SOCIETY-JAPAN: Internet Becomes a Deadly Link to Suicide

The Japanese suicide website looks eerily calm, what with the little shooting stars criss-crossing on a ink-black screen and falling on pink cherry blossoms. Classical music plays in the background.

AUSTRALIA: Prosecution of Smuggler over Fatal Voyage Welcomed

The decision by Egyptian authorities to lay manslaughter charges against the organiser of the ill-fated voyage of a boat laden with asylum seekers two years ago has been welcomed by those pressing for justice for the survivors and the families of the 353 victims.

SOCIETY-TRINIDAD: Officials Slow to Probe Possible Sexual Assault

Five years ago, 11-year-old Akiel Chambers went to a birthday party at an upscale residence in the city and never returned home. His body was found at the bottom of a swimming pool at the house the next morning.

/SEPTEMBER 11/RIGHTS: Arabs, Muslims Ponder ‘Home’ Two Years After 9/11

Some were arrested without charge and held in jail despite their rights to freedom. Others were sneered at, spat upon or even attacked.

WTO-CANCUN: ‘Serpents Nest’ Surrounded by Poverty

This Mexican resort city on the Caribbean coast was all decked out Wednesday for the arrival of 146 trade ministers and their entourages, but in the poor neighbourhoods just beyond the luxurious hotels nothing had changed.

RIGHTS-AFRICA: Despite ‘Peace’, Children Still Making War in DRC

Although peace exits on paper in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the reality of war continues to plague its children, says a report released Tuesday by Amnesty International (AI).

AFGHANISTAN: Two Years After, Country’s Biggest Woes Neglected

War-weary Afghanistan continues to suffer from stereotypical images about its political problems, but its biggest woes have to do with livelihood and economic issues that remain ignored, says a Japanese doctor who is a winner of the Ramon Magsaysay award, Asia's equivalent of the Nobel prize, this year.

LABOUR-INDIA: Poorly Paid ‘Pied Pipers’ Keep Mumbai Disease-Free

Suresh Kharva wears no masks to protect himself from infections. Armed with a crude wooden club and a torch, he scours the narrow, stinking alleyways every night to track down and kill some of the millions of rodents that have made this city, India's financial capital, their home.

RIGHTS-MALAYSIA: Gov’t Walks Tightrope on Acehnese Asylum Seekers

The Malaysian government is walking a tightrope on the fate of some 2,500 Acehnese asylum seekers in the country, as it tries to balance increasingly vocal demands to shelter them with pressure from Indonesia to deport them.

POPULATION-BRAZIL: Four Out of 10 Women Sterilised

As many as four out of 10 Brazilian women of child-bearing age have had their tubes tied, according to estimates that are widely accepted by experts.

VENEZUELA: Rain God Gets His Own Planet

A "mini-planet" far out in our solar system, discovered by astronomers at a Venezuelan observatory, will bear the name Huya (Juyá), the rain god of the Wayúu Indians who live on the arid Guajira Peninsula of northern Venezuela and Colombia.

SPAIN: The Challenges Facing Immigrants

Many immigrants seeking a better life in Spain must first go through hell, only to live on the fringes of society once they make it, although there are notable exceptions.

COLOMBIA: Wayuu Women Choose Permanent Birth Control

Esmeredith is one of 60 women from the Wayúu indigenous community, a matrilineal culture in northern Colombia, who have signed up for a family planning programme that includes sterilisation, free of charge.

RIGHTS-SRI LANKA: Children Speak up to Shape Education Policy

Once, at a workshop for children, government officials were busy praising the efforts of a special desk for women and children in Sri Lankan police stations, until one child asked: "But how can it be successful if no one is at the desk?"

LABOUR-VIETNAM: Use, Abuse of Child Workers Growing

Le Thi Kim Duyen, 13, was used to working to help her parents and earn money for her tuition, but nothing prepared her for the accident she met at the wood processing factory last month.

RIGHTS-AUSTRALIA: Aboriginal Group Besieged by Hostile Gov’t

A major government review is set to propose a radical restructuring of the elected peak Aboriginal body that supporters fear will prevent the organisation from being able to effectively advocate policies opposed by the government.

RIGHTS-AUSTRALIA: Activists Count Wins, Losses in Refugee Policy

On the second anniversary of the Australian government's blocking of a Norwegian container ship from bringing rescued asylum seekers to land on Australian soil, activists remain appalled at the government's hardline policy toward refugees.

ARGENTINA: Six Million Go Hungry in Land of Abundance

Despite the abundance of food in Argentina, one of the world's leading producers of beef, corn, wheat and soybeans, more than six million people are unable to meet their minimum daily dietary requirements.

MEXICO: The Children of the Drug Trade – a New Trend

Mexican drug traffickers have begun recruiting children and teenagers to smuggle drugs into the United States or sell them on the local market.

DEVELOPMENT-PAKISTAN: Oil Spill Takes Toll on Local Lives, Economy

Asif Noorani, editor of the popular 'Star Weekend', resident of an apartment in Sea View, facing the Clifton beach here, refuses to give in to people's scepticism about the enormous health hazard caused by the recent oil spill that has affected this southern port city.

UAE: Amid ‘Emiratisation’, Foreigners Go for Less than Ideal Jobs

To escape from the ugly reality of unemployment, hundreds of immigrants come to the United Arab Emirates annually, as this country has traditionally been the expatriate job seeker's El Dorado.