James Scambary – On 26 October 2015, East Timor's Audit Chamber vetoed the largest contract in the country's history – worth US$719 million dollars – for 'non-compliance with basic standards in force in Timor-Leste'. This contract was part of a highly ambitious 'resource corridor' intended to span the country's entire south coast.

Paulina Quintao – The Director of Clinical Services of the National Hospital Guido Valadares (HNGV), Flavio Brandao said medical specialist services in Timor-Leste still depend on foreign specialists due to the lack of national specialists.

Helen Davidson – A journalist has avoided jail over an erroneous article about the now prime minister of Timor-Leste, after a Dili court threw out the criminal defamation charges.

Raimundos Oki, a senior reporter for the Timor Post, and his former editor Lourenco Martins Vicente, were found not guilty of "slanderous denunciation on Thursday at the district court in Dili.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliates the Timor Leste Press Union (TLPU) and the Timor Leste Journalists Association (TLJA) in welcoming the decision today by the Timor Leste judiciary to dismiss charges against two journalists charged with slanderous denunciation.

Michael Vincent – The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has hailed as a victory the acquittal of two journalists in East Timor who had faced the threat of jail for a story they wrote about Prime Minister Rui Maria de Araujo in 2015.

The foreign affairs department continues to deny a passport to a former-spy-turned-whistleblower despite a spying legal case being dropped.

The former Australian Secret Intelligence Service agent was a key witness for East Timor in a case against Australia over allegations Dili's cabinet rooms were bugged during negotiations over a gas and oil treaty in 2004.

Lindsay Murdoch – East Timor's prime minister has asked a Dili court not send two journalists to jail in a controversial defamation case he brought against them that was condemned by human rights and press freedom organisations.

Lisa Martin – Australian peacekeepers led an international force that helped curtail the carnage and bloodshed in the aftermath of East Timor's vote for independence.

Pro-Indonesian militias, with some backing from elements of the Indonesian military, went on a violent looting and arson rampage. An estimated 1500 East Timorese were killed and about 500,000 displaced.

Helen Davidson, Dili – "If the court wants to send me to jail, I won't be happy but I have to be brave. I will accept the final decision. I'm ready to be in prison if the court maybe wants to put me in the prison."

Helen Davidson in Oecusse and Dili – In Timor-Leste's Oecusse province, a band of children wash in the river beneath a multimillion-dollar bridge, yet to open. On a freshly paved road towards a US$9m-plus irrigation project, a young girl hauls a bucket of water out of a ground well.

Thomas Ora, Dili – Timor Leste's new president Francisco Guterres inherits a nation beset by critical problems, including poor education, high employment, and abject poverty.

During a 12-hour inauguration ceremony in the capital Dili on May 20, Guterres popularly known as Lu-Olo vowed to overcome these problems, pursue sustainable development and promote national unity.

David Hutt – On May 19, as dignitaries gathered in Dili for the inauguration of Timor-Leste's new president, Francisco "Lu-Olo" Guterres, the ceremony had an added significance as the new nation celebrated 15 years of independence from repressive and conflict-plagued Indonesian rule.

Rhiannon Elston – In Timor-Leste's western enclave of Oecusse, change is coming fast. Reuban Landos and his family run a tiny village store on the edge of a paddy field.

Vast mountains decorate the horizon, but soon the landscape will have another defining feature – a 56-room hotel with six presidential suites is under construction nearby.

Hamish McDonald – Tolstoy once wrote a short story about a greedy peasant offered as much land as he could get around in a day. The man ran off into the steppe, returning to complete his vast circuit at dusk, only to drop dead from exhaustion.

Lucy Marks – A program to find and treat children in East Timor with rheumatic heart disease is reducing the rates of heart failure and preventable deaths, researchers say.

For the first time, Australian doctors are working with East Timorese health workers to screen and treat children and young people with the illness, using methods similar to those used in Australia.

