Clinton Fernandes – Australia has been flouting international law since 2002, taking billions of dollars in oil revenue that should rightfully belong to East Timor. No wonder we're being so cagey about the East Timor spying allegations.

Michael Safi – The attorney general, George Brandis, has denied referring lawyer Bernard Collaery and a former intelligence officer to the Australian federal police after they revealed that Australia spied on Timor-Leste during negotiations over a lucrative oil and gas pipeline.

John M. Miller – Fifteen years ago, on August 30, 1999, thousands of East Timorese voters lined up to exercise their long-denied right to self-determination, a process that had been interrupted by Indonesia's US-backed invasion and occupation in 1975.

Tom Allard – The Australian government has asked the federal police to investigate if lawyer Bernard Collaery and a former spy can be charged with disclosing classified information after revelations Australia spied on East Timor during sensitive oil and gas treaty talks.

Indonesia's state owned energy firm Pertamina will establish a joint venture company with Timor Leste's state company to develop oil and gas sector in the nation, according to a Pertamina official.

Nadya Natahadibrata, Jakarta – National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia is to open a new route from Denpasar, Bali, to Dili in Timor Leste, in October, in an attempt to tap into the growing number of travelers from the country's former province.

Sydney (International Federation of Journalists/Pacific Media Watch) – The Sydney-based Asia-Pacific office of the International Federation of Journalists has launched a global petition protesting against a controversial 'press law' passed earlier this year by Parliament, partially rejected by the Appeal Court as "unconstitutional" and awaiting presidential approval.

Tomorrow will mark the 15th anniversary of East Timor's historic vote for independence, but Timor's ongoing struggle to become a true sovereign nation – complete with sea boundaries – continues.

Lasse Underbjerg – Media freedom campaigners, civil rights activists and journalists in Timor-Leste are gearing up for a renewed struggle to try to block a controversial law that has been branded by opponents as draconian.

Paulina Quintao – Member of Parliament (MP) Ilda Maria da Conceicao has called on the Ministry of Health to explain why a program which provides corn flour to expectant mothers has been on hold for two months.

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is visiting Timor Leste to discuss bilateral relations between the two countries from Aug. 25 to Aug. 27.

Greg Ansley – A major health crisis is emerging in East Timor as the impoverished nation's few doctors, hospitals and clinics are overwhelmed by endemic diseases, malnutrition, and serious illnesses they have no hope of treating.

Paulina Quintao – The Timorese government, through the State Secretariat for Social Communication (SEKOMS) will establish a national news agency in 2015 to contribute to the nation's development.

Paulina Quintao – More mothers chose to breastfeed their babies in 2013 than in 2010, Ministry of Health data shows.

Alola Foundation executive director Alzira Reis said the research showed significant progress as a result of Alola's efforts to promote breastfeeding in the districts.

Ashlee Betteridge – Timor-Leste tends to largely stay out of the international spotlight these days, much to the relief of those who have seen it in the headlines for the wrong reasons in the past.

Yet Timor's proposed media law has turned into news itself, raising international ire among NGOs, activists and media organisations.

Ted McDonnell – Timor-Leste's controversial media law has been declared unconstitutional by the country's Court of Appeal.

The fledgling nation's President Taur Matan Ruak refused to promulgate the restrictive laws last month and sent the media bill to the Court of Appeal questioning whether it was unconstitutional.

Shannon Gillies, Dili – After decades of Indonesian occupation, East Timor is touted as a success story for the United Nations.

Sophie McNeill – Doctors and healthcare workers in East Timor are battling to save people from diseases that most Australians may think have been consigned to history.

A worsening health crisis in East Timor is causing hundreds of preventable deaths, including those of many children.

Sophie McNeill – Doctors say a worsening health crisis in East Timor is causing hundreds of preventable deaths, including those of many children.

Their call for assistance coincides with the Federal Government's decision to cut the aid budget to East Timor by $15 million this financial year.

Martinha Gusmao – The Schools Meals Program has not run for four months as the budget for the program has not been transferred.

President of Commission F (education, health, culture, veterans' affairs and gender equality) Deputy Virgilio da Costa Hornai said that the program had not run since March.

Phelim Kine – Australia's stake in East Timor's media freedom is rooted in that country's hillside town of Balibo.

Venidora Oliveira – Member of Parliament Eladio Faculto has expressed concern over the government's failure to stop the falsification of veterans' documents.

Deputy Faculto said the government had failed to find a solution, despite the fact the problem had been recurrent over many years. The government has placed the blame for the problem with field staff who record data.

Paulina Quintao – Member of Parliament Deputy Eladio Faculto has recommended the government focus its attention on children's issues, particularly on the problem of child labor, a practice which is thriving in Dili.

paulina Quintao – The Secretary of State for the Promotion of Equality (SEPI) has allocated $10.000 across all districts to prepare female candidates for the upcoming municipal chamber elections.

Shannon Gillies – Media will be silenced and the people will lose their voice if a controversial new Media Law is ratified in one of the Asia Pacific's newest countries.

Timor Leste's Parliament on May 6 passed a law that could see local journalists forced to be licensed and foreign reporters blocked at the border.

Paulina Quintao – The Secretary-General for the National Commission for Combating HIV/AIDS in Timor-Leste (CNCS-TL) Daniel Marcal has recommended to the government the inclusion of sexual health as a subject in the national educational curriculum. He said this could prevent the people of Timor-Leste from contracting HIV/AIDS.

