Dili – More work is needed to improve nutritional behaviour in Timor Leste, where 58 percent of children under five are stunted (too short for their age) due to chronic malnourishment, experts say.

The foreign ministers of Japan and East Timor agreed to deepen bilateral cooperation in developing basic infrastructure in the violence-wracked Southeast Asian nation, during talks Sunday on the sidelines of Association of Southeast Asian Nations-related meetings in Brunei, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

The Dili District Court (TDD) has sentenced police officer Mariano da Silva to 16 years jail after finding him guilty of shooting dead Armindo Pereira soares in Hera on June 16, 2012.

Dili – Timor-Leste is on track to post growth of 9.5% in 2013 the strongest rate in the Pacific region but some downside risks for the economy loom, says the latest Pacific Economic Monitor, released today by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Wellington – The governments of New Zealand and Timor-Leste on Wednesday signed a defense agreement to enable smoother cooperation between their armed forces.

Fundasaun Mahein has raised questions about the process of purchasing guns for the PNTL from Indonesia last year.

The organization Fundasaun Mahein has recommended that Parliamentary Commission B demand the government create an investigative commission to research the PNTL's purchase of guns last year.

Today is the third day of the Development Partners Meeting in Timor-Leste. ANTI notes that the agenda for the Development Partners Meeting did not touch on the issue of justice, especially past human rights violations.

The European Union plans to donate 20.5 million euros to Timor-Leste (East Timor) to repair and maintain roads in three districts of the country, under the terms of an agreement signed Monday in Dili.

More rigorous oversight of development projects is needed to improve aid effectiveness in Timor-Leste, according to the consensus reached following the annual Timor-Leste Development Partners Meeting in Dili.

Dili – Timor-Leste needs to do more at the national and district levels to boost disaster preparedness, especially in rural areas, say experts.

Each year, communities face an increasing number of natural hazards with 185 floods recorded since 2010, compared to 32 between 2001 to 2009, according to the National Disaster Management Directorate (NDMD).

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Indonesia and neighboring Timor Leste have agreed to enhance what they deemed "good relations", as well as shoring up support for Timor Leste's bid for membership of ASEAN, both leaders said on Friday.

Jakarta – Timor Leste President Taur Matan Ruak is scheduled to meet Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the State Palace in Jakarta on Friday afternoon.

According to the President of the Parliamentary Women's Group of Timor-Leste, MP Josefa Alvares Soares, now is not the time to localize prostitution to one place because society and the church are strongly against this behaviour.

Jakarta – Belu Deputy Regent Lodovikus Taolin said that Indonesia and Timor Leste would work to uphold law enforcement along the border of the two countries in Belu regency.

The Timor-Leste Defence Force Chief, Major General Lere Anan Timur, has called on the defence and security institutions in the country to obey by the country's rule of law following a spate of cases involving police personnel taking the rule into their own hands.

The State Secretary for Professional Training and Employment (SEFOPE), Elidio Ximenes said the country's law banned children from working and said they had rights to get access to education and proper health.

According to Televizaun Timor Leste on 13 June 2013, Ximenes made the comments in relation to the commemoration of the International Day against Child Labor.

Batam – Timor Leste's former prime minister Mari Alkatiri, who is now the country's economic attache, visited the Batam Free Trade Zone Management Agency (BPK FTZ) on Monday to study the concept of the special economic zone.

Mari was greeted by BPK FTZ head Mustofa Wijaya and former Riau Islands governor and economic consultant Ismeth Abdullah.

Fitri Bintang Timur, Singapore – Timor Leste Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao is often said to be the Che Guevara of the country. His charisma and charm helped him escape troubled times before his nation gained independence.

Angela Macdonald-Smith – The Timor Sea has never been famed for offering oil and gas operators smooth sailing over the years.

However East Timor's manoeuvring over the treaty with Australia about royalties from Woodside Petroleum's Sunrise gas venture have escalated sovereign risk in the waters off our northern coast to a worrying new level.

Jakarta – The Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) Advisory Council Chairman, Prabowo Subianto, exchanged experience with visiting former Timor Lest Prime Minister Marie Alkatiri at Gerindra office here on Monday.

Dili – An increase in new, higher-yield seed varieties is helping some rural communities produce more food in Timor-Leste, but greater support is still needed, aid agencies say.

Singapore – The future finances of the young, poor nation of Timor-Leste, formerly East Timor, have become embroiled in allegations of skulduggery by Australia nearly a decade ago. Timor-Leste has taken its big, wealthy neighbour to arbitration over a 2006 agreement on the exploitation of oil and gas in the sea between them.

The National Parliament of East Timor has voted in favour of ordering a review of excessive use of force within the national police force after a violent attack on a youth and member of Parliament last Friday.

TJ Burgonio – Timor-Leste Prime Minister Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao on Thursday thanked President Aquino for the latter's renewed expression of Philippine support for Timor-Leste's bid to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

An Australian parliamentary inquiry into the bilateral relationship with East Timor has come under attack for only hearing from so-called "insiders and bureaucrats".

DLP Senator John Madigan says the public hearings are limited and elitist. Academic Clinton Fernandez fears the inquiry will just "rubber stamp" whatever Australia's Foreign Affairs department has in mind.

