggestions of dropping spy charges in a Commonwealth case involving East Timor.

The former president of East Timor, Xanana Gusmao, has urged the government to abandon its prosecution against a former spy known as Witness K and Canberra lawyer Bernard Collaery.

Paulina Quintao – The National Director for Veterinary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAP), Joanita Bendita da Costa said she does not guarantee the quality and security of pork being sold in the markets, because a pig slaughterhouse does not exist where the pig's meat can be inspected prior to entering the market.

Paulina Quintao – The National Director for Public Health at the Ministry of Health (MoH), Pedro Canisio said from January to May 2019, health professionals have detected 58 new positive cases for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) through laboratory testing.

Anne Barker and Michael Barnett in Suai, Timor-Leste – At the Xanana Gusmao International Airport on Timor-Leste's picturesque south coast, a morning flight comes in to land.

In fact, it is the only plane scheduled for the day. The next regular flight will not be for another four days.

Andrew M Potts – East Timor, also known as Timor Leste, has celebrated LGBTQI pride for a third year in a row, with a Pride March taking place in the capital, Dili, on July 12.

An estimated 3,000 people took part in the "Marsa Diversidade" (Diversity March), six times the number of people who took part in the first East Timor Pride Parade in 2017.

Paulina Quintao – Inspection activities of Parliamentary Commission D (Economy and Development) in Manatuto Municipality recently identified that many rice fields have been abandoned for years, because of insufficient water distribution to the rice fields due to poor conditions of the irrigation infrastructure.

Paulina Quintao – The National Commission for Combating HIV/AIDS in Timor-Leste (KNKS-TL) is standing by its decision to not socialize about condom use to the public as a prevention method for HIV transmission despite receiving strong critiques from organizations and groups.

Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia is always consistent in its support for the admission of Timor Leste as a new member in ASEAN since the country is located in the Southeast Asia region.

Aw Cheng Wei, Singapore – The young South-east Asian nation of Timor Leste is hoping that Singapore will play a bigger role in its development story as it strives to become an upper middle-income country by 2030.

Viji Menon – The political gridlock in parliament in 2017-2018, which resulted in its inability to pass the 2018 budget, led to the second general election in May 2018.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is not ruling out dropping spying charges in a commonwealth case involving East Timor.

The former president of East Timor, Xanana Gusmao, has urged the federal government to abandon its prosecution against a former spy known as Witness K and Canberra lawyer Bernard Collaery.

Tempo Timor, Dili – Proposals to make defamation a crime in Timor-Leste have sparked public debate about a controversial law that could see people jailed for their opinions on popular platforms like Facebook.

Helen Davidson – Timor-Leste's state-owned gas company has rejected reports it is set to take a $16bn loan from China's Exim bank to finance the Greater Sunrise project.

Bangkok, Thailand – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) will send fact-finding missions to Timor-Leste in connection with the country's bid for membership in the regional bloc, according to Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha.

Catarina Demony, Lisbon – East Timor and Australia are set to ratify a maritime border treaty, which regulates how the two countries will share revenue from the offshore Greater Sunrise natural gas field, later this year, East Timor's foreign minister said.

Sonali Paul, Sydney – East Timor's national oil company aims to reach a final investment decision on developing the Greater Sunrise natural gas field by 2022 and start producing around four years later, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

Peter Guest, Com, East Timor – Ernesto Da Cruz loads his spear gun and lowers himself over the edge of his fishing skiff, which is bobbing at anchor on a shallow reef off the northeastern coast of East Timor.

Fifteen months after a treaty pledged to usher in a "new chapter" in the relationship between Australia and neighbouring Timor-Leste, the document remains unratified and the country loses millions of dollars a month from a Timor Sea field belonging to the Timorese.

Kate Lyons 00 The people of Timor-Leste have a crocodile problem.

The reptiles are revered in the island, which lies north-west of Australia in the Timor Sea. Residents refer to the animals as "grandfathers" and crocodiles are honoured with shrines around the country.

Ha Noi – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc stated that Viet Nam valued the friendship and co-operation with Timor-Leste during a reception for Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Dionisio Babo Soares in Ha Noi yesterday at the start of the latter's three-day official visit to Viet Nam.

Matthew Abbott, Lospalos, East Timor – The two scientists, crammed in the back of a sweltering car, had come a long way hoping to encounter what most people try to avoid: man-eating crocodiles.

Phnom Penh – Cambodia and Timor-Leste vowed on Monday to enhance bilateral relations in trade, tourism and education, a Cambodian spokesman said.

Kuala Lumpur (Reuters) – In a region where seas are awash with trash, Timor-Leste is set to become the world's first country to recycle all its plastic waste after it teamed up with Australian researchers on Friday (May 17) to build a revolutionary recycling plant.

James Massola, Jakarta – The tiny nation of Timor-Leste hopes to become the world's first "plastic neutral" country, after signing a deal to create a new chemical recycling plant with Australian technology.

Helen Davidson – Calls for Australia to repay a year's worth of oil and gas revenue revenue to Timor-Leste will not be considered by the Labor party before the election, Penny Wong has said.

Wong, the shadow minister for foreign affairs, expressed disappointment that the historic maritime border treaty – signed in March 2017 at the United Nations – had not been ratified.

Helen Davidson – Jose Ramos-Horta, the former president of Timor-Leste and Nobel laureate, says he believes Australia will reimburse "every cent it wrongly received" after the countries signed a maritime border treaty last year.

Peter Milne – East Timor is now the majority owner of the Woodside-operated Sunrise gas field after it completed the purchase of equity from Shell and ConocoPhillips.

The East-Timorese national oil company Timor Gap paid Shell $US300 million ($420 million) for a 26.6 per cent interest in the Greater Sunrise fields.

Helen Davidson – Australia has been accused of "siphoning" millions of dollars a month in oil revenue that should belong to Timor-Leste, because the government is yet to ratify last year's maritime border treaty.

Susan Connelly – Franz Kafka's book "The Trial" is a waking nightmare. Josef K, a bank clerk, is arrested. He is never charged, and no evidence of wrongdoing is ever revealed. For the next 12 months he undergoes a series of encounters with strange people, hearing insinuations and veiled accusations.

Peter Milne – Two Australian mining investors want locals to look to nearby and untapped East Timor for their next venture.

Iron Fortune founder and director Mary Thompson said the private company had been seeking iron ore opportunities in South Australia before a 2014 trade delegation trip to East Timor.

Christopher Knaus – A senior ex-judge has condemned delays in the prosecution of former spy Witness K and his lawyer, Bernard Collaery, saying they represent an "absolute abandonment" of the principles of open and fair justice.

Paulina Quintao – According to the National Hospital Guido Valadares (HNGV) Surgeon, Dr. Alito Soares, most breast cancer patients registered at the National Hospital entered only during the advance stages of the cancer with only a small number surviving.

Jakarta (Antara) – Some 60 families of Timor Leste are currently settled in Indonesia's Naktuka Village, Amfoang Timur Sub-district, Kupang District, East Nusa Tenggara, with this rising number triggering concerns among Indonesians there, a local community leader stated.