TSUNAMI IMPACT: Canada Opens Door to Disaster Victims, Orphans

The Canadian government is offering to allow relatives here to adopt tsunami orphans and bring them to Canada under a programme to fast-track immigration from the disaster areas.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Loss of Innocence in the Politics of Aid

As the international summit meeting to coordinate aid for the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami opens in Jakarta on Thursday, various states are jockeying for political advantage in the region. Prominent among them are the United States, India, Japan and Australia, which have formed a self-nominated ''core group'' while bypassing the United Nations.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Burma ‘Spared’ or Junta Covering the Truth?

It remains one of the greatest mysteries so far on how Burma, with over 2,000 kilometers of its coastline along the Andaman Sea directly exposed to the devastating tsunami waves that killed over 140,000 people in the region the day after Christmas, managed to escape with minimal damage.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Sri Lankans Ask ‘Where Do We Begin?’

Mohamad Nawaz's eyes brim with tears as he stares at the wreck that was once his four-roomed home a short walk from the beach of this fishing village on the southern tip of Sri Lanka. What was once his furniture is scattered nearby. A damp stench hangs in the air.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Malaysian Gov’t Playing Politics With Aid?

Record humanitarian aid might be pouring in for victims of Asia's tsunami disaster, but critics here have accused the Malaysian government of delaying the distribution of badly needed emergency supplies to survivors in Malaysia's coastal areas, northwest of the peninsula.

AUSTRALIA: Ex-Prime Minister Ducks Questions on East Timor Invasion

Despite his reputation as a progressive social thinker, former Australian Labor Party prime minister Gough Whitlam - according to just declassified documents - refused to criticise the invasion of East Timor by the Indonesian military in December 1975 or the subsequent brutal treatment of its population.

INDONESIA: Military Offensive on in Tsunami-Hit Aceh – Critics

While volunteers, relief workers and families are busy collecting and searching for bodies in Indonesia's tsunami-stricken Aceh province, Indonesian soldiers are continuing their offensive against separatist rebels, critics say.

ASIA: World Is One, Warns Tsunami

It has taken a devastating tsunami that claimed more than 150,000 lives in a dozen countries scattered across the vast Indian Ocean to remind passengers on the fragile spaceship, Earth, of their interdependence and common destiny.

SRI LANKA: Tsunami Battered Island Licks Its Wounds

One of the loudest weekends of the year was transformed into the quietest in Sri Lanka, a week after a deadly Indian Ocean tsunami killed at least 30,000 people in the country.

THAILAND: One Week On, Next-Of-Kin Accept Tsunami Reality

Many of the distraught next-of-kin and friends of the missing are coming to grips with the emerging harsh realities in this island resort, one week after tsunamis engulfed Thailand's southern coastlines - sweeping away thousands to their deaths.

SINGAPORE: ‘Lucky’ Island Leads Regional Tsunami Relief Efforts

Tan Geok Huay, a 51-year-old housekeeper was one of the nearly 3,000 people who showed up at Singapore's Red Cross office with their cheque books, bank tills and other valuables soon after last weekend's 9.0 magnitude earthquake, and devastating tsunamis, struck - killing over 124,000 people in 11 countries.

THAILAND: No Sign of New Year Festivities in Phuket

It might be New Year's Eve but there's certainly no sign of festivity in this southern Thai island resort. The stench of death, instead, permeating through the air will greet any newcomer to this former playground of Western tourists.

HONDURAS: Tougher Crackdown on Gangs Sets Country Back 20 Years, Say Activists

Legal reforms aimed at strengthening a hard-line police approach to cracking down on youth gangs in Honduras, approved in the wake of a recent killing of 28 people, has set the country back 20 years, say human rights activists.

SRI LANKA: Tsunami Tragedy Bridges Divide Among Ethnic Groups

The tsunami that caused more than 23,800 deaths so far in Sri Lanka is creating temporary rapprochement between ethnic groups that stayed away from each other despite a three-year ceasefire between the government and Tamil separatist rebels.

CHALLENGES 2004-2005: U.S. Politician Targets Immigration

The law to revamp U.S. intelligence services was passed at the 11th hour in the last Congress partly because of a deal that deleted many contentious anti-immigration provisos. But the sponsor of those sections says he will reintroduce them as "must pass" legislation "on the first day of the 109th Congress in January."

ASIA: Biggest Relief Operation Underway for Tsunami-Hit Areas

The biggest humanitarian relief operation the world has ever seen is underway in Asia, as international aid agencies supported by foreign troops race to provide emergency help in the aftermath of a massive earthquake and the huge tsunamis it unleashed.

THAILAND: Common Courage in the Face of Disaster

Four days after Sunday's massive earthquake and subsequent tsunamis in the South-east and South Asian region, bodies are still being pulled from the wreckage in Thailand's southern island resort of Phuket.

HEALTH-PAKISTAN: Risks to Motherhood Can Be Deadly

Writhing in pain and cringing deeper into the ‘charpoy', a bed made from rope, to hide the shame and her labour, she finally gave birth to a beautiful daughter out in the wilderness.

DEVELOPMENT-JAPAN: Once Docile Women Flex Economic Muscle

Japanese women, long viewed as docile and entertaining "flowers" in the office, are bucking the trend to become ‘tigers' and ‘economic locomotives' that make key economic contributions these days, say analysts.

ASIA: Tsunamis Leave Painful Lessons on Preparedness

The tsunamis that claimed at least 23,000 lives in eight countries on the Indian Ocean Sunday left behind a crucial lesson on the need for an early warning system to reduce the risks and vulnerability of local populations in that region, said United Nations experts.

LABOUR-INDONESIA: New Year Brings Brighter Image for Police

Indonesia’s police is moving to erase its Suharto-era history of brutality in handling workers’ strikes, by developing guidelines that order its personnel to stay away from labour disputes.