East Timor is accusing Australia of bugging its cabinet for commercial advantage and threatening to end a lucrative gas treaty over the claims.
Leigh Sales, presenter: New spying allegations have blown up around the Australian Government, with East Timor claiming Australia bugged its cabinet ahead of crucial talks on a lucrative gas deal in 2004.
Amy Ripley – The respected East Timorese human rights organisation La'o Hamutuk is demanding that the Indonesian government finally be held accountable for their bloody 24-year occupation of East Timor.
Manila, Philippines – Economic losses frrom climate change could reach as much as 10% of Timor-Leste's annual GDP by 2100, making it one of the worst hit in the Pacific, says a new Asian Development Bank (ADB) study.
Fransisco Rosarians, Kupang – Commander of Security Forces of Indonesian-Timor Leste Border, Major Infantry Budi Prasetyo said the number of smuggling in the border area of the two countries was still quite high.
David Robie, Dili – While the Timor-Leste media industry was rejuvenated by a national congress last month that voted on a new code of ethics, one of the country's most independent chief editors has warned against the risks of a "media council elephant".
Agustinus Tetiro – State-owned construction companies Waskita Karya and Pembangunan Perumahan have set their eyes on the developing economy of East Timor.
Celestino Gusmao – University students from Timor-Leste's eastern Baucau district gathered this week to commemorate the 1979 Matebian cave massacre in a month of events focused on protest against the impunity over atrocities during the illegal Indonesian occupation.
The government of Timor-Leste (East Timor) plans to provide Cabo Verde (Cape Verde) land for agriculture, as part of an arrangement that is similar to what it already has with Angola and Paraguay, the Timor-Leste Agriculture Minister said Wednesday cited by Cape Verdean radio.
The Timor-Leste capital Dili's Chinese-built main heavy oil power plant at Hera, about 15 km from the city, still remains at the centre of controversy.
A fact-based page by the advocacy group La'o Hamutuk (Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis) cites many critical performance reports and is headed: "Mega-project or mega problem?"
Havana – A total of 246 medical students in Timor-Leste received their degrees today in that nation as a part of a joint project between the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba and the National University in that Asian country.
Muhammad Al Azhari – A large mixed use property project, managed by an Indonesian building contractor, held a ground-breaking ceremony in Dili, East Timor, last week, signaling a stronger investment future between the infamously hostile nations.
Jakarta – The Timor Leste Attorney General's Office (AGO) plans to strengthen relations with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in the future.
Timor Leste Attorney General Jose da Costa Ximenes said on Tuesday the move was necessary to help the country combat corruption.
November 12 is the 22nd anniversary of the Santa Cruz massacre. On November 12, 1991, Indonesian troops opened fire on a memorial procession – turned into a peaceful pro-independence demonstration – at the Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste. More than 270 mostly-young Timorese were murdered.
Truth and Justice are the foundations for developing democracy in Timor-Leste
Stephanie Boulet – Legal experts and NGOs in East Timor say laws against domestic violence are failing to reduce rates of violence against women.
The government is nearing the end of a three-year campaign to reduce rates of violence in the country, but NGOs say perpetrators often go unpunished.
Ezequiel Freitas – Members of National Parliament consider the work of the Anti-Corruption Commission (KAK) to be ineffective combating corruption, especially in the area of human resources.
"Their capacity is still low, they have minimal experience and their framework is still weak and needs to be fixed," Member of Parliament (MP) Pedro da Costa said.
Michael Bachelard – East Timor's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has launched a swingeing attack "powerful countries [who] shamelessly violate the civic rights... of other countries" using electronic surveillance.
Nyan Lynn Aung and Tim McLaughlin – Aspiring ASEAN member Timor Leste appears likely to remain on the outside for at least another year, as Myanmar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says the tiny country has not yet done enough to justify entry to the 10-member bloc.
Australian RWB correspondent Mark Pearson tells us about an historic congress of Timor Leste journalists which was held in Dili from 25 to 27 October.
Paulina Quintao – The Marie Stopes International Timor-Leste (MSI-TL) Clinic Coordinator Maria Fernanda Serra said mothers who have unsafe abortions risk their lives and could die if they're not treated by health staff.
In September 1999, Sander Thoenes, the Financial Times correspondent in Jakarta, travelled to East Timor to report on the turmoil engulfing the territory. Three weeks before his arrival, the people of East Timor had voted overwhelmingly for independence from Indonesia, seeking to end 24 years of brutal occupation.
Step Vaessen – In 1999, after East Timor voted to reject Indonesian rule, the region was plunged into violence. Al Jazeera's Step Vaessen was one of the journalists who covered the resulting mayhem, along with her husband and cameraman Andre.
Two dozen inmates escaped from an East Timor prison on Sunday by beating up wardens and fleeing through the main gate as they returned to their cells after mass, an official said.
Tom Benner, Dili, East Timor – The 2014 budget unveiled last week by tiny East Timor is a $1.5 billion spending plan funded almost exclusively – 95 percent – by lucrative oil and gas revenues. One of the fastest-growing budgets in the world in recent years, it ballooned from $64 million in 2004 to $604 million in 2009.
An historic congress of Timor-Leste journalists held in Dili recently voted for their first code of ethics and a seven-member press council.
