LABOUR: Sri Lanka Becoming Departure Point for Human Smuggling

Relaxed entry rules into Sri Lanka for Indians and Pakistanis aimed at boosting tourism and trade has also led to the increasing use of the island nation as a conduit for human smuggling to the west, mainly Italy, officials here say.

DEVELOPMENT: ‘Humanitarian Ethic’ Lacking in Disaster Aid

Politics and the media spotlight have contributed toward shifting humanitarian aid to "high profile" disaster areas at the expense of more "invisible" suffering, charges the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in its annual World Disasters Report, released here Thursday.

POLITICS: Military Aid Workers Threaten Relief Agencies

The United Nations is expressing fears that armed troops - notably in strife-torn countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq - are increasingly doubling as humanitarian aid workers, threatening private relief operations.

HEALTH: U.S. Congress Again Punishes U.N. Population Fund

In a close 216 to 211 vote on Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives adopted the Smith Amendment, which blocks the United States from contributing any funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

MALAYSIA: ‘Noon Bride’ Phenomenon Calls for Action, Activists Say

They are confined in luxury condominiums to satisfy a select club of the rich and old in Malaysia, who visit them regularly in late afternoons. These 'noon brides' are visited by patrons who wine, dine and have sex with them, before going home to their families.

POLITICS: Sierra Leonean Refugees Head Home

”Thank God for arriving home safely,” says 20-year-old Emerson Fowai, who was among 360 Sierra Leoneans evacuated from war-torn Liberia last week.

LABOUR-UAE: To Leave with Dignity, Foreign Workers Go For Amnesty

They come to the United Arab Emirates with stars in their eyes and dreams in their hearts. They leave with crushed desires and vacant stares, duped by agents, abandoned by sponsors, broken down by debts, and uncertain about their future.

POPULATION: African Union Courts Africans in Diaspora

Through the centuries, Africa's story has been one of outward migration - from the era of slavery to the present era of migration where hardship and a lack of opportunity have seen many people from the continent seek their better lives elsewhere.

RIGHTS-NEPAL: Bhutanese Refugees Rely Heavily on U.S. Support

Bhutanese refugees of Nepali origin are relying ever more heavily on U.S. intervention to resolve the deadlock over of their repatriation to their home country.

POPULATION-US: Crackdown Leaves Many Muslim Immigrants in Limbo

When he left his native Pakistan for the United States three years ago, Chaudhary just wanted to experience the U.S. way of life for a while. Now, he says, "I am done with this. I need to go home, but I can't. I am stuck."

POPULATION-INDIA: Bride Shortage Fails to Stop Female Foeticides

A profusion of shops selling firearms marks this dusty town, 100 kilometres north-west of New Delhi, as one that is no place for women. Popular in these parts, the practice of female foeticide is ensuring that there are not too many members of the female sex around.

RIGHTS-SLOVAKIA: Move to Cut Short Row over Abortion

The Slovak parliament has amended a controversial law to approve abortions but controversy arose immediately after a ruling coalition party asked for another vote.

AUSTRALIA: Gov’t Draws Fire for Treatment of Latest Asylum Seekers

The Australian government is being criticised by refugee support groups for sending 54 Vietnamese asylum seekers on a 1,600-kilometre long journey over four days to faraway Christmas Island - although they were discovered within a few kilometres of an immigration centre in Western Australia.

INDONESIA: Drive vs Trafficking Means Fighting Poverty, Corruption

Thirteen-year-old Yati was robbed of her childhood when she was sold into bonded labour and now, she sells both tea and her body.

HEALTH-CANADA: Immigrant Women Need Special Care, Study Says

Canadian healthcare professionals need to be better trained to handle the stress, depression and even trauma experienced by immigrant and refugee women in an increasingly diverse Canadian society, says a Nigerian-born Canadian sociologist in a new report.

MEXICO: Isolated Indigenous Groups Face Extinction

Native South Americans shunning contact with - civilization" are facing cultural genocide, warns a United Nations official. While government rhetoric and laws guarantee the existence of isolated indigenous groups still living in the Brazilian, Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazon jungle and in Paraguay's Chaco region, their path to extinction appears to be already laid out.

RIGHTS: Rich Nations Rebuff Treaty Protecting Migrant Workers

A new United Nations convention, which came into force Tuesday, is aimed at protecting over 175 million migrant workers worldwide who are mostly deprived of their basic legal and human rights.

AUSTRALIA: It’s Time to Review Refugee Policy, Say Activists

With over 18 months elapsing since any boats carrying asylum seekers have made their way to Australia, refugee support groups are urging the government to dramatically revise its hardline policy.

POPULATION-AFRICA: Still Producing the Largest Number of Refugees

Joseph Ndarangazi, 24, is still hounded by memories of the 1994 genocide that saw all his family members wiped out in Rwanda.

ARGENTINA: Advances in Reproductive Health, Despite Resistance

Argentina's new government supports recent advances made in reproductive health, despite the staunch opposition of ultraconservative religious groups, and of a judge who even attempted to ban the production and sale of contraceptives altogether.

POPULATION: Roma are Europe’s Fastest Growing, Poorest Minority

Roma in Europe face poverty rates more than 10 times higher than non-Roma, says a new report by the World Bank, released one week before a Budapest conference on the continent's largest minority.