Brasilia – The Angolan state-owned oil company, Sonangol, has been invited to carry out prospecting and exploration for oil in Timor Leste.

The invitation was extended by the Timorese Vice-minister of Foreign Affairs and Co-operation, Constancio Pinto, during a meeting with Angolan Foreign Affairs Minister Georges Rebelo Chikoti here over the weekend.

An American woman arrested in East Timor and released from prison on Christmas Day is staying at the home of former president Jose Ramos-Horta until her passport is returned.

Nani Afrida, Kupang – In an effort to curb rampant fuel and narcotics smuggling, Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu plans to add more posts to the border of Indonesia and Timor Leste.

Associated Press in Portland, Oregon – A US traveler detained for months in Timor Leste has been released from prison.

Washington – A veterinarian from Oregon who was arrested while traveling in East Timor in September was released from jail on Thursday after nearly two months of detention, the US State Department said.

Nearly two years ago, Stacey Addison of Portland, Oregon, began a trip around the world starting in Antarctica. But the trip turned into a nightmare soon after she arrived in East Timor. On September 5, Stacey, a veterinarian, was traveling in a shared taxi with another passenger she had never met.

Estevao Nuno – The Judicial System Monitoring Program (JSMP) has raised awareness in schools in six districts of laws prohibiting domestic violence.

JSMP executive director Luis Oliveira Sampaio said the districts involved were Liquisa, Ermera, Maliana, Same and Viqueque. Oe-Cusse would be included in the near future, he said.

Paulina Quintao – Research by the National University of Timor Lorosa'e's (UNTL) gender studies unit has shown that many female students are shunning school because of a lack of toilet facilities.

Paulina Quintao – The Decolores Del Amor Foundation has urged the government to establish an independent national drugs council to address the issue of drugs within the nation.

Venidora Oliveira – Newly appointed human rights ombudsman Silverio Pinto says he is ready to ready to continue to implementing the Human Rights and Justice Provedoria's (PDHJ) 10 year strategic plan.

A communications strategy to determine what difficulties people faced will be drawn up, Pinto said.

Estevao Nuno – Member of Parliament Eladio Faculto has criticized the government for using force to move on fish and coconut vendors at the Lecidere beachfront. Faculto said the vendors only wanted to make a living.

"They should be moved politely. One day I went to a vendor at the beach and he said that the government had moved them by force," he said.

Estevao Nuno – Squatters living in the former Comoro market will be evicted to establish new National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL) dormitories.

Dili district administrator Gaspar Soares said as the site was state property, those living there must vacate the property.

Venidora Oliveira – National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL) members are using service weapons to hunt animals, according to Member of Parliament Ana Ribeiro.

Estevao Nuno – Luta Hamutuk has called for the government to investigate why emergency works projects scheduled for completion within three months are taking up to a year.

Venidora Oliveira – The Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (KIP) has investigated allegations the Secretariat of State for Public Works (SEOP) acted improperly in commissioning emergency works projects in five districts.

Yoseph Kelen, Jakarta – President Joko Widodo says that the facilities along the nation's border with Timor Leste should be improved, along with the quality of customs, immigration and quarantine services.

Paulina Quintao – Timorese visiting sex workers are neglecting to use condoms to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS.

National Commission to Combat HIV/AIDS – Timor-Leste (CNCS-TL) secretary Daniel Marcal said the HIV situation in Timor-Leste was serious, with many infected people living in the community.

Venidora Oliveira – The community of Cova in the sub-district of Balibo within Bobonara has not had electricity from the time of independence until the present day.

Member of Parliament Manuel Gaspar Soares da Silva said it was unfair for Cova to go without electricity while other sukus were powered.

Paulina Quintao – The government must ban the import of cigarettes into Timor-Leste for the health of its people, says Member of Parliament Eladio Faculto.

Faculto said there were no local cigarette manufacturers and that the imported products were known to cause diseases such as cancer and hypertension in smokers.

Paulina Quintao – Member of Parliament Antoninho Bianco has warned citizens that providing false information to receive more than one voting card is a criminal offence.

Luke Buckmaster – Director Robert Connolly's 2009 expose Balibo is based on the true story of Australian journalists the Balibo Five, who were captured by Indonesian militia in the eponymous East Timorese town in 1975. It thrusts audiences into nightmarish situations and forces us to contemplate how we might feel and react.

Armandina Moniz, Dili (Notisias Online/Pacific Media Watch) – Timor-Leste's Court of Appeal has once again delivered a judgment declaring the controversial Media Act unconstitutional.

Venidora Oliveira – Non-government organization (NGO) Haburas asks the government to explain why it is not doing more to promote local products and ecotourism across the country.

Paulina Quintao – Member of Parliament Antoninho Bianco has criticized the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE) for its failure to ensure people in rural areas have voting cards.

Dili – Timor-Leste's efforts to reduce the prevalence of domestic gender-based violence through criminalization and prosecution, already hampered by a general lack of trust in the formal court system, have suffered a fresh setback with the enforced departure of 11 foreign judicial staff who had played a key role in delivering justice in rural areas.

