Developments in the oil sector and Covid-19 vaccine aid from China and Japan will improve Timor-Leste's economic prospects, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Sonali Paul and Joyce Lee, Melbourne/Seoul – East Timor wants to press ahead with plans for a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in a depleted oil and gas field off its coast as it races to fill a multi-billion dollar revenue hole starting in late 2023 when the field dries up.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – A senior apostolic nunciature official has welcomed attempts by Timor-Leste's government to vaccinate a skeptical population against Covid-19, saying a touted papal visit to the Catholic-majority country next year depends on it.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Timor-Leste has officially launched a travel association bringing together all religions to promote religious tourism, a sector that the Catholic-majority country is seeking to develop to diversify its economy.

Christopher Knaus – Former Timor-Leste president Xanana Gusmao says the continuing prosecution of Bernard Collaery is an "insult" to his country and has urged Australia to drop the case in the wake of this week's decision to overturn a secrecy order.

Kieran Pender – The sorry saga of the prosecution of Bernard Collaery, an eminent Canberra lawyer, has seen a number of unhappy chapters. His prosecution, for Collaery's alleged role in exposing Australia's espionage against friendly neighbours Timor-Leste, is profoundly unjust.

Christopher Knaus – Former Witness K lawyer Bernard Collaery says a ruling that lifts secrecy over significant parts of his trial is a "victory for justice" and a testament to the legal profession, which has banded together to support him through his prosecution.

Bernard Keane – In a significant defeat for the federal government and former attorney-general Christian Porter, the Supreme Court of the ACT has overturned secrecy orders demanded by Porter in his prosecution of Bernard Collaery, which would have ensured much of the trial was conducted in complete secrecy and evidence would have been hidden not merely from the public but from Colla

Anthony Galloway – Sensitive details surrounding Australia's alleged bugging operation of East Timor will be heard in public after the ACT Court of Appeal ruled that requiring large parts of the case against Bernard Collaery to be held behind closed doors created a real risk of damaging public confidence in the legal system.

The ACT Court of Appeal has struck an important blow for transparency and the public's right to know in a judgment on Tuesday in the case of Bernard Collaery, the lawyer who blew the whistle on Australia's illegal spying operation against East Timor.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Timor-Leste's cabinet ministers are personally spearheading a renewed mass vaccination campaign targeting more than 80 percent of the population in a bid to overcome widespread doubts over vaccines.

Joshua Kurlantzick – On the face of it, East Timor would not seem like the most natural place to have built a democracy ranked by Freedom House, in its 2021 edition of Freedom in the World, as "Free." In fact, this ranking makes East Timor the only country in Southeast Asia, where democracy has been regressing for over a decade, to be ranked "Free" by Freedom House.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – The United Nations and a Catholic charity group have teamed up with religious institutions in Timor-Leste to tackle domestic violence.

UN Women and Catholic Relief Service (CRS) hosted a forum involving representatives from Catholic, Protestant and Muslim groups on Sept. 30, with the theme "Stop Violence, Strengthens Healthy Relationships."

Nick Toscano – Australian energy giant Santos has signed a deal with Timor-Leste authorities to advance a project designed to bury carbon dioxide beneath ageing gas fields in the Timor Sea.

Lisa Palmer – The 1999 withdrawal of Indonesia and its military from East Timor eventually ushered in a Timorese – and United Nations – mandated truth and reconciliation process.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Timor-Leste will compensate people in the rare event they may be badly affected by adverse reactions to Covid-19 vaccinations, the government says.

The move is aimed at encouraging more people to get inoculated as the number of new cases and deaths continues to rise.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Timor Leste's Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak has tested positive for Covid-19 amid a surge in new cases in the Catholic-majority country, a senior government official announced on Sept. 1.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – A diocese in Catholic-majority Timor-Leste has officially suspended from priestly duties a cleric who intends to run for president next year.

Bishop Dom Basilio do Nascimento of Baucau announced in a letter released on Aug. 30 that he had terminated all sacramental services of diocesan priest Father Martinho Germano da Silva Gusmao.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – A defrocked American priest on trial in Timor-Leste for allegedly sexually abusing minors is also facing legal proceedings in his home country.

Aila Slisco – A former Catholic priest was indicted this week by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., for the alleged sexual abuse of children at a "shelter home" he founded abroad.

Joao da Cruz Cardoso – On June 18 of this year, Timor-Leste abstained from a resolution in the United Nations General Assembly condemning the military regime in Myanmar.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – The health system in Catholic-majority Timor-Leste is "in danger of collapsing" following a recent spike in Covid-19 cases, while many health workers have also been infected, the government says.

Ryan Dagur – A Society of the Divine Word (SVD) official has denied allegations of "conspiracy" and "false accusations" against Richard Daschbach, who was dismissed from the priesthood for sexual abuse committed in Timor-Leste.

Chris Barrett and Karuni Rompies, Singapore – The awarding of one of Indonesia's highest honours to a former militia leader indicted for crimes against humanity has been labelled an insult to both East Timor and Australia.

Ryan Dagur – The archbishop of Dili hopes that Timor-Leste's first Catholic university will open this year after he met with Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak.

Salesian Archbishop Dom Virgilio do Carmo da Silva of Dili met Ruak on Aug. 13, a month after the archdiocese formally applied for permission to start the Catholic University of Timor in the Catholic-majority country.

Christopher Knaus – The government will be forced to defend its decision to withhold long-secret cabinet documents about negotiations with Timor-Leste in the years prior to the controversial bugging operation revealed by Witness K and Bernard Collaery.

