POLITICS-NEPAL: Monarchy’s Fate Sealed, Maoists to Rejoin Gov’t

Having negotiated an agreement for the formal abolition of the 240-year-old monarchy, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) is now set to rejoin the government.

CHALLENGES 2007-2008: Spate of Suicide Bombings Auger Ill for Pakistan

As hundreds prostrated in prayer on one of Islam’s major festivals in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP), last week, a powerful bomb exploded inside the mosque killing 48 worshippers and wounding close to 200.

MIDEAST: In Gaza, Santa Is Insolvent

"Santa Claus is empty handed this year...insolvent," says Father Manuel Musallam, head of the Holy Family School in Gaza City.

KENYA: Women Parliamentary Candidates on the Ballot, But Not in the Race?

At first glance, it seems like a good news story. When Kenya goes to the polls next week for general elections, it will do so with record numbers of women on the ballot.

POLITICS-US: Religious Right Bringing In &#39More Money Than Ever&#39

In 1897, the great American author and humorist Mark Twain, responding to stories that had him lying at death’s door declared, "The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated." One hundred ten years later, Twain’s rejoinder could be applied to mainstream media reports about the demise of the Christian Right in the United States.

MEXICO: Transgenic Maize Knocking at the Door

Mexico’s first experimental trials of genetically modified maize will take place next year, a government official has announced. The news has put environmental and campesino (small farmer) organisations, still hoping that this will not happen, on the alert.

BRAZIL: Films, Music as Damage Control in Prisons

Cultural activities in Brazilian jails these days include film screenings, live bands and libraries with shelves packed with books - part of an attempt to combat the consequences of the appalling living conditions in prison.

POLITICS-KENYA: A Call to Arm Women Candidates With More Than Speeches

Last Friday, Margaret Wanjiru - a parliamentary candidate in Kenya's Dec. 27 general elections - was reportedly attacked while campaigning in her Starehe constituency in the capital, Nairobi. While she escaped injury, her supporters are said to have been hurt and her campaign van extensively damaged by stoning...Still, those targeted in this incident were probably luckier than Martha Kibwana.

CULTURE: The Made in Hong Kong Literary Challenge

Asian writers may not be manning the cultural barricades as their Hollywood counterparts from the Writers Guild do, but they face an equally daunting foe - the capricious and formidable monopoly of English-language publishing.

SCIENCE: What the “Wise Men” Saw…

The Biblical tale of the "three wise men" who followed a particularly bright star to the birthplace of the Baby Jesus continues to fascinate amateur and professional astronomers more than two millennia after the event allegedly occurred.

SOUTH KOREA: Migrant Workers’ Rights Clouded by Race, Class

Since August, rights activists in South Korea have been fighting a crackdown on illegal migrant workers. But South Asian and South-east Asians are resentful that Westerners, particularly those in the country’s booming English language teaching industry, are seen differently.

CUBA: Women Apply for Masonic Rites

A group of women are looking forward to founding the first women’s Masonic Lodge in Cuba next year, and so put an end to their traditional exclusion from Freemasonry, an esoteric society which is based on the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity.

HEALTH-PAKISTAN: Making Cadaveric Organ Donations Work

More than two months after Pakistan passed a law to encourage cadaveric organ donations and do away with commercial transactions in live human organs, doctors are struggling to establish and popularise a deceased donor programme.

IRAQ: “Bad” Women Raped and Killed

Women are being killed by militia groups in southern Iraq for not conforming to strict Islamic ways, the police say. And, increased threats from militia groups is driving many women away from their homes.

RIGHTS-MALAYSIA: &#39Neo-Liberal Policies Fuelling Protests, Not Race&#39

After a series of street demonstrations in recent weeks top analysts and activists say the government is not tackling the economic roots of grievances among marginalised Malaysians, but appears stuck in its old mould of race-based thinking.

FILM-PORTUGAL: Ninety-Nine and Still Going Strong

On the threshold of 2008, 99-year-old Portuguese filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira, the oldest active director in the world, says he has several projects planned for the coming years.

COLOMBIA: Indians Neither Museum Exhibits Nor Tourist Attractions

Indigenous people in Colombia today are elected to office as legislators, governors, mayors and city councillors. But their communities continue to be seen as marginal, ignorant or mired in the deepest poverty.

CHILE: Pots and Pans Against Climate Change

The vegetarian restaurant El Huerto, here in the Chilean capital, is the country's first to take steps towards reducing its production of climate-changing emissions.

RIGHTS-PHILIPPINES: UN Study Gives Voice to Children in the Ranks

For decades the Philippines has been embroiled in armed strife with communist and Islamist rebel groups resulting in the deaths and displacement of thousands. But the worst victims of these conflicts have been children, says a new United Nations sponsored study.

TRANSPORT-SOUTH AFRICA: Culture Puts the Brakes on Women&#39s Mobility

The bicycle has been hailed as having done "more than anything else in the world...to emancipate women" - the words of 19th century American feminist Susan B. Anthony. But for many women in South Africa, culture and tradition make it difficult to take advantage of the increased mobility and access to social and economic opportunities, not to mention the reduced carbon footprint, offered by bicycles.

Q&A: "Slash the Salaries of the President, Ministers and Members of Parliament"

The sole female presidential candidate in Kenya's Dec. 27 general elections will launch her party's manifesto on Sunday. Nazlin Umar, one of nine contenders, is running on the ticket of the Workers Congress Party under the slogan "President wa mtaa" ("Street President", in Swahili), as part of a campaign to convince voters that she is able to address everyday concerns.