Sakib Awan – Bali is expected to have a total of more than 6.7 million foreign visitors in 2019. Such enormous numbers are achieved by reputation, word of mouth, and travel media such as the U.S. magazine Travel & Leisure, naming it one of the 10 best islands in the world to visit.

Sophie Raynor, Perth, Australia – An Australian senator says he is concerned that the country may be missing out on opportunities to invest in neighbouring East Timor's energy sector, and in the process allowing China to exert growing influence in the geostrategically important Pacific region.

Elizabeth Byrne – Two ex-leaders of Timor-Leste and a former Australian cabinet minister have provided evidence in support of Bernard Collaery, the lawyer for Australian ex-spy "Witness K".

Lospalos, Timor Leste – Mario Da Cruz could only watch in horror as a small army of crocodiles killed a child on a Timor Leste beach – another victim of the tiny nation's soaring rate of attacks.

Such incidents have jumped more than 20-fold over the past two decades with an average of one person a month falling prey to the ferocious reptiles, though not all are fatal.

Michael Koziol – Newspapers, it is often said, represent a first draft of history. They are necessarily fast, loose and often incomplete. But actual histories, written years later by scholars, ought to be impeccable, comprehensive and considered. Especially when they concern a nation's ultimate commitment: sending troops to war.

Anthony Galloway – The Morrison government is being urged by a key crossbench senator to support a parliamentary inquiry into East Timor's controversial Greater Sunrise oil and gas project, in a bid to stop China funding the project and gaining access to a port 500km off Darwin.

Robert O'Neill, Peter Edwards and David Horner – Media reports that officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are impeding the publication of the first volume of the Official History of Australian Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and Australian Peacekeeping Operations in East Timor on the grounds of diplomatic sensitivities, are concerning.

Michael Koziol – Australia's longest-serving foreign minister Alexander Downer has urged his former department and its leader, Marise Payne, to release the full and uncensored version of an official history of Australia's peacekeeping operations in East Timor.

The former spy who revealed an Australian bugging scandal in East Timor will face a plea hearing in April. The man known only as Witness K is expected to plead guilty at the start of the three-day hearing.

Paul Daley – Suggestions that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is impeding or trying to censor an official history of Australia's East Timor peacekeeping mission are disturbing but unsurprising.

Michael Koziol – A legacy project of former prime minister Tony Abbott – an exhaustive official history of Australia's military operations in East Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq – is in danger of collapse amid claims that bureaucrats are trying to censor its first volume.

Celestina Soares – The General Director of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, Antoninho Pires said the Ministry has a mechanism to facilitate female students who fall pregnant during their studies to return to school after giving birth because they every right to complete their studies.

Paulina Quintao – National Member of Parliament, MP Maria Barreto said in the Civil Law Code, Part IV about the family, it is clearly written that parents who decide to divorce, especially the father has the obligation to provide alimony to his children and former wife, but that this does not happen in Timor-Leste in most cases.

Celestina Soares – The Director of BELUN Organization, Luis Ximenes said it is necessary to provide basic training to local authorities and the security agencies of the border areas, to strengthen their knowledge and to stop human trafficking in Timor-Leste.

Mark Dodd – While relations with Timor-Leste remain strained over Australia's 2004 bugging of its cabinet office, the young nation, on half an island just 720 kilometres from Darwin, has asked China to help train its navy.

Phnom Penh – Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Sunday expressed hope that the newly-inaugurated Indonesian president Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, and other leaders of Asean member states will support East Timor's bid for Asean membership during its summit in Bangkok at the year's end.

Helen Davidson and Ben Doherty – Australia's negotiations with Timor-Leste should be the subject of a royal commission, and the government should return $5bn unfairly taken from the impoverished nation, a parliamentary inquiry has been told.

A Canberra court has shut down a private citizen's bid to provide advice to the court in a trial involving an East Timor bugging scandal.

Ernst Willheim asked the ACT Supreme Court on Thursday to allow him to make an open justice case during the trial of Bernard Collaery, the former lawyer to spy-turned-whistleblower Witness K.

Paulina Quintao – The Acting Minister of Health and current Vice Minister for Development and Health Strategic Issues, Bonifacio Maucoli dos Reis said according to ministry's data, many Timorese die of cardiovascular diseases including heart attacks, cancers, stroke and hypertension.

Human rights lawyers say the case against a whistleblower at the centre of a bugging scandal involving East Timor should never have made it to court.

The case against former spy Witness K is due back in the ACT Magistrates Court on Tuesday. His former lawyer, Bernard Collaery, is also facing conspiracy charges in a separate prosecution.

The judge overseeing a case against the lawyer of a former spy at the centre of a bugging scandal involving East Timor could face 10 years in jail if he breaches secrecy arrangements.

The judge overseeing a case against the lawyer of a former spy at the centre of a bugging scandal involving East Timor could face 10 years in jail if he breaches secrecy arrangements.

Dionisio Da Costa Babo Soares, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, will make an official visit to Cuba starting this Tuesday, October 1.

According to the Cubaminrex website, as part of the program, the distinguished visitor will meet with Cuban authorities and carry out other activities.

Randy Mulyanto – Fong Kui Kong, the head of the only Chinese temple in East Timor's capital, Dili, welcomes visitors who come seeking blessings for their children's health or the new business they want to start up. Known as Cina Maromak, the temple is a beacon both for East Timorese of Chinese descent and citizens with no ties to China.

Paris – East Timor is imposing restrictions on the movement of livestock to contain African Swine flu, its agriculture ministry said on Monday after reporting multiple outbreaks to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

Frank Fang, Taipei, Taiwan – Health authorities in Taiwan are warning travelers not to bring any meat products from East Timor, after the Southeast Asian nation confirmed an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF).

