Sara Everingham – East Timor, a country that counts Australia as a major donor, is sacking all the foreign judges and advisers in its justice system.
The decision was made in a closed session of parliament in Dili on Friday night amid concerns about the judiciary's handling of a bitter dispute between East Timor and oil companies operating in the Timor Sea.
Venidora Oliveira – Political party members lack knowledge of the Public Subsidy Budget which is provided by the National Electoral Commission to registered Timorese political parties.
Andrew Buncombe – Over the years, Maureen Tolfree has grown used to the lies and obfuscation, the tiny steps of progress followed by further setbacks. At the age of 69 she is not ready to be quiet, even though she is now in poor health.
Chris McCall – More than a decade on from gaining independence, East Timor has made gains in health but still faces an uphill battle to achieve universal health coverage and access. Chris McCall reports.
Judith Ugwumadu – The government of Timor-Leste must further strengthen its public financial management in order to smooth spending over the long term to avoid a 'fiscal cliff', the International Monetary Fund has said.
Wellington (Dominion Post/West Papua Action Auckland/Pacific Media Watch) – The New Zealand government is coming under pressure to have the Australian Federal Police reopen the war crimes investigation into the 1975 slaying of five journalists in East Timor by Indonesian special forces.
Paulina Quintao – Members of Parliament (MPs) have criticized health directors who they say are prone to walking off the job during office hours.
MP Domingas Alves da Silva, alias Bilou Mali, urged the Ministry of Health to ensure its public servants were at their office for their rostered hours.
Paulina Quintao – Tuberculosis is on the rise in Timor-Leste with new patients registered every day, says Bairo-Pite clinic director Dr Daniel Murphy.
Dr Dan said people needed to be made aware of the risk factors for tuberculosis and called for a strategy to arrest the disease's spread. About 400 patients test positive for tuberculosis in Timor-Leste each year.
Athena Yenko – Former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam advocated a cover-up of the Balibo Five East Timor controversy, Shirley Shackleton believes. Shackleton is the widow of the Australian journalist Greg Shackleton who was allegedly killed in duty during the 1975 East Timor invasion.
The son of New Zealander Gary Cunningham, who was killed with four other newsmen in the Timorese town of Balibo almost 40 years ago, wants the case re-examined.
Sara Everingham – The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has abandoned a war crimes investigation into the killing of five Australian newsmen at Balibo in East Timor in 1975.
Gough Whitlam was a good leader who made one "terrible" mistake: never acknowledging the Indonesian military's invasion of East Timor.
That's the view of the widow of Australian journalist Greg Shackleton, one of a group of reporters known as the Balibo Five killed covering the 1975 incursion.
Jakarta – The human rights violations that occurred in Timor Leste, formerly known as East Timor, during the period of 1974 to 1999, when the country was still a part of Indonesia, may no longer be in the spotlight, but the memories remain.
Tom Allard – Foreign interests are trying to "dominate" East Timor, exploiting the fragility of the tiny nation to deny its rightful share of the oil and gas revenues in the Timor Sea and sow unrest, its Prime Minister says.
Paulina Quintao – Women's advocacy group Alola Foundation has withdrawn funding from five scholarship recipients because they fell pregnant. Alola Foundation executive director Alzira Reis said the aim of the scholarship program was to provide opportunities to vulnerable young women to access formal education.
Paulina Quintao – The decision by the government to use Indonesia bottled water at recent international events such as the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) conference, instead of a local product, has drawn criticism from community members.
Resident Almerio Afonso said the government should use such opportunities to support local businesses.
Paulina Quintao – Timor-Leste will create a new institution to regulate media.
Secretary of State for Social CommunicationNelio Isaac Sarmento said the organ would regulate media to assure information provided to the public was of a high standard.
Paulina Quintao – The Secretariat of State for the Environment (SEMA) has conducted a workshop with stakeholders to review Timor-Leste's five-year biodiversity plan.
Paulina Quintao – The National Commission to Combat HIV/AIDS – Timor-Leste (CNCS-TL) is working in partnership with the government to establish a shelter to house HIV/AIDS sufferers.
Paulina Quintao – Timor-Leste's 2014 non-petroleum sector derived economic growth is projected to hit 8 per cent, according to government estimates.
Economist Hans Anand Beck said the gross domestic product would fall this year due to the sluggish private sector.
Philip Dorling – Five years after opening an investigation into the Indonesian military's killing of five Australian journalists at Balibo in East Timor in 1975, the Australian Federal Police hasn't yet asked Jakarta to help pursue the people responsible for what's been described as a war crime.
Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono bestowed the country's highest award, the Adipurna Star, on Philippine President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III and East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao at the Bali Democracy Forum on Friday, stating both leaders' commitment to promoting bilateral ties.
Jakarta – Deputy Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin denied that Timor Leste Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao made a statement saying that his country wanted to reunite with Indonesia.
Venidora Oliveira – Sexual abuse against minors is a major problem in Timor-Leste, according to research by the Judicial System Monitoring Program (JSMP).
JSMP legal researcher Rita Marques said the courts in Dili, Suai, Baucau and Oe-Cusse ere continually hearing cases of sexual abuse against minors. "Rates of sexual abuse against minors are very high," she said.
Paulina Quintao – The Secretariat of State for Vocational Training and Employment (SEPFOPE) has validated more than 22,000 former Indonesian employees to get their pensions.
