HEALTH-ASIA: Legal Abortion Does Not Necessarily Mean Safe Abortions

The legalisation of abortion is necessary but not sufficient to put an end to the myriad deaths and injuries caused by unsafe abortions, says a study on six Asian countries released Wednesday in the British capital.

RIGHTS-JAPAN: Desperate, Kurds Persist with Sit-in Protest

Nearly 50 days have passed since a group of Kurds, desperate for refugee status after years of waiting, launched a sit-in at the entrance of the building in the Japanese capital that houses the offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Although the protest has been largely fruitless, they vow to press on.

RIGHTS-BURMA: Migrant Workers Bask in Hope Offered by Key Verdict

A Thai labour court is offering hope to over a million migrant workers that justice is possible in this South-east Asian country - even if the struggle to secure a victory could last nearly two years.

VENEZUELA: Black Contribution to Local Culture Has Been Largely Ignored

When Berta was a little girl, she met Micaela, "an old black woman, whose back was full of scars." When she asked the adults around her why, she was told "it was the whips and red-hot iron bars, because she was a slave."

SPORTS-MIGRATION: Wanted – Talented Foreign Athletes

Any anonymous foreign national seeking a better life in the European Union (EU) endures nightmarish situations just to obtain a temporary residency permit. But if they show great talent in sports, the barriers disappear as if by magic.

REFUGEES: EU Divisions over Immigration Deepen

Immigration policy threatens to divide EU member states as the new European Commission looks for a common stand.

LABOUR-MALAYSIA: In Just a Year, Triumph Turns into Despair

In just over a year, the triumph that 79 migrant workers from India celebrated after winning a landmark case against an abusive Malaysian employer has turned into despair.

RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Beating Deaths Push Plight of Homeless into Spotlight

The beating deaths of six street dwellers in the past five days in Sao Paulo, Brazil's biggest city, in attacks in which nine others were seriously injured have sparked a national outcry and highlighted the plight of the homeless.

MALAYSIA: Abdullah Plans to Make Poorest of Poor ‘Millionaires’

Small Malay farmers, struggling daily to make ends meet, are now within the sight of newly elected Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. The premier has reprioritised agricultural development in a bid to fight Islamic fundamentalism in the country - that has its roots in rural poverty - in order to wean poor Malays away from the opposition.

RIGHTS-INDIA: Double Murder Probe Puts Gays in Bad Light

Homosexuality is illegal in India but public reaction to the sensational murder this month of a gay project officer with an international aid agency has exposed the limited social acceptability in India for alternative sexual preferences.

REFUGEES: Burundi Massacre Highlights Lack of Rights – Group

In the aftermath of this month's horrific massacre of 160 Congolese refugees in a temporary camp in Burundi, some advocacy groups say too little is being done to ensure the basic human rights of refugees as outlined in the U.N.'s 1951 convention.

CUBA: Hurricane Charley Swept Away the Legend – and Village – of Cajio

The statue of chief Cajío standing with arms crossed and head held high must face the sea to live up to its mission: protecting this fishing village in southern Cuba.

HEALTH-INDIA: Govt Sits on World Bank Funds as AIDS Spreads

Critics of India's World Bank-funded National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) are finding a powerful ally in the country's Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), which has taken the organisation to task for poor utilisation of millions of dollars worth of funds meant for containing the HIV epidemic.

THAILAND: Misuse of Viagra, Fake Drugs Worry Experts

Fake drugs are big business in Asia and according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), one of the most counterfeited drugs today is Viagra. In Thailand, tourists may be unwittingly buying fake Viagra over the counter of numerous pharmacies in the capital and exposing themselves to serious health risks.

ARGENTINA: Mapuches Accuse Benetton of Seeking Gold on Their Land

Mapuche Indians in Argentina denounced Thursday that the Italian clothing manufacturer Benetton, which bought up 970,000 hectares in the southern part of the country, owns a mining company that found gold on land that a Mapuche family was evicted from by the courts in May.

POLITICS-EAST AFRICA: Inclusive Government Crucial for Burundi – Ambassador

Burundi’s ambassador to Kenya has reiterated the importance of establishing an ethnically-inclusive government in his country. This came after a massacre last week, in which about 160 people were killed in a refugee camp for Congolese Tutsis in Burundi.

POPULATION: No Slowdown in Developing World

A newly released survey projects massive population growth in the developing world over the next 45 years, due to its disproportionately young populace and higher birth rates.

RIGHTS-INDIA: Women Press for End to Draconian Army Powers

Credit must go to women if the insurgency-hit north-eastern Indian state of Manipur, bordering Burma, finally gets rid of the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act or AFSPA, imposed a quarter of a century ago.

RIGHTS-AFRICA: Revived Spectre of Genocide in Great Lakes Region

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour may suggest the urgent creation of an international commission to investigate the recent massacre of around 160 Tutsi refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in Burundi, a U.N. spokeswoman said Tuesday.

DEVELOPMENT-PHILIPPINES: Business Credit Within Reach of Poor

A non-governmental organisation is extending the outreach of business credit to hundreds of poor Filipinos who find it difficult to qualify for normal bank loans.

ENVIRONMENT-ARGENTINA: Bulldozers Could Turn Ex-Nature Reserve into a Desert

Bulldozers are tearing away the edge of the virgin forest in the northern Argentine province of Salta, habitat of a multitude of endangered plant and animal species and home to impoverished peasant farmers and Indians.