Paulina Quintso – The Chief of the Department of Non-infectious Diseases, of the Ministry of Health, Dr Herculano Seixas do Santos has urged the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Environment (MCIA) to raise to $10 per packet of cigarettes.

Ina Parlina, Dili, Timor Leste – Jokowi was in Dili on Tuesday, his first trip abroad this year, and met with Timor Leste Prime Minister Rui Maria de Araujo and President Taur Matan Ruak.

Nusa Dua – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo is set to visit Timor Leste on Tuesday to discuss efforts to speed up land and maritime border resolutions, as well as to boost bilateral trade and cooperation on investment, energy and infrastructure, in his first state visit to Dili since he took office.

Jakarta – Timor-Leste President Taur Matan Ruak will bestow the country's highest medal of honor, Grande Colar de Ordem de Timor-Leste, on President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) in a ceremony at the presidential palace in Dili, Tuesday.

President Jokowi, accompanied by First Lady Iriana, is on a state visit to Dili, Ari Dwipayana of the presidential communications team noted in a statement.

Jakarta – President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) during his state visit to Timor Leste on Tuesday is expected to discuss the settlement of Indonesian assets in the country, according to a legislator.

Dili (ANTI/Pacific Media Watch) – Human rights advocates have appealed to President Joko Widodo to "end impunity and consolidate democracy" on the eve of his first visit to Timor-Leste today.

Jakarta – President Joko Widodo will visit Timor Leste on Wednesday as a part of a drive to strengthen bilateral relations and development cooperations with the country.

Joko is scheduled for separate meetings with Timor Leste President Taur Matan Ruak and Prime Minister Y.M. Maria de Araujo on Wednesday.

Tom Allard – Malcolm Turnbull's keynote speech in Washington DC last week, the first serious articulation of his foreign affairs stance since becoming prime minister, gained plenty of plaudits on both sides of the Pacific.

Djemi Amnifu and Ni Komang Erviani, Kupang/Denpasar – Indonesian authorities have called on the Timor Leste government to immediately relocate the latter's citizens from a disputed border area between the two countries following Indonesia's discovery of illegal activities in the region that was thought to be uninhabited.

Sarah Marinos – It's a weekday afternoon at Coburg Library and Kirsty Sword Gusmao and her youngest son, Daniel, 11, are browsing. Since she and her three sons settled in Melbourne's northern suburbs last year, the former First Family of East Timor has relished quiet moments like this.

Paul Toohey – East Timorese police have issued a wanted poster for a suspected Islamic State militant they believe has crossed into the country from the Indonesian province of West Timor.

The warning, issued on January 15, the day after the Jakarta attacks by ISIS militants, names the suspect as Fajar.

Ken Westmoreland – Jordan Peterson's piece "Should Timor-Leste Turn to Portugal?" has had the unintended effect of asking a question to which virtually everyone in the country, irrespective of generation or language, will give the same answer: No. (Or, in Tetum and Portuguese, lae and nso!)

Dili – A Chinese Navy task force on Saturday arrived in Dili, capital of Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, to pay a five-day official visit to the country.

"The Tale of the Timorese Coffee Farmer" – Timor-Leste's booth at the 2015 Milan Expo – showcases one of the region's main exports. This exhibition marks the country's biggest international promotion event to date, representing a significant moment for the country's ascension onto the world scene.

Venidora Oliveira – The Deputy Human Rights and Justice Ombudsman (PDHJ) Jesuina Gomes said in 2015 cases amounting to good governance offences registered higher than other types of violations.

She said that in 2015 PDHJ registered 0 cases of good governance violations, even though this was lover that the cases registered in 2014 amounting to 153 cases.

Kupang – The head of the Border Agency of East Nusa Tenggara Province, Paul Manehat, said the settlement boundary issue between Indonesia and Timor Leste can be resolved by involving traditional leaders as part of a socio-cultural approach.

In 1975, Indonesian forces invaded Timor-Leste, heralding an occupation that lasted 24 years and claimed the lives of up to a third of the population. Forty years later, another clash is underway: an internal "history war" over the official narrative of the country's turbulent past.

Venidora Oliveira – Member of the National Parliament MP Josefa Alvares Soares urged the President of the National Parliament to schedule the debate of a drug law for Timor-Leste to prevent its future negative impacts on the youth in particular.

Venidora Oliveira – The Vice Minister of Finance Helder Lopes said based on the preliminary results of the Population and Household Census 2015, the Timorese population has grown from 1.066.409 in 2010 to 1.167.242 five years on in 2015.

The Vice Minister added the population growth has been consistent and can be disaggregated by gender with 588.561 males and 578.681 females.

Jakarta – State lender Bank Rakyat Indonesia plans to re-open its branch office at Timor Leste at the first half of next year, the lender's chief said on Sunday.

John Martinkus – As Indonesian troops fired on a compound of refugees in Dili, John Howard directed the AFP to withdraw. Had they followed orders, they would have left 3000 people to certain death.

Peter Job – In early October the Timor-Leste Prime Minister Rui Maria de Araujo announced that after two years of inconclusive talks his nation was initiating arbitration with Australia on jurisdiction concerning seabed resources in the Timor Sea, which he described as, "an issue of sovereignty and an issue of justice".

The Moreland Council in Melbourne's inner north is the latest Council to call on the Australian Government to immediately enter negotiations with East Timor to establish permanent maritime boundaries in accordance with international law.

Ivo Mateus Goncalves – Forty years has come and gone since East Timor was invaded by Indonesia's military.

On 7 December 1975 Jakarta commenced an occupation of the tiny island that would last 24 years, finally ending in 1999.

