HAITI: Recovery Bill Estimated at 11.5 Billion Dollars

Two weeks before a major donors conference, the Haitian government has estimated that the country will need some 11.5 billion dollars over the next three years to recover from the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake.

PAKISTAN: In More Ways Than One, Bollywood Dancing Creates Waves

Saleha Firdaus, a mother of two teenage children, has been moving to the Bollywood beat at a dance studio for over a year now and "loves every moment" of this personal time. For her part, 22-year-old Maheen Jafri was a "bedroom dancer" until she discovered a Bollywood and hip-hop dance studio and "shed my inhibitions totally."

RIGHTS-BAHRAIN: Weak Laws Let Rapists Off the Hook

Cunning rapists in Bahrain can avoid victimising virgins so they could escape the maximum penalty provided by law, and those who force themselves on young girls can evade punishment by promising to marry their victims.

SRI LANKA: Managing Overseas Workers A Tough Balancing Act

The extent of Sri Lanka’s dependence on its one million citizens who work abroad can be gauged from officials who gleefully count the dollars that come in to sustain the country’s economy.

MALAYSIA: Creation of Commercial Hospital Wings a Mistake -Critics

A Malaysian government scheme to create commercial ‘private wings’ in major government hospitals has come under fire from critics, who say it will add to the burden of people who need public healthcare the most.

ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Law on Forest Rights Fails to Deliver

A four-year-old landmark law that was supposed to bring profound changes in the lives of India’s tribal and forest-dwelling peoples has failed to deliver on that promise.

PHILIPPINES: Reproductive Health Tests Candidates’ Political Guts

Filipino voters who have yet to make up their minds about their choice for their next president are being advised: look at each aspirant’s stance on reproductive health to help them gauge the candidate’s leadership mettle and political guts.

CHINA: Binge-drinking Culture Turning from Fun to Lethal

After Chen Lusheng, a police sergeant from the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, died in December after an off-duty night of heavy drinking with local officials, his superiors tried to have him designated a "martyr" who "died in the line of duty," so that his family would receive greater compensation.

VIETNAM: Reports of Child Abuse A Wake-up Call for Parents, Gov’t

Vietnamese parents think of day care centres and kindergartens as safe, happy places to leave their children in, given the pressures of work and harder times. But they are no longer so sure now, after a series of incidents about mistreatment of young children that has shocked the public.

LATIN AMERICA: Abortion – Still Illegal, Still Killing, Despite Growing Awareness

Although most of the governments in Latin America today are described as progressive, abortion is only legal in one country, while in five countries it is banned under all circumstances, even when the mother's life is at risk.

ASIA: Religious Advocates Heed the Call of New Media

Not even religious advocates and leaders and can say no to the power of online media, whose call they are heeding in order to spread various messages of spirituality.

SINGAPORE: As Casino Opens, Watch for Its Social Impact Begins

An unfamiliar sight in Singapore – that of vehicles with foreign licence plates filling the car park – meets visitors at the basement of the city-state’s first casino, which opened nearly a month ago.

HAITI: The Camp That Vanished

Perched near the top of a steep hill, the fractured pink walls of Villa Manrese overlook the rest of the capital city. Both ends of the three-story compound have collapsed, spilling into mounds of rubble. The first floor was pulverised into a layer of dust. There are still bodies inside.

CAMBODIA: Rape Victims Need Better Protection from New Penal Code

Cambodia’s new penal code, which comes into force later this year, should be accompanied by stronger law enforcement measures if the country’s women and girls are to be better protected from rape, says the global rights lobby Amnesty International (AI).

DEVELOPMENT-SRI LANKA: Water Woes Fall on Women’s Shoulders

As a wife of a rice farmer and mother of two children aged nine and two, Sanjeevani Bandara’s days are packed with chores. Yet while she used to be able to keep up with all she has to do in a day, this Sri Lankan mother now finds herself struggling to accomplish even the most basic tasks.

THAILAND: Migrant Worker Law Hits Hurdle as 500,000 ‘Disappear’

Thailand’s labour ministry is on the hunt for half a million migrant workers from neighbouring Burma who have gone underground rather than join a new foreign workers’ programme, one that some critics have described as a "confusing" initiative.

COSTA RICA: Headhunting First-World Seniors

The Costa Rican government has declared retirement communities, aimed at attracting U.S. pensioners, to be "of national interest." Plans to create "retirement clusters" providing complete health services for older adults are seen as a profitable prospect for this Central American country.

INDIA: No Stopping Reserved Seats for Women in Parliament

With assured backing from India's main opposition groups, the ruling Congress party hopes to see voted through in the upper house of Parliament Monday a bill reserving 33 percent of seats in national and provincial legislatures for women.

Q&A: 11.8 Seconds That Broke Taboos for Women

Dressed in an abaya (long, loose gown worn by women to cover their dress) and a headscarf, Naseem Hameed cannot be recognised as she alights from a crowded, rickety public bus to reach her destination – the sports stadium.

HAITI: Experts Urge Sea Change in “Culture of Aid”

A delegation of human rights experts is preparing to visit Haiti to assess the human rights and aid situation in the earthquake-crippled nation and to urge the international community to follow a series of guidelines they have prepared to help donors' to "overcome the mistakes of the past."

CUBA: A Good Old Age in Old Havana

In the centre of Old Havana, historic buildings are being restored without neglecting the occupants who are their heart and soul. The priority is to care for elderly residents with programmes that could become a model for the rest of Cuba, whose population is ageing fast.