Paulina Quintao – Poor family education is contributing to high rates of infanticide in Timor-Leste, and in particular in Dili, according to Secretary of State for the Promotion of Equality (SEPI) Idelta Maria Rodrigues.

Rodrigues said families have a responsibility to educate and supervise their daughters to give them good prospects in life.

Auckland – Global criticism of Timor-Leste's draconian new media law is growing. Last week, both Time magazine and The Guardian carried stories critical of the new media law, and Human Rights Watch said East Timor's president should refuse to sign the Media Act into law.

Dili – Timor-Leste's current stability could be undermined by a sharp decline in oil revenues and leadership challenges if the country's first president and current prime minister Xanana Gusmao steps down later this year as announced.

Dili – Timor-Leste's current stability could be undermined by a sharp decline in oil revenues and leadership challenges if the country's first president and current prime minister Xanana Gusmao steps down later this year as announced.

Charlie Campbell – A former Portuguese colony, East Timor, or Timor-Leste, only won independence from neighboring Indonesia in 2002 following a bloody civil war. Since then, despite being desperately poor, it has enjoyed a remarkably open society.

"The media played a crucial role in East Timor's long struggle for independence. The president should tell parliament that a media law that stifles free expression won't get his signature." – Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director

Gabriela Gonzalez-Forward – Despite the discrimination and stigma they face every day, Timor-Leste's transgender, gay and bisexual community are learning to deal with abuse in constructive ways.

Yara Murray-Atfield – Victims of gender-based violence are more aware of their rights, but work is still being done to ensure women feel more protected by domestic violence laws.

The Law Against Domestic Violence (LADV) was passed in July 2010, and was the first law to make gender-based violence a public crime.

Yara Murray-Atfield – Organisations are working to raise awareness about human trafficking, as reports find Timor-Leste is a source and destination country for people who have been sold or tricked into slavery.

The American State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report 2014 found Timorese women are sold into prostitution while men are forced into hard unpaid labor.

Index: ASA 57/001/2014

Joint statement by Amnesty International and ANTI (The Timor-Leste National Alliance for an International Tribunal).

Natalie Craig – East Timor has never made a film, never told its story or seen the faces of its people on the silver screen – until this year. Beatriz's War, billed as the young nation's "first feature film", opens in Melbourne on 10 July after a blockbuster season at home.

Dili – Repeated bouts of violence in Timor Leste's recent past and a persistent sense of injustice have had a lasting mental health impact, new research shows. Researchers say recovery may require more than therapeutic interventions.

Venidora Oliveira – NGO Belun's Early Attention and Response Program identified 17 members of the national police force PNTL and of the national defence forces F-FDTL involved in crimes.

The Director of the NGO Luis Ximenes said the 17 elements were identified from January to April 2014 and includes 10 members of the PNTL and 7 from the F-FDTL.

Paulina Quintao – From January until April 2014, the Secretariat of State for Vocational Training Policy and Employment (SEPFOPE) through the National Directorate for Employment Relations (DNRT) registered 40 cases involving labour disputes between workers and employers.

Paulina Quintao – The General Prosecutor for the Republic of Timor-Leste (PGR), Jose Ximenes said that the Public Ministry submitted a proposal for amendment of the Penal Code to the Ministry of Justice to add an article criminalizing incest.

Jose Belo – The tale of East Timor's controversial proposed media law is a story of insiders versus outsiders, of the rich versus the poor. Those inside the elite classes are seeking to implement a restrictive new media law so as to limit and control the information available to Timorese outside the elite group, as well as all those outside of East Timor.

Rick Wilkinson, Melbourne – The Democratic Republic of Timor Leste (East Timor) is planning its first bid round for onshore acreage toward the end of this year.

The country's Minister for Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Alfredo Pires, said recently that his department is considering adding an onshore acreage release to the proposed next round of offshore permit bidding.

Shannon Gillies, Dili – Confusion reigns over a controversial media law adopted by Parliament but yet to be promulgated in the fledgling Asia-Pacific democracy of Timor-Leste.

Kristio Wahyono, Yogyakarta – When it was a non-self governing territory under the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), Timor Leste was the first neighbor former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid visited in February 2000.

Kuala Lumpur – Global Komited Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Weststar Group of Companies, has signed a RM2.2 million contract for the supply of 10 initial Weststar General Service (GS) cargo military vehicles with the Defence Forces of Timor Leste.

The new media law in Timor-Leste should be vetoed by the country's President, agrees the Pacific Freedom Forum.

PFF is backing the veto call from La'o Hamutuk, the Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis, an independent development watchdog, joined by the Pacific Media Centre, other NGOs and journalists.

Peter Taylor Presenter, Burning Desire – East Timor has one of the highest smoking rates in the world, with nearly two-thirds of its men hooked on the habit. Why is one of South East Asia's poorest nations so addicted to tobacco?

Anna Majavu – La'o Hamutuk, an independent development watchdog, has called on Timor-Leste President Taur Matan Ruak to veto a controversial new media law that has just been passed by Parliament.

The draconian law has faced widespread criticism by Timorese journalists, media freedom groups, opposition MPs and civil society advocates.

Dili – New data indicate that stunting among under-five children is being reduced in Timor-Leste, but experts warn much greater investment is needed in areas such as micronutrient supplementation, salt iodization and education to bring levels down further.