JAPAN: Travel Agents Agree on Global Code to Combat Child Sex Tours

In a landmark step hailed by activists, Japanese travel agents agreed to abide to a code of conduct in an international campaign to stop the sexual exploitation of children in foreign countries.

COMMUNICATIONS: New Web Site to Boost the Rights of the Child

Latin America produces more food per person than most other parts of the world, which makes it even more unacceptable for children to be dying of hunger and malnutrition, said the regional director of UNICEF, Nils Kastberg, in Brazil.

HEALTH-PAKISTAN: Junk Food Link to Rise in Asthma Cases

Fresh and dry fruits are out for many Pakistani children and have been replaced by cookies, colas and candies. This is worrying pediatricians who say diets rich in junk food could be the culprits behind the rapid rise of asthma and allergies in children.

POLITICS: EU Heads Towards a Population Crisis

The European Commission is warning that dramatic demographic changes will have serious consequences for the European social and economic model.

RIGHTS-UGANDA: Refugee Policies a Victim of Their Own Success?

For more than 40 years, Uganda has been considered a safe haven for people fleeing violence in their homelands. It currently hosts about 230,000 nationals from neighbouring states such as Sudan, Rwanda, Kenya, Somalia, Burundi and Ethiopia - one of the largest refugee populations on the continent.

BRAZIL: Major Obstacles on the Road to Safe, Legal Abortion

The legalisation of abortion appears to be a distant possibility in Brazil, given the slow pace of any progress in this direction and the controversy that continues to surround the few cases where the termination of a pregnancy is legally authorised.

CULTURE: In Bridal Gowns and Tuxedos, Chinese Tie the Knot in Style

It took Liu Ying and Guo Jianfeng nearly a year to prepare for their wedding - an elaborate amalgamation of old and new, Chinese and Western.

MEXICO: Anti-Homophobia Campaign Draws Fire from Conservatives, Catholics

When 17-year-old Mexican Antonio Ruiz was murdered, his killer wrote "I'm a faggot" and "queer" on his body. He was one of an average of 30 homosexuals killed because of their sexual preferences every year in Mexico, which will be launching an official government campaign against homophobia in April.

BRAZIL: Lack of Land Rights is Killing Indigenous Children, Say Activists

"We don't want charity or paternalistic projects," stressed the leaders of the Guarani-Kaiowá indigenous community in the midwestern Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, where at least eight children have died so far this year from malnutrition.

POLITICS-DRC: The Challenge of Piecing Together a “Failed State”

This weekend sees a new military operation underway in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Reports from the central African country say about 800 United Nations troops have been deployed in the north-eastern Ituri region to disarm local militias held responsible for the death of nine peacekeepers last month.

BRAZIL: Bringing Deaf Children Into the Educational System

Brazilian engineer Eduardo Monte, 51, who has been deaf since childhood, is a consultant for small companies and is also active in several social projects in Rio de Janeiro.

CENTRAL AMERICA: ‘If You Turn Up Dead, No One Will Wonder Why’, Says Child Sex Ring Victim

"If you turn up dead someday, no one is going to wonder how you died," said Kathy, a Honduran girl caught up in a child sex ring. She is just one of an estimated 40,000 minors in Central America whose childhood has been stripped away for the pleasure and profit of adults.

WOMEN-LATIN AMERICA: Politics, a Territory Still to Be Conquered

The number of women exercising political power in Latin America is limited. Some adopt stereotypically male practices, while others fight back against "machista" conventions, like the use of sexist language.

INT’L WOMEN’S DAY: It Means Little to a Sex Slave

Among the millions who travel to Europe every year are a few hundred thousand who will end up as sex slaves. To them International Women's Day means little.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Hopes of a Family Washed Away by the Killer Waves

It is full moon night again and the celestial light is shining on Muzhukutturai, a small fishing hamlet in Cudallore district of coastal Tamil Nadu in southern India.

CULTURE-INDIA: Oscar Triggers Celebration, Anger in Red Light Area

Life in the mean streets of Kolkata's biggest red light district Sonagachi had only hopelessness to offer them. But the moments of glory at this year's Oscar night in Los Angeles might change the lives of the little shutterbugs who are 'Born into Brothels' - much to the chagrin of a few sex workers' organisations who have slammed the documentary as ''lacking depth''.

CORRECTION*/MOROCCO: These Boats Sail to the Bottom of the Sea

The European Union is being blamed partly for the recent death of 37 Moroccans illegally trying to sail to Almeria on the Spanish coast.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: New Zoning Rules Confuse Sri Lanka Survivors

When forty seven year old businessman Anura Ananda opens the front doors of his drapery shop, he is now greeted with a clear view of waves lapping the beach.

HIV/AIDS-THAILAND: When the Music is Silenced by Death

''Death becomes a dancing partner when one has HIV/AIDS. First you have to accept it, and then dance with lady death,'' says well-known U.S.-born Thai musician Todd Tongdee Lavelle.

JAPAN: No More Song and Dance for Filipino Entertainers

'Cynthia' (not her real name), a pretty young Filipino hostess, plies drinks and sings karaoke along with her customers at 'Queen Bee' bar in Shinjuku - a bustling district famous for its nightlife in the center of the Japanese capital.

AFGHANISTAN: Good News for Women as Beijing Plus 10 Starts

As delegates gather in New York on Feb. 28 to review progress in the 10 years since the U.N. women's conference in Beijing, positive news seems to be emerging from Afghanistan.