Chris Barrett, Singapore – The road up to the village of Kutet in East Timor's western enclave of Oecusse is so rough that most highlanders walk the jungle trail when they need to visit the coast.
Often hauling bags of rice on their backs, the steep and rocky journey takes them up to three hours if they're fit.
Tibar Port in Timor-Leste is half-finished, with the grand opening expected in May 2022.
The new port is expected to handle 350,000 containers a year, replacing the existing facilities in Dili and ending an economic bottleneck.
Peter Baker – If you are looking for a good read that will give you, the happy reader, a no-small glow of pride in how Australia, the country of the "fair go", applies itself on the international scene in general, or perhaps more locally – say in that area just north of us, East Timor – then you are in for a crashing disappointment.
Jakarta (Xinhua) – Timor-Leste on Saturday received a batch of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines and syringes donated by China.
Chris Barrett, Singapore – There have been three flights from Dili to Oecusse in the past month as well as one ferry trip.
By air and sea, a judge, two sets of lawyers and a prosecutor have made their way from the East Timorese capital to the coastal enclave that borders Indonesia. They have assembled in Oecusse for a criminal trial that has divided a nation.
Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Timor-Leste's government has lifted a ban that has prevented Catholics and members of other religions from going to places of worship in the capital Dili for more than two months following a spike in Covid-19 cases in early March.
Antonio Sampaio, Dili – The Timor-Leste government may apply disciplinary action to public officials doing face-to-face work who refuse to take the vaccine, while maintaining that vaccination against covid-19 is not mandatory.
Timor-Leste's Petroleum Fund (PF) is 'well capitalised' to support economic growth, although it is currently being hampered by the pandemic, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Lawyers for alleged victims in a sexual abuse case involving an ex-priest in Timor-Leste are to lodge an official complaint against officials at a district court where the case is being heard after the trial was postponed for a third time.
Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – The Covid-19 pandemic has forced a district court in Timor-Leste to postpone the resumption of a trial of an ex-priest accused of sexually abusing children for the third time.
Alex Ray – Fifty kilometres east of Dili is the site of one of Timor-Leste's most renowned scuba diving locations. It is reached via the nearby Santo Antonio Grotto rest stop where timber-slat huts sell plastic bottled water and noodles in Styrofoam cups.
Zevonia Vieira in Dili and Tjitske Lingsma – Lita grew up in a poor family in a hamlet surrounded by the spectacular mountains of Oecusse in Timor-Leste. When she was 11 years old she went to live in Topu Honis shelter home, in the mountainous, forest-encircled village of Kutet.
Antonio Sampaio, Dili – Timor-Leste today registered 172 more cases of covid-19 infection with the majority in Dili – passing the barrier of 5000 cases since the beginning of the pandemic.
Anthony Galloway – A two-day court hearing into an appeal brought by Witness K's former lawyer Bernard Collaery challenging a secrecy order is being held behind closed doors after his lawyer didn't challenge holding the appeal in secret.
Anthony Galloway – Lawyers acting for Bernard Collaery will next week challenge a court order requiring large parts of his trial to be held in secret as the long-running case continues into his alleged efforts to expose a secret Australian operation to bug East Timor's government.
Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Religious leaders in predominantly Catholic Timor-Leste have launched joint efforts to provide aid to victims of recent floods and residents affected by Covid-19 restrictions.
Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Hindu and Confucian leaders said their aim was to bolster government efforts to help people struggling because of the disasters.
Peter Job – Since his death on 13 April, tributes to former Australian foreign minister and leader of the federal opposition Andrew Peacock have flowed from across the political divide. He has been remembered as a huge figure who left an "indelible" mark on Australia in the 1970s and 1980s.
Antonio Sampaio, Dili – The Timor-Leste health authorities have registered a total of 126 new infections with SARS-CoV-2 in the last 24 hours, almost all in the Timorese capital, according to official data.
Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Timor-Leste has ordered all its citizens to comply and be tested on demand for Covid-19 or be forced into quarantine if they refuse.
The order was passed by the country's Council of Ministers on May 5.
Chris Barrett, Singapore – Health experts are urging the Morrison government to accelerate its delivery of doses to East Timor amid a deepening crisis there that has led China's vaccine diplomacy to reach Australia's doorstep.
A month after being hit with devastating floods, Timor-Leste is struggling to cope amid a Covid-19 outbreak.
Last month's floods left more than 45 people dead including a dozen children and tens of thousands homeless.
Li-Li Chen – On 8th of April, in the aftermath of devastating floods, Timor-Leste's government declared that Timor-Leste entered the state of emergency for thirty days, when the government appealed to international assistance for its post-disaster rebuilding and recovery.
Michael Leach – The recent floods in Timor-Leste have now caused 45 deaths and some 10,000 people to be displaced, including 7000 in the capital, with widespread damage to roads and bridges, and around 4500 dwellings destroyed. The government has called for international assistance, as a number of local non-government initiatives mobilised to feed and shelter the displaced.
Guteriano Neves – On April 4, Tropical Cyclone Seroja hit Timor-Leste, devastating the island nation and resulting in the worst floods in 48 years. According to the United Nations, the natural disaster took 45 lives, affected 25,709 families, and destroyed 4,546 houses, forcing nearly 10,000 people to seek shelter in the capital Dili.
Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Salesian Archbishop Virgilio Do Carmo da Silva of Dili has called on the people of Timor-Leste to participate in the government's vaccine program and adhere to health protocols as the number of cases in the Catholic-majority country continues to rise.
Chloe King – Over the Easter weekend, as the first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines was expected to arrive in Timor-Leste's capital of Dili, Tropical Cyclone Seroja arrived instead.
