Taliban Bullets Target Ballot

The new round of a terror campaign by Taliban militants against liberal politicians and health workers has led to fresh alarm within government and civil society. Many see this as a ploy to postpone elections due mid-2013.

Rural Water Projects Depend on Women

During the dry season, when dirt roads are cracked from the relentless heat, the sight of women walking miles, balancing pots of water on their heads, is common in rural Sri Lanka.

Solar-Powered Water Pumps Struggle to See the Light

When twenty-nine-year-old Kartik Wahi graduated from the Kellogg School of Management in Chicago, Illinois in 2010, he wasted no time in returning to India to self-finance a start-up company to market solar-powered irrigation pumps.

To Save the U.S. Economy, Lift the Bottom

The problem of the U.S. economy lies much deeper than the fiscal cliff. Wise people--Robert Borosage, Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz--see neither the fiscal deficit nor the U.S. debt as the key problems, but the lack of growth.

A Hundred Killed, A Community Cornered

"I want justice,” says Shukria Jamali, 20. “But I wouldn't want my worst enemies to feel the intense pain I am feeling now."

Bloody Entertainment Draws Thousands

It’s the time of the year when people of Hajo, a small town 30 kilometres from Guwahati, capital of the eastern Indian state Assam, get eager to witness the famous Bulbul fight. The Red vented Bulbul is a familiar bird on the Indian subcontinent.

Official Failure Kills Hundreds of Children

It came as no surprise to Dr Zulfikar Ahmad Bhutta, a leading child expert at the Aga Khan University in Karachi, that an outbreak of measles has claimed the lives of more than 300 children in Pakistan. "The tragedy was in the offing," he said, putting the blame squarely on the abysmally low coverage of routine immunisation against childhood diseases.

Obama to Accelerate Handover to Afghan Army

President Barack Obama announced Friday that U.S. forces will accelerate the transfer of primary security responsibilities to their Afghan counterparts and take on an exclusively support and training role beginning this spring.

U.S. Urged to Stem Broader Ethnic Violence in Myanmar

Worried over the possibility of further escalation of armed conflict in Myanmar, activists here are calling on Washington to take stronger action to condemn state forces for aerial bombardment of ethnic Kachin rebels and civilians in the country’s north, which some say constitutes crimes against humanity.

Education Fights Militants and Military

Eight-year-old Muhammad Akram was forced to quit school when he was in the second grade, when the Taliban destroyed the small, government-run school that he and his brother had been attending.

Uzbekistan Tries to Keep Culture from Going Pop

Mahfuza, a mother of three in a small town in the Ferghana Valley, has better things to do than spend her afternoons at crowded, smoke-filled Internet clubs. But as a high-school algebra teacher, she has an extracurricular assignment from her bosses: she must monitor the clubs’ clientele – many of them her students – while they play computer games, surf social networking websites, and watch music videos.

What’s in Store for 2013

Having survived the announced end of the world on Dec. 21, we can now try to foretell our immediate future, based on geopolitical principles that will help us understand the overall shifts of global powers and assess the major risks and dangers.

Executions Elicit Fears of Authoritarianism

Taiwanese activists and human rights advocates ushered in the New Year with a push to prevent a return to authoritarianism and defend procedural justice for death row prisoners in the wake of six executions just before Christmas.

Pacific Island Wakes Up to Threat of Oil Spills

Coral reefs and marine ecosystems in the Milne Bay Province of the Pacific Island nation of Papua New Guinea are at serious risk of long-term environmental damage. The reason: an oil spill from a ship that ran aground on a reef on Kwaiawata Island on Christmas Eve, and authorities’ long delay in mobilising an appropriate response to the accident.

EU Trade Deal Offers Pakistan Some Respite

Karachi, a sprawling city of 18 million, is the country’s economic hub. It accounts for 95 percent of Pakistan’s foreign trade and contributes 30 percent of national industrial production.

Villagers Wail Against Nuclear Power

Mahalakshmi, a housewife married to a farmer, is afraid for her family’s future. The fifty-two-year-old woman is also frustrated that Indian authorities have "betrayed" poor villagers.

“The Hands That Supply EU Imports”

The European Union (EU) is Pakistan's largest trading partner, with overall trade between the two countries topping eight million euros in 2011.

Mystical Islam Deters Fundamentalism

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, has found a deterrent to Islamic fundamentalists: they dress conservatively, sport short beards and Islamic caps and emulate the ways of the Prophet Muhammad.

Asia Leaps Forward in Regional Economic Integration

As the United Nations continues to intensify the promotion of South-South cooperation among member states, Asia plans to take a great leap forward in regional economic integration during the next decade.

Can Cambodia Trade its Way out of LDC Status?

As one of the world’s 48 least developed countries (LDCs), Cambodia is afforded the most beneficial trade ranking to the European Union (EU) under the generalised scheme of preferences (GSP) known as the Everything But Arms (EBA) scheme.

What is China’s Policy Driver in Central Asia?

China is increasingly active in Central Asia, building pipelines and infrastructure projects, as well as expanding its diplomatic and cultural presence in the region.