Paulina Quintao – Teachers are continuing to use violence to discipline students at schools, even though there is a zero-tolerance policy in place.National MP Anastasia Amaral said she disagreed with teachers using violence against students during the learning process because this type of attitude only frightened the students.

Venidora Oliveira – There are calls for the government to provide more training to Suburban Police (OPS) units to improve their professionalism at a grassroots level.

National MP Duarte Nunes said officers worked together directly with the communities they served and therefore needed to learn about ways they could establish a good relationship.

Venidora Oliveira – First Lady Isabel Ferreira said that an independent justice system in Timor-Leste would contribute to the country's peace and stability and therefore the state should guarantee it.

She said that justice and peace cannot be separated because in order to strengthen the country's stability a strong justice system free of political interference was needed.

Paulina Quintao – Four containers full of medicines at the Medicine and Medical Equipment Autonomous Service (SAMES) warehouse were alleged to be expired and the government will have to destroy them soon.

Paulina Quintao – The National Parliament (NP) has created a resolution to compel relevant line ministries to implement the integrated national program for combating malnutrition in the country.

Paulina Quintao – Washing hands before eating is very important for the prevention of infectious and other diseases but most Timorese are still used to it.

The General Director of the National Hospital Guido Valadares, Dr Jose Antonio said the act of washing hands is a basic behaviour that children should be taught by parents but this does not yet take place.

Dili – Today, thirteen influential leaders, including from government, institutions, and civil society, signed a Charter declaring their commitment to preventing violence against women and children in Timor-Leste.

Paulina Quintao – Timor-Leste President Taur Matan Ruak used commemorations for the 25th anniversary of the Santa Cruz massacre to call on young people to study and work hard towards a better future and continue the struggle to improve people's well-being because it was the heroes' dream.

Paulina Quintao – Three to five people out of 40 people who donated blood each day are found to be Hepatitis B positive, based on new data made available from the National Blood Bank (BNS) of Timor-Leste.

BNS Unit Head, Arsenio Jose said the blood transfusion service is important but some caution needs to be exercised to ensure blood donations are screened for infectious diseases.

Paulina Quintao – The original tais (traditional cloth) of the Timor-Leste is in grave danger of becoming extinct due to the government's inaction to develop policy to promote and protect traditional tais weaving.

The Executive Director of Alola foundation, Alzira Reis said some of the tais currently being sold in Dili are imitations and some even imported by foreign entrepreneurs.

Last week, Timor-Leste's government issued a press release Timor-Leste's economic outlook positive as reforms begin to show results.

Paulina Quintao – National MP Osorio Florindo is disappointed with the attitude of some health officials who provide substandard health services and threaten the patients at the Bazartete Health center, Liquisa municipality.

Damon Evans – Without new sources of income East Timor could be bankrupt as early as 2027, new research from Dili-based thinktank La'o Hamutuk shows.

While there are indications of Beijing's growing reach, its role needs to be kept in perspective.

Timor-Leste looks forward to successful elections next year and stand ready to strengthen its relationships as a member of ASEAN.

Paulina Quintao – National MP Leonel Marcal called on the Ministry of Health to ban private pharmacies from selling formalin to the community without a medical prescription.

He said this measure should be adopted because the misuse of formalin may be having a negative impact on people's health.

Paulina Quintao – The November 12 Committee has worked with the government to identify the remains of 12 people killed in the Santa Cruz massacre 25 years ago.

The remains have now been returned to the families for burial according to Timorese tradition.

Committee President Gregorio Saldanha said many of those who died in the Santa Cruz massacre were still unaccounted for.

Paulina Quintao – National MP's praise the better quality of private health services, facilities and equipment in comparison with pubic health services available to the community in Timor-Leste.

National MP Virgilio da Costa Hornai said in private clinics patients are seen quickly and the quality of equipment is superior to that of public clinics.

Paulina Quintao – The school feeding menu has been criticized for being poor quality and lacking nutritious food.

National MP Manuel Castro said MPS had often questioned the school feeding program, but the issues had yet to be resolved.

Paulina Quintao – Timor-Leste has yet to introduce legislation to standardize food safety regulations for imports to the country.

World Food Programme (WFP) Country representative Stephen Kearney said a standardized system was important to guarantee the safety and quality of food imports to the country.

Concerned Brisbane Catholics have vowed to maintain pressure on the Australian government to negotiate a fair maritime boundary with our smallest neighbour, East Timor.

Australians favour international law to determine Timor maritime boundary between Timor-Leste and Australia, even if that delivers Timor-Leste a substantial share of the oil and gas in the Timor Sea.

The poll of 10,271 residents across Australia showed 56.5% support for establishing a maritime boundary in accordance with current international law, with only 17% opposed to the change.

David Webster – Digging into the archival records isn't purely academic. It can tell us why governments make the decisions they did – and suggest ways to influence future government decisions.

More than half those surveyed in a new poll favour setting Australia's maritime boundary with East Timor to give the new nation a greater share of oil and gas reserves.

The study conducted by ReachTEL for the left-leaning Australia Institute found 56.5 per cent of 10,271 respondents backed setting the boundary according to international law.

Saturday marks the 25th anniversary of the Santa Cruz massacre on November 12, 1991. Journalists Allan Nairn and Amy Goodman were there when Indonesian troops opened fire on a peaceful memorial procession at the Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili. The soldiers were armed with U.S. M16s and killed more than 270 East Timorese.

On the 25th anniversary of the Santa Cruz massacre, the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) urges the international community to commit to ending impunity for the human rights crimes committed during the occupation of Timor-Leste.