Maria Ortuoste – Another year, another rejection. Once again, ASEAN did not discuss Timor-Leste's application for membership in its annual meeting. This delay is puzzling since Timor-Leste has made significant progress in meeting ASEAN's requirements and current geostrategic trends necessitate greater ASEAN solidarity.

The long-running legal cases of a former spy and his lawyer, who are at the centre of a bugging scandal involving East Timor, have returned to a Canberra court.

Bernard Collaery is facing conspiracy charges after allegedly helping a former client – an intelligence officer known as Witness K – blow the whistle on the 2004 diplomatic incident.

Timor-Leste faces a stark choice in its search for a partner to develop its Greater Sunrise natural gas project, as its operational domestic fields approach end of life.

Matthew V. Veazey – The first onshore drilling campaign in the Southeast Asian country of Timor-Leste in nearly 50 years is slated to begin in January 2020, according to operator Timor Resources.

Sydney – The 2 billion AUD (1.4 billion USD) Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific (AIFFP) is negotiating with Timor Leste on the financing of a gas pipeline worth 500 million AUD (350 million USD) that will connect with a gas plant to be built on the coast of the south Southeast Asian country.

Guteriano Neves – The 20th anniversary of the popular consultation that brought independence for Timor-Leste has been a time to celebrate the courage, determination, and persistence of the Timorese people. Despite enduring decades of violence, they never lost their hope for self-determination.

A magistrate presiding over the case of a former spy who blew the whistle on an East Timor bugging scandal has bemoaned the matter proceeding "unnaturally slowly".

Lawyers have been given yet more time to agree on the facts surrounding the ex-intelligence officer and the national security implications of that information.

Kate Lyons – The first president of Timor Leste has paid a touching visit to the bedside of the Indonesian president who granted the region a referendum on independence in 1999, before his death on Wednesday night.

Adam Prireza, Jakarta – East-Timorese Nelson Da Cruz (38) was one of the thousands of people that packed the public streets on Thursday to escort former president Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie (BJ Habibie) to his final resting place in the Kalibata Heroes Cemetery.

Dili – The prison in the six interconnected bungalows of Comarca became notorious during the 24 years that Indonesia occupied East Timor. Many of those locked up there for resisting the occupation did not survive its torture cells.

Centre Alliance Senator Rex Patrick is calling on the government to fix an "historic wrong" committed against Timor-Leste.

Crossbench senator Rex Patrick is calling on the government to reverse changes that prevented Timor Leste from taking Australia to court over potential international maritime law breaches during oil and gas negotiations.

Christopher Knaus – The crossbench senator Rex Patrick will push to fix a historic wrong stemming from the "shameful" treatment of Timor-Leste during oil and gas negotiations by overturning decisions that limit Australia's exposure to international courts.

Viji Menon – Domestically, the political stand-off between Timor-Leste's president Francisco Guterres and the government has continued with the president still refusing to swear in nine ministers because of their alleged involvement in corruption investigations.

Luke Hunt – Twenty-years ago, Timor-Leste was tipped into the abyss. A UN-backed referendum on August 30th, 1999 – the 20th anniversary of which was commemorated last week – paved the way to nationhood with voters overwhelmingly favoring independence, but a bloody rampage by pro-Jakarta militias resulted in over 1,000 dead along with massive displacement.

Robin Perry – Last week, Dili polished itself up and played host to visiting government officials from more than 20 countries, including Prime Minister Scott Morrison from Australia, to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Timor-Leste's vote for independence on 30 August 1999.

Mark Beeson – Australia is one of the most outspoken and prominent supporters of the 'rules-based international order'. Given its status as a modestly credentialled middle power with a limited capacity to influence the international order or the behaviour of its most powerful members, this is unsurprising, perhaps.

Luke Hunt, Dili – East Timor is marking the 20th anniversary of a referendum that ended 24 years of Indonesian occupation and delivered independence, but that also sparked a bloody rampage by pro-Jakarta militias who killed 1,500 people and pushed another half-a-million out of their homes.

Lisa Davies – Australia's prestige in our region rests not just on our aid or our military might but also, we hope, on our reputation for dealing fair and straight.

James Massola, Dili – Millions of dollars of Chinese heavy machinery and at least 20 Chinese workers are sitting idle on East Timor's south coast, waiting to resume work on multimillion-dollar infrastructure projects.

Paulina Quintao – The National Director for Integrated Policy on Gender Approaches and Women's Capacity, at the Secretariat of State for Equality and Inclusion (SEII), Maria Filomena Babo Martins said advocacy services on gender equality and on women's emancipation in Timor-Leste started in 1975, and despite some significant progress since independence 20 years ago, Timor-Leste is

Sophie Raynor – There are 100,000 people tonight in Tasi Tolu, a wide, flat, dusty expanse on Dili's outskirts, near the capital's western bus terminal, with enough space to fit all those coming to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Timor-Leste's vote for independence.

Paulina Quintao – The Executive Secretary of the Agricultural Census, Claudio Ninas Nabais said the main objective of the agriculture census 2019 is to provide information and accurate data to the government, so it can develop policies that respond to the need of farmers and that increase the country's agriculture production.

Paulina Quintao – The Executive Director of the Young Women's Movement Organization (MOFFE), Yasinta Lujina urged the National Parliament to get back on the agenda the draft law on child protection, which has not been discussed nor approved during the previous legislatures, so that children are protected in Timor-Leste.

Hannah Sinclair, Timor-Leste – Superintendent Natercia E.S. Martins is a rare type of authority figure in the Southeast Asian nation of Timor-Leste.

Not only is she female, she's also determined to encourage other women to take up space in what she calls typically "masculine spheres".