London, New York, Berlin – TAPOL, ETAN and Watch Indonesia! strongly condemn President Joko Widodo's decision to grant 'Bintang Jasa Utama', one the highest national awards, to Eurico Guterres on Thursday, 12 August 2021.

Katharina R. Lestari, Jakarta – Human rights activists have condemned Indonesian President Joko Widodo for presenting an award to a former East Timorese militia leader who was involved in pre-and post-independence massacres in what is now Timor-Leste.

Anna Henderson – The federal opposition has committed to hold an inquiry into claims Australian spies were eavesdropping on the government of Timor-Leste during highly sensitive oil and gas negotiations.

But it would firstly have to change the law that underpins Australia's top secret spy agencies.

Erika Nugraheny, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has bestowed the Bintang Jasa Utama (1st Class Star of Service) award for civil bravery and courage in times of adversity on former pro-integration East Timorese militia leader Eurico Guterres. The award ceremony was held at the State Palace in Thursday August 12.

Jakarta – The Civil Society Alliance – which is made up of a number of organisations in Indonesia and East Timor – is urging President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to revoke the Bintang Jasa Utama (1st Class Star of Service) award for civil bravery and courage in times of adversity which was given to former East Timorese pro-integration militia leader Eurico Barros Gomes Guterres.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Indonesian authorities have deported more than 100 Timor-Leste citizens who defied Covid-19 restrictions and illegally crossed the border to participate in a martial arts event in East Nusa Tenggara province.

Christopher Knaus – Australia's 2004 spy mission targeting Timor-Leste during oil and gas negotiations was "neither legal nor initiated properly" and former prime minister John Howard is likely to be called to give evidence at the trial of Bernard Collaery, the independent senator Rex Patrick has told parliament.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Timor-Leste is witnessing a significant increase in new cases of Covid-19 as the epicenter of the pandemic has shifted south from capital Dili to Ermera municipality.

Hanoi – The 11th meeting of the ASEAN Coordinating Council Working Group on Timor-Leste's Application for ASEAN Membership was held on July 29 via teleconference.

The Vietnamese delegation to the event was headed by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Quoc Dung, head of the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) ASEAN Vietnam.

Luke Hunt – Timor-Leste is emerging as an unlikely regional diplomatic player amid a renewed push to gain membership of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) when Cambodia takes over the bloc's rotating chair next year.

Damon Evans – Santos, which operates the Bayu-Undan field offshore East Timor, said today that production from its Phase 3C infill drilling program has started with the first well producing a better than expected outcome.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Dili Archdiocese in Timor-Leste is to work closely with international Christian humanitarian and development organization World Vision in assisting families in rural areas to prevent violence against children.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Pope Francis hopes to visit Timor-Leste next year, according to a senior official at the Catholic-majority country's apostolic nunciature.

The visit will take place if the Covid-19 situation improves, Monsignor Marco Sprizzi, the nunciature's charge d'affaires, told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak on July 23.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Timor-Leste's top churchman has called on priests and religious to respect the Vatican's decision to dismiss a priest for sexual abuse and asked them to support his alleged victims in a case currently on trial.

Akito Ximenes, Michael Rose – The hamlet (aldeia) of Poros is a settlement of some 800 people on the edge of Nino Konis Santana National Park and Lake Ira Laloro in Timor-Leste. Historically an isolated community of subsistence gardners and foragers, today many of its young people work abroad – at present around 30 are in the UK, Korea and Australia.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Dili Archdiocese in Timor-Leste has asked the government for permission to establish the country's first Catholic university by upgrading the status of a pastoral school.

The application was submitted to the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Culture by the country's top churchman, Archbishop Dom Virgilio do Carmo da Silva, on July 16.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Many primary and secondary schools forced to close for months in Catholic-majority Timor-Leste's worst-hit Covid-19 areas will be allowed to reopen next week, the government says.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – A defrocked priest in Timor-Leste on trial for sexual abuse has been accused of threatening to kill the lawyer of his alleged victims.

Chris Barrett, Singapore – A defrocked Catholic priest accused of systematic child abuse in East Timor has been reported to police for allegedly threatening to kill the human rights lawyer representing the victims.

The claim against American-born Richard Daschbach was made in a statement released on Tuesday night by law firm JUS Juridico Social Consultoria.

Strong performance in the oil sector has boosted Timor-Leste's 2021 GDP growth forecast from 2.5 to 4 per cent, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

"Strong oil production volumes in early 2021 have prompted us to raise our forecast for GDP growth in 2021," the EIU's most recent report on the Timorese economy stated.

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Timor-Leste has stepped up efforts to seal its border with neighboring Indonesia to prevent the entry of the Covid-19 Delta strain, a variant the country's top churchman described as "one of the greatest threats to the world."

Elizabeth Byrne – I can't tell you who Witness K is. Even if I knew I couldn't say without risking jail time, because as a former spy for Australia's overseas intelligence service, his identity is protected under strict security laws.

Damon Evans – East Timor could pocket just over $600 million if the Buffalo-10 exploration well, due to be drilled late October, is successful. The operator, Australia's Carnarvon Petroleum, as well as UK partner Advance Energy, said yesterday that they have secured a jack-up drilling rig for the probe at the historic Buffalo field offshore East Timor.

Eve Webster – Thousands of East Timorese people who fled the country in the 1990s could lose their rights to work, rent a home or access the NHS in three days' time because of Brexit.