Antara, Jakarta – Timor Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta said full ASEAN membership has brought immediate benefits to his country, including accelerated infrastructure and investment developments.

Tilda Colling – Jose da Costa was born "in the middle of a war". It was 1976, one year after Indonesia's invasion of the Portuguese territory then known as East Timor.

"My family ran to the bush to hide," he said. "I was born in the bush."

The world can learn diplomatic lessons from Asean, East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta has said in a strongly worded rebuke to existing global power structures.

He acknowledged that Asean was "not heaven on earth", achieving consensus was "frustratingly slow" and security challenges persisted, singling out Myanmar's civil war.

Singapore – General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Central Committee and President To Lam met with President of Timor-Leste Jose Ramos-Horta in Singapore on Friday.

Muhammad Ammar Hidayahtulloh & Shelli Israelsen – Since the formal restoration of Timor-Leste's independence on 20 May 2002, the women's movement has evolved beyond the goal of national liberation to the struggle to secure an equal place for women in the new state.

Macau Business – Timor-Leste's government approved a resolution on Wednesday at a cabinet meeting to boost police patrols nationwide following violence in several areas.

Jayanty Nada Shofa, Jakarta – Timor-Leste wants to lead ASEAN in 2029, according to the group's secretary-general Kao Kim Hourn, as the bloc makes major changes to its charter to accept Dili.

A formal criminal file accusing Myanmar regime leader Min Aung Hlaing of war crimes and crimes against humanity has been submitted to Court of First Instance in the Timor-Leste capital Dili, marking a significant escalation in international legal efforts to hold him accountable for alleged crimes committed since the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021.

Kerri Worthington – Gracia Afonso's grandfather was known as the old man with half an ear. "He kept his hair long, longer than other men I knew in Timor-Leste, to hide his ear and the deep scars on his neck," she said.

But it wasn't until well after his death in 2004 that Ms Afonso learned the story Joaquim da Silva Ku, known as Akiu, had never told his family.

IC Senjaya, Nabil Ihsan, Semarang, Central Java – Central Java Police have uncovered a criminal syndicate that has been smuggling thousands of illegal motor vehicles to Timor-Leste since 2025, with two suspects arrested in connection with the case.

Lusa – The Timor-Leste Anti-Corruption Commission (CAC) analysed 86 state-funded projects and found that 25 presented problems or vulnerabilities to corruption, according to an institutional report obtained by Lusa on Tuesday.

AFP – The police of Timor-Leste have seized US$4 million in counterfeit currency from a warehouse belonging to a Chinese shop in Dili and detained four foreigners, the force announced on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister of Timor-Leste, Xanana Gusmao, has acknowledged that the government may be compelled to curtail the country's electricity provision during overnight periods should hostilities in the Middle East persist.

Christine Cabasset, Eric Frecon – Australia and its partners need to monitor the developments in China's engagement with Timor-Leste carefully. Canberra should also, ideally, implement proactive initiatives to strengthen its own relationship with Dili.

Nayana Ashok – A high-level business dinner hosted in London on Sunday (29) brought renewed focus to investment opportunities in Timor-Leste, as policymakers and industry leaders gathered to strengthen ASEAN-UK economic ties.

Mahfuzulloh Al Murtadho, Jakarta – Bobibos, labeled by its creator as "Red and White Vegetable Fuel" (BBN), is ready for mass production. However, the industrial-scale manufacturing of this alternative fuel made from straw waste is not taking place in Jonggol, Bogor, which is the producer's home base, but in the neighboring nation of Timor Leste.

Joao Boavida – Timor-Leste is entering a decisive and consequential phase of its economic trajectory. As global tensions linked to the Iran war push up energy prices and unsettle markets, the country faces renewed exposure – this time without the cushion of active oil production and revenue.

Matt Birney – Estrella Resources is on the cusp of banking its first revenue after pulling a 22,600-tonne market sample from a freshly mined small open pit in the emerging mineral frontier of Timor-Leste.

The company extracted the first payable ore from its Ira Miri project under a 30,000-tonne extraction permit to test market suitability for its manganese product.

Susannah Patton – The conventional account of why Timor-Leste's membership of ASEAN is good for regional security goes something like this: Timor-Leste is a young, post-conflict, least-developed country. Membership of the region's premier regional grouping will give it access to economic opportunities, including trade and international assistance which flows to ASEAN as a group.

Teh Lip Li – On February 2, Timor-Leste became the first ASEAN member state to initiate legal proceedings against another member state. It appointed a prosecutor to examine the Myanmar military's responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity under the principle of universal jurisdiction. International advocacy groups have hailed the move as "unprecedented".

Grant Wyeth – With the Parseria Foun ba Era Foun declaration, Australia and Timor-Leste hope to build a partnership grounded in equality, shared regional interests, and respectful cooperation between neighbors.

On February 13, Myanmar's military junta ordered the head of Timor-Leste's Embassy in Yangon to leave the country within seven days. The expulsion comes after Timorese authorities opened legal proceedings against Myanmar junta officials earlier this month for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

London – Myanmar has ordered the head of Timor Leste's diplomatic mission to leave the country within seven days, state media quoted the foreign ministry as saying on Monday, in an escalating row over a criminal complaint filed by a rights group against Myanmar's armed forces.

Emma Palmer (The Conversation) – Just four months ago, Timor-Leste formally became a member of ASEAN.

Lusa – The GX Foundation has been supporting students from Timor-Leste in undertaking medical internships in Hong Kong and Macau, the president of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) said on Sunday.

