Jakarta – Myanmar's military government has ordered East Timor's top diplomat to leave the country, the government of East Timor – a vocal critic of Myanmar's leadership – said in a statement condemning the rare action.

Jayanty Nada Shofa, Jakarta – Timor Leste will "ideally" become a full-fledged ASEAN member in 2025 even though the country remains open to other time frames recommended by other Southeast Asian leaders, according to its president, Jose Ramos-Horta.

Lauren Ong and Calvin Yang, Dili, Timor-Leste – Singapore-owned businesses are investing millions of dollars in Timor-Leste's leisure and hospitality sectors.

These include five-star hotels, serviced apartments and an entertainment centre, which are among some of the biggest investments in the country so far.

GJ Burchall – The first of many things that strike you at polling places in Timor-Leste is the total lack of assaults on voters by how-to-vote card boosters – the sort that swarm all over Australian voters like demented, malaria-lugging mosquitos.

Party flags, banners and shills must keep at a respectful 25-metre distance. Ditto the automatic weapons.

Amanda Battersby, Singapore – Australian independent Carnarvon Energy has exited Timor-Leste, effectively drawing a line on any redevelopment of the Buffalo oilfield that until only recently some reports had claimed was still targeting the final investment decision in 2023.

Jakarta – Newly installed Prime Minister of Timor Leste Xanana Gusmao has congratulated the National Awakening Party (PKB) on its 25th anniversary and praised the Muslim-based party for its contribution to improving the ties between Indonesia and its neighbor and former province.

Keval Singh – Singapore will establish an embassy in the Timor-Leste capital, Dili, according to a statement by Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday.

The embassy will serve as a focal point to expand bilateral cooperation in areas such as trade and investment, tourism, defence, energy and human resources, the statement said.

Antara, Jakarta – Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi and her counterpart from Timor Leste, Bendito Dos Santos Freitas, agreed to conclude both countries' long-halted negotiations on land and sea borders.

Jakarta – As ASEAN top diplomats meet in Jakarta, Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan met his counterparts on the first day of a week-long series of meetings that the bloc is staging.

A Chinese naval hospital ship is to call at Timor-Leste as part of a humanitarian mission in the Pacific.

Named Peace Ark, the vessel set sail last week from a port in Zhoushan, in east China's Zhejiang Province, the Global Times reports.

Guteriano Neves – A successful 21 May election in Timor-Leste saw the smooth and peaceful transition of power to a new government led by Xanana Gusmao – new, in the sense of being newly sworn in, but consisting of several old political figures such as Gusmao himself, Francisco Kalbuadi, Bendito Freitas, Mariano Sabino and Dulce Soares, to name a few.

Matthew Knott – Foreign Minister Penny Wong struck an apologetic tone towards Timor-Leste in comments about Australia's use of hardball tactics to stymie the fledgling nation's efforts to secure access to oil and gas riches in the Timor Sea after it won independence from Indonesia.

One person has been killed and almost 300 houses destroyed due to the severe weather that has affected Timor-Leste in the past week.

Gantry Meilana – Former Timor-Leste independence fighter Xanana Gusmao was sworn in on Saturday as prime minister of Asia's youngest country after his party won the parliamentary election in May.

Dili – Timor-Leste's first democratically elected head of state, Mr Xanana Gusmao, returned to power on Saturday, eight years after he resigned as prime minister of South-east Asia's youngest democracy.

Church officials in Timor-Leste have dismissed a media report on the abusive treatment of students and substandard food in a seminary as false, terming it an attempt to tarnish the image of the church.

Phusadee Arunmas – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) has endorsed a roadmap outlining steps for Timor-Leste to become the bloc's 11th member, a move that will benefit Thailand economically, a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday.

Damien Kingsbury – Timor-Leste's resistance-era leader, Xanana Gusmao, is set to resume his county's presidency. This follows his National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) party's resounding success in Timor-Leste's May 2023 election.

Between 2018 and 2022, rice production in Timor-Leste more than doubled, while the area devoted to the crop grew by almost 47%, according to unreleased government data seen by the Portuguese news agency Lusa.

Graeme Dobell – Craig Stockings's work on the official history of Australia's role in the bloody birth of Timor-Leste was bedevilled by Canberra's triangular relationship, vexed but vital, with Indonesia and East Timor.

President of Timor-Leste Jose Ramos-Horta on Sunday said some countries see China's development as a threat to the region and the world, adding such a "tunnel vision" is narrow-minded and unconvincing.

Sacha Shaw – A parliamentary election and the climax of a month of celebrations marking the anniversary of independence came and went last weekend in Asia's youngest nation, Timor-Leste. By Tuesday, May 23, the results were in: Xanana Gusmao's National Congress of the Reconstruction of East Timor (CNRT) won from opposition, taking 31 out of a possible 65 seats in parliament.

Geoffrey Swenson – After a spirited election campaign, the people of Timor-Leste voted for a new parliament on May 21. The vote was free, fair and largely uneventful. The results were accepted. This is a remarkable accomplishment for democracy.

Kornelius Purba, Jakarta – With the victory of his CNRT Party in the May 20 elections, and his ability to form a strong coalition with a smaller party, Timor-Leste's independence hero Xanana Gusmao is moving closer to realizing his ambition to integrate the young nation into the globally influential ASEAN, with the strong backing of its former colonizer Indonesia.

Henry Jom – Timor Leste's independence fighter and first president Xanana Gusmao is set on pushing Australia for a gas pipeline to be built from the Greater Sunrise fields in the Timor Sea to his country's south coast if his party wins the country's parliamentary election.

Gantry Meilana – Timor-Leste's opposition party won Sunday's parliamentary election, meaning independence fighter Xanana Gusmao is likely to return as prime minister in Asia's youngest democracy.

