REFUGEES-IRAQ: U.S. State Department Pushes for Palestinian Resettlement

U.S. State Department officials confirmed this week that they have been in discussions with Israel and the Kurdish regional government about possible resettlement solutions for the estimated 15,000 Palestinian refugees currently stranded in Iraq.

JAPAN: Gender Biased Divorce Law Under Review

The birth of her baby four years ago was supposed to be a happy occasion for Masae Ito, 41. But she and her second husband were in for a nasty surprise at the registry office.

SRI LANKA: Climate Change Worse Than Civil War – UN Expert

As the world prepares for yet another ‘scary' report by the United Nations panel on global warming and climate change, a Sri Lankan specialist in the group says Tamil rebels and government troops are actually fighting over land due to be submerged as sea-levels rise.

MIGRATION-CHILE: Celebrating Multiculturalism

As a tangible way of appreciating diversity, tolerance and non-discrimination, and in order to launch a debate about migration policy in Chile, university students are organising the First Multicultural Festival to be held in the capital on the weekend of May 26-27.

RIGHTS-ZIMBABWE: Neighbours Remain Mute Amid Flood of Refugees

The rattling sound of galvanized tins has become characteristic of Patience's* daily routine which starts at 4 am every day. Patience (43), a single mother, is one of the many who rush in the early morning to the Zimbabwean capital's Mbare Musika market to buy fruit and vegetables to hawk.

LEBANON: Tempers Rise Over Reconstruction

Eight months after Israeli attacks left devastation across many villages in southern Lebanon, reconstruction comes with mounting anger towards both Israel and the central Lebanese government.

HEALTH-LATIN AMERICA: Girls Living with HIV Break the Silence

"I feel happy when I'm with my friends; at those times, I don't even remember that I have the infection," Keren, an 11-year-old Honduran girl living with HIV, told IPS.

RIGHTS-ASIA: Many Women Leaders, Not Much Equality

Asia, a sprawling continent which has produced the world's largest number of female heads of government, lags far behind both in gender equality and gender empowerment.

BRAZIL: Indigenous Demonstrators Get Results

The indigenous protesters who camped out this week in the very heart of the Brazilian capital have victories to celebrate, like the installation by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of a national commission on indigenous policy.

RIGHTS: U.S.-Aussie Refugee Swap Comes Under Fire

A controversial bilateral deal between Australia and the United States to swap refugees has triggered a storm of protests from human rights activists and legal experts.

REFUGEES-IRAQ: The Hidden Face of the War

The United Nations was able, at least for a few hours, to draw public attention away from the bombings and attacks that have become routine in Iraq and direct it towards another, equally painful, aspect of the conflict - the humanitarian crisis suffered by nearly four million refugees and internally displaced persons.

SYRIA: A Lot of Uninvited Guests

The massive influx of Iraqi refugees into Syria has brought rising prices and overcrowding, but most Syrians seem to have accepted more than a million of the refugees happily enough.

SRI LANKA: Labour Shortages Plunge Tea Estates Into Doldrums

Once Sri Lanka's sunshine crop and its top export earner, tea is no longer the answer to the country's economic ills, thanks to a serious shortage of plantation workers that began with the mass expulsion of 'Indian Tamils' in the 1960s.

SYRIA: Refugees Bring In Some Brittle Strength

Syria's decision to accept Iraqi refugees streaming into the country has brought the government of President Bashar Assad more power within Syria and the region, but at significant cost.

FRANCE: Immigration Creeps Back Into Campaign

The presidential election campaign has entered its final week with the old issues dominant again - immigration, petty crime attributed to immigrants, and a redefinition of national identity.

MALAYSIA: Indigenous Groups Resist Biodiversity Park

In the thick rainforest outside this town, about 150 km north of the national capital, the guileless Semai aborigines, famous to anthropologists for their for non-aggressiveness, are falling sick from stress brought about by sudden land development that threatens to uproot them.

RIGHTS: UN Refugee Agency Turns Spotlight on Iraqis

Nearly four million Iraqis have been displaced in and outside their country since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, making it the largest exodus of people in the Middle East since the creation of Israel in 1948.

POPULATION: Asia’s Falling Fertility Rates Threaten “Baby Bust”

A sharp drop in fertility rates in Japan, South Korea, China and Singapore is threatening a "baby bust", leaving most maternity wards in Asia in a state of near-emptiness.

POLITICS: Wolfowitz Contradicted on Family Planning Claim

Despite denials by World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz Thursday, newly disclosed internal documents indicate that the Bank may have in fact reversed a longstanding policy of promoting family planning on his watch.

ANGOLA-MOZAMBIQUE: Women Face Unequal Inequality

The rights of women enshrined in the constitutions of Angola and Mozambique are identical. But in practice, there are enormous differences.

POPULATION-JAPAN: Obstetric Care Hits Crisis Levels

Mayu Sasaki, 32, is expecting her second baby in May, but rather than making happy preparations the former economics researcher is filled with anxiety.