PAKISTAN: Bulldozers Poised to Raze Afghan Refugee Camp

"We are shifting to a rented house in nearby Cherat village after being here for 20 years. We have to leave because my shop has been demolished," said an agitated Afghan refugee, Gul Wali, in the sprawling Jalozai refugee camp, 35 km east of this border city in Pakistan.

JAPAN: Law Against Possession of Child Porn Soon

When a visiting U.S. justice department official urged the Japanese government to not delay banning the individual possession of child pornographic material, it was a sign of the enormity of the problem stemming from this country.

ENVIRONMENT-PERU: US-Owned Smelter Fined for Pollution

The U.S. company running a large multi-metal smelter in the Peruvian city of La Oroya, one of the most polluted places on earth, is facing sanctions for violating air quality standards.

CHILE: Thousands Protest Ban on "Morning-After" Pill

More than 15,000 people marched in the Chilean capital Tuesday evening to protest a Constitutional Court ruling that banned the free distribution of the "morning-after" pill by the public health system.

POLITICS-AUSTRALIA: Youth Lead the Way on National Issues

A leading youth delegate attending this weekend’s summit on Australia’s future has called for participants to follow the example set by the nation’s youth and "come with an open mind’’.

IRAQ: Chaos Hardening Sectarian Fiefdoms

There are an estimated 2.7 million Iraqis who have been displaced within their own country. No house; no food; no security. Who do they turn to for help? The international community's humanitarian organisations? The occupying United States government? The central Iraqi government based in Baghdad?

RIGHTS: EU Oversees Greece Failing Refugees

EU regulations are giving sanction to Greek government moves to deny rights to refugees. The principal European instrument used against refugees is the Dublin agreement under which the rights of an asylum seeker must be determined in the first member state that he or she enters.

INDIA/BANGLADESH: Rail Link Revived After 43 Years

It was a trip down memory lane for old timers who travelled from Dhaka to Kolkata by train on Monday. The last time they could do this was 43 years ago.

POLITICS-SUDAN: The Census Saga Continues

Sudan's crucial national census has been delayed by a week over concerns that displaced persons living in the north have still not been repatriated to the south, something which could seriously affect the results of the count.

MIDEAST: Africans Lost in &#39The Promised Land&#39

The young man who agreed to be called Hamed has come a long way to do nothing. The Ivoirian would prefer to work but, after sneaking into Israel from Egypt about a month ago, he's got nothing better to do than sit in a park everyday in central Tel Aviv, wait, and hope for a government decision on his refugee application.

LEBANON: Maid To Serve

Adam, 32, left his wife and newborn daughter in northern Nigeria five years back to seek employment in Lebanon. He had a contract offering him 200 dollars a month to work in a cell phone shop in Hamra, Beirut.

CUBA: US Visa Programme to Speed Family Reunification

The United States has begun a new programme to reunite Cuban families, which has renewed the hopes of potential migrants from the island who have family members in the United States. The U.S. government hopes to fulfil the goal of issuing 20,000 immigration visas a year, as agreed in a longstanding bilateral treaty.

THAILAND: Suffocation of 54 Burmese Workers – No Surprise

The death by suffocation of 54 Burmese migrant workers, while being transported in an enclosed container truck in southern Thailand, was a tragedy waiting to happen say labour rights activists.

DEVELOPMENT: Family Planning Gets Mere Sliver of Aid Pie

The United Nations warns that a sharp decline in international funding for reproductive health is threatening global efforts to reduce poverty, improve health and empower women worldwide.

VENEZUELA: Bari People Left Without Land by Oil, Cattle, Coal

For 900 years, Barí indigenous hunters roamed freely throughout a vast region in western Venezuela. "Now they want to sentence us to die by locking us up in this corral, watching the white man get rich by destroying the land that used to be ours," says schoolteacher Conrado Akambio.

MIGRATION-ITALY: Where to Pay Tax, But Not Vote

Millions of migrants settled in Italy will be only spectators to the election due this weekend.

BRAZIL: Northeast Trades Drought for Floods

The northeast of Brazil, known for its droughts and poverty, has been drenched by torrential rains since early March. Floods have left over 400,000 people homeless and 33 dead, but the abnormal conditions are not due to global warming, according to meteorologists.

UGANDA: “God Should Be So Kind That I Can Have Contraceptives”

For many of Africa's women, getting access to family planning services is difficult at the best of times. When war intervenes they can find themselves without any services at all, even as they become more vulnerable to sexual violence - the situation in northern Uganda being a case in point.

ITALY: Candidates Divided Over Migration

Nothing seems to divide the two leading prime ministerial candidates in the election due this week more than the immigration issue.

DEVELOPMENT: Food Shortages an Emergency – FAO Chief

Jacques Diouf, director general of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), on Wednesday described spiralling food prices as an "emergency" that demanded concerted global attention.

LEBANON: Fleeing a Refugee Camp for Refuge

Music resonates down the rundown streets of Beddawi, an overpopulated suburb of Tripoli. People have moved into garages and covered the entrance with bed sheets in a feeble attempt at privacy.