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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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."

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.

Woodside Petroleum Ltd is unlikely to pursue the use of floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) technology in its development of the Sunrise gas project in the Timor Sea and is instead leaning towards an onshore plant, according to The Australian Financial Review.

Program Manager, Rui Carvalho, of the ISEAN Hivos Program Satellite Office in Timor-Leste, accuses personnel working at the Volunteer Confidential Counselling Testing facilities of discriminating against MSM (men who have sex with men) and transgender Timorese when these clients go for HIV/AIDS tests.

John DeFore, New York – Presenting a surprising and privileged viewpoint on the climax of East Timor's long struggle for independence, Alex Meillier's "Alias Ruby Blade" introduces us to an aspiring filmmaker from Australia who wound up acting as the right hand of an imprisoned rebel leader.

After a private fact-finding visit to East Timor, Democratic Labor Party (DLP) Senator John Madigan says Australia must counter the rising influence of China in the country.

Senator Madigan said the amount of development funded by China was obvious during his tour last week.

The Inspector For Work of the Secretariat of State for Policy, Professional Training and Employment (SEPFOPE), Rofino Lopes, said there are more than 100 vulnerable children working along the streets of the capital in Dili trying to make ends meet.

Paul Toohey – Three months before Indonesia invaded East Timor in December 1975, Gough Whitlam dismissed an Indonesian proposal to send a joint international military force to restore peace to the civil-war-torn colony.

The National Director for Social Assistance said the government doesn't have plans to build more shelter homes for victims of gender based violence but will continue to give financial support to develop existing shelter houses.

East Timor is the second of only two countries in Asia that in 2013 and 2014 are expected to post economic growth of two figures, with 10 percent growth in both years, according to the 2013 report from the Asia Development Bank.

Paul Toohey – Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser was anxious to assure Jakarta that the matter of East Timor was closed as far as Australia was concerned, less than a year after Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony.

Operation Astute was launched in May 2006 in response to a request from the East Timor government following violence fanned by an army mutiny.

Chief of Joint Operations Lieutenant General Ash Power said the last ADF personnel deployed on Astute returned to Australia on Wednesday, following the ceasing of operations in November last year.

If the story of East Timor is one of success, of a small country claiming its independence over the incredibly stacked odds of an oppressive regime, it it also the backdrop of the extraordinary love story of its leaders, now told with incredible intimacy and personal footage in a documentary.

Journalists Oscar Salsinha and Raimundo Oki were given a $150 fine each at the Dili District Court on March 14 following the accusation of slanderous denunciations over an article published about a car accident in Oe-Cusse.

The Dili District Court absolved the two journalists accused of slanderous denunciations but issued them to pay $150 in compensation each.

GMPTL President MP Josefa Soares said abortion is a crime and it violates the rights of the child.

The President of the Women in Parliament of Timor-Leste (GMPTL), MP Josefa Alvares Soares, said those who voluntarily practice abortion are committing a crime and violating the rights of the child and could be sent to prison for three years.

The Portuguese secretary of state for Energy, Artur Trindade, is due Tuesday to begin an official visit to East Timor in the company of Portuguese businesspeople, the State Secretariat said in a statement issued in Lisbon.

All charges must be dropped against two Timorese journalists facing prison sentences for exposing alleged corruption in their country's judicial system, Amnesty International said.

A conference intended to find partners for construction of Eat Timor's new port and airport has taken place in Dili, organised by the Timorese government with the support of the International Financial Corporation (IFC), of the World Bank Group.

The Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs said this year a technical team from Ministry of Foreign Affairs will measure the Timor Sea.

The objective of measuring the Timor Sea, according to the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, is to find out exact the confines of the sea ground.

Since the Anti-Corruption Commission (KAK) was established in 2010, it has investigated 27 corruption cases and some of those cases have now been closed after going to court.

According to the KAK President, Commissioner Aderito de Jesus Soares, the Court of Appeal is still processing some of the cases.

According to an Anti-Corruption Commission (KAK) survey released in 2012 a lot of the Timorese community still do not understand what corruption is.

Tom Clarke – If you thought the debate over East Timor's oil and gas resources had been put to bed, think again. Because Australia has never agreed on permanent maritime boundaries with East Timor, the temporary resource-sharing agreement the Howard government jostled it into in 2006 may come crashing down.

Lim Chia Ying, Dili – The breast cancer diagnosis that came just before Christmas was the latest in Kirsty Sword Gusmao's series of continuous battles.

East Timor's Oil Fund grew by US$720.94 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 and ended the year with a total value of US$11.777 billion, said the East Timor Central Bank.

East Timor may carry out its natural gas exploration in the Timor Sea without other partners, thus bringing an end to its partnership with Australia's Woodside Petroleum, the Timorese Minister for Oil and Mining Resources, Alfredo Pires said Thursday in Dili.

East Timor's petroleum and natural resources minister said Thursday the nation may develop a multi-billion dollar gas project alone, ending its involvement with Australia's Woodside Petroleum.

Yoseph Kelen, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara – Officials from Kupang district and neighboring Timor Leste met on Tuesday to discuss enforcing security along a particularly porous section of their shared border.

Damien Kingsbury – Woodside and the East Timorese government have just 10 days to strike a deal on a lucrative gas project – or the controversial sea boundary between Australia and East Timor will be redrawn. Billions of dollars are at stake.

On February 6, 2013, Timor-Leste's Parliament gave general approval to the proposed 2013 State Budget. Forty MPs from the Coalition voted in favor, and 25 from Fretilin abstained.

The governments of East Timor and Thailand last week signed a memorandum of understanding to boost cooperation in exploration and development of the Timorese oil sector.

According to the Ministry of Education unemployment amongst educated people, some of whom have qualified overseas, is on a par with the unemployment of recently graduated high school students posing a serious threat to the development of the nation.

Members of Parliament used the number of roads unrepaired and in a bad condition as an example to highlight what they say is poor and inefficient budget execution.

The Council of Minsters has decided to maintain the ban on martial arts groups after it decided they could cause conflict for another year.

According to statistics from the UN agency and UNICEF, malnutrition in Timor-Leste has risen to 58 percent. These figures show that Timor-Leste is in third place among Asian countries, where the majority of the population lives "inside" malnutrition.