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.

Paulina Quintao – The Deputy Program Manager of Marie Stope's International Timor-Leste (MSITL) Julio da Silva said the NGO has established mobile clinic units across the municipalities of Timor-Leste to provide rural families with the Family Planning (FP) services.

Paulina Quintao – The Deputy Program Manager of Marie Stopes International Timor-Leste (MSITL), Juliao da Silva, said the MSITL team has been raising awareness to students in basic and secondary schools across Dili about the importance of reproductive and sexual health.

Paulina Quintao – The Director of the Legal Assistance for Women and Children (ALFeLa) Program Merita Correia said they have prepared five lawyers to provide assistance to victims of gender based violence in the courts.

Sadachika Watanabe, Jakarta – East Timor is looking to upgrade its natural-resource and transportation infrastructure, creating new business opportunities for overseas construction companies and plant builders.

China's State Councilor and Defense Minister Chang Wanquan held talks with visiting Minister of Defense of Timor-Leste Cirilo Cristovao in Beijing on Monday.

Balibo, Timor-Leste – The people of Balibo in Timor-Leste marked Friday's 40th anniversary of the killing of Australian-based journalists by invading Indonesian soldiers with a quiet gathering outside the house where television reporter Greg Shackleton painted the Australian flag.

Molly Schmidt – A son of one of the five Australian-based journalists killed in Balibo, East Timor, has asked the Australian Federal Police to re-investigate the case – on the day 40th anniversary commemorations were held to mark their deaths.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) today, commemorate the 40th anniversary of the killing of the Balibo Five in East Timor, with the establishment of a scholarship to develop journalism skills in East Timor.

Angelo Risso – Barely a week goes by without Tony Maniaty thinking about Balibo.

Maniaty, an up-and-coming ABC journalist, travelled with a film crew to the East Timorese border town in October 1975, just as the Portuguese colony was about to be overrun by Indonesia.

Nick Xenophon and Clinton Fernandes – Forty years ago on Friday, five young men met their deaths in a small corner of a foreign field.

"The truth is never too young to be told, nor too old." So said Coroner Dorelle Pinch as she summed up the 2007 inquest into the deaths of the Balibo Five in East Timor.

The truth is now 40 years old, and the men's families are still chasing it.

A. Ibrahim Almuttaqi, Jakarta – Four years on since Timor Leste formally applied to become a member-state of ASEAN, the dream of uniting all Southeast Asian nation-states under the ASEAN umbrella has yet to materialize.

Havana – Cuba and Timor-Leste strengthened cooperation mainly in areas such as health, education and agriculture in the context of the official visit here of the Prime Minister of this Asian nation, Rui Maria de Araujo.

Havana, Cuba – Having extended the Medical Program of the Family throughout East Timor by November 2016 is the aspiration of Rui Maria de Araujo, its Prime Minister, who takes the Cuban health system as a model for this effort.

Havana – Cuban parliament President Esteban Lazo welcomed today Timor Leste Prime Minister Rui Maria de Araujo, in a meeting that ratified the good state of bilateral relations between the nations.

Rui Maria de Araujo – Most people will not have even heard of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, let alone be able to point out where it is on the world map.

Timor-Leste, the nation whose government I lead, is a half-island nation-state in Southeast Asia. Our closest neighbors are Indonesia to our north and west, and Australia, to the south, across the Timor Sea.

Paulina Quintao – The Executive Director of the Legal Assistance for Women and Children (ALFeLa) Merita Correia said in 2014, 46% of cases it received pertained to cases of 16 year old girls who were sexually assaulted by a close relative and other people.

Venidora Oliveira – The Deputy Director of Mahein Foundation (FM), a local NGO that monitors the security and defence sector in Timor-Leste, Joao Almeida Fernandes urges the Community Police (POLKOM) Unit of the National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL) to establish a legal framework that will serve as a guide for the Community Police Council (CPC) for operations only in the rural communities.

Venidora Oliveira – The II General Command of the National Police Timor-Leste (PNTL) Commissioner Faustina da Costa said the death of Paulino Gama best known for this resistance name Mauk Moruk (MM), the nation is again safe.

Havana – Timor-Leste's Prime Minister, Rui Maria de Araujo, will pay tribute today to Cuba"s National Hero, Jose Marti, as part of his official visit's agenda to the Caribbean island. Maria de Araujo will later hold talks with President, Raul Castro.

Havana – The Prime Minister of East Timor, Rui Maria De Araujo, is paying an official visit to Cuba on Friday, during which he will hold talks with President Raul Castro and will carry out other activities on his agenda.

A medical doctor, he has been health minister and Assistant Prime Minister for Social Affairs in his country. He took office as Prime Minister on February 1015.

Matthew Pennington – Thirteen years after winning independence from Indonesia, East Timor has to wage another struggle for justice with a more powerful neighbor – but this time in the courts, the nation's prime minister says.

Alex Blucher – The coffee country of Timor Leste is a world away from the birthplace of permaculture in northern Tasmania but it's taking off there in a big way.

The Timor-based NGO Permatil is working with the Timorese Government to train coffee bean farmers in permaculture, a self-sufficient and sustainable farming system.

Sydney – The Australian government will "vigorously defend" arbitration proceedings initiated by Timor-Leste in relation to their treaty, which determines jurisdiction over oil and gas resources in the Timor Sea.

The Australian and East Timor governments are embroiled in an oil and gas controversy involving the pipeline to Darwin from the Bayu Undan gas field.

