HEALTH-CHINA: Olympic Planners Kick the Butt

Chinese leaders have promised to make the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing non-smoking - ambitious for this country of 360 million smokers. Never have the Games that celebrate physical fitness been held in a country more hooked on tobacco and more afflicted by smoking-related diseases.

BURKINA FASO: Giving Political Parties a Legal Nudge

Awareness raising alone hasn't managed to bring about sufficient change...Perhaps quotas are now required. That's the thinking behind a law that will be put before Burkina Faso's parliament later this year, in an effort to increase the number of women in decision-making posts in the West African country's government.

EDUCATION-ARGENTINA: A Library Per Household

A novel programme aimed at fomenting a reading habit among low-income sectors was launched in Argentina: the "Books and Houses" campaign will deliver a bookshelf complete with 18 volumes to each affordable housing unit assigned to families this year through government assistance plans.

SERBIA: Quiet Welcome of Foreigners Belies Insular Image

Serbia may be viewed by some as intolerant and somewhat nationalistic due to its role in the wars of disintegration of former Yugoslavia, but many of the people arriving from distant foreign lands are finding a hospitable home here.

RELIGION-MALAYSIA: No Freedom of Worship for Muslims Says Court

The stunning decision by Malaysia's highest secular court this week that freedom of worship, a constitutional guarantee, does not apply to Malay Muslims is a major blow to freedom and constitutional democracy, lawyers and human rights activists say.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Overcoming the Ostrich Effect

The vast majority of North Americans now declare that they want action on climate change. But whether people are truly willing to embrace "carbon-neutral" lifestyles - including giving up their gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles - remains an open question, say experts.

MEDIA-US: Religious Right Gets More Than Its 15 Minutes

Conservative religious figures are mentioned in the major U.S. news media as many as 2.8 times as often as progressive religious figures, says a new study released Tuesday in Washington.

ENVIRONMENT-JAPAN: Sealing the Elephant’s Fate With ‘Hanko’

Even as the world awaits a global ban on trade in elephant ivory, activists are fighting hard to stop a new shipment of ivory to Japan and the introduction of tougher domestic controls.

CULTURE-INDIA: Painting Peace

"War begins in the minds of men,'' says India's leading art connoisseur and promoter of Indian contemporary art, Satish Kumar Modi, citing from the charter of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

SRI LANKA: War Refugees Stressed by Mass Resettlement

An army-supervised mass resettlement plan underway for more than 100,000 people, displaced by fierce battles with Tamil rebels in eastern Batticaloa district, may be causing new problems for the refugees rather than solving existing ones, say volunteers.

LABOUR: Reversing South Africa’s Brain Drain

The short, black and white film projected on a white board in a room filled with about 200 South African expatriates had an unambiguous message - if you want a better South Africa, come back home and help build it.

SINGAPORE: ‘Education Hub’ Plans Take a Knock

An ambitious plan by the Singapore government to attract reputable foreign universities to set up off-shore campuses on this island nation took a knock this week when Australia's University of New South Wales (UNSW) announced the closure of its campus here.

LABOUR-JAPAN: Working Women Set Their Sights Higher

When Manami Sato's mother started work at a large trading company almost three decades ago, she was hired as one of several female assistants, a job that included serving tea and copying files for male managers and was the norm those days

THEATRE: Making a Monkey of U.S. Fundamentalists

The international focus on fundamentalist Islam might obscure the fact that western nations have their own experiences with fundamentalist religion - among them the country whose government has most targeted radical Islam, the United States.

MAURITANIA: Taking the Weight of Tradition Off Women

Excess weight on women has long been considered something to aspire to in Mauritania, where it serves as a symbol of beauty and wealth. But, it appears these views are being called into question as awareness spreads of the health risks they entail for girls who are force fed to make them gain the desired weight.

CENTRAL ASIA: A Kyrgyz-Kazakh Step Towards Regional Union

Surviving alone in the era of globalisation has become increasingly difficult for smaller countries with limited natural resources. Nations which were recently striving for independence are beginning to unite with others as a means to withstand economic hardships.

Q&A: “Eradicating FGM Lacks Political Will”

Senegalese author Khady Koita's celebrated book "Mutilée" hit book stores in Japan on May 19 and was an instant hit. Written originally in French it recalls the author's experience with the gruesome custom of female genital mutilation (FGM) and her work against the practice.

HEALTH-MALAYSIA: Condom Taboo Hampers Fight Against HIV

Lorong Haji Taib is a garbage-filled, rat-infested lane in the heart of the capital famous for its cheap sex, drugs and brawls.

IRAQ: Sunni Resistance Receptive to Sadr Alliance

Nationalist Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's bid to unite Sunnis and Shiites on the basis of a common demand for withdrawal of U.S. occupation forces, reported last weekend by the Washington Post's Sudarsan Raghavan, seems likely to get a positive response from Sunni armed resistance.

BRAZIL: Indigenous Resistance Movement Defends Traditional Beliefs

Twenty indigenous people have been occupying the abandoned building of the Museu do Indio in Rio de Janeiro since October, to call attention to "500 years of resistance to genocide," a view of their history that has acquired new relevance in the light of the Vatican's latest position on Christian evangelisation during the colonial era.

RIGHTS-RUSSIA: NGOs Under Putin Scanner on Estonia Events

Leading non profitable organisations and civil society have vehemently rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin's accusation last week that they did not take collective action when Estonian authorities removed Soviet war monuments from the city centre to an obscure location.