SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Plans for Regional Rights Body Hit Realities

Plans to create a regional human rights body for the ten-nation South-east Asian bloc are threatening to expose the gulf that separates countries that seek to respect political and civil liberties and the notorious violators.

SOUTH-EAST ASIA: ‘Bali Process’ May Address Rohingya Crisis

South-east Asian governments are examining the possibility of using a seven-year-old regional mechanism, known as the ‘’Bali Process,’’ to find an answer to minority Muslim Rohingyas fleeing ethnic cleansing in military-ruled Burma.

RIGHTS-SRI LANKA: India Can Help End Civilian Killings

As Sri Lanka's armed forces battle the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in their last stronghold, the island country's influential neighbour, India, is weighing diplomatic options to goad President Mahinda Rajapakse's government to save civilians trapped in the war zone.

ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Tiger Census Helping Conservation

One year after India released a scientifically prepared census report of tigers in this country, it is being criticised by some as inadequate and acclaimed by others as a significant step towards stemming the rapid depletion of the big cat through poaching and habitat loss.

RIGHTS-BURMA: Rohingya Issue Figures in Regional Summit

Burma’s military regime has set a tough challenge for regional leaders to grapple with when they gather for a summit over the weekend in this resort town south of Bangkok.

RIGHTS-AUSTRALIA: New Drive Against Racism

With new figures showing that 44 percent of Australians were either born overseas or have at least one parent who was, community organisations have welcomed a stepped-up government programme to tackle racial, cultural and religious intolerance.

U.S.: Gen Y Reads – But Only for Nine Minutes a Day

Are twentysomethings changing the culture of literature?

ENVIRONMENT-PAKISTAN: Warnings From Vanishing Vultures

"The thought of my carcass being pecked at by vultures isn’t at all pleasant," said Bapsi Sidhwa, a leading Pakistani diasporic writer now living in the United States. She was referring to the ancient Parsi funerary rite of 'sky burial'.

UAE: Women’s Participation is the Norm

In the gender-sensitive Gulf milieu, efforts by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to empower women and recognise them as partners in the nation-building process has received praise, but experts stress that the scope for improvement is limitless.

ENVIRONMENT-JAPAN: Jail For Nailing Scientific Whaling Lies?

Two Greenpeace activists who exposed a black market in whale meat run by the crew of Japanese whalers face up to 10 years in jail while the government shows no discomfiture over the nailing of its ‘scientific whaling’ claims.

CHINA: Won’t Trade Art Objects For Rights in Tibet

As nationalistic passions burn over the fate of looted Chinese artworks auctioned in Paris this week, Beijing is attempting to keep the focus on past humiliations by Western powers and away from delicate issues like human rights and China’s handling of Tibet.

MIDEAST: The Ball Could be in Israel's Court

Israel's outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rode roughshod over those who piously argue that sport and politics ought not to play in the same arena.

ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Goa Agitated by Shady Real Estate Deals

Simmering resentment against major, concrete development in rural Goa - famous for its exotic beaches and idyllic rural countryside - has now exploded in violent agitations against corrupt local administrations.

RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: Peace Deal With Taliban Setback For Women

The ceasefire agreement reached by the provincial government in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Taliban on Feb.16, involving implementation of shariah (Islamic law), is being seen as a setback for women’s rights in the area bordering Afghanistan.

SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Burma's Muslim Rohingyas – The New Boat People *

It happened decades ago when this region was gripped by the fallout of the United States’ war in Vietnam. But the ‘boat people’ phenomenon is back, and this time it has to do with Burma’s Muslim Rohingyas fleeing harsh realities at home.

RIGHTS-AUSTRALIA: Year Later Apology to Lost Generations Looks Hollow

One year after the historic apology made to indigenous Australians by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on behalf of the nation, conjecture remains over whether enough has been done to support the acknowledgement of wrongs inflicted on the first Australians.

INDIA/PAKISTAN: Signs of a Thaw

A week after Islamabad admitted that the plot to carry out the Nov. 26-29 attacks on Mumbai was partially planned in Pakistan, and that Pakistani nationals were among the assailants, there are tentative signs that the strained relations between the two neighbours may be thawing.

PAKISTAN: Militants Make Aid Work Risky

The kidnapping of John Solecki of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees(UNHCR)in Quetta, Balochistan province seems to confirm the perception of international humanitarian organisations that aid work in Pakistan is becoming increasingly hazardous.

INDIA/PAKISTAN: New Beginning Uncertain – Top Analysts

Almost three months after the terrorist attacks on India's commercial hub of Mumbai, which soured relations between India and Pakistan, the prospect for renewed cooperation between the nuclear-armed neighbours looks dim, two eminent analysts from the region conceded at a policy dialogue here.

PAKISTAN/INDIA: Taliban As Common Enemy

Since being elected to office five months ago, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has often declared that Pakistan's single biggest challenge stems from ‘religious' militants.

CULTURE-NIGERIA: Award-Winning Film Lands Director in Jail

The first time I visited award-winning Northern Nigerian filmmaker Hamisu Lamido Iyan-Tama in prison, a week after his arrest, the former Kano State gubernatorial candidate seemed to be in high spirits.