TSUNAMI IMPACT: French Propose Debt Relief

French President Jacques Chirac has called for a moratorium on repayment of foreign debt for countries hit by the tsunami.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Malaysian Gov’t Playing Politics With Aid?

Record humanitarian aid might be pouring in for victims of Asia's tsunami disaster, but critics here have accused the Malaysian government of delaying the distribution of badly needed emergency supplies to survivors in Malaysia's coastal areas, northwest of the peninsula.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Bush Belatedly Ramps Up Disaster Response

Amid a growing debate over whether the U.S. is "stingy" in its aid to poor countries, President George W. Bush moved quickly over the New Year's weekend to demonstrate his concern over the plight of the survivors of last Sunday's tsunamis that killed at least 150,000 people across the Indian Ocean.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: UN, Relief Groups Fear Aid Falling Behind Pledges

The United Nations - along with international aid agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) - is expressing scepticism over the eventual delivery of the hefty 2.5 billion dollars in pledges made by donors for tsunami disaster relief operations in south and southeast Asia.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Hope for Survival of Stone Age Tribes in Andamans

Asia's last Paleolithic tribes appear to have survived last Sunday's tsunamis, despite the fact that their homelands in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Andaman Sea were among the hardest hit of all the areas affected by the catastrophe.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: EU Aid Set to Increase

The EU is stepping up relief efforts in the tsunami-hit areas around the Indian Ocean.

INDONESIA: Military Offensive on in Tsunami-Hit Aceh – Critics

While volunteers, relief workers and families are busy collecting and searching for bodies in Indonesia's tsunami-stricken Aceh province, Indonesian soldiers are continuing their offensive against separatist rebels, critics say.

ASIA: World Is One, Warns Tsunami

It has taken a devastating tsunami that claimed more than 150,000 lives in a dozen countries scattered across the vast Indian Ocean to remind passengers on the fragile spaceship, Earth, of their interdependence and common destiny.

SRI LANKA: Tsunami Battered Island Licks Its Wounds

One of the loudest weekends of the year was transformed into the quietest in Sri Lanka, a week after a deadly Indian Ocean tsunami killed at least 30,000 people in the country.

THAILAND: One Week On, Next-Of-Kin Accept Tsunami Reality

Many of the distraught next-of-kin and friends of the missing are coming to grips with the emerging harsh realities in this island resort, one week after tsunamis engulfed Thailand's southern coastlines - sweeping away thousands to their deaths.

SINGAPORE: ‘Lucky’ Island Leads Regional Tsunami Relief Efforts

Tan Geok Huay, a 51-year-old housekeeper was one of the nearly 3,000 people who showed up at Singapore's Red Cross office with their cheque books, bank tills and other valuables soon after last weekend's 9.0 magnitude earthquake, and devastating tsunamis, struck - killing over 124,000 people in 11 countries.

THAILAND: No Sign of New Year Festivities in Phuket

It might be New Year's Eve but there's certainly no sign of festivity in this southern Thai island resort. The stench of death, instead, permeating through the air will greet any newcomer to this former playground of Western tourists.

U.S.: Bush Defensive as Aid Effort Lumbers Into Action

With the South Asian death toll from Sunday's tsunamis well beyond the 100,000 mark and climbing, the administration of U.S. President George W Bush is defending itself against charges that its aid commitments so far have been largely too little, too grudging and too late.

ECONOMY: Urgent Needs Obscure Long-Term Costs of Asian Disaster

The world is rallying to aid countries and lives damaged by the earthquake and tsunamis that have killed more than 120,000 people in Asia and Africa, injuring three or four times as many, but few have ventured to calculate the long-term economic impact of the disaster.

ENVIRONMENT: Tsunami Exacerbates Somalia’s Woes

Somalia’s interim Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi will fly home in the next few days to assess the damage caused by the tidal wave which has left more than 100 people dead in the Horn of African country.

SRI LANKA: Tsunami Tragedy Bridges Divide Among Ethnic Groups

The tsunami that caused more than 23,800 deaths so far in Sri Lanka is creating temporary rapprochement between ethnic groups that stayed away from each other despite a three-year ceasefire between the government and Tamil separatist rebels.

ASIA: Biggest Relief Operation Underway for Tsunami-Hit Areas

The biggest humanitarian relief operation the world has ever seen is underway in Asia, as international aid agencies supported by foreign troops race to provide emergency help in the aftermath of a massive earthquake and the huge tsunamis it unleashed.

THAILAND: Common Courage in the Face of Disaster

Four days after Sunday's massive earthquake and subsequent tsunamis in the South-east and South Asian region, bodies are still being pulled from the wreckage in Thailand's southern island resort of Phuket.

ASIA: Tsunami a Reminder of Risks that Plague Coastal Nuke Plants

Tsunamis and other natural disasters are posing a bigger challenge than pesky green activists to India's secretive nuclear power and research facilities on the coast of southern Tamil Nadu state, which accounted for 5,000 of the more than 50,000 deaths from this week's quakes and killer waves in Asia.

RIGHTS-SRI LANKA: Kin of Disappeared Find Few Answers

In the war-ravaged north-east of Sri Lanka, an ageing Tamil father sits on the floor of a Hindu temple, waiting to meet an exuberant, seemingly tireless oracle.

ASIA: Tsunamis Leave Painful Lessons on Preparedness

The tsunamis that claimed at least 23,000 lives in eight countries on the Indian Ocean Sunday left behind a crucial lesson on the need for an early warning system to reduce the risks and vulnerability of local populations in that region, said United Nations experts.