Ghosts Of War Give Way to Development in Sri Lanka

It is an oasis from the scorching heat outside. The three-storey, centrally air-conditioned Cargills Square, a major mall in Sri Lanka’s northern Jaffna town, is the latest hangout spot in the former warzone, where everyone from teenagers to families to off-duty military officers converge.

Heat Wave Picking Off Pakistan’s Urban Poor

Over 950 people have perished in just five days. The morgues, already filled to capacity, are piling up with bodies, and in over-crowded hospitals the threat of further deaths hangs in the air.

Bougainville Election Intensifies Hopes for Independence

A referendum on independence within the next five years dominated campaigning in the recent general election held in Bougainville, an autonomous region of 300,000 people in the east of Papua New Guinea (PNG), which emerged from a decade-long civil war 15 years ago.

Take Good News on Afghanistan’s Reconstruction With a ‘Grain of Salt’

Since 2002, a year after it invaded Afghanistan, the United States has poured over 100 billion dollars into developing and rebuilding this country of just over 30 million people. This sum is in addition to the trillions spent on U.S. military operations, to say nothing of the deaths of 2,000 service personnel in the space of a single decade.

Farmers Find their Voice Through Radio in the Badlands of India

Eighty-year-old Chenabai Kushwaha sits on a charpoy under a neem tree in the village of Chitawar, located in the Tikamgarh district in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, staring intently at a dictaphone.

Donor Conference to Tackle Nepal Reconstruction

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that shook Nepal in April, and the numerous aftershocks that followed, left the country with losses amounting to a third of its economy.

From Residents to Rangers: Local Communities Take Lead on Mangrove Conservation in Sri Lanka

Weekends and public holidays are deadly for one of Sri Lanka’s most delicate ecosystems – that is when the island’s 8,815 hectares of mangroves come under threat.

Opinion: We Have a Moral Imperative to Act on Climate Change

My country, the Philippines, is one of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Even though we are among those countries that hardly contributed emissions and benefited least from burning fossil fuels, we find ourselves at the frontline of the climate crisis.

Opinion: What the Philippines Can Learn from Morocco, Peru and Ethiopia

(Last week, Australian Climate Activist offered an apology to the Philippines for his country’s lack of action. Today, he partners up with climate tracker from the Philippines Jed Alegado to talk about what the Philippines can do to show its leadership in tackling climate change.)

Climate Justice: Trial by Public Opinion for World’s Polluters

The United Nations, which is tasked with the protection of the global environment, has asserted that climate change affects people everywhere - with no exceptions.

From Residents to Rangers: Local Communities Take Lead on Mangrove Conservation in Sri Lanka

Weekends and public holidays are deadly for one of Sri Lanka’s most delicate ecosystems – that is when the island’s 8,815 hectares of mangroves come under threat.

India Confronts Water Woes as it Transitions from MDGs to SDGs

As the United Nations closes its chapter on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and charts a new plan of action under the framework of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), India – a country of 1.2 billion people – is confronting its resource challenges.

Opinion: Cli-Fi Film from Philippines Packs a Punch

I live on a crowded, subtropical island ​nation ​in the Western Pacific, on the opposite side of the "Pacific Pond" from North America. And just south of Taiwan is the ​many-splendored island nation of the ​Philippines. We are neighbours. You can fly there in one hour, it's that close.

Rights Abuses Still Rampant in Bangladesh’s Garment Sector

Some say they were beaten with iron bars. Others confess their families have been threatened with death. One pregnant woman was assaulted with metal curtain rods.

Compensation Fund for Victims of Bangladesh Factory Collapse Reaches 30-Million-Dollar Target

Two years after a massive garments factory collapsed in a suburb of Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, killing over 1,100 people and leaving more than 2,500 injured, a major international fund has met its target of raising 30 million dollars to be paid out in compensation to the victims and their families.

Why ACP Countries Matter for the EU Post-2015 Development Agenda

We are witnessing a shift in the original rationale behind the unique relationship between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries of the ACP group, which goes beyond the logic of “unilateral aid transfer”, “donor-recipient approach” and “North-South dialogue”.

India Erupts Over Loopholes in Child Labour Law

In a bid to overhaul the country's child labour laws, the Indian government has banned the employment of children below 14 years of age in various commercial ventures, while permitting them to work in family enterprises and on farmlands after school hours and during vacations.

Analysis: Turkey Now Preparing for the Playoffs

The results of the Turkish elections of Jun. 7 have put an end to the suspense that has dominated national politics in the past three months. For the first time in this Asian republic’s history, a Kurdish party has succeeded in being elected to the legislature, with an impressive 15 percent of the seats available.

India’s Four Million Sex Workers Demand Equal Labour Rights

Although forced prostitution and trafficking of women remains a huge challenge in India, health experts, policy-makers and legal advocates say that most of the country’s estimated four million commercial sex workers join the trade of their own free will.

Exodus in the Bay of Bengal

For a while it went unnoticed: a boatload of migrants here, a vessel full of refugees there. But since 2012, the complex and unregulated movement of human beings through South and Southeast Asia– and the fate of those who put their lives in the hands of smugglers and at the mercy of the high seas – is becoming bleaker with each passing day.

U.N. Challenges Asia-Pacific to Be World’s First Region to End AIDS Epidemic

The United Nations has expressed confidence that the Asia-Pacific region, with almost five million people living with HIV, is politically committed towards the elimination of the deadly disease AIDS.