ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Women Turn Waste Into Wealth

Standing on the shimmering white beach and gazing out at the turquoise blue waters of the Arabian sea, it is hard to believe that a decade ago this international tourist destination was under siege by mounting heaps of garbage.

Erosion Threatens an Island Culture

Majuli island on the Brahmaputra river in the eastern Indian state of Assam is quickly losing its landmass to erosion. Majuli has long been regarded as one of the largest inhabited river islands in the world along with Ilha de Marajo of Brazil.

INDIA: Industrial Pollution Brings Crocodile Tears

Industrial pollution from a paper manufacturing factory in one of India's most precious biodiversity hotspots is wreaking havoc on the local ecology, driving up the population of wild crocodiles in the area while simultaneously destroying the creatures' habitat and food supply.

NEPAL: Protests Fail to Stop Climate Loans

Nepal will implement five projects with 110 million dollars sanctioned by the controversial Climate Investment Funds (CIFs), ignoring protestors who say this least developed country merits grants rather than climate loans.

CHINA: Enforced Disappearances on the Rise

China is experiencing the worst crackdown since 1989 with a rising number of enforced disappearances of activists, a prominent Chinese dissident now living in exile has stated.

BOOK-BURMA: On the New Road to Mandalay

Condemned for decades as an international pariah, Burma is enjoying a diplomatic spring with droves of former critics heading towards the Southeast Asian nation.

AFGHANISTAN: Land Triggers New Conflicts

A small plot of urban land has pitted Assadullah, 55, against an unwelcome neighbour in a bitter personal property dispute that has stretched on for almost a decade.

NEPAL: Praying Against Climate Change

There are gasps from the audience as a series of shocking images flash across the screen: human hands eaten away by arsenic, the carcass of a cow so emaciated that it looks two-dimensional, a starved child with matchstick legs grasping at the udder of an animal for sustenance.

INDIA: Bhopal Victims Oppose Dow as Olympics Sponsor

India’s sport stars have joined the survivors of the 1984 gas leak tragedy in this city, capital of the central Madhya Pradesh state, to protest against a sponsorship deal between Dow Chemical and the organisers of the 2012 London Olympic Games.

PHILIPPINES: These Shots Target AIDS

A unique campaign in the Philippines is using stylised online photos to raise awareness on HIV/AIDS. Fashion and conceptual photographer Niccolo Cosme first initiated Project Headshot Clinic in 2007 as a way of merging profile photos online and advertising.

Taliban Slide ‘From Hero to Zero’

Religious and political forces in Northern Pakistan, which hitherto drew strength from their association with the Taliban have begun to distance themselves from the militants, as the latter’s legitimacy plummets in the border regions.

PAKISTAN: DNA Lab Comes to Track Terrorists

A much-needed DNA laboratory is to be set up at the Forensic Science Department of the Khyber Medical College in Peshawar, capital of the violence- battered Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region in Pakistan.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Kashmiri Farmers Left High and Dry

Sammad Sheikh of Tangchekh village in north Kashmir cannot understand why the rice fields that his family cultivated for generations are drying up.

AFGHANISTAN: False Intelligence, True Tragedies

A night raid in Hakimabad in the heart of eastern Nangarhar province shows the face of U.S.-led presence in Afghanistan, and what it means to local people.

Iranians Resolutely Ignore Sanctions’ Pinch

As the Iranian economy struggles under international sanctions intended to halt its nuclear programme, one unofficial indicator that has yet to be rattled is the Islamic Republic's robust consumer confidence.

SRI LANKA: Road Signs Indicate Better Times

The rough road is almost indistinguishable from the mud huts and dilapidated surroundings of this village - still pockmarked by the artillery duels of Sri Lanka’s fierce civil war that ended more than two years ago.

CHINA: Slowing Down in Search of Happiness

Chinese essayist Zhou Zuoren once wrote that China should be experienced on a small wooden boat slowly gliding on its rivers, taking in its views. But arriving in Shanghai on the country's most advanced high-speed railway leaves little doubt that slow boats are no longer the way to romanticise China of today.

PAKISTAN: Anger Soars Over Attack

"Enough is enough. Pakistan should respond aggressively to these unprovoked and unwarranted NATO air strikes," says local shopkeeper Muhammad Omar. Public anger is boiling over as the Pakistani government takes tough action to cut supplies and other support to NATO forces in Afghanistan.

INDIA: Elephants and Mahouts Held Captive by Tradition

As the number of captive elephants grows to 35 percent of the wild population of the world’s largest land-dwelling mammal, elephant trainers, or mahouts, find themselves just as chained to hardships as their charges.

Q&A: ‘Close to Breaking Point’

Who speaks for the Chinese people? With the advent of the blogosphere in China, the Communist party is no longer the uncontested spokesperson for the Chinese nation. A myriad of voices are vying for space and attention, but most of those, according to one of the country's most famous bloggers Wang Xiaofeng, are just "letting off steam" and indulging a penchant for rant long suppressed in traditional media by the party's ruthless censors.

PAKISTAN: At the Butt of a Joke

The Butts of Punjab have become the butt of jokes after Pakistan’s telecom authorities moved to ban "obscene" content on short messaging service (SMS) texts over mobile phones.