Venidora Oliveira – Poverty rates in Timor-Leste have declined from 47.2% in 2007 to 30.3% in 2014, according to government data.

Deputy Minister of Finance Helder Lopes said the data was based on research conducted by the Ministry of Finance between April 2014 and April 2016, and involved 5916 households across the country.

Paulina Quintao – There are calls for the Health Ministry to change the medication procurement system and introduce a specific process to address the lack of medication stocks at health facilities.

National MP Virgilio da Costa Hornai said health facilities continued to run out of medicine of every year as the procurement system was too slow, an issue that has still not been resolved.

Economic activity in East Timor is expanding at a "satisfactory" pace that is expected to continue in 2017, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a statement released on Monday in Washington.

Paulina Quintao – Sixteen community groups have attended a week-long training course at Together We Help (HIAM) Health about the process of making quality organic fertilizer.

Paulina Quintao – A newly launched integrated program is aiming to reduce malnutrition rates in the country, particularly in Aileu municipality.

Sunrise Joint Venture (SJV) Company established the program in partnership with local organizations Together We Help (HIAM) Health, the Alola Foundation, Good Enterprise and the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA TL).

Venidora Oliveira – The government has been urged to establish regulations for traditional ceremonies to reduce the costs involved in funerals, weddings and engagement parties in Timor-Leste.

Venidora Oliveira – MPs have approved more than $17 million for the National Parliament's 2017 budget at a plenary session.

National MP Arao Noe said it would be allocated towards planned priority programs next year such as the completion of legislation that is still pending and other parliamentary reforms, including administrative functions.

Sonny Inbaraj Krishnan – This Saturday marks the 25th anniversary of the Dili massacre, when 270 East Timorese – including Malaysian-New Zealander Kamal Bamadhaj – were killed when Indonesian troops opened fire on a peaceful demonstration at the Santa Cruz cemetery in East Timor's capital Dili on November 12, 1991.

Panca Nugraha, Mataram – Thousands of families residing in Timor Leste before its independence have returned to Indonesia's West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) after passing citizen verification and validation procedures.

Venidora Oliveira – The Judicial Reform Commission has been criticized for working too slowly and failing to make any significant progress.

The commission was established last year by Prime Minister Rui Maria de Araujo to assess the justice sector and identify any problems and weaknesses in the system.

Paulina Quintao – The Ministry of Health in collaboration with international agencies is developing guidelines for health personnel to help provide better assistance to victims of gender-based violence in Timor-Leste.

Tony Moore – East Timor's former prime minister and president Dr Jose Ramos-Horta has appealed to Australia's sense of a "fair go", asking for a sea boundary to be changed to share $40 billion in oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea.

Karen J. Coates – Timor-Leste will hold elections on Oct. 29 to determine the country's next local leaders. And for the first time since this tiny Southeast Asian nation gained independence in 2002, women occupy prominent spots on village ballots.

Paulina Quintao – A total of 319 women have registered to run for suku (village) chief in the upcoming suku elections.

General Director of the Secretariat for Technical and Electoral Administration (STAE) Acilino Branco said 2071 candidates from 442 sukus across the country had registered to run in the elections, including 1752 men and 319 women.

Steven Schubert – Donald Trump would provoke instability and world disorder if he becomes the US president, according to Nobel Peace Prize winner and former president of Timor-Leste, Jose Ramos-Horta.

Dr Ramos-Horta told the ABC he was in the process of asking other Nobel Peace Prize laureates to sign an open letter urging Americans to vote against Mr Trump.

Lala Soares – With Hillary Clinton in the race to be the first female president of the United States and British Prime Minister Theresa May and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel leading some of the biggest economies in the world, gender and political leadership has never been such a hot topic.

Lita Aruperes, Manado, North Sulawesi – The North Sulawesi Police have uncovered an alleged charging of illegal fees in the disbursement of compensation funds to former residents of East Timor (now Timor Leste).

Paulina Quintao – The National Parliament (NP) has begun discussions on proposed law no. 26/III/III to combat human trafficking in the country. Its objective is to respond to cases of human trafficking, which occur in the country.

Paulina Quintao – The government through the Secretariat of State for Youth and Sport (SSYS) has allocated $120,499.25 to the November 12 organizing committee for National Youth Day, held to commemorate the Santa Cruz massacre of 1991.

Secretary of State Leovigildo da Costa Hornai said this year's event would differ from previous years as there would be a number of sports activities.

Isabel Ermelita – The Timor-Leste Health Ministry is continuing to promote the use of condoms to at-risk groups to prevent the transmission of HIV, but still recommends that the wider community practice self-control in their sexual relations.

Journalists around the world are trying to get the prime minister of Timor-Leste (East Timor) to abandon a criminal complaint against two Timor-Post reporters who say he was involved in government corruption.

Venidora Oliveira – Minister of Defense Cirilio Cristovao said execution of the general state budget for the Defense Ministry reached 67% by mid-year.

He said $26,217,240 had been allocated to the ministry, which mostly went towards treatment for veterans and boat maintenance.

Paulina Quintao – Three-hundred women candidates in 12 municipalities, including Oecusse, have been confirmed for the upcoming suku (village) elections later this month.

Spokesperson for the I am 100% Ready commission Yasinta Lujina said women's organizations would continue to provide training and accompany women during the campaign process and up until the election.

Paulina Quintao – Although the Education Ministry has formally included sexual health as a subject in the national curriculum, this has not yet been implemented as teachers still felt uncomfortable delivering the subject.