Phnom Penh – It was as a budding diplomat in the 1970s that Mr Jose Ramos-Horta, a man who would go on to win the Nobel Prize for his fight for East Timor's independence, first raised the idea of his country joining South-east Asia's economic and political bloc.

Hariz Baharudin, Phnom Penh – Timor-Leste will be admitted in principle as the 11th member state of regional grouping Asean, said leaders of its member states on Friday.

Two journalists have been summoned by the National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL) after publishing two articles on a minister's request to dismiss Gastao Pereira, the Director of Internal Intelligence at the National Intelligence Service (NIS).

Ry Sochan – Prime Minister Hun Sen encouraged the competent authorities of both Cambodia and East Timor to continue to effectively implement the three documents that both countries had signed in order to boost economic cooperation, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Ry Sochan – East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta arrived in Phnom Penh on October 19 for a three-day visit to boost ties.

Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Hun Sen will preside over the signing ceremony of two bilateral agreements – an air services agreement and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the rice trade between the two countries.

Ry Sochan – Cambodia and East Timor signed two documents to boost bilateral trade cooperation on October 20. The two documents are an air services agreement and a memorandum of understanding on the rice trade between the two countries.

The signing ceremony was held at the Peace Palace, and witnessed by Prime Minister Hun Sen and East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta.

Rhiannon Hoyle, Adelaide, Australia – The chief executive of Woodside Energy Group Ltd. said she hopes a stalemate on the Greater Sunrise natural-gas project near East Timor can be broken following Australia's decision to appoint a special envoy to the project, but she highlighted challenges to the small nation's insistence that gas from the fields be processed in East Timor.

The Timorese government has reiterated its willingness to partner with Australian oil company Woodside to advance the development of the Greater Sunrise field in the Timor Sea.

The message was delivered by Timor-Leste's prime minister, Taur Matan Ruak, in a virtual meeting on Thursday with Woodside's CEO, Meg O'Neill, according to the prime minister's office.

The Vatican representative in Timor-Leste has urged Catholics to respect the sanctions that have been imposed on Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo for "the serious crimes" he has committed and asked them to maintain loyalty to the Church amid heated debates over the issue.

John McBeth, Jakarta – A political bombshell could be about to explode over the deeply-Catholic state of Timor Leste following revelations that the Vatican covered up long-rumored accusations that Nobel Peace Prize laureate Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo was a serial pedophile.

Jose Ramos-Horta – At the recent UN General Assembly, the president of Vanuatu called on governments to negotiate a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, a proposal I have supported alongside 100 other Nobel Prize laureates.

The Timorese government plans to buy the majority stake of Brazilian company Oi in Timor Telecom (TT) in 2023, in an operation valued at about US$14.5 million, an amount budgeted in the draft state budget for 2023.

Teesta Prakash and Jack Sato – Ahead of a visit to Australia last month, Timor-Leste's President Jose Ramos Horta sought to play the China card, raising the possibility of asking Beijing to finance the Greater Sunrise gas project in the Timor Sea.

A Catholic nun in Timor-Leste has bagged a human rights award for her role during the nation's independence struggle and for her service to end violence against women and children and other marginalized groups.

Nicole Winfield, Vatican City – The United Nations and advocacy groups for survivors of clergy sexual abuse are urging Pope Francis to authorize a full investigation of Catholic Church archives on three continents to ascertain who knew what and when about sexual abuse by Nobel Peace Prize-winning Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, the revered independence hero of East Timor.

Dili, East Timor – East Timor's Catholics reacted with shock but also expressions of support Friday for revered independence icon and Nobel Peace Prize winner Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo following allegations he sexually abused boys decades ago in the impoverished Southeast Asian nation.

Chris Barrett, Singapore – The Nobel Prize-winning former head of the Roman Catholic church in East Timor has been accused of sexually abusing boys during the country's independence struggle in the 1990s.

Li-Li Chen – On 19 April, Timor-Leste held the second round of voting in its 2022 presidential election.

Ryan Dagur – The Vatican has opened a new embassy in Timor-Leste capital Dili in an effort to strengthen ties with the Catholic-majority tiny Southeast Asian nation.

Vatican Deputy Secretary of State Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra inaugurated the new embassy in Dili on Sept. 20 along with President Jose Ramos-Horta.

Timor-Leste and Vietnam are set to strengthen relations following a high-level meeting between Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien and Minister of Tourism, Trade and Industry of Timor-Leste Jose Lucas Da Silva in Siem Reap, Cambodia, during the 54th ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting.

Ryan Dagur – Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta has underlined the importance of the papal document on human fraternity in building a prosperous country amid serious challenges, including extreme poverty.

Matthew Knott – East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta has defended China's role as a growing strategic and economic power in the Asia-Pacific, arguing it has "hardly ever" invaded other countries and was unlikely to do so in the future.

Melbourne, Australia – Indonesia, South Korea, Japan and China could all be interested in investing in the Greater Sunrise gas project in the waters between Timor Leste and Australia, President Jose Ramos-Horta said on Wednesday.

Nick Perry, Wellington, New Zealand – Give our country $100 billion – or stop lecturing us about making money from fossil fuels.

That was the message East Timor President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta had Wednesday for those raising environmental concerns about his nation's proposal to build a new gas-processing plant.

