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.

Index: ASA 57/001/2014

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

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.

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.

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 – 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara – Security personnel from Indonesia and Timor Leste have held a joint border patrol to guard the two countries' shared border.

Eduardo Mariz – The district of Oecusse, an isolated portion of Timor-Leste in Indonesian territory, carries under its name the nostalgic origins of a nation.

Loro Horta – The leader and founding father of Asia's youngest nation, Xanana Gusmao, announced in November that he was resigning as prime minister and leaving politics.

Josua Gantan, Atambua, East Nusa Tenggara – At a state-owned gas station in an Indonesian border town in Timor's Belu district, a liter of premium fuel on Sunday went for Rp 6,500 ($0.57) – less than half of the price at the pump in poverty stricken East Timor, just a few kilometers away, where the government does not provide generous subsidies.

Dili – Taking judicial proceedings to rural areas of Timor-Leste with "mobile courts" is increasing citizens' access to justice as the young country builds its government from the ground up, experts and practitioners say.

Thomas Hornall – Twelve years ago East Timor, or Timor-Leste, was recognised as the 191st member of the United Nations after a devastating 25-year Indonesian occupation.

Dili (Jornal Independente/Pacific Media Watch) – It was a stunt that arguably in any democratic country on any given day would have led the media headlines and stopped anyone that cared about their rights to speak freely in their tracks.

Paulina Quintao – Legal Assistance for Women and Children (ALFeLa) coordinator Laura Afonso de Jesus says resolving domestic violence criminal proceedings using methods of traditional justice is beneficial only to the perpetrators of the crimes, not to their victims.

Paulina Quintao – National Commission on Combating HIV/SIDA Timor-Leste (CNCS-TL) General Secretary Daniel Marcal has said education is key to combatting the rise of the rates of HIV/AIDS which is increasing each year.

Ted McDonnell – The East Timorese parliament has passed legislation that will restrict journalists.

Paulina Quintao – The Ministry of Health has begun a campaign to raise awareness of the context of draft laws to control the sale and use of cigarettes in order to get ideas about how to improve the laws which are to be brought before the Council of Ministers for approval.

Paulina Quintao – Secretary of State for Vocational Training Policy and Employment (SEPFOPE) has established a National Commission against Child Labour (KNKTI) with the aim to protect children from child labour and to fulfill its rights under law.

Paulina Quintao – Upset to the point of tears. That's how Secretary of State for the Promotion of Equality (SEPI) Idelta Maria Rodrigues felt when she met with child victims of sexual assault and incest at Dili shelter homes.

Paulina Quintao – University students have urged the HAK Association to organize a national seminar in Timor-Leste to encourage leaders, including those of the Japanese government, to speak with Timorese victims of sexual slavery.

Mr Gusmao met China's top leaders in the first visit by an East Timorese Prime Minister in 11 years.

In a joint statement, the two nations vowed to increase cooperation on issues from security to food production. China is enjoying relative economic and diplomatic success with Australia's near neighbour, at a time of heightened suspicion between Canberra and Dili.

Paulina Quintao – The Secretary of State for the Promotion of Equality (SEPI), Idelta Maria Rodrigues said SEPI will this year hold a campaign toraise awareness and open dialogue with teachers and students in 13 districts about laws opposing domestic violence law as well as how to deal with countries which have ratified such laws.

Paulina Quintao – Catholic priests and nuns are refusing to baptise children born of incest, according to Timor-Leste Women's Communication Forum (FOKUPERS) shelter home coordinator Judit da Conceicao Ribeiro.

She said FOKUPERS has tried many times persuade clergy members to baptise the children, by meeting with them and explaining the situation.

Forum Tau Matan – The tiny half island nation of Timor Leste is a young country in more ways than one. In the 2010 census it was found that 41.4% of the population was between the ages of 0-14. Decades of war and instability have contributed to a spectrum of human rights abuses involving children.

Peter Klinger – Thailand's PTTEP hopes to sort out the ownership structure of its Timor Sea assets, including the big Cash-Maple gas fields, by the end of the year but says it is open to retaining a minority stake.

Sarita Ryan – According to Alexander Downer, former Australian Foreign Minister and subsequent board advisor to Woodside Petroleum, a country's reputation is on the line. Downer claims that Timor-Leste's appeal to terminate a key treaty with Australia in the Permanent Court of Arbitration reveals the tiny nation to be an unruly negotiator:

Timor-Leste's leaders often boast that the country's non-oil Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is growing more than 10% per year faster than global inflation – that is, at "double-digit rates."

Beijing – Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Timor-Leste's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao on Tuesday and both announced to forge an all-round cooperative partnership between the two countries.

China and Timor-Leste always respect, cooperate and treat each other equally in a friendly way, Xi said during their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in downtown Beijing.

Sixtus Harson, Jakarta – A human rights group has criticized the presidential candidacy of a former Indonesian general who has been accused of widespread human rights abuses in Timor Leste and several Indonesian provinces.

Once again, on 5-6 April, Christians will come together with the families of victims to commemorate the anniversary of the Liquisa Church Massacre. This massacre happened in April 1999 and led to the death or disappearance of more than 200 people.

Yuliasri Perdani, Atambua – Entering the fifteenth year of Timor Leste's separation from Indonesia, the Indonesian authorities are still struggling to diminish illegal border crossing and smuggling due to limited resources and poor infrastructure in the border areas.

Philip Dorling – The federal government has successfully blocked the release of secret archives that would reveal Australian knowledge of Indonesian war crimes in East Timor, arguing that relations with Jakarta are presently too strained to cope with the potential embarrassment for both countries.

Kota Kinabalu – University Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and the Timor Leste's Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ministry and its Education Ministry today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in oil and gas (O&G) related training industry.

Kupang – The Indonesian military (TNI) said on Tuesday it had thwarted an effort to smuggle 3,200 tons of fuel into East Timor.

"The 3,200 tons of fuel were confiscated by our soldiers on Saturday and Sunday night at a military post in Kabuna village, Kakulukmesak subdistrict," Belu district military commander Lt. Col. Hendri Wijaya told journalists on Tuesday.