Shannon Power – One of the world's youngest nations is powering ahead on LGBTI rights and has come up with a clever way to promote inclusion.

Last year, East Timor's first Pride March made headlines around the world, not only for its color and celebration, but because it was a remarkable achievement.

Raimundos Oki, Dili, East Timor – East Timor's political parties kicked off a month of campaigning Tuesday for new parliamentary elections due in May with promises to boost development in one of Asia's poorest nations.

Michael Leach – Timor-Leste returns to the polls on 12 May, almost ten months after last July's election failed to produce a sustainable government.

At least 100 of 100,000 people die each year in Timor-Leste from Tuberculosis (TB) according to data from the Ministry of Health (MH).

Deputy Minister of Health Luis Lobato considers TB a major public health issue in Timor-Leste because of the high prevalence and morbidity with current estimate of 5,000 of 100,00 people suffering from TB.

Paulina Quintao – The President of the National Election Commission (CNE), Alcino Barris said there is no law regulating parents to not involve their children in electoral campaigns, but is criminal for political parties to mobilize children to take part in political activities.

Ben C. Solomon, Com, East Timor – On a rainy spring morning, Fizzy Moslim strapped on her weathered-chrome oxygen tank and slipped into the warm water.

Few visitors make it out to the sleepy fishing village of Com, a backbreaking seven-hour drive from the capital, and usually no one except the locals ever dives into its waters.

Euan Moyle – A landmark agreement between Australia and Timor-Leste has finally marked their maritime borders and exclusive economic zones, which have been a sore point in relations between the two countries.

Clive Schofield and Bec Strating – On March 6, 2018, Australia and Timor-Leste signed a landmark treaty that draws permanent maritime boundaries in the Timor Sea. The treaty is the result of the United Nations Compulsory Conciliation (UNCC) processes that have facilitated negotiations between the two states for over a year.

Viji Menon – Timor-Leste and Australia signed a historic treaty in New York on 6 March 2018, witnessed by the UN Secretary-General, establishing permanent maritime boundaries between them.

Peter Milne – The Woodside Petroleum-led Sunrise LNG project is in danger of getting left behind despite a recent breakthrough in maritime border talks, as East Timor pursues other gas fields to launch its LNG industry.

Helen Davidson and Christopher Knaus – The Australian government should return the passport of a former secret service agent who blew the whistle on an operation to spy on Timor-Leste, Jose Ramos-Horta has said.

The on-oil economy of Timor-Leste (East Timor) contracted by 1.8% in 2017, mainly the country's economy, according to a World Bank report.

Oki Raimundos, Dili, East Timor – Three political parties that brought down East Timor's minority government say they will campaign under one umbrella for new elections due in May.

The parties in the grouping, which calls itself the Alliance for Change and Progress, on Friday announced their official lists of candidates.

Donald Rothwell – The 2018 Timor Sea Treaty signed in New York between Australia and Timor Leste on 6 March 2018 is a landmark agreement between the two countries and provides a pathway for the final settlement of the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone (EEZ) maritime boundaries between the countries.

Mike Head – Acrimonious disputes are continuing between the governments of Australia and the tiny neighouring state of East Timor despite last week's signing at the UN in New York of what the media misleadingly called an "historic" maritime boundary treaty covering the oil-and gas-rich Timor Sea.

Alan Boyd – Indonesia's long-held resentment over Australia's sprawling maritime claims along their ill-defined border have spilled into the diplomatic arena following a recent settlement of a parallel dispute in neighboring Timor Leste, also known as East Timor.

Simone Rensch – Timor-Leste spends the least amount of money on healthcare than any other country in the world, a new map has revealed.

Jose Belo, Dili – Timor-Leste's former president and prime minister Xanana Gusmao returned home in triumph on March 11 with a new maritime treaty with Australia, but warned the battle to win a favorable oil and gas deal with the country's giant neighbor remained far from over.

At long last Australia has done something like the right thing by East Timor in the dispute over the maritime boundary the countries share. But it has done so only after trying every other alternative for nearly five decades.

"The Commission instead opted for the easiest way out, which is a shame as in my perception it reveals a lack of impartiality on your behalf!" – Chief East Timorese negotiator, Xanana Gusmao, Feb 28, 2018

Michael Leach – When Timor-Leste terminated the CMATS treaty with Australia early last year, it overturned its fifty-year moratorium on boundary negotiations. Ending the decade-old agreement was essential to securing its objective of a permanent maritime boundary.

Mike Bruce – In 2005, Australian businessman Ian Melrose spent $3.5 million of his own money to support Timor-Leste's fight with Australia over lucrative oil and gas fields in the Timor Sea.

James Massola, Jakarta – The Turnbull government has pushed back at Indonesia, saying it was unnecessary to renegotiate the maritime boundary between the two countries, a day after a senior official in Jakarta flagged the possibility.

Peter Milne – Woodside's Sunrise LNG project remains stalled as East Timor slams negotiations to agree on a development concept and dismisses incentives to send the gas to Darwin that include a share of the project and $US300 million towards a gas pipeline to the impoverished nation.

