- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Israel pounds Lebanon ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Toddler among 4 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says 'very violent' Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Guardians maul Tigers, miracle Mets rally in MLB series openers
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
East Timor says Australia pipeline deal to be struck by November
East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta said on Wednesday a deal with Australia on a vast fossil fuel project seen as crucial to the tiny nation's economic future will be struck by November.
Speaking to AFP at his residence in the capital Dili, the Nobel-winning leader said an agreement on the Greater Sunrise project -- which aims to tap trillions of cubic feet of natural gas -- would be signed within weeks.
Exploration has been stalled for years at the project, located in waters between the neighbouring countries, due to disputes over maritime boundaries and whether the gas should be refined in Australia or East Timor.
"Soon we will sign an agreement with Australia on the development of Greater Sunrise. A decision will be made to develop the big gas field," he said.
"The agreement should be signed no later than November, probably. It will be signed this year."
Asia's youngest nation, which secured independence in 2002, is trying to shore up the future of its nascent economy, which is heavily reliant on oil and gas reserves.
"China needs it, Japan, South Korea, they need it," Ramos-Horta said of Greater Sunrise.
However, he said whether resources would be piped to East Timor or Australia was still to be decided by both governments after an independent study.
"Why should it go to Darwin?" he said.
Project operator Woodside Energy also appeared to manage expectations in an investor call last month, saying "Sunrise has a lot of complexity... we've got a bit of work to do".
Australian officials had been concerned that China could fund the project when there were already wider fears about Beijing's expanding regional influence.
That includes in East Timor, which sits a few hundred kilometres off Australia's northern coast.
Ramos-Horta said in a wide-ranging interview that relations with Canberra, tense for years over a spying scandal that became public in 2018, have been reset.
"The bugging was unkind. But... every country, they bug everybody else," he said.
"So now we have great relations with Australia. Australia is a true friend, a great friend."
- US-China rivalry -
The 74-year-old spoke of delicately balancing relations with the United States and China as competition ramps up in the Asia-Pacific region, condemning critics over East Timor's warming ties with Beijing.
Australia and New Zealand have historically been the region's go-to security partners but there are worries in Washington that China may one day parlay agreements with small nations into a permanent military foothold.
"We have Australian, Portuguese and American military personnel. We don't have any Chinese military personnel. So what are they talking about?" Ramos-Horta said.
He brushed aside a 2023 deal to upgrade ties with Beijing as "formalities".
"China has such comprehensive strategic framework agreements.. with many other countries," he said.
He then called on Beijing and Washington to tamp down rising regional competition.
"Superpowers, they have a responsibility to their own people, they have a responsibility to the region, to the rest of the world," he said.
"They should be... benevolent, wise," he added, saying Chinese President Xi Jinping and the next US president should meet to reset relations.
- Church abuse -
One of East Timor's central liberation figures, Ramos-Horta's struggle for independence from Indonesia through tireless diplomacy in a decades-long exile won him a Nobel Peace Prize and two terms, a decade apart, as leader.
He shared that Nobel prize with Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, who was accused of sexually assaulting young boys and was secretly sanctioned by the Vatican in 2020 and now lives in Portugal.
Ramos-Horta said he wants "no child abuse" in East Timor, responding to a call by Pope Francis during the pontiff's three-day visit this week for the country's leader to do more on all forms of abuse.
He repeated that he would follow the Vatican's laws to deal with clergy members and, if any cases fell under the purview of East Timor's legal system, they would be dealt with.
Ramos-Horta said of Belo that the Timorese still respected him for how he saved lives during the struggle for independence from Indonesia.
"Our people, in spite of the revelations that have come, they keep this respect for Bishop Belo," he said.
"I feel the same like the people."
A.Jones--AMWN