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Woodside and the East Timorese government have just 10 days to strike a deal on a lucrative gas project — or the controversial sea boundary between Australia and East Timor will be redrawn. Billions of dollars are at stake.

Crikey readers have their say.

Ten years on from independence, East Timor still has plenty of problems. But progress is being made. And Australia’s role is no longer questioned.

On Sunday, East Timor will celebrate 10 years of independence. As a nation born from the ashes of destruction, its first decade has been marked by problems and set-backs.

The presidential election, the first of two scheduled rounds, is to elect East Timor’s largely ceremonial president.

East Timor’s first president, for just 9 days ahead of Indonesia’s invasion in 1975, Francisco Xavier do Amaral, has died in Dili at the age of 76 of complications caused by advanced cancer. Damien Kingsbury pays tribute.

Even if Bob Carr isn’t drafted into the job, most pundits think that Craig Emerson won’t be staying on as foreign minister. Which may be just as well, because he hasn’t exactly covered himself in glory.

In a couple of weeks, Aceh will hold its second gubernatorial elections since the 2005 peace agreement that ended almost three decades of separatist war.

While the Christians lead the way with the codex, they are catching up, a bit late, with the next piece of revolutionary technology — the digital pad.

While there’s been increased support in the top East Timor government ranks for a refugee processing centre to be built in the country, most of the population is against the plan. Shona Hawkes in Dili explains the complex problems.

Daily Media Wrap: The above question is a simple one, perhaps, but not one the government appears to be capable of answering.

In Julia Gillard’s frantic dash to the election, good policy and consultation have been abandoned.

The cost of outsourcing our handling of asylum seekers is said to be enormous. Pinning it down, however, is a little more difficult.

The view within Dili on Gillard’s border protection proposal, and East Timor’s role, was one of surprise — no one seems to have been forewarned, much less consulted about this proposal.

Julia Gillard has committed to stopping the boats from coming to Australia by removing the incentive to come here. Her approach is a lot like that of John Howard.