Portugal withdrew the bulk of its police officers from East Timor on Saturday as international forces wind up a 13-year mission in the country.
Seventy-five of the officers boarded a Lisbon-bound plane in the former Portuguese colony, among the last of 1200 UN peacekeepers to return home before the official end of their mission on December 31.
Havana – East Timor's Education minister Bendito dos Santos Freitas underscored Cuba's cooperation with his country in the fields of education and healthcare.
Paris – The Minister of Education of Timor Leste, Benito dos Santos Fleitas, highlighted on Friday at the Unesco headquarters the cooperation of Cuba with his country in the fields of Health and education.
"Cuban contribution is very beneficial", told Prensa Latina the minister, who participates here on the World Meeting on Education for All (EFA).
Australia is ending its security mission in East Timor, six years after sending troops to restore stability.
The Australian-led International Stabilisation Force (ISF) was deployed in 2006 amid violence that forced thousands of people from their homes. Some 460 Australian and New Zealand ISF troops currently remain in East Timor.
Catherine McGrath & staff – East Timor's Finance Minister wants her country and other post-conflict nations around the world to gain greater control over foreign aid programs.
As the sun rises in East Timor this morning, Australian troops stationed there will begin packing up and pulling out. The Australian-led International Stabilisation Force made up of almost 400 soldiers, mostly Australians, is shutting up shop.
Sara Everingham
Australia has quietly ended its military mission in East Timor, with the flag officially lowered on the 13-year deployment at a ceremony in Dili.
The deployment officially ends on Thursday, although Australian personnel will remain through to April next year to return equipment to Australia, close bases and return property and buildings to the East Timor government.
Jimmy Ellingham – South of Dili, East Timor's hot, dry and dusty capital, a narrow pot-holed road snakes its way over the hills.
Stephanie March, Canberra – Hundreds of East Timorese will be forced to find new jobs when the United Nations withdraws from the country at the end of this year.
900 East Timorese directly employed by the UN peacekeeping mission will be out of work, as will a further 1300 security guards employed by a private firm contracted by the UN.
Rights groups marking the 21st anniversary of the massacre of 270 Timorese by Indonesian forces are demanding justice for this and other crimes committed during Jakarta's occupation of Timor Leste.
Ati Nurbaiti, Jakarta – The Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili was full of people on Nov. 1. In preparation for Nov. 2, the Day of the Spirits, they cleaned the tombstones and the graves, gave them a fresh coat of paint and bought candles for the following day.
United Nations – A UN official says peacekeepers are on track to leave East Timor by year's end, but the international community will remain engaged in one of the world's youngest nations through other channels.
Matthew Russell Lee, United Nations – Timor Leste is called a rare UN success story, and it is slated to come off the agenda of the Security Council through the expiration of its mandate. But even on this, there are residual questions of impunity, not only for the killings in Santa Cruz in 1991, but also for the 1999 killings.
This afternoon (12 November), the Security Council is scheduled to hold a debate on the UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT), whose mandate will expire at the end of December.
The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) urged the United Nations, the US, and other governments to fulfill outstanding promises of justice for the many victims of Indonesia's illegal invasion and occupation as the UN Security Council meets to wraps up the current peacekeeping mission in Timor-Leste.
Index: ASA 57/007/2012
[Joint statement by ANTI (The Timor-Leste National Alliance for an International Tribunal) and Amnesty International to commemorate 12 November 2012.]
Mark Fenn, Singapore – This has been a big year for Timor Leste, with one of the world's smallest and most impoverished countries passing a series of important milestones.
July's parliamentary elections took place without incident, which means the United Nations – a highly visible presence in the country – will pull out its peacekeeping troops before the end of the year.
The leaders of Australia, Indonesia and East Timor have held their first official trilateral meeting, discussing the strength of relations between the three countries and the potential for greater economic co-operation.
George Roberts – Prime Minister Julia Gillard is claiming a first in regional diplomacy, after securing a joint meeting with the leaders of Indonesia and East Timor.
It is the first time the three countries' leaders have met together and comes just over a decade after Australia played a key role in East Timor gaining independence from Indonesia.
In the last quarter the Petroleum Fund of Timor-Leste increased by nearly US$400 million to US$11.05441 billion dollars, indicates a report released on the official website of the Banco Central de Timor-Leste (BCTL).
The last contingent of New Zealand troops will return from East Timor this week, ending New Zealand's 13-year presence in the country.
La'o Hamutuk recently gave the letter below to the UN Security Council, which is preparing for its final debate on Timor-Leste on 12 November; a PDF with footnotes can be downloaded from http://www.laohamutuk.org/Justice/LHUNSC4Nov2012en.pdf.
East Timor's National Police Commissioner, Longuinhos Monteiro, says he is confident his force will be able to maintain law and order in the country.
Yesterday, the United Nations officially handed back full control of policing operations to the East Timor National Police (PNTL).
United Nations peacekeepers in East Timor have handed full responsibility for policing to Asia's youngest nation, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has announced.
The National Police of East Timor "are assuming full responsibility for maintaining law and order", he said in a statement on Wednesday.
Sara Everingham and staff – The United Nations has handed over full control of policing operations to the East Timorese National Police Force (PNTL) at a ceremony in Dili.
The current UN deployment – the United Nations Integrated Mission in East Timor (UNMIT) – came in 2006, after a political crisis in which dozens were killed and hundreds-of-thousands displaced.
