MALAYSIA: Cartoon Row Blunts Media Edge

The Prophet Muhammad cartoon controversy is trailing blood in Malaysian newsrooms at a time when mainstream media showed signs of emerging into the sunshine, after two decades of serving as the mouthpiece of the dictatorial former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.

HEALTH-ANGOLA: The Dangerous Profession of Motherhood

Walking into the Angolan capital's main maternity hospital, the first thing that hits any visitor is the stench: a nauseating combination of blood and excrement. After a short while, the stomach settles and the eyes adjust to the poor light in the Maternidade Lucrecia Paim; then, the true wretchedness of the grey walls and broken windows begins to sink in.

MEDIA-MALAYSIA: Saying It With ‘Indie’ Films

One day, last year, reporter Ong Ju Lin attended a forum and heard villager Alice Lee argue why a multi-billion dollar incinerator should not be built near her home in Kajang town, about 30 km south of the capital.

PAKISTAN: Cartoon Protests Cripple Local Trade

Weeks of often violent protests against the caricaturing of Prophet Muhammad have affected the economy of this city on the Afghan border and the only smiles around are on the faces of people who make the banners that festoon every shop and business.

IRAQ: Political Motives Behind Attacks Surface

The political motivations behind the bombing of the Shia shrine in Samarra have begun to surface through several accounts.

ECONOMY: Arcelor Takeover Bid Tests EU Protectionism

Unusually fierce resistance to the bid of India-born steel tycoon, Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, to buy out Europe's largest steel company, Arcelor, has brought on charges of protectionism of the type heard every time somebody from the third world runs into difficulties in acquiring Western interests.

IRAQ: Mosque Outrage Brings Solidarity

Widespread sectarian violence generated by the recent bombing of the Shia Golden Mosque in Samarra has also brought widespread demonstrations of solidarity between Sunnis and Shias across Iraq.

JAPAN: Playing Bad Neighbour

Japan's sagging ties with its Asian neighbours plunged to a new low, this month, when foreign minister Taro Aso said Japanese pre-World War II colonisation of Taiwan resulted in a raising of education levels in that country.

IRAQ: U.S. Holds Its Breath in Aftermath of Mosque Bombing

Two days after the bombing of one of Shia Islam's holiest shrines in Iraq, analysts and officials here are holding their breath, desperately hoping that a rapid descent into a sectarian civil war in Iraq can still be avoided, if not reversed.

RELIGION: U.S. Christian Leaders Apologise For Iraq War

Christian leaders from the United States lamented the war in Iraq and apologised for their government's current foreign policy during the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Porto Alegre, Brazil, which ended Thursday.

POLITICS: Consensus Near on Permanent U.N. Rights Body

After several months of closed-door bickering, the 191 U.N. member states are expected to vote next week on a General Assembly resolution calling for the creation of a new Human Rights Council that should be up and running by May this year.

RELIGION: Christian Churches Call for Dialogue with Muslims

Dialogue has been one of the most frequently mentioned words at the ninth assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC), which ends Friday in this southern Brazilian city after 10 days of debates marked by the controversy triggered by the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in newspapers in Europe.

RIGHTS-SOUTH AFRICA: “Anything Can Happen to Us, Anytime”

As a community relations officer for the Johannesburg-based Forum for the Empowerment of Women, a non-governmental organisation, Zanele Muholi has become all too familiar with the prejudice against lesbians that exists in South Africa.

IRAQ: Bombing Could Hit Government Talks

The bombing of the Al-Askari Shia shrine and the wave of killings and attacks on Sunni mosques that followed have further endangered the fragile moves towards formation of a government.

MEDIA-RELIGION: Yemen Journalists Fight Cartoon Crackdown

The cartoons controversy has taken a new turn in Yemen with a plea by four jailed journalists that they re-published the cartoons in defence of Islam.

AFGHANISTAN: Ignorance Feared Speeding HIV Spread

Afghan men, women and children returning home after years of living in the squalor of refugee camps in neighbouring Pakistan and Iran may be coming back with more than just their belongings.

RIGHTS-RELIGION: Fear or Fiat – the Limits of the Free Press

The cartoons issue has been argued as a debate between freedom of expression on one side and the responsibility of protecting religious sensibilities on the other. But each of these arguments needs to be examined a little more closely, because questions arise within each of these arguments, and not just between them.

UAE: Boycotting Goods Not Islamic Say Arab Dons

While Islamist clerics and regional trade groups have called for a boycott of European goods in reprisal for the caricaturing of Prophet Muhammad, leading Arab academics and intellectuals say this could only boomerang on the religion and its followers.

CULTURE: A Look Into Bosnian Women’s Lives

Famous for its surprises, the Berlin International Film Festival sprang yet another at the weekend with the announcement that Sarajevo-born Jasmila Zbanic had scooped its top Golden Bear award for her first feature film 'Grbavica' on the legacy of the Balkans war.

POLITICS-US: Cartoon Crisis Echoes “Why They Hate Us” Debate

While Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes flies off on her second tour of the Middle East Friday, she must feel at least some relief that Europe - rather than the United States - has been the main target of the two-week outpouring of anger in the Islamic world that has come to be called the "cartoon crisis".

HEALTH-SOUTHERN AFRICA: AIDS Puts Funeral Traditions Under Pressure

Research indicates that traditional burials for those who die from AIDS-related diseases in Southern Africa are having a severe financial effect on households in the region, notably those in rural areas.