RIGHTS: Objects of “Charity and Pity” No More

A new treaty designed to promote and protect the rights of the world's 650 million persons with disabilities opens for signature at the United Nations on Friday.

EDUCATION-THAILAND: Full Marks for Ethnic Tolerance Class

School holidays, which begins here in March and ends in May, have taken on a different ring this year for over 150 teenagers from Thailand's southern provinces, where an increasingly bloody insurgency is raging.

IRAN: Image Opportunity in British Marines&#39 Arrest

Whether or not the 15 British Royal Marines in Iranian custody actually trespassed into the country's territorial waters, the incident has provided Tehran with an opportunity to build up an image of a peaceful, non-aggressive nation set upon by Western predators.

SOUTH PACIFIC: Lifestyle Diseases – a Heavy Burden

Pacific Island Countries (PIC) have made no real effort to deal with a public health crisis arising from overweight populations because it is "silent" and the effects are not immediate say experts.

BALKANS: Serbs in New Fear of Wahhabis

The detention of seven young "Wahhabis" in the southern Serb region Sanjak has set off new fear of the spread of Islamists in the region.

ENVIRONMENT-US: Organic Gardens vs. Chem-Fed Lawns

Sandalistas are on the march here to create a homegrown organic food movement, encouraging gardeners to tear up their lawns for healthier, more natural alternatives.

RIGHTS-UAE: Women Partly to Blame for Slow Change

Sitting in her small art-deco office, wearing a traditional head-to-toe black garb and a headscarf, Najla al Awadhi might, at first glance, fit the traditional stereotype image of a conservative Muslim, Arab woman, content to be ruled in a male-dominated society.

TURKEY: The Mystery of the Next President

Less than two months before the seven-year term of President Ahmet Nejdet Sezer ends, Turks still do not know who their next head of state will be. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan might, but he will not disclose it even at this late stage.

LESOTHO: Local Elections May Hold the Key to National Success for Women

As Lesotho's newly-elected legislators settle down to the task of governing, activists are expressing disappointment at the low representation of women in the country's parliament.

POLITICS-US: Film on “Radical Islam” Tied to Pro-Israel Groups

A controversial documentary on the threat of radical Islam, promoted by the two most-watched U.S. cable news networks, was marketed and supported in part by self-described "pro-Israel" groups, according to an IPS investigation.

MEDIA-SRI LANKA: Custody of Female Journalist Reeks of Repression

The unjustified four-month incarceration of female journalist Munusamy Parameshwari under anti-terrorist laws is being seen here as an example of the repressiveness that she was reporting on.

BURMA: Junta Puts Political Reform Plan on Hold

Burma's military rulers have put the country's political reform process on hold amid divisions and uncertainty on how to move forward on ‘national reconciliation' as the junta calls its programme for political change.

DEATH PENALTY-CHINA: Letters From Death Row

Their numbers are taboo. Their stories condemned to oblivion. The world of China's death row prisoners is too forbidding, the execution grounds too sordid to yield a compelling book that would escape the scrutiny of the communist state censors.

CHILE: Ice Fields Could Become Biggest Natural Heritage Site

The Chilean government will nominate six parks and reserves in the extreme south of the country, including Torres del Paine, for the UNESCO World Natural Heritage list in February 2008. The total area covers 7.2 million hectares, and it is unequalled for sheer size in this category.

CARIBBEAN: Death of Pakistani Coach Shadows Cricket Cup

Chris Dehring, the managing director of the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup West Indies 2007, had promised a memorable 47-day event in the Caribbean.

AFGHANISTAN: Amnesty Law Condones Warlords’ Past Abuse

A new law granting amnesty and legal protection from prosecution to Afghan commanders accused of committing war atrocities has shifted the burden of proof for the two and a half decades of grave abuses to the Afghan public.

SRI LANKA: Civilians – Real Losers in the Civil War

As fighting between Tamil rebels and Sri Lankan forces escalate into open war the losers are civilians, particularly some 200,000 refugees cramped into camps set up in eastern Batticaloa district.

MALAYSIA: Racial Melting Pot on the Boil

Asia's melting pot, Malaysia, is celebrating 50 years of independence from British rule but against a backdrop of mounting racial disquiet fuelled by race-based politics, redundant policies that divide and discriminate and affirmative action that favours native Malays over minority Chinese and Indians.

CULTURE-US: Battling Evil with Abs of Steel

If the new Hollywood blockbuster "300" weren't so homoerotic, Osama Bin Laden would probably make the film mandatory viewing for all members of al Qaeda.

POLITICS: Engage or Oppose Political Islamism?

The question of whether opposition or engagement with political Islam is the better way forward for the United States in Asia was the focus of a panel discussion sponsored by the Asia Society here Tuesday.

RIGHTS-BURMA: Christians Pay for Junta&#39s Insecurities

Burma's persecuted Christian minority is receiving a long overdue hearing in the Western capitals of the world, a turn that could invite more international pressure on the country's military regime, already under fire for a litany of human rights abuses.