PAKISTAN: Painter from Outcast Community Brings Change from Within

The narrow alleys behind the majestic, Mughal-era Badshahi Masjid (King's mosque) here in Pakistan's second largest city cradle a people who are looked down upon as social outcasts.

RIGHTS-JAPAN: Women Need Protection from Spousal Rape

In October 2002, Junko decided she would tolerate no more abuse from her live-in boyfriend. Scared and hurt, the 22-year-old mother relied on help from her friends to escape, but the fate of her infant daughter is now uppermost in her mind.

BRAZIL: Pensions – An Impossible Dream for Most Workers

The current debate on pensions reform in Brazil cannot get around the fact that a majority of the country's workers depend on the informal economy for their livelihood, and have no labour rights or prospects for retirement.

MEXICO: South Koreans a Growing Presence in Capital’s Retail District

The South Korean immigrant population is growing rapidly in the Mexico City neighbourhood of Tepito, a commercial centre where small shops are intermingled with big department stores, legal businesses with illegal.

POPULATION-SOUTH AFRICA: Xenophobia, Red Tape Hurt Refugees

Even though refugees are entitled to the same constitutional rights as South Africans, they often end-up competing with the locals for access to essential social services provided by the government - and losing.

AFRICA: Pregnancy Illness Devastates 100,000 Women Yearly

Alarmed by a new study that found millions of African women continue to suffer and even die from the pregnancy-related condition fistula, U.N. officials and public health activists are asking rich nations for help in setting up treatment facilities on the continent.

REFUGEES: France and Britain Join Forces

France and Britain have had their differences over Iraq, but they have found complete agreement on joint measures to keep Iraqi refugees out of both countries.

RIGHTS-U.S.: Child Immigrants Treated Like Offenders – Report

About one-third of all children in the custody of U.S. immigration authorities spend time in jail-like facilities designed to hold young offenders, says a report released Wednesday by Amnesty International.

RIGHTS-MEXICO: UN Gives Fox’s Indigenous Policy a Failing Grade

Mexico's 10 million ethnic Indians remain poor and continue to suffer discrimination three years into President Vicente Fox's administration, whose policies towards indigenous people have merely taken a welfare approach, a high-level United Nations official said Wednesday.

JAPAN: In Post-retirement Jobs, Elderly Men Nurture Youngsters

Ask toddlers at Yachihiro Hoikuen, a public day care centre in Joetsu city in northern Japan, who their favourite teacher is, and they enthusiastically point to 64-year-old Kazuo Ojima, the first elderly male caregiver to work in the centre.

POPULATION-LIBERIA: More Refugees Flee into Sierra Leone

The fighting in Liberia has opened the floodgates for more refugees, including soldiers, to cross into Sierra Leone.

RIGHTS-BANGLADESH: Rape Victims Married Off to Rapists

Rozina, the 16-year-old daughter of a farmer in this district of Bangladesh, is married to the man who raped her. Trapped by the dictates of village elders, threatened by the rapist's family, and finding themselves powerless to resist, Rozina's parents crumbled under the pressure.

MALAYSIA: Deportation of Burmese Sparks Calls for Policy Review

Nelson, a Burmese migrant worker in a garments manufacturing firm here, sounded frantic at the prospect of imminent deportation following his employer's decision to cancel his work permit.

SOCIETY: Canada Finds More Poor with New Measure

Because of dramatic cuts to social programmes, Canada is in danger of going down the U.S. road of rich-poor polarisation and increased disparities in income based on ethnicity and race, says John Anderson, an economist and the vice president of research at the Ottawa-based Canadian Council on Social Development.

SOUTH AMERICA: Fortresses, Motorcycle Restrictions to Fight Crime

Motorcycles in Colombia cannot carry a male passenger, because the modus operandi used by many ''sicarios'' or hired killers involves drive-by shootings carried out by the person on the back.

POPULATION-CONGO: Angolan Refugees Thrilled By the News of Returning Home

Angolan refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo are thrilled by the news that their country is at peace and they will soon be returning home.

HEALTH-CHINA: SARS Becoming a Part of Life

For Chinese journalist Bai Weitao, the last few months have been nothing less than a nightmare that changed the life he knew, and made him value all the little things he took for granted.

RIGHTS: EU Urged to Combat Child Pornography on Internet

The European Union needs to step up measures to combat child pornography on the internet, according to members of civil society groups.

ENVIRONMENT-MEXICO: Violence Brewing in Montes Azules Reserve

Lacandon Indians in Mexico are threatening to use force to stop other indigenous groups from clearing out land and creating settlements in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve.

INDIA: HIV Case Shows Need to Fix Rules on Assisted Reproduction

Already under emotional stress from being infertile, Indian couples are finding that the artificial route to conceiving children is fraught with danger, and that sometimes it can be deadly.

POPULATION-ANGOLA: Refugees Return Home after 28 Years in Exile

More than 20,000 Angolan refugees will start returning home this month after 28 years in exile in Namibia, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.