Estevao Nuno – The Ministry of Education will permit the Catholic Church to open a privately managed university in Timor-Leste, provided it fulfills a list of criteria set by the government.

Sonali Paul, Melbourne – East Timor has ordered five foreign judges out of the country after a court ruled in favour of US oil and gas producer ConocoPhillips in cases tied to $236 million in disputed tax assessments.

John M. Pile – The Timorese government recently released its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Report for 2014. Overall the MDG indicators show that living standards and human development have improved significantly in Timor-Leste since independence.

Paulina Quintao – Deputy Minister for Industry and the Environment Abel da Costa Ximenes says the government will not intervene to regulate prices for goods as sales tax produces revenue for the state.

Reports from Fairfax Media that Australia and East Timor have recommenced discussions about how to settle the dispute over maritime boundaries, have been welcomed by Australian community activists calling for fair and permanent maritime boundaries to be established in accordance with current international law.

Australia and East Timor have quietly begun talks towards a possible settlement of their boundary in the Timor Sea, an issue of immense importance to Timor-Leste.

And an advocacy group for East Timor – in Australia – wants Australians to stand up.

Tom Allard – East Timor's parliament has authorised the "immediate commencement of negotiations" with Australia to establish a new maritime boundary between the countries.

Paulina Quintao – Three HIV/AIDS patients are receiving intensive treatment at the Bairo-Pite clinic for complications of their compromised immune systems.

Bairo-Pite clinic director Dr Dan Murphy said HIV/SAIDS was a significant problem in Timor-Leste due to porous borders. "HIV rates are increasing," he said.

Venidora Oliveira – The Judicial System Monitoring Program (JSMP) has recommended the Ministry of Justice establish a mobile court to try sensitive cases such as the sexual abuse of minors.

JSMP executive director Luis Oliveira Sampaio said underage victims of sexual abuse needed a safe place to testify.

Estevao Nuno – The National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL) is overrun by gangsters involved in criminal behaviour, according to Member of Parliament David Dias Ximenes.

"They assault people night and day," he said. "Commission B will find these gangsters in the police and they will be fired immediately. They will not go free."

Nick Xenophon – Last Tuesday would have been journalist Gary Cunningham's 67th birthday. But, tragically, Gary was killed in cold blood 39 years ago by the Indonesian army to prevent him from reporting about Indonesia's invasion of East Timor.

Also killed were his fellow newsmen, Greg Shackleton, Tony Stewart, Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie.

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.

Martinha Gusmao – National Director for Conflict Prevention Lidia Lopes says co-operation between Community Police (POLKOM) and local leaders is necessary to eliminate conflict in neighbourhoods.

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.

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.

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.

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 – 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 – 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 – 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 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.

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.

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 – 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 – 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.

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.

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 – 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.