Peter Job – As announced by the Permanent Court of Arbitration on February 25, there appears to be hope at last for a settlement of the prolonged legal battle between Australia and Timor-Leste over the Timor Sea.

Clive Schofield – The signing of a treaty between Australia and Timor-Leste marking maritime boundaries in the Timor Sea represents a huge step forward in resolving the two states' long-standing disputes.

Donald R. Rothwell – After nearly two years of a facilitated conciliation process initiated under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Australia and Timor Leste have finally reached agreement on a maritime boundary in the Timor Sea.

Damon Evans – Findings from UN-backed Conciliation Commission show development of Greater Sunrise oil and gas in East Timor is unviable, contrary to what East Timor's government claims.

Helen Davidson and Christopher Knaus – Australia has received billions of dollars in revenue from contested oil and gas fields which a new border treaty officially confirms belonged to Timor-Leste, civil society groups have claimed.

Christopher Knaus – The spy who blew the whistle on Australia's bugging of Timor-Leste's cabinet room during sensitive oil and gas negotiations is still under "effective house arrest" and has been treated disgracefully by Australia in retaliation for his actions, his lawyer says.

James Massola, Jakarta – The Indonesian government wants Australia to re-open discussions on maritime boundaries after a deal was finally struck to resolve a similar dispute between East Timor and Australia.

Peter Lloyd – East Timor's chief negotiator Xanana Gusmao has accused Australia of essentially colluding with oil companies to ensure Greater Sunrise oil and gas gets piped to Darwin instead of East Timor.

Anne Barker – A landmark agreement to be signed in New York tomorrow (AEDT) will close the door on the long and bitter dispute between Australia and East Timor over their maritime boundary.

But it could lead to a new legal wrangle for Australia if Indonesia tries to use the deal to renegotiate its own outdated boundaries with Australia.

Tom Clarke – East Timor and Australia will sign a maritime boundary agreement at the UN headquarters in New York tomorrow, putting their long-running border dispute to rest.

Simon Roughneen, Singapore – After a saga lasting nearly two decades, Australia will on March 6 sign a boundary treaty with East Timor that will allow the Southeast Asian country to earn much-needed revenue from gas fields under the Timor Sea.

Frank Brennan – On Tuesday the governments of Timor Leste and Australia will sign a maritime boundary treaty in New York in the presence of Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations. This day has been a long time coming.

Giacomo Tognini – Timor-Leste will go to the polls on May 12 for the second time in less than a year, with the country's politicians calling upon voters to break a stalemate that ended almost a decade of hard-earned political stability.

Luke Hunt – Earlier this week, Australia and Timor-Leste finally reached an expected agreement that defined the maritime boundary between the two countries.

Damon Evans – Reports that East Timor is set to bank tens of billions of dollars from the potential development of the Woodside Petroleum-operated Greater Sunrise oil and gas fields that straddle the Australian and East Timorese seabed are wide of the mark.

Michael Sainsbury – In January, after half a year of political gridlock, Timor-Leste's president Francisco "Lu Olo" Guterres set the date for its 730,000 registered voters to head to the polls.

Since last July, Timor-Leste has endured political gridlock that has kept attention on political parties and sidelined the development of policies that could benefit the people of Timor-Leste.

Grant Wyeth – Earlier this week Australia and Timor-Leste reached an agreement for a treaty on their disputed maritime border at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. The agreement will establish a maritime boundary between the two countries in the Timor Sea for the first time.

East Timor's decision to drag the Australian Government to "compulsory conciliation" at the UN has paid off – a new and better treaty is set to be signed next week.

Angela Macdonald-Smith – A deal struck between the Australian and Timor-Leste governments has opened the door for progress on Woodside Petroleum's long-stalled $US13 billion Sunrise LNG project but any development still looks years away amid ongoing disagreement on how to develop the large offshore field.

East Timor and Australia have reached an agreement for a treaty on their disputed maritime border and on a "pathway" to develop the giant Greater Sunrise offshore gas fields, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague says.

Lindsay Murdoch, Bangkok – Australia and East Timor will sign a landmark agreement aimed at opening the way to share revenue from the $50 billion Greater Sunrise oil and gas field in the Timor Sea at the United Nations next week.

Anne Barker – For a man held up as a national hero, relatively little is written about Nicolau dos Reis Lobato – especially outside East Timor. But some Timorese are hoping one chapter – about Lobato's death – might soon be complete.

Thomas Ora, Dili – Negotiations have resumed between Timor-Leste and Australia to determine exploration and revenue sharing issues for the multibillion-dollar Greater Sunrise oil and gas fields.

Kim McGrath – The UN Compulsory Conciliation between Australia and Timor-Leste, which aims to set a boundary in the Timor Sea, appears to be inching towards resolution, with details emerging in the Portuguese media last week of a deal involving a median line boundary and a revenue-sharing arrangement for the Greater Sunrise fields.

Viji Menon – The oil and gas sector is the mainstay of Timor-Leste's economy, with almost 90% of government revenue coming from oil. The non-petroleum economy, which scarcely existed at Independence is still very small, only about a quarter of the GDP. It is mostly generated by state spending for public administration, procurement, and infrastructure construction.