MALAYSIA/INDONESIA: Ethnic Ties Won&#39t Paper Over Class Differences

They share the same Malay cultural roots and the Islamic religion, but the shoddy treatment of Indonesian workers in Malaysia has soured relations between the South-east Asian neighbours.

RELIGION-INDIA: Mother Teresa&#39s Work With the Dying Lives On

Garishly made-up sex workers hang around the seedy street that leads to ‘Nirmal Hriday’, the home for the dying founded by Nobel peace laureate Mother Teresa, in a portion of an abandoned temple to the Hindu demon-slaying goddess Kali.

ARCHITECTURE-MEXICO: Skyscraper Has Feet of Clay

The Mexican capital’s leftwing government wishes to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the country’s independence by sponsoring the building of the tallest skyscraper in Latin America, on prime residential land beside the emblematic Chapultepec Park, to house the offices of wealthy corporations.

RIGHTS-PHILIPPINES: &#39Offensive Against Islamist Rebels for US Benefit&#39

A major military offensive against separatist rebels in the southern provinces of Basilan and Sulu is raising concerns for displacing thousands of residents and causing setbacks to a peace process.

PAKISTAN: Taliban Taunt Musharraf by Detaining His Soldiers

The seriousness of the challenge to Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s authority in the remote tribal areas bordering Afghanistan was apparent this week when the Taliban captured 180 soldiers in two separate incidents.

RIGHTS-BRAZIL: ‘Quilombos’ Fight Exclusion

More than a century after the abolition of slavery, Brazil still has small remnant "quilombos", free settlements created by fugitive African slaves in the 17th and 18th centuries.

TRINIDAD: Condom Machines the Latest Front in AIDS War

Among the frequently asked questions on the website of the National AIDS Coordinating Committee (NACC) in Trinidad and Tobago is one dealing with the use of condoms in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

HEALTH: Guyana Catches Herbal Fever

A quiet but perhaps long overdue debate is taking place in this small English-speaking South American republic over the growing power and influence alternative medical practitioners, some of whom have recently been forced to officially back away from claims about special powers to heal everything from HIV/AIDS to various forms of cancer.

ECONOMY-IRAN: Headless Oil Industry Faces Crisis

Iran’s key oil industry could plunge into crisis, oil experts have warned, if President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad does not urgently appoint a replacement for Seyed Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh who was sacked as oil minister two weeks ago in a major cabinet reshuffle.

HEALTH: No Sex Education Please – We’re Indian

Though adolescents are said to be at the centre of the AIDS epidemic and India has the largest number of infections in Asia, this conservative country continues to shy away from incorporating sex education in school curricula.

SRI LANKA: Calls for Int&#39l Intervention Met With Chauvinism

When Sri Lankan health minister Nimal Siripala de Silva shocked delegates to the 8th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) by telling them that "when the western world was living in jungles, we were leading a civilised life,’’ it marked the chauvinism of President Mahinda Rajapakse’s nationalist government.

TURKEY: Gul Is President, What Next

Overriding concerns by the ever-watchful military and the secularists, Turkey's parliament elected foreign minister Abdullah Gul as the first Islamic-rooted president of the 83-year-old republic on Tuesday.

AFGHANISTAN: End in Sight to South Korean Hostage Crisis

A visiting delegation of South Korean Muslims was Tuesday celebrating the sudden breakthrough in talks in Afghanistan, between the Taliban and South Korean officials, on the release of 19 South Koreans taken hostage in July.

POLITICS-THAILAND: Islamist Teachers Fuelling Insurgency – Report

The image of a leading private school in southern Thailand took a beating after a new report, released Tuesday, fingered its teachers and alumni as being instrumental in an increasingly brutal insurgency in the region that borders Malaysia.

CHILE: Rediscovering Nobel Laureate Gabriela Mistral

A treasure trove of poems, letters and personal effects of Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral, which have lain untouched for 50 years, have been donated to the Chilean state and may contribute to a revaluation of the work of the first Latin American woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

IRAQ: Attacks on Yazidis Brings a Setback to the North

The deadly attack on the Yazidi minority in northern Iraq earlier this month is expected to worsen ethnic and sectarian tensions.

MEDIA-AFGHANISTAN: Reporters Put Life on Line

The media in conflict-scarred Afghanistan is under increasing attack from Taliban forces and powerful social interests.

VENEZUELA: A New Life for At-Risk Kids, and Music Too!

On tour in Germany after performing to rave reviews at the BBC Promenade Concerts in London, the members of Venezuela’s Simón Bolívar Youth Symphony Orchestra and its wild-haired conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, have made a remarkable journey from their less than promising social origins.

Q&A: “We Live in an Age of Migration”

Celebrated Canadian writer and poet Michael Ondaatje recently published "Divisadero", his first novel in seven years.

Q&A: “I Have Ideas for Things That Need To Be Done in All Social Sectors”

It's a long way from the north of France to West Africa - and from studying mathematics at the University of Lille to becoming a mayor in central Cameroon. But Marie-Hélène Ngoa has successfully undertaken both these journeys.

POLITICS-IRAN: Ahmadinejad Held to Election Promises

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who came to power two years ago, winning 62 percent of the popular vote, is rapidly losing popularity for failure to make good on election promises to improve the lives of ordinary people by sharing Iran's vast oil revenues with them and respect their private lives.