Paulina Quintao – Analytical skills and critical thinking will be the focus of the new primary school curriculum to be introduced by the Education Ministry.

Paulina Quintao – The Education Ministry's declaration that six districts are free from illiteracy is incorrect as it does not take into account adult illiteracy, says Timor-Leste Coalition for Education (TLCE) program manager Matias dos Santos.

Paulina Quintao – National Member of Parliament MP Bendita Magno wants to know why midwives at the Fatubolu Health post in Hatulia sub-district, Ermera, are using candle light and mobile phones to assist new mothers birthing.

The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) is concerned that recent events in Timor-Leste weaken the country's hard-won constitutional democracy and endanger the right of Timor-Leste's citizens to live in a society governed under the rule of law.

Venidora Oliveira – Member of Parliament Estanislau da Silva has criticized the government for its failure to attract major investors to Timor-Leste.

Paulina Quintao – Seventeen children are currently living with their mothers at Women's Forum Communication Timor-Leste emergency accommodation, says the organization's shelter home co-ordinator Judith Ribeiro.

These children were indirect victims of domestic violence, she said. Most of the children are still breastfeeding.

The Government says it will not carry out its own inquiry into the killings of five journalists from Australia and New Zealand in Balibo, East Timor, just before the 1975 invasion by Indonesia.

Paulina Quintao – Deputy Human Rights Ombudsman Silverio Baptista Pinto has appealed to all people to respect the rights of those suffering from mental illnesses. Pinto said sufferers' family members were most likely to discriminate.

Pierre-Richard Prosper – The recent news that Timor-Leste's parliament voted to terminate contracts of the international judges it has relied upon since the birth of its country should be seen as a major step forward in the small pacific-island nation's path toward true self-governance.

Paulina Quintao – A lack of mental health professionals is making it difficult for Timorese mental health patients to access care.

Commission F (education, health, culture, veterans' affairs and gender equality) president Virgilio da Costa Hornai said the mental health treatment available in Timor-Leste was insufficient, and that mental health patients deserved better.

Tom Allard – The shock decision by East Timor's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao to expel foreign judges and advisers from the country appeared to be connected to corruption cases against his cabinet, a damning report to Australia's judges and lawyers has alleged.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers Gabriela Knaul on Tuesday urged the government of East Timor to reconsider the dismissing of international judges and prosecutors.

Paulina Quintao – Alleged victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse are being forced to live for years at shelter homes as they await an outcome from Timor-Leste's lethargic justice system.

Martinha Gusmao – The Education Ministry, through the National University of Timor Lorosa'e, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Portugal's University of Coimbra committing the parties to the promotion of the Portuguese language in Timor-Leste.

Paulina Quintao – An absence of opportunities for promotion and the appointment of staff to roles unrelated to their qualifications has led to fragile administrative systems in state institutions, says Member of Parliament Antonio Bianco.

Paulina Quintao – Educators are using classroom time to conduct business activities, according to Timor-Leste Coalition for Education (TLCE) program manager Matias dos Santos.

He said the Education Ministry needed to take action on this issue as it had the potential to seriously disrupt the learning process.

Paulina Quintao – CAUCUS is providing training for female members of political parties in Aileu, Ermera and Liquisa in preparation for them to compete in the 2016 municipal elections.

CAUCUS executive director Paula Corte Real said the training was targeted to those areas as they had been selected by the government as pilot areas for municipal elections.

Paulina Quintao – Spanish NGO Paz y Desarrolo (Peace and Development) has been working to improve knowledge of the electoral process and gender relations among Timor-Leste university students.

Paulina Quintao – The government does not have a coherent policy for the treatment of those suffering from mental illnesses, says Member of Parliament Virgilio da Costa Hornai.

Paulina Quintao – The State Secretariat for the Promotion of Equality (SEPI) is working with the Alola Foundation to provide human rights training to members of the Youth Parliament.

The training specifically relates to the rights of women and women's advocacy.

Paulina Quintao – Limited finances are preventing the National University of Timor Lorosa'e's (UNTL) Gender Studies Centre from conducting research and holding academic debates about gender issues.

The centre's co-ordinator Judite Dias Ximenes said research into issues affecting the development of women in Timor-Leste was planned.

Paulina Quintao – Member of Parliament Manuel de Castro Pereira has demanded answers from the Health Ministry regarding its management of medicines as some health facilities still lack essential equipment.

Philip Dorling – The Federal Court is to hear a "top secret" appeal by the Australian government aimed at suppressing information from a diplomatic file on Indonesian military war crimes in East Timor more than 30 years ago.

Paulina Quintao – The National Commission for Combating HIV/AIDS in Timor-Leste (CNCS-TL) is working with its Indonesian counterpart in border communities to raise awareness of how to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.

CNCS-TL general secretary Daniel Marcal said the border areas were a potential gateway for the disease.

Paulina Quintao – Tobacco advertising has once again come under fire in Parliament.

Member of Parliament Josefa Alvares Pereira Soares said the Parliament passed resolutions in 2006 to restrict the advertising of tobacco and other drugs in Timor-Leste and was also a signatory to several such international conventions but still advertisements went unchecked.