Annie Sloman – The COVID-19 pandemic has not only had global health, economic and social impacts, it has also impacted on civic space. But what has been the impact of COVID-19 on civic space in Timor-Leste?

Lusa News, Dili – The Timorese Press Council today asked journalists to avoid being "messenger boys", referring to the publication of a statement about former Timor-Leste president Xanana Gusmao's controversial visit to a former priest accused of child abuse without identifying the source.

Dili (SPS) – The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Timor Leste, Mrs. Adaljiza Albertina Xavier Reis Magno, has reaffirmed Thursday the support of her country to the struggle of the Saharawi people, voicing their constant willingness to defend their right to freedom and independence during a meeting with SADR's ambassador to East Timor, Mr. Mohamed Islam Badi.

Pacific Media Watch – The Timorese Episcopal Conference has called on the entire Catholic community in Timor-Leste to accept and respect Pope Francis' decision to expel an American accused of child sexual abuse in the country from the priesthood, reports LUSA news agency.

Graeme Dobell – The word 'guarantee' rightly makes Oz politicians, diplomats and lawyers cautious, even nervous: never say forever, never say never, and try never to provoke Indonesia.

Rob Harris – The development of a domestic security force in East Timor was a matter of "fundamental importance" to Australia's strategic interests, newly declassified documents released for the first time on Friday reveal.

Randy Mulyanto, Jakarta, Indonesia – Timor-Leste, formerly known as East Timor, has a creaky healthcare system and is one of the poorest countries in Asia, but even as neighbouring Indonesia grapples with one of the worst outbreaks in the region, it has managed to keep the virus at bay.

Rui Graca Feijo – Timor-Leste is a surprising success story in the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. As of mid-December 2020, the country had recognised a total of just 31 cases and it is one of the few nations to have not reported a single casualty.

Jakarta – Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto has handed over awards in the form of medals and National Defense Patriot certificates to 11,485 former East Timor fighters.

Prabowo handed over the symbolic awards to 23 representatives – one of which was East Timor pro-integration figure and former East Timor pro-Indonesian militia deputy commander Eurico Guterres.

Christopher Knaus – The Australian lawyer Bernard Collaery has won a prestigious British free speech prize for his efforts exposing a secret Australian operation to bug Timor-Leste's fledgling government during sensitive oil and gas negotiations.

Thomas Newdick – It's a previously unknown story of an unusual, and dramatic, aerial encounter in a little-known conflict.

Bu Wilson, Iram Saeed, Laura Afonso de Jesus, Caitlin Leahy, Pauline Tweedie – Timor-Leste, together with only a small number of countries globally, has to date successfully managed to control the spread of COVID-19 through an effective border and quarantine regime, and COVID-19 prevention programs.

David Webster – "We hear the voice of the farmers," explains the acting director of Raebia, an organization in Timor-Leste working for sustainable agricultural development.

Jose Sarito Amaral, Balibo – The Jornal Independente newspaper has been awarded Timor-Leste's media outlet of the year prize in the National Press Council's 2019 awards.

Ian Lloyd Neubauer – "Like Bali before the tourism boom." That is how I described East Timor – a young country brimming with hope – when I first arrived there to work as a correspondent in 2009. The factional violence of 2006-2008 had finally ended and the last of the 100,000 refugees internally displaced during the conflict had been repatriated to their homes.

Christopher Knaus – The nation's peak legal group has thrown its support behind Bernard Collaery as he defends the Timor-Leste spying case, warning that laws used to shroud proceedings are protecting "broadly defined national security at the expense of the rights of the accused".

Pacific Media Watch – Today, October 16, marks the 45th anniversary of the Balibo Five – the five Australian-based Australian, British and New Zealand – journalists murdered in East Timor in 1975. Their case remains unsolved.

Roger East, a former ABC journalist, was later murdered when in Timor-Leste investigating the earlier killings and running a Timorese news agency.

Susan Connelly – Forty-five years ago, on October 16, 1975, five Australian-based journalists near the town of Balibo were reporting on the impending Indonesian invasion of Portuguese Timor. They were Gary Cunningham, Brian Peters, Malcolm Rennie, Greg Shackleton and Tony Stewart.

Jack Board, Dili – When Filipe da Costa started to learn about the health of his nation, he was confused.

By most measures, Timor-Leste was falling into the "red zone" – whether in terms of child stunting, malnutrition or brain cognition. And it was all linked to the food people were eating.

Geneva, Switzerland – Impoverished Southeast Asian country East Timor on Friday, October 2, kicked off official accession talks to join the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Geneva-based body said.

Joao da Cruz Cardoso – A crowd of young Timorese standing in front of the Portuguese Embassy in Dili has become a familiar sight in recent years. They are hoping to acquire a Portuguese passport, which represents an opportunity for a shot at a better future in Europe. But why are these young people so eager to leave their own country?

David Hutt – Ian Lloyd Neubauer's recent article for Nikkei Asia posed an interesting question: How far should a political leader go in pursuing a nationalist policy if it means giving up a good chunk of his nation's sovereignty?

Christopher Knaus – Government lawyers have invoked cabinet confidence in an attempt to stop Bernard Collaery and his team from viewing a briefing to the prime minister relevant to the Timor-Leste spying case.

Ian Lloyd Neubauer – COVID-19 and the global collapse in oil and gas prices appear to have put the final nail into the coffin of East Timor's long-held dream to create a domestic petroleum industry that would end its dependence on foreign aid and secure its viability as a sovereign state.

Fredrik Sjoholm – Timor-Leste is going through turbulent times. On the political front, the old conflict between former prime ministers Mari Alkatiri and Xanana Gusmao continues to generate parliamentary reshufflings, political deadlocks and uncertainty. All public budgets since 2018 have been delayed, causing declines in public expenditure.

