PAKISTAN/INDIA: Citizens Push for Peace

The months following last year's Mumbai terror attacks have seen a renewed sense of urgency among peace activists in Pakistan and India. Citizens are pushing their governments to resume the composite dialogue process between the two nuclear-rival nations.

IRAQ: Is Another Conflict Inevitable?

Relations between Iraq's various Kurdish, Arab and Turkoman ethnicities are going through a new round of complications since a provision in the draft constitution of the country's northern Kurdistan region declared a range of disputed areas part of the historical Kurdish homeland, infuriating non-Kurds in the country.

RIGHTS: Muslims Under Scrutiny Despite Waning of ‘Terror War’

When the administration of President Barack Obama formally abandoned the longstanding U.S. "war on terror" - perceived by some as a codeword for "war against Islam" - there were hopes of a new relationship between the United States and the Muslim world after eight long years of political friction.

RELIGION-BRAZIL: Intolerance Denounced at UN

"Ialorixá" Gilda died of a massive heart attack in 1999 after members of a pentecostal church swarmed into her temple and hit her over the head with a Bible. Her death drew attention to the growing religious intolerance in Brazil, which was denounced this week at the United Nations.

RIGHTS-INDIA: India's Historic Gay Ruling

A day after the Delhi High Court's landmark judgment to overturn a colonial law that criminalised homosexuality, Indians expressed mixed reactions to the verdict.

AUSTRALIA: Attacks Expose Ills Of A Much-Touted Education System

The modern façade of its cities, cost-effectiveness and its high standards of education make Australia an attractive destination for foreign students. But the recent spate of attacks on Indian students has exposed the many ills afflicting the Australian education system, threatening its lucrative markets.

ENVIRONMENT: ‘Slow Down Living’

A group of Christian environmentalists met in Pistoia in central Italy over the weekend to call for an end to mass consumption and a return to family values.

MIDEAST: Not Correct Soccer, But Better

In this Arab town in northern Israel, Michael Zantovsky, the Czech Republic ambassador, is throwing an end-of-term party, an event markedly different from customary diplomatic bashes.

RIGHTS: Arab TV Soaps Reinforce Gender Bias

Arabic TV channels wait for Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, to launch new soaps that generally portray women negatively. Ramadan starts this year at the end of August.

AUSTRALIA: Policy May Force Indigenous Communities From Traditional Lands

A government plan purporting to improve the lives of people living in isolated areas of Australia’s Northern Territory will be implemented at the expense of surrounding homeland communities and ignores the cultural and health benefits for people living on those traditional lands, warn critics.

PAKISTAN: An Unexpected Tribute to MJ

In this South Asian nation, people fondly remember a pop-singer who stole many hearts.

CULTURE-MEXICO: “New Seven Wonders” Win Falls Flat

The Mexican government spent time and money in 2007 to get the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza declared one of the "new seven wonders of the world" in a contest organised by a Swiss-Canadian businessman. But winning has failed to deliver the desired results.

SOUTHEAST ASIA: Regional Rights Body Dismissed as “Toothless”

Southeast Asia is weeks away from getting its own regional human rights body, but not everyone is cheering the birth of this new mechanism due to be approved at a foreign ministers’ meeting here. Least of all the region’s vibrant human rights community, spread across the 10 countries that belong to the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN).

MALAYSIA: Blacklisted For Not Enforcing Trafficking Laws

After years of lobbying by rights activists and the international community, Malaysia passed an effective and comprehensive law in 2007 against human trafficking with provisions for protection, shelter and return of trafficked person to their home countries.

RELIGION-CUBA: Women in the Pulpit

Izet Samá has no regrets about her decision to devote every waking hour to her mission as pastor of the Presbyterian-Reformed Church, guiding a small congregation in the Cuban province of Havana.

PARAGUAY: University Opens Doors to Native Students

Video camera in hand, Isidro Romero is getting ready for another day of classes in the Paraguayan capital. He is studying Communications as part of a programme aimed at breaking down the barriers that have blocked access to university level studies by the country’s small indigenous minority.

POLITICS-INDIA: Hindu Fundamentalism in Retreat

As the leaders of the pro-Hindu, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) blame each other for the massive debacle that the party suffered in the April/May elections it is clear that its fundamentalist agenda has few takers in a rapidly modernising India.

CHILE: Festival to Showcase Films on Native Peoples

Thanks to the growing number of films by and about indigenous peoples, over 90 movies, mainly from Latin America, will be screened and voted on by spectators at the First Chilean Indigenous Peoples' Film Festival in the Pacific port city of Valparaíso.

RIGHTS-INDIA: Shades of Abu Ghraib in College Ragging Rituals

As the annual scrimmage for coveted seats in India’s engineering and medical colleges gets underway, what many students dread is the sadistic ritual of ragging - or hazing - that they expect to undergo at the hands of their seniors.

ARGENTINA: Drumming Up Black Awareness

Argentina’s small black community, ignored by historical constructions that have traditionally focused on the influence of European immigration, is now fighting for recognition of its contribution to culture in the Argentine capital.

DEVELOPMENT: UNESCO Race Wide Open

The contest for a new UNESCO director-general is now wide open with the addition of last-minute nominees for the post, following the controversy around leading contender Farouk Hosny.