Canberra, Australia – East Timor has abandoned talks on a maritime boundary with Australia and renewed a legal challenge to gain a larger share of potentially lucrative undersea oil-and-gas fields.

Without war correspondents to tell the truth, all we'd be told are official lies, says Shirley Shackleton, widow of reporter Greg Shackleton who was murdered while reporting from East Timor.

So for her, the dedication of a new memorial to Australia's war correspondents in the grounds of the Australian War Memorial was a deeply moving occasion.

Chip Henriss – Sixteen years ago on September 20, I was with the Australian Army's 3rd Brigade, the Townsville-based ready Deployment Force. We were some of the first soldiers to land in Dili, East Timor as part of the INTERFET mission.

We were sent in to restore peace in the wake of the Indonesian-led violence that engulfed the country following the historic ballot for independence.

Dylan Amirio, Dili, Timor Leste – Low-cost carrier Citilink Indonesia has opened a new route connecting Denpasar in Bali to Dili in Timor Leste in cooperation with Air Timor as part of efforts to boost visitors to the neighboring country.

The scheduled charter flight started operations on Monday. The company will fly the route three times a week using Boeing 737-500 jets.

Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara – The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will meet the government of East Timor in Dili to discuss issues related to several border points located between the two countries.

"The meeting will be held in Dili on September 28," Head of the Border Management Office of Kupang district Kain Maus revealed here on Tuesday.

Jessica Longbottom – It is almost 40 years since a group of Australian journalists known as the Balibo Five were gunned down by Indonesian forces in East Timor on October 16, 1975.

There will be ceremonies across Australia and East Timor marking their deaths, but the brother of killed sound recordist Tony Stewart wanted to do something more.

Paulina Quintao – Dili resident Rosaria Martins da Cruz urges the national parliament to create a consumer protection law to regulate the import of foods into the country.

Paulina Quintao – The National Director of Autonomous Service for Medicines and Medical Equipment (SAMES), Odete Maria Belo said it has run out of some medicines because it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Health to inform SAMES when it is running out of medicines and to tender for new stock given that SAMES is only responsible for disbursing medicines.

In East Timor's national hospital in Dili, an Australian doctor checks the vital signs of an impossibly tiny baby girl, six months old, born prematurely and struggling to breathe through an acute respiratory infection.

Jakarta – Former Timor Leste president Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao has won the Excellence in Public Health Award from the World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia Region for his breakthrough work in improving the health and well-being of his people.

Paulina Quintao – The President of the Executive Council of the Disability Association Timor Leste (DATL) Joaquim Freitas dos Santos urges the independent establishment of the National Council for Disability in the country to advocate for the rights and needs of Timorese with disability.

Beijing – Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday met with East Timor counterpart Taur Matan Ruak, who is in Beijing for activities marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

China and East Timor are friendly partners, and their relations have been strong since the establishment of diplomatic ties 13 years ago, Xi said.

Margareth Aritonang – The relationship between Indonesia and Timor Leste has improved steadily in the last few years. Timor Leste's Prime Minister Rui Maria De Araujo, who spent nine years as a student at different universities in Indonesia, discussed the relationship during an interview with The Jakarta Post's Margareth Aritonang recently. Below is an excerpt of the interview:

Kristio Wahyono, Yogyakarta – Timor Leste on Aug. 30 celebrates the anniversary of a historic referendum that resulted in a landslide vote for separation from Indonesia 16 years ago.

Jakarta – Indonesia and Timor Leste have committed to cooperate on forestry, agriculture, maritime and fisheries issues.

Timor Leste Coordinating Economic cum Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Estanislau Aleixo da Silva met with Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar to talk about the two nations' future cooperation, especially in forestry.

Wellington – The New Zealand government is investing 14.5 million NZ dollars (9.43 million US dollars) to help develop Timor-Leste's coffee and cocoa industry, Foreign Minister Murray McCully said Wednesday.

"Coffee is Timor-Leste's largest export after oil and gas, but productivity issues mean the sector performs significantly below its potential," McCully said in a statement.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government is aiming to resolve any remaining territorial disputes with Timor Leste by the end of this year, President Joko Widodo said after a bilateral meeting with his counterpart on Wednesday.

Jakarta – East Timor will tap into its $16.6 billion oil fund to build the necessary infrastructure to attract non-energy investment, the prime minister said on Wednesday, as disputes over undeveloped gas fields look to remain unresolved for years.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo met visiting Timor Leste Prime Minister Rui Maria De Araujo at the State Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday, discussing among other things land and sea borders between the two countries, tribunnews.com reported.

Mong Palatino – Timor-Leste's Ministry of Finance issued a press statement claiming that the small Southeast Asian nation is already among the richest countries in the world.

The widow of Australian journalist Greg Shackleton says it's a disgrace that a retired general implicated in the murder of the Balibo Five has been appointed chief of Indonesia's intelligence agencies.

Rome – Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin was given a joyful welcome upon his arrival to East Timor. The Italian prelate's visit coincides with the 500th anniversary of the evangelization of East Timor.

Singapore – Singapore and Timor Leste reaffirmed warm relations on Friday (Aug 14), as Mentoring Minister Xanana Gusmao arrived in the Republic for a study visit.

Singapore – Mentoring Minister of Timor Leste Xanana Gusmao met with Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs and Law K Shanmugam on Friday afternoon.

Mr Gusmao, who is also Minister of Planning and Strategic Investment, is leading a high-level Timor Leste delegation on a study visit to Singapore.