Adam Harvey – The 40th anniversary of Indonesia's invasion of East Timor was marked yesterday with a small commemoration at the headquarters of the nation's Kopassus special forces.

The special forces soldiers saw the worst of the fighting in the months following the landings in Dili on December 7, 1975.

East Timor says it's acting on an audit of its agriculture ministry that found irregularities in millions of dollars worth of contracts intended to help East Timor's farmers.

Shane Rosenthal – The impending launch of the Asean Economic Community was marked last month at a summit in Kuala Lumpur. It is a time to showcase Asean's commitment to a region made prosperous through economic cooperation and integration.

Venidora Oliveira – The Director Director for Corporative Services of the Ministry of Education (ME) Antoninho Pires said his ministry continues to lack school inspectors.

He added the ministry currently only has 64 school inspectors for hundreds of schools across the country and because of this some schools have not yet been assessed.

Paulina Quintao – The National Director for Water and Sanitation Services (NDWS) Gustavo da Cruz said currently there some 2000 households connected to the public water grid in the capital Dili are at least half are paying for 24 hour access to clean water.

Paulina Quintao – The Executive Secretary of the National Commission For Combating HIV/AIDS in Timor-Leste (KNKS-TL) Daniel Marcal said his commission is undertaking consultations and meetings about the advantages and disadvantages of localising sex work.

He said that a decision about the issue has not been made and that everyone needs to think about this issue.

Forty years ago on this day, East Timor first declared its independence. Today – having endured a brutal military occupation to reclaim its Independence in 2002 – it's still striving to achieve full sovereignty.

Emma Alberici speaks with Nick Xenophon about his calls for a Royal Commission following Lateline's exclusive report on the spying scandal between Australia and East Timor.

Transcript

Steve Cannane, Sashka Koloff and Brigid Andersen – Independent senator Nick Xenophon has called for a royal commission into the spying scandal in which Australian intelligence officers bugged East Timor's cabinet office.

Paul Farrell – The independent senator Nick Xenophon has called for a royal commission into Australia allegedly bugging Timor-Leste's cabinet room during trade negotiations.

Sue Lannin – A recently re-discovered document given to the Australian Embassy in Jakarta suggests Australia may have been aware of Indonesian plans to execute East Timorese independence leaders after the 1975 invasion.

To date, no one – in politics or the bureaucracy – has been held accountable for bugging the East Timor cabinet room. Well, this is embarrassing.

Australia's foreign affairs department is expected to make a decision next week on whether to reissue a passport to a key witness in spy allegations concerning oil and gas treaty negotiations with East Timor.

Steve Cannane, Sashka Koloff and Brigid Andersen – One of Australia's most senior lawyers believes there is a criminal case to answer over an Australian spying operation in East Timor and that senior intelligence officers, even a former cabinet minister, could face prosecution.

Tony Jones speaks with Peter Galbraith, who was part of the UN transitional administration in East Timor in 2000 and 2001 and a cabinet member in the fledgling nation's first transitional government. He was also the lead negotiator for East Timor during the talks with Australia, aimed at producing a new oil and gas agreement to replace the Timor Gap treaty.

Transcript

Steve Cannane, Sashka Koloff and Brigid Andersen – East Timor's most senior leaders have accused Australia of committing a crime and acting immorally after a spying scandal that rocked the relationship between the two countries.

Timor Leste's government will have to think long and hard about diversifying its economy, Prime Minister John Key says.

New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) information shows the country is in danger of running out of money due to the decline of its oil industry and government overspending. Similar warnings have come from Timor-based NGO La'o Hamutuk.

Timor Leste is running out of money due to the decline of its oil industry and government overspending.

The country, formerly known as East Timor, was brought into independence by a huge New Zealand and Australian effort, that cost five New Zealand lives and hundreds of millions of dollars. But the country risks economic collapse, a generation after it was set up.

Shane Rosenthal, Dili – The impending launch of the ASEAN Economic Community is being marked this week at a summit in Kuala Lumpur. It should also be the time for ASEAN to consider opening the door to a new member.

Rodney Joyce, Singapore – East Timor is seeking Australian public support to try to persuade Canberra to settle a longstanding maritime border dispute over the oil and gas rich waters that lie between the two countries, a senior minister told Reuters.

Sashka Koloff, staff – When Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, they effectively sealed off the country to the outside world. No outsider made the perilous journey inside, propagating Indonesia's claim that East Timor's resistance had been crushed.

Paulina Quintao – The President of Women's Association for Manatuto Municipality (AFM) Clara de Carvalho Ximenes said its members are working with municipal based child protection officials to deliver an awareness raising campaign about children' rights in the community.

Venidora Oliveira – The Coordinator of Rede ba Rai (Network for Land) organization Roberto Aleixo da Cruz said land disputes continue to be a source of social conflict because a land law has not yet been passed.

Coordinator da Cruz alleges the government, in the name of development, has been taking land and property without a legal basis for it.

Paulina Quintao – National Member of Parliament MP Francisco da Costa said the public's money is going to waste because the government does not consider the monitoring results provided by MPs following municipal monitoring visits.

Venidora Oliveira – The government of Timor-Leste through the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communication (MPWTC) has made the commitment to pay companies who completed urgent projects dating back to 2013.

Minister of MPWTC Gastao de Sousa said the National Development Agency (ADN) has submitted survey reports to the ministry and that payments are pending.

Venidora Oliveira – The Security Sector Project Manager of the United Nation Development Program (UNDP) Naldo Rei said the National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL) has made significant progress in the undertaking of their duties since 2013.