Margie Mason, Robin McDowell and Raimundos Oki, Dili – It was the same every night. A list of names was posted on Reverend Richard Daschbach's bedroom door. The child at the top of the roster knew it was her turn to share the lower bunk with the elderly priest and another elementary school-aged girl.
Felicity James – Fernanda Borges remembers Australia assisting Timor-Leste when the tiny country was struggling with violence after its independence vote.
Ms Borges lives in Darwin now but was formerly Timor-Leste's finance minister during this transition – she would like to see a similar response to the country's recent catastrophic floods and landslides.
Ryan Dagur – Xanana Gusmao, Timor-Leste's independence hero and former prime minister and president, has been at the center of a protest demanding the release of the body of man who health authorities claim died of Covid-19 while his family claim he died of a stroke.
Stephen Dziedzic – Labor is ramping up pressure on the federal government to send military helicopters to Timor-Leste, which is struggling to provide aid to remote communities devastated by catastrophic floods.
The government announced a $7 million assistance package for Timor-Leste on Sunday, including emergency supplies and personal protective equipment.
Michael Rose – Xanana Gusmao, famed icon of East Timor, is letting his people down. Once placed by many of his Australian supporters in the same pantheon as Nelson Mandela, on Monday he was filmed assaulting two women in the street.
Chris Barrett, Singapore – Devastated by natural disaster and in the grip of a COVID-19 outbreak, there is a new controversy in East Timor.
Australia has responded to a request for help from the government of Timor-Leste with a $7 million relief package to support 100,000 people affected by flooding.
Christine Rovoi – Already facing the threat of a new coronavirus outbreak, the tiny nation of Timor-Leste has been hit by devastating flooding and landslides.
According to authorities, the Easter weekend deluge claimed the lives of at least 40 people including a dozen children, destroyed house, roads, bridges and left the capital Dili under water.
Stephen Dziedzic and Anastacio Medeira Araujo in Dili – When the floods came, Markus dos Santos lost almost everything. His wife and three children were all buried by a massive avalanche of mud and water which smashed into their house.
Markus remembers desperately scrabbling through the ruins, trying to pull his two young daughters to safety as they called for help.
Chris Barrett, Singapore – A state of calamity has been declared by East Timor, whose foreign minister has been asked to seek international assistance from Australia and others as it bids to recover from catastrophic floods and landslides and confronts an alarming new COVID-19 outbreak.
Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Priests and nuns in Timor-Leste have joined efforts to provide much-needed assistance to flash flood victims forced to flee their homes in recent days following storms that have struck the Catholic-majority country since Easter Sunday.
Many of those who fled have sought shelter at church-run facilities.
Raimundos Oki, Dili – In Tasitolu, a suburb in the west of the capital, Dili, Batista Elo balances his young daughter on his hip as he stands in flood waters that reach up his thighs.
Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Timor-Leste announced the death of a woman from Covid-19 on April 6, its first recorded virus death, as it tries to stem a growing infection rate.
The 44-year-old woman tested positive on March 24 with no symptoms but started showing symptoms on April 4, said Niltor do Carmo da Silva, spokesman of the Integrated Center for Crisis Management.
Stephen Dziedzic – Timor-Leste's government says it will ask Australia and other nations for help following catastrophic floods that have killed dozens and left thousands homeless.
Late on Tuesday, officials confirmed the death toll from the disaster had reached 34. But that figure is expected to rise, with at least another eight people missing.
On Pacific Beat with Mala Darmadi – The death toll from floods and landslides in eastern Indonesia and neighbouring Timor Leste has reached almost 100.
Officials say many people are still unaccounted for and thousands have been displaced after Cyclone Seroja swept through on the weekend.
The Australian government says it "stands ready" to help Timor-Leste after devastating floods hit the country, forcing thousands to take refuge and leaving at least 27 people dead.
Chris Barrett, Singapore – Already facing a worrying new COVID-19 outbreak, Timor Leste has been hit by devastating flooding and landslides, claiming the lives of at least 11 people, destroying roads, bridges and houses and leaving the capital Dili under water.
Antonio Sampaio, Dili – Hundreds of people, many of them students, mobbed exit routes out of the Timorese capital Dili on Good Friday seeking to leave the city to escape the difficulties they are experiencing over the covid lockdown.
Damon Evans – East Timor is considering building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal and converting oil-fired power plants to gas in an effort to slash energy supply costs and cut greenhouse gas emissions. The move seems slightly ironic given the country advocated developing an LNG export complex for much of the past decade.
Timorese authorities have announced that they have detected a record surge in new covid-19 cases – 55 in one day.
According to Lusa news agency yesterday, 43 new cases of covid-19 were reported in the previous 24 hours in the capital Dili, 11 in Baucau and one in Viqueque, bringing the total number of active cases in the country to 206.
The trial of a former US priest accused of child abuse in Timor-Leste due to resume tomorrow at the Oecusse Court has been postponed until May 24, according to judicial sources.
Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – The Catholic Church in Timor-Leste says it is boosting efforts to help contain a recent spike in Covid-19 cases that has forced the government to implement lockdowns in three municipalities.
The tiny Catholic-majority country has recorded 229 infections, some 95 of which are active cases, in five municipalities since March 7.
Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – The superior of the Society of the Divine Word congregation in Timor-Leste has moved to scotch rumors that ex-priest and self-confessed pedophile Richard Daschbach, who is currently on trial for sexual abuse, will be reinstated.
Nelson Da Cruz, Kate Lamb, Dili – The tiny Southeast Asian nation of East Timor will put its capital city on a coronavirus lockdown for the first time, its government said on Monday, amid fears it could be facing its first local outbreak.