The next hurdle for media freedom in East Timor will be a press law currently before the national parliament, which it is feared will feature a journalist licensing system and criminal penalties, journlaw.com reported.
John Aglionby – Florindo Araujo is certain that Sander Thoenes was still alive when he last saw the Financial Times journalist.
Step Vaessen – Everything seems easier in my role as a journalist; I handle the death, pain, danger and even murder I encounter scarily well. Protected by my professional shield I can observe, write, report and analyse without being too badly wounded myself. At least that is what I like to believe.
Ezequiel Freitas – The Asia Foundation is concerned about the government's decentralization program to be implemented in the districts because the program does not value the agriculture sector.
Thomas Ora, Dili – Like many of his Timor Leste colleagues, Fernando da Costa, an elementary school teacher in the mountainous district of Aileu, has struggled to learn Portuguese.
Venidora Oliveira – A Member of National Parliament strongly criticized the company Estrada Bo'ot Diak for constructing poor quality roads that are damaged a year after being built.
MP Ana Ribeiro raised the issue because the road in front of the shop Jacinto is already damaged again, in addition to roads in Bairo-Pite and Kuluhun.
Venidora Oliveira – The Rural Women's Group in Baucau district have complained about the Secretary of State for the Promotion of Equality's programs, which are just implemented at the district level and do not reach the villages and sub-villages.
Charlie Campbell – In East Timor, families have learned to dread the onset of November. It marks the start of "hungry season" – the time when cash from the annual coffee harvest dries up for around four months.
Tom Benner – There is a free health clinic in Dili, the capital of Asia's newest and poorest country, Timor-Leste, that treats some 400 people a day. The doctor who runs it was telling me about the kinds of cases he generally treats – tuberculosis, malaria, dengue, typhoid, malnutrition, stunting, poor growth, pregnancy complications.
Mary O'Shea – Armindo de Deus has worked all his life as a coffee farmer in the Ermera district of Timor-Leste. He is a wiry, weather-beaten man with darting, milky eyes. When asked what his family's other sources of income are, he looks puzzled.
Alison Bevege – Energy giant Santos has given the green light to expand its Bayu Undan gas project in the Timor Sea and has increased its gas exports from Darwin's Wickham Point LNG plant.
Ashlee Betteridge – The 2013 Global Hunger Index (GHI) was released last week, and while most countries in the region had demonstrated a marked improvement in hunger levels since the 2005 index was published, Timor-Leste was among the worst performers.
Emelyn Rude – In 2007, despite mounting civil unrest, Timor-Leste established its first National Park connecting a number of endangered bird areas and encompassing a large section of the Coral Triangle, an underwater zone believed to hold the greatest diversity of marine life on Earth.
Gerald W. Fry – The discussion of language policy in East Timor begins with the statement of two key related underlying principles: cultural democracy and the right to begin basic studies in an individual's mother tongue.
Tom Benner, Dili, East Timor – East Timor's government has come under renewed public criticism after granting a contract to a Chinese state-owned company to supply furniture to Timorese schools.
Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara – Commander of 743/PSY Infantry Battalion of Boundary Security Task Force in Indonesia-Timor Leste border, Major Budi Prasetyo said the situation at the border was normal and no clash had occurred among the people.
Tom Benner, Dili, East Timor – Media in this young democracy in Southeast Asia suffer from a lack of professionalism, accuracy, and ethics, argue proponents of new legislation that would punish journalistic transgressions.
Mary O'Shea – Eleven years after independence, the array of socioeconomic challenges facing Timor-Leste remains significant. According to the United Nations Development Programme's human development index, 37.4 per cent of the population live under the international poverty line of less than $1.25 per day.
The East Timor Judicial System Monitoring Program has released the English translation of its report and commentary on a recent case of incest in the Dili District Court.
Today, on the 38th anniversary of the murder of the Balibo Five in East Timor, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance is launching a campaign highlighting impunity over the killing of Australian journalists.
Taur Matan Ruak goes to extraordinary lengths to hear the ordinary concerns of his people. In the village of Marobo, a gruelling seven-hour drive from Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste, the arrival of president Taur Matan Ruak has all the hallmarks of a homecoming.
Paulina Quintao – The National Director for Civil Registries in Dili District Vitor da Costa Neto says the system of issuing identity cards to the community has stopped running. He said the system had not been functioning since 2012.
There's concern in East Timor that a recent ban on martial arts clubs could be pushing young people into the grip of organised crime.
Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao outlawed the popular clubs in July after a spate of attacks prompted widespread unease about gang violence.
Wei Du, Baucau – Timor Leste is rethinking how it educates its younger generation. At the centre of the issue is what language medium to use in schools.
The country now has a near perfect enrollment record, 11 years after building the school system from scratch. But on closer examination, the picture gets murky.
Bacau – To diversify its economy, Timor Leste has identified tourism and agriculture as two key industries.
Tourism was chosen because the country is blessed with natural beauty and it is a fast way to get the people employed. The few people who have been diving in Timor Leste call their experience one of a kind.
A newspaper in East Timor has reported comments by a local citizen expressing fears of foreign domination in the economy and land particularly by Chinese and Indonesian investors.