Faisal Edroos – East Timor, one of the world's poorest countries, could still be an economic success story despite reports its main oil and gas fields will run dry by 2022 and it will go bankrupt by 2027, according to its former leader.

Robert Murray – "Kissingerian realism" and an associated hard nose for the "national interest", or "Wilsonian idealism"? Nowhere has this timeless tension in foreign affairs challenged Canberra more than over our nearest neighbour, East Timor.

The people of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste will today celebrate the 42nd anniversary of their Declaration of Independence.

For the last 26 of those years, the US-based East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) has supported their struggle for self-determination.

Jakarta, Indonesia and Dili, Timor-Leste – "I feel reborn today," said Antonio Ximenes in the car on the way to the airport in Bali. He carefully took out a tattered black and white photograph of his sister from his wallet. "I have carried this picture with me for 35 years.

Celestina Soares, Est – The President of Timor-Leste National Youth Council (CNJTL), Maria Dadi Magno said unemployment rates in Timor-Leste are high and increasing annually, because now there are more high school graduates.

She said from the total number of high school graduates only some go on to study at university, while the others go into unemployment.

Lolita Pacheco, Est – The School Principal Alberto da Costa Braz from Secondary School 4 September Balide, has placed a ban on his students, especially for girls not to wear short uniforms and to follow school regulations.

As he said, the school expects a person to follow discipline in school, as this will prepare them for a good future.

Paulina Quintao – The government through the Ministry of Health (MH) made a decision to promote the International method of A and B (Abstinence and Be faithful) in its HIV/AIDS campaign activities to increase community awareness on the prevention of infections with the virus HIV, but not to promote method C (use of condom) to the general public.

New York – Next Tuesday, on November 28th, the people of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste will celebrate the 42nd anniversary of their Declaration of Independence. For the last 26 of those years, the U.S.-based East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) has supported their struggle for self-determination.

Bec Strating – Throughout the course of 2017, Australia and Timor-Leste have negotiated in international conciliation proceedings to resolve their protracted disagreements over hydrocarbon resources and maritime boundaries in the Timor Sea.

Ian Lloyd Neubauer, Dili, East Timor – Smouldering fires. Haphazard explosions. Malnourished children. The disintegration of law and order and the absence of social services.

Michael Rose – Laying bare the greed for petroleum resources that has steered five decades of Australian policy regarding East Timor, Kim McGrath's "Crossing the Line" is a masterfully written and researched piece of scholarship.

Kyodo News – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations will convene a meeting of senior officials next month to discuss admitting East Timor as a member, Asean officials said Sunday.

Mary Boland, Dili - November 12th, 1991. As day breaks, an eerie quiet hangs over Santa Cruz Cemetery in Dili, East Timor.

Paul Garvey, Perth – Timor Leste has reinforced its insistence that gas from the Greater Sunrise LNG project be piped to Timorese soil, dashing hopes of a compromise over the long-stalled project.

Shannon Power – An alarming majority of lesbian, bisexual and trans (LBT) people in East Timor have faced violence.

Many women and trans men reported facing extreme homophobic violence, often at the hands of family members.

The worrying findings were revealed in 'A Research Report on the Lives of Lesbian and Bisexual Women and Transgender Men in Timor-Leste'.

Timor-Leste (East Timor) has other oil deposits with potential for commercial exploration in the Greater Sunrise field, which will guarantee production over the next few decades, the Timorese Prime Minister said at a conference in the Australian city of Perth.

Manila – How "inclusive" and "pro-people" is ASEAN, as it marks its 50th anniversary this year? The question was raised at the weekend after immigration authorities from host country Philippines detained for nearly 12 hours four East Timorese nationals who flew in to attend the ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN Peoples Forum (ACSC/APF).

Bangkok – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has reached a decision to refrain from admitting East Timor to the regional grouping within the year, it was learned Saturday from ASEAN diplomatic sources.

Amid the 50th anniversary this year of the bloc's founding, there have been repeated discussions on whether or not to let East Timor join as its 11th member.

Paul Garvey – Timor Leste will start negotiations today with Woodside Petroleum and other members of the stalled Greater Sunrise liquefied natural gas project in an attempt to finally resolve the regulatory uncertainty that has long lingered over the development.

Edward Aspinall & James Scambary – One of the surprises of East Timor's July parliamentary election and the subsequent wrangling over the formation of a new government has been the role played by a new force in Timorese politics: the KHUNTO Party.

Dili – East Timor's Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said Thursday his country is "doing our best" to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, but Asean members Myanmar and Singapore are still withholding their support.

Paulina Quintao – The Director of the organization Women's movement (MOFFE), Yasinta Lujina acknowledges that new Members of Parliament (MPs) need transportation to facilitate their work, especially to do monitoring activities on the ground, but this does not mean said transportation must be an expensive Prado.

Paulina Quintao – Women's organizations urge political parties from the VII constitutional government to put away party interests and uphold the public interest in order to bring sensible development for everyone in Timor-Leste.

Celestina Soares – Since 2016, the government through the Ministry of Education has distributed 1100 chairs and tables to schools throughout Timor-Leste.

The Director General of the Ministry of Education (ME), Antoninho Pires said now there are only 200 or 300 chairs left, as the rest have been distributed.

Michael Leach – In 2015, not long after the formation of the unprecedented national unity government between Timor-Leste's two largest parties, CNRT and Fretilin, senior CNRT Minister Agio Pereira commented on the country's remarkable transition from 'belligerent democracy' to a new era of consensus democracy.

Damien Kingsbury – Australia's agreement with Timor-Leste to settle a permanent maritime boundary in the Timor Sea may have hit a snag as Timor-Leste's politics is thrown into turmoil.

