CHINA: Wives of Gays Struggle Alone

Wang Yibing had been married three years before she found out her husband was gay. He had known all along, yet, like many homosexual men in China, had chosen to enter into a traditional marriage to reduce the pressure he was feeling from his family and society.

INDIA: Farmers Push Comeback of ‘Cereal of the Poor’

Eshwarappa Banakar has been a farmer most of his adult life, but these days he has also turned banker – banker of seeds, that is, and especially of millet strains.

SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Human Trafficking Exposes ASEAN’s Underbelly

In the wake of a new U.S. government report on human trafficking, human rights and migrant rights activists are calling on a South-east Asian regional bloc to review its polices toward this scourge to protect the group’s most vulnerable citizens – its women and children.

JAPAN: Women’s Increased Buying Power a Boost to Economy

Asako Nakano, 52, a company employee, invested in a condominium two summers ago, settling the deal with a down payment of around 155,000 U.S. dollars from her savings.

EAST EUROPE: Healthcare Ails as Doctors, Nurses Emigrate

Senior medical figures in Eastern Europe have issued stark warnings that the region's healthcare sector is both unstable and unsustainable as health workers continue to leave in droves for jobs abroad.

EU: With Refuge Like This…

Habtom, a 30-year-old Eritrean, has all the grim qualifications needed to be a refugee. He was arrested for protesting a dictatorship, tortured in custody, and fears his life would be at risk if he returned home. Another part of his story is also typical: he suffered lengthy detention in a European Union nominally committed to the universal defence of human rights.

/CORRECTED REPEAT/THAILAND: A Year Later, Laid-off Women Still Pursuing Own Venture

They were about 1,000 when they began, but that number quickly dwindled to some 400. Now the women working at Try Arm are down to 30, yet those running the cooperative that makes women’s undergarments are determined to succeed.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Maldives Inches Closer to HCFC Phase-out

The Maldives Islands, fast gaining a reputation for ‘walking the talk’ as it raises its tiny island voice in the climate change discourse, has launched an action plan to phase out hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) by 2020, or 10 years ahead of other countries and the target set by an international agreement known as the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

CHILE: Maternity Leave – Longer, or for All Working Mothers?

"In Chile, women carry the entire burden of maternity," says teacher Fabiola Quiñones, who applauds the government's proposal to extend pre- and post- natal leave to six months -- but only if all new mothers who work can have that option.

MIDEAST: Most Palestinians in Lebanon Stay Unemployed

Lebanon’s record of segregating Palestinians is not much better than that of Israel. Since their exodus here, after the establishment of Israel in 1948, Palestinians have been systemically denied equal employment and social rights.

SRI LANKA: U.N. Wants Economic Recovery for Former Conflict Zone

With thousands of war affected civilians still without livelihood and an economy still reeling from the aftermath of a decades-long conflict in Sri Lanka’s northern region, plans should be in place to revive local economies and jobs, says a top United Nations official.

Q&A: Laying to Rest the Ghosts of the Past – With Truth

This year marks 15 years since the bloody war in Bosnia - Herzegovina (BH) ended. Apart from the 44-month siege of the capital of Sarajevo by Bosnian Serb forces there was the massacre of some 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys after the United Nations-protected enclave of Srebrenica fell into their hands.

HEALTH-ASIA: New Infectious Diseases a Challenge to MDG Success

While successful immunisation programmes worldwide have saved millions of lives, the threat of new infectious diseases and drug-resistant strains of existing diseases is posing a major challenge to governments, especially in developing regions like Asia, in meeting their commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

JAPAN: Challenges Temper Optimism as New Premier Vows Reform

Expectations are high for Japan’s new prime minister, Naoto Kan, who has taken over the reins of a country saddled with massive public debt and a domestic furore over the failure of the former head of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and newly resigned premier Yukio Hatoyama to deliver on his campaign pledge to move the controversial U.S. military base out of the southern island of Okinawa.

SRI LANKA: Build Better Infrastructure or Expect More Floods – Experts

Sri Lankans should be ready for more urban flash flooding, like those experienced in May, unless proper infrastructure is built to allow the onrushing waters to flow unhindered, experts warn.

NEPAL: Under-Five Deaths Show Robust Decline But Hurdles Remain

With still five years left before the expiry of the Millennium Development Goals’ (MDGs) 2015 deadline to reduce under-five mortality rate by two-thirds from the 1990 level, a mid-term survey of Nepal Family Health Program (NFHP) II shows the country has already achieved the target.

MALAYSIA: Planned Subsidy Cut Draws Fire, Seen to Hurt the Poor

The government’s proposal to remove and rationalise subsidies on essential goods and services continues to provoke a storm of criticism from ordinary Malaysians.

CAMBODIA: Aid Donors Urged to Demand Faster Reforms from Gov’t

Yuen Mach sat on the floor of her wooden home, her hands nervously twisting a stalk of lemongrass into fibrous strands.

ASIA: Green Revolution Has Little to Offer New Hungry Mouths

As it took root in the rice fields across Asia, it was hailed as the solution to the hunger afflicting millions of people in the region. But four decades on, the much vaunted Green Revolution appears to have reached its limits, unable to meet new demands, to feed new mouths.

Q&A: China Pays a Price for the ‘Lost’ Girls

In a country like China, that regularly exorcises the ghosts of the past, few understand the importance of oral history better than Chinese writer Xinran.

BAHRAIN: Passport Confiscation Still Hounds Migrant Workers

When Abdulkhaliq Mohammed arrived in Bahrain as a contract labourer 20 years ago, the first thing he did on setting foot in the oil-rich Gulf state was to hand his passport over to his employer.