Dili, Timor Leste – Timor Leste independence hero Xanana Gusmao's party was leading with two-thirds of votes counted in a parliamentary election, state media showed on Monday, heralding a possible return to power for the former rebel after nearly a decade in opposition.

Marian Faa, Dili, Timor-Leste – South-east Asia's youngest nation went to the polls on Sunday, with analysts' predictions of a tight result largely coming to fruition.

On Monday afternoon, Mr Gusmao's party CNRT had polled just short of 40 per cent of the vote, with counting continuing on Monday and into the week.

Dili, Timor Leste – Timor Leste holds parliamentary elections Sunday with independence hero Xanana Gusmao hoping to make a comeback as prime minister and end political deadlock in Asia's youngest country.

The polls are the fifth for the legislature since Timor Leste became independent from Indonesia in 2002 after 24 years of occupation.

Jakarta – East Timorese voters headed to the polls on Sunday in a parliamentary election that analysts said would likely see two resistance-era figures battle to be prime minister.

Sunday's poll is the country's fifth parliamentary election since East Timor gained full independence in 2002 following decades-long occupation by Indonesia.

Niall McCracken – One of Northern Ireland's fastest-growing migrant communities are casting their votes for elections thousands of miles away.

More than 2,000 people from East Timor who are living in Northern Ireland are registered to vote in their country's parliamentary elections on Sunday.

Voters in East Timor flocked to polling stations on Sunday to cast their ballot in parliamentary elections, hoping for an end to years of political deadlock in Asia's youngest country.

This is the fifth parliamentary poll since East Timor gained independence from Indonesia in 2002 after a 24-year occupation, with 65 national lawmakers to be elected to a five-year mandate.

Marian Faa, Dili – When 63-year-old Armanda Ferriera talks about her country's struggle for independence, tears spill from her eyes.

She wipes them away forcefully, as if trying to erase the painful memories they hold – these tears are angry tears.

Chris Barrett, Dili – When Timor-Leste was reborn as an independent nation in 2002, formalising its freedom from Indonesian occupation and, before that, Portuguese colonialism, boys and girls wrote down their aspirations for the new state on the back of postcards.

Melissa Conley Tyler and Andrea Fahey – Sunday May 21 is election day in Timor-Leste, when voters decide on 65 members of parliament to represent them.

Chris Barrett, Maubisse, Timor-Leste – In the cool air of Timor-Leste's central highlands, Xanana Gusmao takes to a makeshift stage before hundreds of devotees in a park across from the local Catholic church.

Chris Barrett, Suai, Timor-Leste – Timorese resistance hero and the country's first president, Xanana Gusmao, has sent a blunt message to Australia: give it a chance to further develop its own gas industry and let the underdeveloped nation flourish.

Jayanty Nada Shofa, Jakarta – Timor Leste Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak said at his grand ASEAN Summit debut on Wednesday that his country was on the right track to becoming a full member of the regional grouping.

Chris Barrett, Dili – It is election season across much of South-East Asia, but nowhere in these parts will the torch of democracy shine brighter than here in Timor-Leste (also known as East Timor).

Michael Leach – East Timorese voters at next month's parliamentary elections will be dressed a little differently from usual. The decision to hold the vote on the Sabbath – an unusual choice in a strongly Catholic nation – will bring tens of thousands of voters to the polling booths in their Sunday best.

Paul Osborne – Woodside's boss says the energy company is committed to finding a path forward on the multibillion dollar Sunrise gas project.

The development, about 450km northwest of Darwin and 150km south of East Timor, comprises the Sunrise and Troubadour gas and condensate fields.

Parker Novak – Election campaigns in Timor-Leste are a vibrant affair. The contesting political parties hold boisterous rallies, often featuring local cultural traditions and music, and party flags dot the landscape in cities and villages alike.

A senior bishop in predominantly Catholic Timor-Leste has appealed to political leaders to promote healthy politics and maintain stability ahead of campaigning for a general election next month.

Voters in one of the youngest countries in the world will be heading to the polls on May 21 for the country's fifth parliamentary election since 2002.

Tegar Nurfitra, Kupang – Indonesian Police (Polri), represented by East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Regional Police Chief (Kapolda) Inspector General Johanis Asadoma, intensified cooperation with the Timor-Leste Police (PNTL) by attending its head's inauguration ceremony in Dili, Timor-Leste, Mar 27.

According to National Procurement Commission (CNA) figures cited in China-Lusophone Brief, companies from China won 44 contracts worth a total of US$714.6 million during the period. Indonesian enterprises were awarded 72 contracts worth nearly US$499 million.

Rick Wilkinson – Jadestone Energy, Singapore, has resumed oil production at its troubled Montara field in the Timor Sea offshore northern Australia following a 7-month shut-in due to oil leaks and related problems on the Montara Venture floating production storage and offtake vessel (FPSO).

A senior Vatican official in Timor-Leste has lauded the government's commitment to providing annual financial assistance to the Catholic Church, calling it a long-term investment in people rather than a donation.

Timor-Leste's airline, Aero Dili, made its inaugural international flight Monday with its sole jet aircraft, an Airbus 320.

The service connected the Timorese capital of Dili with the Indonesian island of Bali, according to a report by the Portuguese news agency Lusa.

Patrick Dupont – On February 13, Timor-Leste's Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak met his Indonesian counterpart President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo in the Indonesian satellite city of Bogor, home to one of the country's many presidential palaces.

Timor-Leste president Jose Ramos-Horta has appealed to international partners to invest in Church organizations and civil society groups stating that the government has sufficient funds but lacks the necessary resources to execute social development programs.