East Timor's new government has suffered a major setback after opposition parties vetoed its policy programme, a blow that could see the impoverished young democracy return to the polls.

The Fretilin party, which won the July election by a narrow margin, did not receive enough votes to govern alone and has formed a minority coalition government with the Democratic Party.

David Hutt – What a relief. For years, myself and some other pundits deplored the fact that there was very little political opposition to Timor-Leste's "unity government." So little, in fact, that President Tuar Matan Ruak went beyond his constitutional role by taking it upon himself to hold the government to account.

How a policy scare galvanized a small island's family planning sectorBy Kelli Rogers @kellierin19 October 2017

The government of Timor-Leste (East Timor) intends to double non-oil tax revenues to US$400 million a year with the introduction of Value Added Tax (VAT) and increases in the taxes on tobacco and alcohol, said the Minister of Planning and Finance.

Paulina Quintao – The government through the National Commission of Food Security and Nutrition (KONSSANTIL) held a meeting with non-government organizations to evaluate the progress and discuss the continuation of the implementation of the National Action Plan to end Hunger and Malnutrition in Timor-Leste (PANHAM-TIL).

Paulina Quintao – The rate of Anemia has been increasing in the country according to data from the Timor-Leste Food and Nutrition survey 2013, that showed that 63% of anemia had an effect on children older than 6 years old, while 40% of women from reproductive age 14 to 60 suffered from anemia.

Lindsay Murdoch, Bangkok – A landmark agreement to develop billions of dollars' worth of oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea has been referred to East Timor, where the future of country's new minority government is in doubt.

As rain rat-a-tats on a flimsy tin roof, baby Afeena lies sleeping. On the walls, pieces of cardboard are tacked up, to give warmth, while across a window, a piece of fabric, mint green and paper-thin, blows gently.

In the far-east of Timor-Leste, where the road narrows to one lane overhung with vegetation, where crocodiles still lurk in the rivers, and where freedom fighters were born, lies Lospalos. It's a small town of about 17,000 people that tells its story openly.

Australia and Timor Leste have drawn up a draft treaty setting out their maritime borders, aiming to end a bitter dispute over lucrative oil and gas fields, officials said Sunday.

"Timor Leste and Australia have reached agreement on the complete text of a draft treaty" in confidential talks in The Hague over the past week, the Permanent Court of Arbitration said in a statement.

Brigida dos Santos – Public toilets in Dili are damaged and have no water, in particular toilets in Largo Lecidere and those in front of the Government Palace, the community appeal to the government to pay attention to the toilets.

Celestina Soares – The representative Mria Dadi Magno from the Timor-Leste National Youth Council (CNJTL) said this is a proud moment for young people as so far there has been no youth policy.

"It is a big moment for Timor-Leste youth to be proud, we now have a national youth policy," she said during the ceremony of the launch of the National Youth Policy book in Dili.

Dili – The 7th Timorese constitutional government, a minority government, will face the first great test in Parliament next week, with the debate of the executive's Program to be able to condition the life in the country until the middle of 2018.

Erin Cook, Jakarta – A long-running territorial dispute between Australia and Timor-Leste is a step closer to resolution with last month's announcement that talks at The Hague arrived at a new maritime border treaty for the Timor Sea.

Sirisha Veera – 2017 has been a positive year for Timor-Leste politics. Despite initial fears, both the May presidential election and the July parliamentary election concluded peacefully.

With its longstanding dispute with Australia over the Timor Sea resolved, neighbouring Timor-Leste looks set to expand its petroleum and mineral industries.

Meanwhile, its government is actively seeking investors in agriculture and fisheries, tourism and services, according to Abel Guterres, Timor-Leste Ambassador to Australia.

In the coming days it is likely we will get more information about the "boundary breakthrough" announced on the 1st of September.

According to an article published last week by the Portuguese news agency LUSA, this week Timor-Leste, Australia and the UN Conciliation Commission are participating in meetings at The Hague to finalise remaining details.

Khoo Ying Hooi – After 15 years of its restoration of independence, Timor Leste is a country that remains unknown to many of us in the Southeast Asia region. Geographically, it is located on the eastern edge of the Indonesian archipelago. As a small state, the country has a population of only 1.2 million people.

Lindsay Murdoch – East Timor's three opposition parties say they are ready to form a parliamentary majority alliance to take office if programs of a newly sworn-in minority government fail to gain support, as political tensions rise again in Asia's newest democracy.

Nelson Da Cruz, Dili – East Timor President Francisco "Lu Olo" Guterres swore in the remaining members of the new cabinet on Tuesday and urged the first minority government since independence to focus on improving living conditions and avoiding political upheaval.

Gary Cox – In wealthy countries, free-to-air broadcast television may be giving way to marathon binge sessions on your favourite streaming service.

But in Timor-Leste, viewers are getting something extra in their terrestrial TV programming and it's proving a hit. A new locally-produced law and order drama is taking the fledgling nation by storm.

Caitlin McGee – Fifteen years since Timor-Leste gained its independence, there are growing fears it could face economic collapse.

Its main oil and gas reserve is nearly depleted and the government of the country formerly known as East Timor is pumping its savings into grand infrastructure schemes that critics say are wasteful.

Remembering the Balibo Five In the month of August, Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA was proud to support the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) co-host two public events featuring East Timorese Journalist, Raimundos Oki who was in Australia undertaking a placement with Fairfax and the ABC.

Boni Jehadin, Kupang and Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Neglected for almost two decades, pro-Jakarta Catholic Timor-Leste militias who relocated to Indonesia after the country's independence have demanded the government begin a process to remove them from the United Nation's serious crime list, which prevents them traveling abroad.