Dili – 'Tara bandu', a traditional form of conflict resolution, can play a bigger role in mitigating conflict in Timor-Leste at the community level, local leaders and experts say.

Under tara bandu – oath ceremonies – traditional laws and rituals help regulate relations between people and rival groups.

Patricia Denise Chiu – The Philippines and Timor Leste have inked three bilateral agreements in areas of education, policy consultations and infrastructure to further strengthen the cooperation between the two countries.

Jakarta – The Timor Leste Democratic Republic (RDTL) government plans to cooperate with the Indonesian government by exporting goats and cows to help to fulfill the latter's need of meat during Idul Fitri and Idul Adha.

Children born as a result of sexual abuse by the Indonesian military during the occupation currently have difficulty obtaining official birth certificates and according to the Executive Director of HAK, this is discrimination

Clinton Fernandes – A parliamentary inquiry examining Australia's relationship with East Timor is underway and the proceedings so far do not make for comfortable reading.

It's a good time for an inquiry: East Timor successfully held elections last year and the Australian-led International Stabilisation Force completed its mission and withdrew in January 2013.

Members of Parliament are concerned because the number of people unemployed within the country continues to increase every year.

MP Maria Angelica Rangel said currently a lot of people, especially those who study at universities in Dili and overseas, can't find work when they finish

Singapore – Timor-Leste said it is committed to building its human resources in order to contribute fully to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Timor-Leste's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao made these remarks during a lecture in Singapore on Tuesday, organised by the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

Ritchie King – That extreme outlier in the chart above, the one throwing off the entire scale – that's East Timor. The value shown is the percentage difference between the gross national product (GNP) and the gross domestic product (GDP), two slightly different measurements of the strength of a nation's economy.

According to an English translation of a report by newspaper Independente, the Deputy Prime Minister of East Timor, Fernando Lasama Araujo, has appealed to both the police and military forces to arrest citizens who are the "masterminds" of crime in the country.

President Taur Matan Ruak raised has concerns about the number of incest and domestic violence cases in Timor-Leste.

The Secretary of State for the Promotion of Equality Idelta Maria Rodrigues said she raised the issue during a meeting with the President at the Presidential Palace in Bairo-Pite, Dili.

Karen Barlow – Foreign Minister Bob Carr insists Australia and East Timor remain on good terms despite reports the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) broke into and bugged East Timorese cabinet rooms nine years ago.

Emma Masters, Dili – The Australian Government has returned two decades of weather data to East Timor, after it was rescued by a Darwin meteorologist amid civil unrest during the small island nation's move to independence.

Based on the statistics from the Confederation Syndicate of Timor-Leste (KSTL), from 2001 until 2012 a total of 35% of female workers had their rights violated in the workplace.

The Head of the Industrial Relations Division at KSTL, Joao Cabral said currently employers discharge workers without a reason.

Head of state: Jose Maria Vasconcelos (Taur Matan Ruak, replaced Jose Manuel Ramos-Horta in May)
Head of government: Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao

East Timor's Oil Fund grew by US$1.2 billion in the first quarter of the year to US$13 billion at the end of March, said the East Timor Central Bank in Dili Monday.

According to the bank's statement, gross monies paid into the Fund from royalties and taxes totalled US$946 million, and no funds were transferred to the State's general account in the period.

According to the plan of H.E.

"The government has been less interested in pursuing difficult reforms than in transforming the image of a country known for too long as a place of violence" – Jim Della-Giacoma, Crisis Group's Asia Program Director

Arif Nurdiansah & Hindijani Novita – Indonesia is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), ratified in Law No. 7 of 1984. But almost 25 years later, how well are we honoring this commitment, especially the participation of women in the political realm?

Karl Quinn – Kirsty Sword Gusmao answers the door of her mother's house on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula wearing flat-heeled boots, a patterned jacket, a hint of make-up and no hair. "It was starting to itch," she says of the short bobbed wig she's taken to wearing. "So I took it off. I hope it's OK."

Rory Callinan – A war crimes investigation into the killing of five Australian journalists in East Timor appears in danger of stalling after a key witness is feared dead and investigators say they are unable to obtain key information from overseas authorities.

Sara Everingham and staff – East Timor is seeking to tear up a treaty with Australia on oil and gas revenues in the Timor Sea, arguing Australia spied on it during negotiations in 2004.

The Australian Government says neither East Timor's claims about the treaty nor its allegations of espionage are new and the treaty remains in force.

East Timor is seeking to tear up a treaty on the sharing of oil and gas revenues with Australia because it says Australia spied on it during the negotiations.

ASEAN is currently studying Timor Leste's bid to become a member of the association, secretary-general Le Luong Minh said on Monday.

The recently created East Timor state oil company, Companhia Nacional de Petroleo de Timor-Leste (CNPTL) plans to start prospecting for oil under the terms of a partnership with Italian group ENI and Australian group Inpex, according to an official statement issued Friday in Dili.

Ted McDonnell – East Timor is now a peaceful and happy place. The scars of the brutal 24 year Indonesian reign still exist, but the East Timorese are forgiving people.

A decade into its independence, there are significant signs of change, the largest being, Timor Plaza, the nation's first major shopping centre, in the heart of one of Dili poorest suburbs, Comoro.