JAPAN: Simply Irresistible ‘Yonsama’ Helps Cool Bilateral Tensions

Japan's diplomacy with East Asia may have taken a turn for the worse recently but the whopping popularity of several Korean stars among the public here signals how arts can play a more important role than politics in easing bilateral tensions.

LATIN AMERICA: Born on the Streets – Just One of Millions of Poor Children

A baby was born on the streets of the Mexican capital this week. Just two days old, she still hasn't been given a name. Her parents, homeless youngsters, say they are happy, but that they don't know how they will support her.

MALAYSIA: Undocumented Workers to Become ‘The Hunted’ in 2005

Take advantage of the general amnesty and leave before the extended deadline of Dec. 31 or face arrest, fine, whipping and a long jail term.

WOMEN: Contraception, the Missing Link in the Millennium Development Goals

A woman who only has children if and when she wants to will be better able to work and to cover her family's needs in terms of food, education and health care.

EQUATORIAL GUINEA: A Classroom for the Mentally Disabled

The only classroom for the mentally disabled in the tiny West African nation of Equatorial Guinea is run by two non-governmental organisations, because for the government, the mentally handicapped do not exist, an activist told IPS in Spain.

INDIA: Bhopal Nightmare Lingers On With Few Lessons Learnt

Twenty years after the world's worst industrial disaster at a pesticides plant in the central Indian city of Bhopal, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are in agreement that tragedies of such magnitude teach no lessons in a world driven by corporate profit.

POLITICS: U.S. Soldiers Seek Asylum in Canada

Canadian leaders, not the country's refugee system, should decide the fate of soldiers who have deserted the U.S. military to apply for asylum in their northern neighbour, according to a support group.

MIGRATION: Undocumented Immigrants Won’t Be Home for Christmas

Every year, around two million Mexican and Central American immigrants living in the United States head back to their home countries for the holidays. But many millions more cannot even dream of spending Christmas and New Year's with their loved ones, because once they cross the Rio Grande, they might not be able to make it back again.

RIGHTS-BOLIVIA: Fighting an Uphill Battle Against Domestic Violence

Not even the barrel of a revolver held against her chest by a police officer accused of battering his wife kept Jeannette Alfaro, a women's rights advocate in La Paz, from going to the aid of one of the many victims of domestic violence in Bolivia.

DISABLED PERSONS DAY-JAPAN: Fight to Get Thumbs Up for Down Syndrome

Kyoko Mita, 52, has never recovered from the shock she suffered when her newborn son tested positive for Down syndrome 23 years ago.

WORLD AIDS DAY: Thai Teenage Sex Education Vital, Say Activists

On a recent Friday afternoon, the students at a secondary school on the outskirts of this town in northern Thailand took a break from their books to watch a play that produced steady bursts of laughter.

WORLD AIDS DAY: HIV/AIDS Threat Unites Religions in India

Fear of a rapidly spreading HIV/AIDS epidemic in India has resulted in a rare coming together of the country's several religious faiths that are known to have a tremendous influence on their respective flocks.

WORLD AIDS DAY: If Unchecked Asia Could Be Another Africa – U.N. Envoy

She had no qualms whatsoever of putting the harsh realities on the table - especially on World AIDS Day. And for anyone listening to Nafis Sadik, a medical doctor who is also the U.N. special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, the prognosis is alarming when she warns that Asia-Pacific societies could collapse like some in Africa as a result of the pandemic.

/ARTS WEEKLY/CUBA: The Ever New Old Havana

For anyone, whether they are foreign nationals, people who live on the other side of Cuba, or natives and residents of the capital,taking a walk through Old Havana these days is like discovering a new city.

DEVELOPMENT-BOLIVIA: Caripuyo, the Face of Poverty

At the foot of the Andes mountains just to the north of the former imperial city of Potosí in southwestern Bolivia, around 10,000 people live in the most dire poverty - the poorest of the poor in South America's most impoverished country.

HEALTH: Goodbye to Cheap Indian AIDS Drugs?

As India moves to meet a New Year's Day deadline to comply with the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) regime of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) the cheap, generic anti-AIDS drugs that this country is famed for could be a thing of the past.

RIGHTS-LATIN AMERICA: Women – the Invisible Victims

Latin America and the Caribbean have up-to-date statistics on inflation, trade, GDP growth and other economic indicators. But there are few to no hard figures on violence against women, a problem that reportedly affects as many as four or five women out of 10 in the region.

RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Focusing on Men to Combat Violence Against Women

Brazilian television viewers witnessed an unusual scene on Thursday: a soccer player commits a foul, not against a member of the other team, but rather against one of his own team-mates, and mayhem erupts on the field. "Wherever there's violence, everyone loses," declares a voiceover.

BURMA: Hidden Weapons of War Continue Cruel Maiming

Refugee camps along the Thai-Burmese border reveal more than the tale of villagers fleeing their homes to escape the bullets of the Burmese army. They also offer a glimpse into the pervasive use of landmines as a weapon of war.

CUBA: Nostalgia for the Old Sugar Mill

The batey, or small town surrounding the sugar mill, is no longer bustling like it used to be, especially at harvest time. The wail of the siren marking the workers' shifts is missing, as is the noise of the furnaces and the constant coming and going of vehicles and people.

MALAYSIA-THAILAND: Wounds of the South Hurt Bilateral Ties

The Friday sermons in mosques across Malaysia, often from texts prepared by the government, is an important barometer of undercurrents in Malay Muslim politics. This month, however, some of the sermons had a discernible difference.