Helen Davidson, Dili – National pride is a serious business for Timor-Leste, a young country with a violent history. So on the eve of a presidential inauguration and the 15th anniversary of the nation's independence, the capital Dili is covered in flags. They adorn houses, fences, bikes and cars. They are draped over balconies and the arms of the half-dozen flag sellers on each block.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has joined its affiliates Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) and the South East Asia Journalist Unions (SEAJU) in strongly condemning the latest development in the slanderous denunciation case against Timor-Leste journalists Oki Raimundos and Lourenco Martins, reports the IFJ Asia-Pacific bureau.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliates the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) and the South East Asia Journalist Unions (SEAJU) in strongly condemning the latest development in the slanderous denunciation case against Timor Leste journalists Oki Raimundos and Lourenco Martins.

Havana – The map of Timor Leste has the shape of a crocodile, while the map of Cuba has the shape of a Cayman. Both countries fought long and hard for their independence and continue to fight against neo colonial tendencies. They share the Catholic faith and a common Iberian legacy.

Paulina Quintao - Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Combating the HIV/AIDS Timor-Leste (KNKS-TL) Daniel Marcal said HIV was a significant threat for the country's human resources in the future.

He said new cases of HIV transmission were increasing among Timor's population, which was at 1,167, 242 million according to the 2016 household census.

East Timor's first president to be elected as a member of a political party, Lu-Olo, is expected to renew his country's push for a maritime boundary halfway between Timor and Australia, according to a former president.

East Timor's relationship with Australia is too important to dramatically change under its new leader, according to former President Jose Ramos-Horta.

John Pilger – Filming undercover in East Timor in 1993 I followed a landscape of crosses: great black crosses etched against the sky, crosses on peaks, crosses marching down the hillsides, crosses beside the road. They littered the earth and crowded the eye.

Naaman Zhou – The former Timor-Leste president Jose Ramos-Horta has told the Australian government to abandon its "unsubstantiated" legal case to extend its borders into the Timor Sea, as the two countries attempt to negotiate a permanent maritime boundary over lucrative oil fields.

East Timor's former president Jose Ramos-Horta has issued a blunt warning to Australia that the gas dispute between the two countries risks pushing Timor closer to China.

Paulina Quintao – MPs continue to arrive late for parliamentary sessions, according to observations made by the Judicial System of Monitoring program (JSMP).

Dili – Coffee trees loom over a village in the hills above Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste. Though their fruit has provided income for decades, Alarico Soares De Cruz, the local headman, says the pickings are gradually growing slimmer. Some of the trees are 40 years old, he explains, and ought to be pruned or completely replanted.

Damien Kingsbury – Timor-Leste is a country increasingly able to stand on its own two feet. At least, that is the sense within Timor-Leste. The success of Timor-Leste's presidential elections in March 2017 and the prospect of successful parliamentary elections again in early July have marked the country as a consolidating democracy in a region where such notions are often compromised.

Paulina Quintao – The Ministry of Health has received $6.4 million in funding from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) to implement a mass drug distribution program across the country from 2016-2021 to tackle lymphatic filariasis.

Jon Andrews, Bayside Leader – Painters and Dockers' famous, flamboyant frontman Paul Stewart says he owes his life to the nuns of East Timor.

The rocker, an infamous rager on the music scene with the 80s punk band, spends much of his time now helping the poor of our northern neighbour.

Paulina Quintao – The head of the Department of Non-Communicable Disease Helder Juvinal said the tobacco control law had yet to be properly implemented as the Health Ministry was still in the process of raising awareness to communities across the country.

Dames Alexander Sinaga, Atambua – The Indonesian Ministry of Tourism has urged the government of Timor-Leste to modify its immigration regulations to boost tourism in border areas such as Atambua in East Nusa Tenggara.

Venidora Oliveira – Army Chief Major-General Lere Anan Timor has called on the government through the Ministry of Defense to establish a maritime authority to protect the country's ocean's resources.

Heather Merle Benbow – Australian soldiers have long relied on an East Timorese hospitality epitomised by its coffee.

