POLITICS-JAPAN: Peace Vote Will Decide ‘Battle of Okinawa’

Over the past month, Ayano Takaesu, 52, and her husband, Jiro, have allowed the income from the fair-trade shop they run in Okinawa to drop drastically as they devote much of their time campaigning in the run up to the Okinawa gubernatorial election on Sunday.

DEATH PENALTY: Russians Say Spare Saddam’s Life

Russian politicians and Muslim leaders here have thrown their weight against the death sentence handed down early this month to Saddam Hussein, and suggest that an independent, international tribunal be set up to retry the former Iraqi president.

ARGENTINA: Curbing Discriminatory Use of Government Advertising

With the backing of journalists and lawyers, an Argentine non-governmental organisation has launched a proposal for regulating official advertising, in order to prevent the arbitrariness with which governments reward media outlets that support them and cold-shoulder the rest.

FILM-IRAQ: A Glimpse of Life Under Occupation

The most honoured film about the Iraq war is opening at theaters across the United States this month.

RELIGION-ASIA: Singapore to Help Revive Ancient Indian University

With support from Singapore, Japan and other countries interested in Buddhism, India's ancient Nalanda University, dating back to 5th century B.C., may soon be restored to its past glory as a primary seat of learning in Asia.

TAJIKISTAN: Gender Equality Clashes With Culture, Religion

Women have played important roles in rebuilding Tajikistan after the country's civil war of the 1990's. But women in this central Asian country still have many obstacles to overcome to reach equality with men, according to some local activists and international observers.

FILM: Somali Bantu Find Strange New Life in Urban U.S.

After 13 years of frustrating delays and worsening conditions in a Kenyan refugee camp, 13,000 Somali Bantu have finally been allowed to seek asylum in the United States. But their quest for a home has only just begun.

ENVIRONMENT-JAPAN: Green Lawmakers Stop Dam Building Spree

Japan's vaunted dam building culture, costing millions of dollars in public funds, is taking a beating these days with the election of environmentally-conscious governors and growing public opposition.

POLITICS: Ideology Widening Muslim-West Divide

The key reasons for the growing divide between Muslim and Western societies are not religious but political, concludes a report presented to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan Monday in Istanbul, Turkey.

MEDIA-BURMA: Exiled Cartoonists Deliver Darts With a Smile

They have completely different styles, but they are bound by a common goal - a free Burma.

IRAN: Killing the Golden Goose of Private Banking

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's populist economic policies and his government's interference with Parsian Bank, Iran's largest private and its second largest bank, may well end up unsettling the future of private banking in this country.

BANGLADESH: Bracing for Renewed Poll Violence

Bangladesh braced for renewed street violence Sunday, after a 14-party opposition coalition enforced an indefinite blockade of road, rail and water transport to press for the sacking of the chief election commissioner.

ENVIRONMENT: From Mosques to Mollusks, No Haven From Rising CO2

Three hundred and eighty parts per million. That's the current concentration of carbon dioxide going into your lungs with each breath. Our parents or grandparents' first breaths at birth contained about 290 parts per million (ppm), as it was for everyone born before them.

POPULATION: Go Forth and Multiply Ahmadinejad Tells Iranians

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has once again stirred up controversy by opposing the country's long-standing efforts at reducing the population growth rate and by his proposal to make female employees, with children, part-time workers on full salaries.

EDUCATION-JAPAN: Patriotism as Remedy for Bullying, School Ills?

A spate of new cases of student bullying and other school scandals have boosted Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plans to revise Japan's controversial Fundamental Education Reform Bill, which aims to inculcate patriotism in children.

BALKANS: Development Arrives with Visitors

Billboards that say 'Welcome to Serbia' are back now after a 15-year absence due to wars and isolation. And there will be more after some surprise announcements about what they can do.

RIGHTS-NIGERIA: “People Always See Us As Health Hazards”

"When I go home, I often notice that as soon as I come, all the towels, soaps and sponges that were in the bathroom will disappear," says Isaiah Ojeabulu. He chairs the Human Rights Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy, an organisation in Nigeria, and has himself suffered from leprosy.

POLITICS: Gulf Security Hinges on Axis of Realpolitik

As the sectarian conflict in Iraq escalates, along with stepped up attacks on U.S. troops and civilians, Dr. Houchang E. Chehabi, an international relations professor at Boston University and expert on Persian Gulf issues, says Iran could step in to stabilise Iraq - if offered an incentive to do so.

FILM-VENEZUELA: Bringing Non-Hollywood Fare to City Squares

Neighbourhood cinemas have closed down by the dozen and movie-goers in the Venezuelan capital have little choice but to take in the Hollywood blockbusters offered by the multiplex theatres operated by a handful of large companies in the city's shopping malls. But that is about to change.

RIGHTS: Finnish Artists Honour Murdered Russian Journalist

Several Finnish artists and journalists have come together to produce a song to honour the murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

POLITICS-INDIA: Gov’t Report Shakes Claims to Pluralism

India, which has long prided itself as a shining example of democracy and religious-cultural pluralism, is being forced to contend with an unpleasant truth: the foundations of its claim to religious integration and harmony may be far shakier than earlier believed.