PAKISTAN: Religious Scholars Called In to Promote Peace

The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwestern Pakistan is calling on religious scholars to help end the violence in the militancy-wracked province, in a desperate attempt to restore peace.

SRI LANKA: Saudi Death Sentence for Maid Shakes Govt

The Sri Lanka government is considering a further tightening of age restrictions on women leaving the country to become domestic workers. But some analysts say this is a quick-fix solution to the problem of women running afoul of the law abroad.

INDONESIA: Expanding Land Rights to Boost Growth, Cut Emissions

Indonesia has assumed a target to cut greenhouse gas emission rates by half and achieve an economic growth rate of seven percent by changing the way it manages its vast forest land, and giving greater control over land to local communities.

INDIA: Sex Selection on the Rise Despite Stricter Law

When Sujatha’s husband learned that she had conceived just five months after they got married, he became agitated over what he called her "ill-timed pregnancy". To worsen her husband’s anxiety, a test to determine the sex of the foetus showed she was carrying a girl.

JAPAN: Aftershocks Hit Single Fathers

In a matter of minutes on Mar. 11, 33-year-old Hiroshi Yoshida became a widower and a single father, as the massive tsunami swept over his home in Rikuzentakata in northern Japan and took away his wife and younger son.

NEPAL: Sex Workers Demand a Place in the Constitution

Every time Bijaya Dhakal goes out to meet people and tell them what she does for a living, the simple task becomes an act of courage requiring nerves of steel. Dhakal is the founder of Nepal’s first and only organisation of women sex workers now trying to make the state and society listen to a community long hushed by poverty and discrimination.

SRI LANKA: No Cricket for This Tendulkar

His father named him after the famous Indian cricket star Sachin Tendulkar, one of the best sportsmen of his generation. But little Sachin Tendulkar from the northern Sri Lankan town of Vavuniya harbours no ambition of following in the footsteps of his illustrious namesake.

INDIA: Kashmir Dreams of Bollywood

If films are the voice of society, then Indian Kashmir is mute, with a virtually non-existent film industry and the subsequent inability to nurture local talent.

Thaksin Awakens Rural Thailand

Villages like this one are nothing more than a mix of small wooden and cement houses on tree-lined lanes where people make a living growing rice or rearing cattle and pigs. Yet they are shaping the future of Thailand’s democracy and taking part in what residents call a "rural awakening".

BANGLADESH: Women Raise Own Funds for Microfinance

Amidst despair and poverty, women in some remote villages of Bangladesh are raising money and lending it to each other through a unique microfinance programme launched by a local non-government organisation.

INDONESIA: Network Turns Teachers Into Environment Advocates

Educators in Indonesia are turning green with environmental advocacies they plan to integrate into the curriculum of state-run elementary and high schools through the "Green Teacher Network".

SRI LANKA: Conflict Gives Way to Hardship

Like many Sri Lankans, Kandiah Selvadurai measures the improvement in his life by the amount of money he spends on essentials. When basic goods were scarce more than two years ago, he paid dearly for them. These days, he buys them for a tiny fraction of what they used to cost.

INDIA: Unfazed by Nuclear Suppliers’ New Rules

Confident in the large market it offers to the world’s nuclear suppliers, India has decided to shrug off new restrictions by a 46-nation cartel on the transfer of uranium enrichment and reprocessing technologies that potentially have military applications.

PAKISTAN: War Breeds Child Workers

He should be inside a classroom but instead Jawad Ali spends his days selling sandals on the sidewalks of Khyber Bazaar in the city of Peshawar in northwest Pakistan. "I want to be in school, but it’s not possible now," said 11-year-old Ali.

THAILAND: Rural Folk Pave Way for First Female PM’s Landmark Win

Across villages, towns, and cities in northeast Thailand, a mood of political empowerment is bursting to the surface, with people gathering in groups since Sunday evening to celebrate political history. After all, they helped put Yingluck Shinawatra on the road to becoming the country’s first female prime minister.

Thailand’s Yingluck Announces Coalition

A day after she led Pheu Thai party to a landslide victory in parliamentary elections in Thailand, Yingluck Shinawatra has announced a new five-party coalition government.

NEPAL: Women Grow Carbon Money on Trees

When Bina Tamang was told that she could earn money by not felling trees in the tiny forest that serves as the source of fuel and fodder for 65 families in her area, the 27-year-old was incredulous.

INDIA: ‘Seed-Mothers’ Confront Climate Insecurity

In eastern Orissa state’s tribal hinterlands about 200 ‘seed-mothers’ are on mission mode - identifying, collecting and conserving traditional seed varieties and motivating farming families to use them.

NORTH KOREA: On Sale, Girls Look for Chinese Husbands

North Koreans have increasingly been crossing into the northern border cities of China, with women outnumbering men. "Women represent about 70 percent of some 200,000 North Koreans who fled from North Korea into China in the past few years," Kim Tae Jin, a North Korean defector who leads a nongovernment organisation to protect the human rights of fellow North Koreans tells IPS.

JAPAN: Renewable Energy Grabs Limelight

After decades of being relegated to the sidelines, Japan’s fledging renewable energy industry is now basking in the limelight as the nation struggles to cope with the Fukushima nuclear accident.

THAILAND: PM Targets Drug Traffickers Ahead of July Poll

With an eye on the tightly contested Jul. 3 general election, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is tapping into the national unease gripping this country over a deadly habit shared by some Thais: drugs.