Nick Sas and Timor-Leste reporter Vonia Vieira in Suai, Timor-Leste – Joao Gusmao remembers the promises made when the Xanana Gusmao International Airport opened in 2017.

"We were told lots of planes would fly here," the local community leader told the ABC.

The Myanmar Accountability Project (MAP) and the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) announced on Monday that Timor-Leste's judiciary opened legal proceedings against the military in Myanmar, including Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Sebastian Strangio – Legal authorities in Timor-Leste have initiated legal proceedings against Myanmar's military junta, including its leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Rachel AJ Lee – Fresh off its historic accession as the 11th member of ASEAN, Timor-Leste has set an ambitious goal to welcome 200,000 international visitors annually by 2030.

Lusa – The Government of Timor-Leste will propose changes to the public debt regime in order to diversify sources of financing and reduce dependence on the Petroleum Fund, Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao announced on Thursday.

Robert Dougherty – Australia has announced a joint declaration on establishing Parseria Foun ba Era Foun (New partnership for a new era) with the government of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste.

Gregory, Yangon – For victims of military repression in Myanmar, East Timor (Timor-Leste) has become a new battleground. Not an armed one, but one involving the law.

A human rights organisation representing Myanmar's ethnic Chin minority has lodged a complaint in Dili against the country's military junta, accusing it of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Joao Boavida Milena Pires – Despite a stable constitutional framework, sustained international assistance, and substantial public expenditure, Timor-Leste continues to experience political stagnation.

Timor-Leste and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a US$78 million agreement on Monday aimed at rehabilitating a vital segment of the national road network, reports the Portuguese newspaper O Jornal Economico.

Ali MC, Dili, East Timor – On the 50th anniversary of Indonesia's invasion of East Timor, longtime independence advocate and now the country's President Jose Ramos-Horta reflected on the last half-century of politics and diplomacy in his country.

Adinda Jasmine, Jakarta – Xanana Gusmao, the Prime Minister of Timor Leste, delivered his inaugural policy speech at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta on Thursday, December 11, 2025. Xanana made his first visit as Timor Leste was accepted as the 11th member of the regional bloc in Malaysia last October.

Adinda Jasmine, Jakarta – Timor Leste Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao kicked off his official visit to the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta on Thursday, December 11, 2025. This marks his first visit after Timor Leste was designated as the 11th full member of ASEAN in Malaysia last October.

Philip Jacobson, Dili, Timor-Leste – Whale tourism in Timor-Leste is booming. Tour operators report a healthy number of sightings and full bookings in the peak season of September to December, when hundreds of pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) make the journey through the Ombai-Wetar Strait on their way south to western Australia.

Vonia Vieira, Doug Dingwall – As Indonesian warplanes flew overhead, they dropped something many in Timor-Leste had never seen.

But Jose Bareto de Jesus recognised the rounded objects floating to the ground and sounded the alarm to his friends that day on December 7, 1975.

"I was shouting that the plane dropped a parachute," he told the ABC.

Luqman H, Tegar Nurfitra, Yogyakarta – Timor-Leste Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao met Sultan Hamengku Buwono X, Governor of Indonesia's Special Region of Yogyakarta, on Monday, in a visit that underscored the deep historical and cultural links between the two nations.

On 7 December 2025, fifty years since Indonesian troops invaded East Timor, survivors and their descendants continue to live with the legacy of occupation, violence and loss – and to insist that remembrance, truth and justice still matter.

Dhaka – The 50th anniversary of Timor-Leste's Proclamation of Independence has been celebrated in Dhaka highlighting the significance of the milestone and underscoring prospects for expanded bilateral cooperation following Timor-Leste's recent accession to ASEAN as its 11th member.

Anna O'Connor – Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has doubled down on processing liquified natural gas (LNG) from the Greater Sunrise field in the country ahead of a new agreement with the Australian operator, reports the Portuguese news agency Lusa.

Ali MC, East Timor – It is a quiet afternoon in Lospalos. Just the clucking of chickens, the grunt of a pig and in the distance, a transistor radio playing Portuguese reggaeton; a typical small-town soundtrack in this country of 1.4 million people situated in the Timor Sea between Indonesia and Australia's northern territories.

Yulida Nuraini Santoso – Timor-Leste's accession to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) ended more than 12 years of waiting and inaugurated a new phase in the country's regional engagement.

Ivo Mateus Goncalves Da Cruz Fernandes – Forms of solidarity have persisted between Indonesians and East Timorese after the restoration of Timor-Leste's independence in May 2002. This solidarity is underpinned by shared historical experiences of New Order authoritarian rule and a commitment to dismantling colonialism.

Mouzinho Lopes de Araujo – The world has lost a giant with the passing of Australian media legend Bob Howarth. He was 81.

He was a passionate advocate for journalism who changed many lives with his extraordinary kindness and generosity coupled with wisdom, experience and an uncanny ability to make things happen.

Shafiah Muhibat – Don't let the polite headlines fool you. When Timor-Leste was welcomed as the 11th member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at the 47th Summit in Kuala Lumpur, the fanfare obscured one of the summit's most important actions.

Adinda Jasmine, Jakarta – The government of the United Kingdom declared its support for Timor Leste after the country was officially accepted as the 11th member of ASEAN at the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on October 26.

Kurniawan Arif Maspul – Timor-Leste's accession to ASEAN this week came with a boom: not just a new flag at the summit in Kuala Lumpur, but a live demonstration of how great-power politics, resource competition and institutional fragility are colliding in Southeast Asia.