The fond appreciation for the nation's beans traces back to the second world war, where Dutch and Australian commandos – known collectively as Sparrow Force – engaged in guerrilla warfare against the Japanese in what was then known as Portuguese Timor.

Emma Wynne – A small collection of objects in the Western Australian Museum honours the extraordinary story of the Timorese boys who risked their lives to help Australian commandos during World War II.

Jim Dowling – Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty Four.

It was with great interest that I recently read the following news item:

"The newly-elected president of Timor Leste, former guerilla fighter Francisco Guterres, will lead a 30-person delegation of veterans to Brisbane this Anzac Day.

Susan Connelly – In the great traditions of Australian war remembrance we remember all those Australian youngsters who died in the World Wars and since. What is often forgotten, however, is the toll on the Timorese people in World War II on behalf of Australians.

Paulina Quintao – National Members of Parliament (MPs) have questioned teaching quality and education standards across the country as grade five students in basic schools are still struggling to speak Portuguese.

National MP David Dias Ximenes said that in the past first grade students already had a good understanding of the language, but students nowadays found it difficult to read.

Paulina Quintao – The Timor-Leste Coalition for Education (TLCE) has expressed concern over the Ministry of Education's policy to turn several high schools into vocational schools due to the lack of qualified teachers and proper equipment for practical activities.

Jeremy Luedi – The successful conclusion of East Timor's 2017 presidential election has been lauded as another positive milestone for the country's fledgling democracy. The recent election was the first to occur without assistance from the international community, and the first since the departure of the UN mission in 2012.

Paulina Quintao – The government has established a special independent authority to conduct routine inspection and monitoring of products and food sold in restaurants and supermarkets across the country.

Paulina Quintao – The National Hospital has issued a directive to doctors not to attend to patients with common illnesses such as headaches, coughs and colds.

The directive was issued in 2016 with the aim of improving secondary health care services at the hospital and to give more responsibility to health centres.

Bec Strating – On 10 April this year, the 2006 Certain Maritime Agreement on the Timor Sea (CMATS) was terminated. CMATS was an agreement between Australia and Timor-Leste designed to facilitate development of the contested Greater Sunrise gas field, a 5.1 trillion cubic foot gas field in the Timor Sea.

Paulina Quintao – According to results from a quick data assessment report on blind prevention from 2016, 2.8% of Timorese people over the age of 50 suffers from some type of eye disease.

Paulina Quintao – The National Eye Clinic has informed it now has the capacity to perform surgery on patients with sight problems including retinal detachment operations.

Eye Clinic (Officer in Charge) OIC Belmerio Jeronimo said the new equipment and additional human resources will mean Timor-Leste can now reduce the number of patients transferred overseas to treat eye problems.

Venidora Oliveira – The Criminal Scientific Investigation Police (PSIK) Unit registered 221 criminal cases in 2016.

The head of the department of Legal, Consultation, and Public Relations, Adino Nunes Cabral said of the 221 cases, 139 were referred by the Public Ministry and the other 22 were cases caught by the PSIK.

Darwin will be used as a logistic hub for a Queensland company which has signed a landmark onshore oil and gas deal in East Timor. The deal may also open the door for Darwin to establish an oil refinery.

Angela Macdonald-Smith – The private company of Australia's Fuller family has signed a deal to explore for oil and gas onshore Timor-Leste, with the ambitious aim of beginning oil production within four years.

Jonas Guterres – Corruption is a complex global problem that creates high obstacles to sustainable and prospective development and impairs the social, political, and institutional condition of a nation. Generally speaking corruption is understood, in Transparency International's words, as "the abuse of entrusted power for private gains."

Beijing – Chinese President Xi Jinping has sent a congratulatory message to Francisco Guterres, also known as Lu-Olo, on being elected president of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste.

Paulina Quintao – The Timor-Leste government and partners are developing a prevention plan to respond to rabies in the case of an outbreak.