Bill Brown – When Timor-Leste (formerly known as East Timor) finally gained independence and peace in 2002 it had paid a heavy price of huge casualties and destruction, and they needed help.

Then, a small farming community in south-east Australia mobilised to help the East Timorese rebuild their country and build a new nation.

Damon Evans – East Timor is reassessing its ambitious petroleum development plans, which include the Woodside Petroleum-operated Greater Sunrise project, after discovering the economic analysis behind its proposed schemes is inaccurate.

Christopher Knaus – The former Timor-Leste president Jose Ramos-Horta has urged Australia to show wisdom, honesty and compassion by stopping the unfair prosecution of Witness K and Bernard Collaery, a case he described as "political" and one that had "profoundly shocked" the Timorese people.

Mong Palatino – On August 25, a petition was submitted to Timor-Leste's Minister for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers asking for the rejection of the proposal to restore criminal defamation in the country's penal laws.

Christopher Knaus – Attorney general Christian Porter has been accused of abusing the National Security Information Act after interfering in court proceedings to screen documents held by Woodside Petroleum in a case against barrister Bernard Collaery.

Collaery is before court for his role in exposing Australia's bugging of Timor-Leste during oil and gas negotiations.

Dili, Timor Leste – Timor-Leste Red Cross (CVTL) is urgently ramping up COVID-19 prevention in remote areas bordering Indonesia as the country's containment success is threatened after its first new case has been reported in more than three months.

Ian Cunliffe – Timor-Leste only achieved independence in 2002. It was Asia's poorest country and desperately needed revenue. Revenue from massive gas resources in the Timor Sea was its big hope. But it needed to negotiate a treaty with Australia on their carve-up.

Jonas Guterres – After nearly a decade of uncertainty, Timor-Leste's National Parliament on July 20 unanimously approved an anti-corruption law, entitled Measures to Prevent and Combat Corruption. This move to reinforce the existing anti-corruption legal framework, in compliance with international standards and a national commitment to curb corruption, was widely welcomed.

Jack Board, Dili – An alien structure is humming over the distant lapping of some of the world's clearest and biodiverse waters.

The locals from Akrema village on the remote island of Atauro have never seen anything like it before – 40 hydropanels in rows, tilted towards the sky, performing a mysterious process to give them a commodity they so badly need: Clean water.

The Timorese government is evaluating options to allow Portuguese teachers who left the country in April, due to the Covid-19, to return to Timor-Leste, the deputy prime minister told Lusa.

"The Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of the Interior are coordinating so that they can prepare for the return of teachers to Timor-Leste," said Jose Reis to Lusa.

Jonathan Mitchell – Two new training centres have opened in Timor-Leste to help locals gain trade skills, as the country remembers a fallen New Zealand soldier.

Pacific Media Centre – When New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the country had managed to stamp out the coronavirus, it was met with much fanfare – with many experts lauding Aotearoa for its effective response.

But another small Pacific nation has had even greater success in eradicating the coronavirus – Timor-Leste.

In response to widening criticism, Timor-Leste's Ministry of Justice has revised its proposed criminal defamation law to exempt criticisms of political parties and public servants, but has retained sections which criminalise defamation.

By Dr Susanna Barnes, Teresa Hall, Dr Balthasar Kehi, Quintiliano Mok and Associate Professor Lisa Palmer, University of Melbourne.

As of early July, there are currently no active cases of COVID-19 in Timor-Leste, one of Australia's closest neighbours.

Ian Cunliffe – Anyone who is interested knows in their heart that the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, on behalf of the government, bugged the cabinet room and other offices of the Timor Leste government in 2004 to give Australia a major edge over our impoverished neighbour in negotiations for the ownership of massive underwater oil and helium reserves.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has submitted a legal advice highlighting the dangers of the proposed re-introduction of criminal defamation law into Timor-Leste to Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak on July 14.

John Hewson – Scott Morrison has stated he wants to govern in the "Howard tradition", but sadly that has also entailed adopting the worst of John Howard's strategies: to admit or explain as little as possible.

Kim McGrath – In the first week of January 2019, a private jet landed at Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport in Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste. The former Victorian premier Steve Bracks emerged into the monsoonal heat and was greeted by staff from the office of Xanana Gusmao, Timor-Leste's chief maritime boundary negotiator.

Christopher Knaus – Bernard Collaery has signalled he will appeal against a ruling that shrouds crucial parts of his trial in secrecy.

Collaery is facing trial for allegedly conspiring with his former client, intelligence officer Witness K, to expose an Australian bugging operation against Timor-Leste during negotiations to carve up oil and gas resources in the Timor Sea.

Anne Barker – In the shadow of the whitewashed Catholic church in Ainaro, Timor-Leste, Kalistru walked down the steps onto the dusty road. He was just a boy, eight years old. He couldn't have known he would never see his mother or father again after that day.

Lia Timson – When a boatload of people arrived unannounced on an idyllic beach at the eastern tip of Timor-Leste, one Australian watched what happened next with a mix of trepidation and pride.

Helen Davidson and Christopher Knaus – Decades-old documents relating to Australia's involvement in the Indonesian invasion of Timor-Leste will remain secret after a court upheld the Australian government's refusal to release them.

Binoy Kampmark – This week has not been a good one for the Australian legal system. For those who feel that an open justice process requires abuses of power to be exposed and held to account, it was particularly awful.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for the immediate withdrawal of a bill that would criminalize defamation in Timor-Leste again, six years after a similar law inherited from the Portuguese colonial era was removed from the criminal code as a result of the adoption of a new press code.

Andrew Wight – Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, has seen more than 50 days without new COVID-19 cases and has yet to report a single death, thanks in part to water initiatives designed to increase resilience to outside shocks.