Michael Bachelard – Violence erupted in East Timor late last night, apparently prompted by political party Fretilin being excluded from a role in the new governing coalition.

Joyce Morgan, Dili – The East Timorese President has called for calm after a night of violence in the capital, Dili, which left one man dead, dozens of vehicles destroyed and has raised questions about the planned withdrawal of UN peacekeepers.

Violence in East Timor was sparked when Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao announced his National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction will form a coalition government with two smaller parties.

The Australian government has updated its travel advice for East Timor, warning of the possibility of further violence following a night of unrest.

East Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao will form a coalition government with the country's two minor parties. The decision was announced at a special meeting of his CNRT (National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction) in the capital, Dili, yesterday.

Police in East Timor who uncovered a mysterious mass grave at the national government palace last month said Friday they had found the bones of 72 bodies and clues the dead may have been Chinese.

Six weeks ago, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao formally nominated two leaders from our oil and gas sector to develop investment policy for Timor-Leste's sovereign wealth fund. Unnoticed by the media and politicians, this action was not mentioned during the recent election campaign.

The ruling party of East Timor resistance hero Xanana Gusmao has won 30 seats in parliament, according to a final count on Friday from last weekend's vote, and will need to form a coalition to govern.

The government of the Republic of Timor-Leste (East Timor) has started legal action against a number of international oil groups, including Conoco-Phillips, in order to recover taxes that the government says have not been paid, according to a statement issued Tuesday in Dili.

Joe Schneider and James Paton – ConocoPhillips, a US oil and gas producer, challenged a new tax assessment by the government of East Timor that may add billions of dollars to the Asian nation's treasury.

Simon Roughneen – The party of East Timor's prime minister won the majority of seats this weekend in peaceful parliamentary elections, paving the way for him to form another coalition government as the country faces its second major transition a decade after independence.

La'o Hamutuk feels that a multi-party state is essential to genuine democracy, to give space for a variety of perspectives to be discussed and considered with public participation. Parliament is the logical place for that to happen, and we are disappointed that there will be fewer parties in the next Parliament than in the past one.

Simon Roughneen, Dili – Saturnina da Silva doesn't have a name for her baby boy yet, born just 12 hours before Saturday's parliamentary election in the tropical half-island nation.

Michael Bachelard – A key civil society group in East Timor has warned against the proposed "government of national unity", saying it would reduce scrutiny of decisions and diminish democracy.

East Timor is seeking "possibly billions" of dollars from foreign oil companies, including US-owned ConocoPhillips, in unpaid taxes, the government said in a statement received Wednesday.

The government has begun an auditing process, hoping "to recover substantial monies it believes are rightfully owed... under legal obligations", the statement said.

Michael Bachelard and Mouzinho Lopes – East Timor's sometimes fractious politicians are contemplating the extraordinary – forming a government of national unity in which all parties would govern together.

Dili, East Timor, and Jakarta, Indonesia – Not until she was at the deathbed of the man presumed to be her father did Alexhia Cordova da Silva's life start to make sense.

Raised by an elite political family in Jakarta, da Silva had endured years of hushed rumors about her dark, Melanesian features at social events. On the street, "slumdog" and "monkey" were regular taunts.

Tito Belo, Dili – The party of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has won East Timor's parliamentary election, but was short of a majority, provisional results showed on Sunday, raising the prospect of a coalition government in Asia's youngest nation.

Michael Bachelard – East Timor's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has consolidated his power and extended his lead over the country's opposition, winning the largest bloc of votes in the country's parliamentary elections.

Peter Ker – Academics and other dedicated election observers will not be the only Australians watching today's East Timor election with interest.

Thousands of kilometres away, Perth oil and gas executives will be taking more than a passing interest in the young nation's latest effort at peaceful democracy.

Tito Belo, Dili – East Timor voted on Saturday in a parliamentary election in which Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao's party faces a stiff challenge from two opponents as it seeks to extend its term at the helm of Asia's newest and one of its poorest nations.

Dili – East Timor is about to face a crucial test of its fragile democracy in parliamentary elections that will determine if UN peacekeepers can leave.

The UN, after presidential polls were held peacefully over two rounds in March and April, says it will pull out its remaining 1300 troops within six months if the general election tomorrow goes well.

Vincent Souriau – The abject poverty visible only an hour's drive out of East Timor's capital illustrates the challenge facing the government that takes over one of Asia's poorest countries after elections on Saturday.

Helene Hofman, Dili, East Timor – Grace Gunawon, 22, remembers Dili before East Timor gained independence from Indonesia, when it wasn't safe to play in the streets after dark.

But like most of the world, she witnessed the worst of the violence – the clashes in the lead-up to the 1999 referendum on independence and the 2006 gang riots – from a distance.

Dili – The UN peacekeeping force is on track to begin withdrawing from Timor-Leste in October 2012 after a "remarkably peaceful" parliamentary election campaign concluded on 4 July, ahead of the election on 7 July.