Sonali Paul, Melbourne – Indonesia, South Korea, Japan and China could all be interested in investing in a long-delayed gas project in the waters between East Timor and Australia crucial to the Asian nation's future, East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta said on Wednesday.

John Lyons and Sarah Ferguson – Timor-Leste's President Jose Ramos-Horta has revealed China is "very interested" in partnering with his government on a contentious gas project.

Mr Ramos-Horta said he'd had informal discussions with Chinese officials about their potential involvement in the project over the last two or three years.

The growth of China's influence in our region is a significant issue, but there is a danger in making it the sole focus for relations with our neighbours.

Australia has for years been on the alert about China's ambitions in the Pacific, and those concerns were realised this year when the Solomon Islands concluded a security agreement with China.

Thousands of people in Timor-Leste lined the streets of the capital Dili to welcome the Catholic-majority nation's first on Sept. 5.

Cardinal Da Silva, Archbishop of Dili was returning home after attending a consistory on Aug. 27 during which Pope Francis created 20 new cardinals including himself and five others from Asia.

Parker Novak – It's been hard to miss Jose Ramos-Horta, the President of Timor-Leste, in the news over the past couple of weeks. He's been doing the rounds with major media outlets, including the ABC and Guardian Australia.

Rod McGuirk, Canberra – East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta arrived in Australia on Tuesday for a state visit as negotiations over lucrative gas resources reach a critical stage for his impoverished nation.

Sonali Paul, Melbourne – East Timor's majority owner of the huge Greater Sunrise gas field says piping gas from the field to be processed in East Timor can be done economically and would be much cheaper to run than if the gas were piped to Darwin in Australia.

Tess Ikonomou (AAP) – Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has pushed back against Timor-Leste's use of the media to apply pressure to Australia over a gas project.

Senator Wong is in Timor-Leste's capital Dili on Thursday, where she is in discussions to resolve a dispute over the location of a gas processing hub.

Matthew Knott – Foreign Minister Penny Wong has used a visit to East Timor to publicly rebuke the country's president, Jose Ramos-Horta, for using the media to pressure Australia over the terms of a massive potential gas project in the Timor Sea.

The people of Timor-Leste rejoiced at the inauguration of Salesian Cardinal Dom Virgilio do Carmo da Silva, the first cardinal for the tiny Catholic-majority country.

The 54-year-old archbishop of Dili was among 21 new cardinals that received a red hat at the consistory in the Vatican on Aug. 26.

Timor-Leste's president, Jose Ramos-Horta, has warned his nation will seek Chinese support if Australia and corporate giant Woodside Energy fail to back a gas pipeline between the resource-rich Timor Sea and his country's southern shore, rather than Darwin.

Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta has come under criticism for his decision to confer an award to a retired Indonesian army general, who allegedly violated human rights during the country's independence struggles.

A top leader of Timor-Leste's minority Muslim community has turned down an offer from a leading Indonesian Muslim group to open its branch in his Catholic-majority country, fearing it would destroy religious harmony.

Singapore – Timor-Leste's president Jose Ramos-Horta recently declared his hope that his country would become the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) eleventh member in 2023 when Indonesia chairs the regional grouping.

Ryan Dagur – Timor-Leste's Baucau Diocese has apologized for the controversial decision by a local parish to impose a heavy fee for issuing baptismal certificates.

Timor-Leste's Petroleum Fund (PF) was worth US$17.84 billion at the end of June, down from US$19.12 billion at the end of March, the central bank has announced.

Luke Hunt, Phnom Penh – Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Aug 3 that he was confident Timor-Leste would become the 11th member of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) by next year, shelving plans to shepherd the tiny state into the bloc under his stewardship.

Luke Hunt – Expectations that Timor-Leste would be shepherded into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen have been formally dashed amid concerns the tiny country is not ready for membership in the bloc.

Ryan Dagur – Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta has urged citizens to respect and not discriminate against the Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.

"Timor-Leste must show a model or example about respect, tolerance to our children, to our brothers involved in this community," he said in a statement on his official Facebook page on Aug. 3.

John Kehoe – A confidential report prepared for East Timor's government advises that the stalled Greater Sunrise gas project to be operated by Woodside Petroleum in waters north of Australia can be built and run at a similar cost in East Timor, instead of Darwin.

Bangkok – Authorities in East Timor should drop their investigation into journalist Raimundos Oki and stop using legal threats to curb independent reporting, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.

A global media watchdog has urged Timor-Leste to drop charges against a journalist accused of violating judicial confidentiality by publishing reports questioning the virginity tests of underage girls in an abuse case involving an ex-priest.

Indonesia's leading Catholic university has signed a deal to collaborate with nine universities and colleges in neighboring Timor-Leste, as part of an effort to improve education quality and foster fraternity between the institutions.

Jayanty Nada Shofa, Jakarta – Timor Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta on Thursday talked about how arduous it is to get a seat in ASEAN and even said that entering heaven would be easier than getting full membership in the Southeast Asian grouping.

Timor-Leste and the United States have signed the largest cooperation agreement ever, valued at US$420 million, focused on improving infrastructure in Dili over the next five years.

The agreement was signed by the Timor-Leste Cabinet office minister, Fidelis Magalhaes, and Millennium Challenge Corporation Vice Chairman Cameron Alford, at a ceremony in Dili.

Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta has said he will be nominating two moderate Indonesian Muslim organizations for the Nobel Peace Prize.