CAMBODIA: Gov’t Heats Up Anti-Smoking Campaign

For anti-smoking advocate Mom Kong, the ubiquitous flashy cigarette advertisements he sees throughout Cambodia’s capital city are a major barrier to reducing smoking.

EUROPE: Roma Conference Decries Government-Led Discrimination

Over the centuries, racism in the Americas has targeted indigenous peoples, African slaves and their descendants, while in Europe, secular racism has long centred on its once-enslaved gypsies, as their recent persecution in France and Italy confirms.

MIGRATION: Ecuador’s Open Door Begins to Close for Some

The Ecuadorean government's policy of "universal citizenship," which did away with visas or other requirements for foreigners entering the country, has clashed with the reality that Ecuador is being used for human trafficking -- so now there are some exceptions.

Africa’s Water Security Hinges on Better Infrastructure

As Africa continues its seemingly endless struggle for water security, why is the beleaguered continent lagging behind Asia and Latin America - despite commitments and declarations by political leaders?

NEPAL: Adoption Suspension Leaves Children in Limbo

A big question marks looms over the future of many Nepali children in various child homes in the country in the wake of the suspension by 11 countries of their child adoption programmes for this Himalayan nation.

Scarce Water Diverted by Greased Palms

The battle to resolve the global water crisis is being grossly undermined by bad governance: bribery, extortion, embezzlement and high-level corruption.

INDIA: Buoyed by Growing Market, More Farmers Go Organic

He had decided to grow watermelons this summer on his one-acre (.405 hectare) plot, and so Veera Narayana went about preparing the arid red earth by first ploughing it and then lighting fires in the furrows.

Fighting Dirty Water Is World’s New Ecological Battle

A primary topic of discussion at a weeklong international water conference here can best be summed up in two words: "dirty water".

Slammed For Its Roma Expulsions, France Shifts Rhetoric

Faced with mounting criticism because of its expulsions of Roma, or Gypsies, the French government is trying to gain allies in what it calls the "battle" against undocumented immigration and people-trafficking networks.

HEALTH: H1N1 Pandemic Is Over, But Vigilance Needed – WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is urging countries in Asia to remain vigilant about the spread of the H1N1 influenza virus, which the international body declared was no longer a pandemic a month ago.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Adapt or Perish

A changing climate will prompt changes in behaviour across Southern Africa. And when it comes to adaptation, Swazi farmer Bongani Phakathi is a frustrated man a few steps ahead of his neighbours.

ANGOLA: More Mothers Survive Childbirth

As darkness falls on a cool evening in Luanda, a group of women sit huddled under threadbare blankets outside one of the city’s few maternity hospitals. "I have to be here," Paula Silva, 45, said, shivering slightly.

PAKISTAN: Floods Leave Afghan Refugees Down and Out

When they are not looking forlornly over what used to be their homes or trying to find help for relatives who have fallen ill, many Afghan refugees chase after vehicles that pass through the Great Trunk Road connecting Peshawar to Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.

BAHRAIN: No Change Seen in Ban on Entry of People with HIV

Bahrain may be dependent on expatriate labour, but that has not stopped it from deporting migrant workers who are found to be HIV-positive.

Time Running Out Faster Than Water, Experts Warn

A major weeklong international water conference opened in the Swedish capital Monday with an ominous warning: time is running out faster than fresh water.

EUROPE: New Expulsions Hit People Without a Place

Roma gypsies are routinely described as Europe's largest ethnic minority. Numbering between 10 and 16 million, their combined population exceeds that of many European Union countries. Yet their numerical strength offers no compensation for the poverty, persecution and scapegoating that the Roma have to endure -- or for how their welfare is accorded a low priority by the EU's institutions.

INDIA: Fears of Privacy Loss Pursue Ambitious ID Project

Fears about loss of privacy are being voiced as India gears up to launch an ambitious scheme to biometrically identify and number each of its 1.2 billion inhabitants.

BOLIVIA: UN Calls for Broad Pact on Children’s Needs

A national pact to focus on the rights of children was proposed by United Nations representative in Bolivia Yoriko Yasukawa on the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

PHILIPPINES: Criminal Ban, Stigma Drive Unsafe Abortions

"I felt scared. When I looked around, all the mothers had finished giving birth, while I was still there. The blood that flowed from me had already dried and caked onto my body," Lisa, a 19-year-old married mother of three, says, recounting her experience in post-abortion care at a public hospital here in the Philippine capital.

SRI LANKA: Anger Rises Over Torture Case, But Solution Unclear

The ordeal of a Sri Lankan domestic worker whose Saudi Arabian employer allegedly drove nails and metal wires into her body has sent alarm bells ringing among government officials and activists, but how such abuses can be stopped remain far from clear.

SOUTH AFRICA: “Xenophobia Simmering Just Below Boiling Point”

"Xenophobia is part of life. We do not live easy here. We only survive," says Somali shopkeeper, Abdinasir Shaikh Aden, looking tense.