Meagan Weymes – The UN, after presidential polls were held peacefully over two rounds in March and April, says it will pull out its remaining 1300 troops within six months if the general election on Saturday goes well.

Michael Bachelard – "If I've got $600 million a year... you'll partake in it," Olgario de Castro reassures his mates, his voice caught by a secret recorder as coffee cups clink in the background.

"I want the money, not the power!" he says at one point and, later, of another deal: "Last minute, we'll find $2 million!"

New Zealand MPs will be among official observers of East Timor's parliamentary elections this weekend. Foreign Minister Murray McCully says five are going, meeting a request from East Timor.

Damien Kingsbury – In 2010, a senior Timorese political figure remarked in private conversation that Timor-Leste had never been better. This particular political figure was commenting on the general state of Timor-Leste since his return in 1999, after a forced 25 year absence from the country.

The East Timor government believes that the choice of the south coast of the country for the new gas pipeline running from the Greater Sunrise field, which it shares with Australia, will prevail.

Police in East Timor have uncovered a mass grave of 52 people at the government palace in Dili, with initial examinations suggesting the bodies are not Timorese, an official said Tuesday.

Construction workers discovered the remains last week in a garden outside the beachfront government palace, which houses the office of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, and contacted police.

The Timorese police today arrested two persons in Baucau, east of Dili, for stoning supporters of the Revolutionary Front of Independent East Timor (Fretilin) at the end of a rally for the parliamentary elections on July 7.

"The PNTL arrested two individuals undergoing investigation following the incident," said the police source to Lusa.

In East Timor, the politics of language can be a complex and fiercely debated topic. While the official languages are Tetum and Portugese, there are no fewer than 16 other local languages. For children starting school that's a complicated world to understand, let alone navigate, and many are being left behind.

Reporting: Liam Cochrane

Jakarta – Twenty four bodies were recovered on Wednesday from a mass grave that was accidentally found in the garden of the office of Timor Leste's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao in Dili last week by several construction workers.

The workers were digging the ground to construct pipes for the park's new water fountain.

Damien Kingsbury – When Timor-Leste's Anti-Corruption Commission (CAC) was established in 2009, many people wondered whether it was just a political sop to minimise concern about perceptions of growing corruption, or whether it would be serious in trying to tackle the growing problem. If the CAC was to be serious, they wondered, would it last?

Emma Macdonald – The decision by independence fighters in East Timor to swap guns for diplomacy not only worked in creating the new independent nation of Timor-Leste, but serves as a cautionary tale to countries such as Syria.

Paul Stewart – My mother has had one contact from the Australian federal government in the 37 years since my brother, Tony Stewart, was murdered at Balibo in East Timor.

Edward Rees – Last weekend, a number of uniformed Indonesian military officers were lounging about the Dili Beach Hotel drinking coffee, laughing, and shooting pool.

Kate Hodal – Young, blonde, and Australian, she was an unlikely undercover agent for an unlikely cause: a far-flung province on a Southeast Asian island that had been in a bloody fight for independence for more than two decades.

Dili – With UN peacekeepers set to leave East Timor at the end of the year, local police are striving to shed a reputation for rough justice as the nation learns to fend for itself 10 years on from independence.

Damien Kingsbury – As Timor-Leste heads towards it parliamentary elections, it is increasingly likely that no single party will receive sufficient votes to hold an absolute majority in parliament in its own right.

East Timor had dual celebrations over the weekend, as it marked 10 years of independence and also swore in its third president, Taur Matan Ruak.

Correspondent: Liam Cochrane

Speakers: Father Jose Filipe, parish priest of Liquica church; James Batley, former Australian Ambassador to East Timor

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – The East Timorese political party headed by Prime Minister and former guerilla leader Xanana Gusmao has been accused of corruptly raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in political donations, as Mr Gusmao leads this weekend's celebrations marking the 10th anniversary of his country's independence.

Vincent Souriau – East Timor's new president on Sunday lauded the "maturity" of his young country's democracy at celebrations marking 10 years of independence, which come as UN forces prepare to leave at year's end.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – East Timor has made a new plea for Indonesia to return the remains of Timorese national hero Nicolau Lobato on the eve of the country's 10th anniversary of independence.

Fitri & Arientha Primanita, Mataram – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered the acceleration of development in the impoverished province of East Nusa Tenggara, particularly for those people who fled East Timor following its independence from Indonesia in 1999.

Damien Kingsbury – On Sunday 20 May, East Timor will celebrate ten years of independence. As a nation born from the ashes of destruction, its first decade has been marked by problems and set-backs. Many in East Timor, not least its outgoing president, Jose Ramos-Horta, lament a lack of development since independence.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – Celebrations down the mountains marking the 10th anniversary of East Timor's independence today mean little to Ines Lemos. "I don't think about anything other than my daughter, and her killer being free."

Arientha Primanita & AFP – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will attend the 10th anniversary celebrations of East Timor this weekend, according to Teuku Faizasyah, special staff to the president for international relations.