Paulina Quintao – Petroleum and minerals extraction may be seen as an industry dominated by men but Timorese women have shown they too have the capacity to get the job done.
Petroleum and Mineral Resources minister Alfredo Pires said women make a positive contribution to the resources industry. Pires said many leadership roles within the industry were occupied by women.
Minsk (BelTA) – Belarus and East Timor have established diplomatic relations. The relevant joint communique was signed at the Belarusian Permanent Mission in the UN in New York on 1 October, BelTA learnt from the press service of the Foreign Ministry of Belarus.
New York – Veteran East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao said Thursday he's pushing back plans to stand down as the fledgling nation's prime minister.
Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao of Timor-Leste, a country which the United Nations shepherded to independence from Indonesia a dozen years ago, told the General Assembly today that while the world body still embodies hope for millions of people it needs to become more active in the face of a multitude of problems.
Today is the 15th anniversary of Australia's military intervention in East Timor in the wake of the violence that followed the UN sponsored ballot for independence in 1999.
Martinha Gusmao – Teachers are being told not to put their students' health at risk by smoking in classrooms.
Member of Commission F (for education, health, culture, veterans' and gender equality affairs) Eladio Faculto said while the government was unable to check up on whether teachers lit up in class, the educators should show some self-discipline.
Paulina Quintao – Baucau District Court prosecutor Aderito Antonio Pinto Tilman has been elected by the National Parliament to the position of Anti-Corruption Commission (KAK) commissioner.
Parliamentarians asked the incoming commissioner to maintain independence and to perform his duties to combat corruption in Timor-Leste.
Paulina Quintao – Member of Parliament (MP) Brigida Antonia Correira has criticized the Ministry of Tourism's Miss Turismu initiative as a waste of money.
MP Correira said the winner of the inaugural Miss Turismo competition had performed no duties, a year after her election.
Martinha Gusmao – Member of Parliament Eladio Faculto has called on the Timor-Leste government to close down the Dili International School (DIS) as it does not follow the curriculum set down by the Ministry of Education.
Paulina Quintao – Research conducted by the Ministry of Health and UNICEF in 2013 shows that half of all Timorese children under the age of five suffer from malnutrition.
Ministry of Health department of nutrition chief Joao Bosco da Costa said malnutrition was caused by a variety of factors
Venidora Oliveira – National Electoral Commission (CNE) head Joana Dulce Vitor said the policy objective was to support the activities of political parties at a local level.
Venidora Oliveira – Millennium Development Goal houses are being used as police barracks rather than their intended use as homes for vulnerable people.
Member of Parliament Natalino dos Santos in National Parliament why police were occupying the homes in West Beto.
I.S., Dili – Ever since gaining independence in 2002, Timor-Leste has boasted one of Asia's freest presses. Its media exposed the mismanagement of state funds, corruption and other scandals involving government employees. But their freedom could come to an abrupt end if the parliament endorses a new law to regulate the media.
Richard Ackland – Already we have a taste of what lies in wait once the new bundle of Asio laws are passed.
Tom Allard – Australian man Roger Maguire has been accused by East Timor of being a "mole" for oil major ConocoPhillips amid revelations it paid him $US120,000 to provide evidence on its behalf.
Tom Allard – As Bobby Boye surveyed his extensive property portfolio, the 2011 Rolls-Royce Ghost and other luxury vehicles in the garage, he may well have reflected with some satisfaction on a job well done.
Mark Pearson, Brisbane (JournLaw/Pacific Media Watch) – Just as the Australian government proposes tougher national security powers for its agencies and penalties for whistleblowing, we have learned last week that the Australian Federal Police has asked the ABC for unedited current affairs interview footage in its pursuit of a former spy and a lawyer.
Manny Tsigas – Dr Ramos Horta has been recognised for his leading role in East Timor's independence movement, as well as helping maintain a strong relationship with Australia.
East Timor's former president Jose Ramos-Horta has downplayed frictions over Dili's spying row with Canberra and commended moves to seek an amicable settlement over gas revenues in the Timor Sea.
Speaking in Sydney, where he has received the honorary Companion to the Order of Australia, Dr Ramos-Horta described the relationship between the two countries as "exemplary".
Australia and East Timor have agreed to suspend the International Court of Justice hearing into their bitter spy row as they try to "resolve [their] differences amicably".
A spokesman for Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told the ABC the parties will postpone the proceedings in the UN's highest court for an initial period of six months.
Harriet Alexander – The architect of East Timor's independence movement has welcomed the decision by Australia and his country to postpone court action over their spy row and pursue an amicable resolution.
The Australian Government's bullying tactics in the Timor Sea have again been put in the spotlight following reports that an Australian lawyer and a former spy may be charged for blowing the whistle on Australia's underhanded attempts to short-change East Timor out of billions of dollars in gas and oil revenue.
Clinton Fernandes – Australia has been flouting international law since 2002, taking billions of dollars in oil revenue that should rightfully belong to East Timor. No wonder we're being so cagey about the East Timor spying allegations.
John M. Miller – Fifteen years ago, on August 30, 1999, thousands of East Timorese voters lined up to exercise their long-denied right to self-determination, a process that had been interrupted by Indonesia's US-backed invasion and occupation in 1975.
Michael Safi – The attorney general, George Brandis, has denied referring lawyer Bernard Collaery and a former intelligence officer to the Australian federal police after they revealed that Australia spied on Timor-Leste during negotiations over a lucrative oil and gas pipeline.