UN peacekeepers will hand over full responsibility for policing to East Timor next week as they begin withdrawing in earnest from Asia's youngest nation, a UN official says.
The family of a Kiwi news cameraman slain during the Indonesian invasion of East Timor is calling on the Government to seek justice.
Gary Cunningham, along with four Australian and British reporters, was allegedly killed by Indonesian troops in Balibo in 1975.
Michael Bachelard, Jakarta – Shirley Shackleton is the only of the relatives of the Balibo Five who wants the men's grave dug up and their remains returned to Australia, according to the brother of another of the victims.
Relatives of two news reporters killed at Balibo in East Timor in 1975 say an attempt to exhume their remains will cause more trauma. The reporters, and three fellow newsmen, were killed by Indonesian troops during the invasion of East Timor. The independent Senator Nick Xenophon has backed a move to have the remains returned to Australia.
The family of one of the five journalists killed in East Timor in 1975 is opposed to having his remains returned to Australia.
The Balibo Five, as they are known, were killed by Indonesian soldiers during the invasion of the country. Their remains lie in a single grave in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.
Michael Bachelard, Indonesia – Shirley Shackleton refers to it as "my job" – telling journalists the story of her husband, Greg, who died at Balibo in East Timor in 1975, and seeking justice.
At 80 years of age, she is worried that, soon enough, she will no longer be able to do that job.
Stephanie March – East Timor is considering walking away from its treaty with the Australian government and Woodside Petroleum over the development of oil and gas fields in the Timor Sea.
The three parties are signatories to an agreement that governs the rights each have to the resources under the Timor Sea.
The 80-year-old widow of an Australian journalist allegedly shot by Indonesian forces in East Timor in 1975 pleaded Sunday for her husband's remains to be swiftly repatriated.
George Roberts, Indonesia – The widow of one of five journalists killed by Indonesian troops in Timor in 1975 has launched a new campaign to have her husband's remains returned to Australia.
Shirley Shackleton's husband Greg was one of the so-called Balibo Five, a group of Australian journalists killed in East Timor in 1975 by Indonesian forces.
Rizky Amelia – The East Timor Anti-Corruption Commission on Wednesday visited the headquarters of Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission in Jakarta in hopes of fostering cooperation between the two agencies, one of its commissioners said.
Lauren Turner – Intestinal worms affect up to half of East Timor's children and former president Jose Ramos-Horta is calling on Australians to help eradicate the "scourge" within five years.
Former East Timor president Jose Ramos-Horta has called for help for students wanting to study in Tasmania.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner has addressed students at Hobart's Fahan School. He spoke about issues facing his country's young population and plans to improve education.
Paul Cleary – For most of its history, East Timor has been justified in blaming foreign powers for its woes. But now, with oil revenue flooding into the independent country, the government, led by resistance leader Xanana Gusmao, surely has no one to blame for the country's problems.
David Beniuk – East Timor's former president Jose Ramos-Horta has dismissed what he says are Australian suggestions that his country is growing closer to China.
Delivering a lecture at the University of Tasmania, Dr Ramos-Horta said East Timor had snubbed the offer of cheap loans from China, joking that the emerging superpower had more influence over Australia.
The excellent new ABC Television Four Corners documentary Taxing Times in Timor highlights critical issues for Timor-Leste, and will open they eyes of Australians and others. The focus of the program – Timor-Leste's fight against oil companies who are ripping off this new, small, impoverished country – is important for people everywhere.
Woodside Petroleum Ltd, along with ConocoPhillips and other resource companies, is facing demands by the East Timor government to pay up to $3 billion in disputed tax payments related to activities in the Timor Sea, according to an ABC TV report.
(Footage of US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, arriving for a visit in Timor Leste)
Kerry O'Brien, presenter: For a country struggling to find to its feet, a friendly visit from the US Secretary of State is always welcome.
Hillary Clinton: Hello, and how are you my friend? I am so happy to be here, I can't tell you how happy I am.
Wendy Frew – Historians often say the past is a foreign country but in East Timor it's a thread that runs through the fabric of daily life.
Peter Cronau and Andrew Fowler – Potentially billions of dollars of tax is being withheld from the government of East Timor by some of the world's richest oil and gas companies operating in the Timor Sea, Four Corners has revealed.
Dozens of people from Timor Leste, who had taken refuge in the province for 13 years with minimum facilities from the Indonesian government, have left the Naibonat refugee camp to return home.
Fatulmau, East Timor – Filomena Mendonca gave birth to all five of her children at home in the village of Fatulmau, high up in the mountains of East Timor, without registering their births.
"The hospital is very far away. I didn't feel there was a problem so I just stayed at home," said the 30-year-old mother.
Brazil will represent Timor Leste's (East Timor) interests at the International Monetary fund (IMF) starting on 1 November, the Timorese government said in a statement issued Tuesday in Dili.
Stephanie Quine – The access-to-justice system in East Timor is in "crisis", an Australian lawyer working there has said.
Danielle Winzenried said the problem is partly due to a failure to translate laws from Portuguese into common languages of the Timorese people.
A programme to build and repair infrastructure, including roads, bridges, airports, schools, hospitals and power and communication networks, will be carried out over the next five year, according to East Timor's Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao.
Matthew Lee, Dili, East Timor – US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton praised East Timor on Thursday for holding fair elections this year, and said it was up to the government of Asia's newest and poorest nation to decide when and how to seek accountability for past violence during its struggle for independence.