TSUNAMI IMPACT: Politics of Aid Affects Tamils

Political cleavage around the question of aid is threatening to erode the peace dividend that emerged between the rebel Tamil Tigers and the government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga in the immediate wake of the tsunami tragedy.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Are Oil-Rich States Giving Enough Aid?

The new-rich, oil-blessed nations of the Middle East and North Africa, whose national revenues have skyrocketed in the aftermath of rising oil prices last year, have come under fire for their relatively tightfisted response to the tsunami tragedy in south and southeast Asia.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Towards a ‘Culture of Prevention’

In the aftermath of the tsunami upheaval that caught the world totally unprepared, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is urging a comprehensive global plan against other natural catastrophes as well.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Ranks of the New Poor Swell

Philip De Vota has joined the ranks of Sri Lanka's poor for the first time in his 54 years. This reality since the day after Christmas last month gnaws at him, leaving him ''depressed''.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Thai Compassion for Burmese Migrants Wears Thin

Underpaid and exploited, Burmese migrant workers are often the hidden face of Thailand. When a killer tsunami lashed the western Andaman Sea coastline of Thailand on Dec. 26, it came as no surprise to Burmese activists that none of the local authorities bothered to account for the bodies of these workers washed up on beaches.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Trade Will Help More Than Aid

EU proposals to offer some trade concessions to tsunami-hit countries do not go far enough, trade and development experts say.

UNITED NATIONS: Generosity Should Extend to All of the World’s Victims

This is an ideal moment to appeal to the generosity of the international community, said United Nations emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland, as he launched an appeal for 1.7 billion dollars to help meet the needs of 26 million people around the world.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Early Warning Proposals Were Turned Down

Proposals to set up a tsunami early warning system in the Indian Ocean were turned down two years ago, it was revealed at the small island developing states (SIDS) conference here Wednesday.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Deluge of Unfocussed Kindness Can ‘Kill’ – Experts

There is a risk that with direct aid, donor nations might run the risk of 'killing' the already fragile tsunami-affected countries with too much kindness. Because of this, Japanese experts want the aid money committed by Japan, to the devastated countries, to be spent wisely.

TSUMANI IMPACT: Youngest Victims Suffer the Most

The numbers describing children in the tsunami aftermath are staggering: an estimated 50,000 dead, some 30,000 left without parents, and over 1.5 million directly or indirectly affected by last month's monumental tidal wave disaster.

POLITICS-SOMALIA: Cabinet Fails to Pass Muster – Women’s Activists

In what some may describe as adding insult to injury, Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Ghedi has appointed just four women to the country’s new 91-member cabinet.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Early Warning Against Child Trafficking

Sharp differences have emerged over proposals to provide temporary shelter in Europe to children orphaned in the tsunami disaster.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Priming for a Global Alert System

Tsunamis may be as rare as they are ferocious and largely confined to the Pacific, but other major seas are also susceptible to such killer force - and not ready for it.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: In Sri Lanka, Disaster May Yet Aid Unity

These are surreal times for Sri Lanka’s political leaders. Never before have they been sought after, sympathised with and offered promises of assistance from an impressive list of international figures as has happened since the tsunamis ravaged the coast of this island nation.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Narrow Minded Nationalism in Aceh Aid

It began quite mysteriously through mobile phone text messages just days after the Dec. 26 undersea quake and resultant killer waves flattened the province of Aceh in northern Sumatra, killing over 100,000 people.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Freeze Debts, No Strings Attached, Groups Urge

Dozens of development groups and anti-debt campaigners called on the George W. Bush administration Monday to support a mounting push for a moratorium on debt repayments for all tsunami-affected countries.

TSUNAMI-IMPACT: Natural Disasters May Yet Flush Out Caste Feelings

India's rigid social divisions based on caste may have taken a knock as a result of intervention by voluntary agencies involved in relief work in areas hit by the Dec. 26 Indian Ocean tsunami which left over 10,000 dead and at least 600,000 either homeless or destitute on the coast of southern Tamil Nadu state.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Conference Feels the Aftershocks

The emotional aftershocks of the tsunami were felt at a major United Nations meeting that began here Monday to ease the vulnerability of small island developing states.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Beslan Reaches Out, Russia Does Not

Shock waves from the tsunami hit the little Russian town Beslan particularly hard.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: In Tamil Nadu, Ask for Bread and Get a Bakery

An outpouring of national and global sympathy, which has produced an unprecedented inflow of funds and emergency relief supplies to help affected populations in the tsunami- struck southern Indian province of Tamil Nadu, might all go to waste due to the inexperience of local groups in dealing with post-disaster situations.

DEVELOPMENT: Small Islands, Big Stakes – and Big Problems

'Small Islands, Big Stakes', goes the slogan of the day in the capital of this sun-baked, rain-swept Indian Ocean island-nation. It could have spoken of Big Problems too, that will be addressed by some 2,000 delegates converging here for what some participants call a make-or-break conference on the future of 37 Small Island Developing States (SIDS).