PAKISTAN/INDIA: Women Beat Unorthodox Paths to Peace

As high-profile delegations from Pakistan visit India after the launch of a month-long cross-border signature campaign to press for resumption of dialogue between the two countries and call for peace, IPS interviewed three Pakistani women who are pushing this agenda in their own unorthodox ways.

CHINA: Melamine Milk – Penalties Disappoint Victims’ Parents

Days before families across China sit down for the Chinese New Year’s feast, the country’s leaders have moved to restore public confidence in the safety of their repast. A Chinese court has sentenced two men to death and awarded stiff sentences to others implicated in the country’s worst food-tampering scam.

U.S.: Rights Groups Applaud Move to Halt Gitmo Trials

U.S. and international human rights groups Wednesday praised President Barack Obama's directive to immediately suspend the work of military commissions established by his predecessor, George W. Bush, to prosecute suspected terrorists at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and pressed for its earliest possible closure.

RIGHTS-INDIA: Gujarat’s Modi as Premier?

Two of India’s wealthiest and most influential businessmen have raised a political storm by jarring public endorsements of controversial leader Narendra Modi as the world’s largest democracy’s next prime minister.

RIGHTS-US: After the Party, Obama Has One Long To-Do List

As an estimated two million celebrants converge on the U.S. capital for the inauguration festivities of President-elect Barack Obama Tuesday, the mood among human rights groups and some religious leaders is somewhat more sombre.

AUSTRALIA: Refusing to Resettle Gitmo Inmates

Australia's rejection of Bush administration requests to accept a number of detainees currently held at the Guantánamo Bay detention centre, although supported in some quarters, is also being opposed in others.

POLITICS-US: Bush’s Path from “Humility” to “Bring it On”

George W. Bush entered the White House in 2001 with the least foreign policy experience and the most modest foreign policy programme of any modern U.S. president.

CULTURE-PAKISTAN: Artistes Caught in Crossfire

Arson attacks and killings have shut down girls’ schools and brought a thriving entertainment industry to its knees in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

MIDEAST: GCC in Security-Sympathy Fix Over Gaza

As Israel’s assault on Gaza continues into a third week, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries remain distressed on two fronts - mounting Arab anger over Palestinian causalities and concern over Tehran and Tel Aviv using Hamas to settle their differences.

RIGHTS: New U.S. Leadership Offers Ray of Hope

As human rights abuses continue around the world, global power shifts have created new coalitions that often successfully seek to deflect criticisms of their own and their allies' human rights records, says the comprehensive annual report issued by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

MIDEAST: Malaysia Exercised Over Gaza

As an economically advanced country that seeks a key role in the Muslim world, it is perhaps natural that Malaysia and its people are exercised over Israel’s war in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.

RELIGION-INDIA: Reviving Buddhism Where It Was Born

Over 50 years ago, the author of India’s constitution, B. R. Ambedkar, set in motion a Buddhist socio-political movement which many believe is now ready to fructify through Mayawati, chief minister of northern Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state.

RIGHTS-AUSTRALIA: No Accountability For Anti-Terror Errors

Despite the Kevin Rudd-led government committing to introduce all ten recommendations of the inquiry into Australian authorities’ bungled terrorism investigation of Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef, civil rights groups are concerned at the lack of accountability for mistakes made.

RIGHTS-US: Fate of Guantanamo Detainees Still Murky

Human rights groups are hailing reports that President-elect Barack Obama plans to issue an executive order on his first full day in office directing the closing of the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. But they are urging him to provide details on when and how it will be done and what will happen to those now imprisoned there.

U.S.: Bush Foreign Policy Legacy Widely Seen as Disastrous

While in a farewell press conference Monday George W. Bush once again expressed the belief that his eight-year presidency, particularly his foreign-policy record, will be vindicated by history, the portents are not particularly good.

US-AFGHANISTAN: Bagram, Worse Than Guantanamo?

While millions know that the administration of George W. Bush has left Barack Obama with the job of closing the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, relatively few are aware that the new president will also face a similar but far larger dilemma 7,000 miles away.

PAKISTAN: Nightmare for Civilians Uprooted by Conflict

"We are in hell! No electricity, no clean drinking water! This is no life, we were better off at home!" fumes Arjumand Khanum, a refugee from Bajaur Agency, on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: Awaiting Gitmo’s Closure

"I’ve thought a lot about what my first meeting with my father will be like after all these years. I don’t know how I’d react. I don’t even know what to expect,'' said Muneeza Paracha, 26, daughter of Saifullah Paracha, incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay since September 2004.

POLITICS: Bush Plan Eliminated Obstacle to Gaza Assault

Until mid-2007, there was a serious political obstacle to a massive conventional war by Israel against Hamas in Gaza: the fact that Hamas had won free and fair elections for the Palestinian parliament and was still the leading faction in a fully legitimate government.

INDIA: Delivers Diplomatic Ultimatum to Pakistan

India's Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Monday that his government has delivered a dossier to Pakistan containing evidence of the involvement of Pakistanis in the Mumbai massacre - an act that strategic experts say amounts to an ultimatum to bring the perpetrators to Indian justice.

INDIA/PAKISTAN: Prisoner Repatriations Bring Hope

As the New Year dawns, the repatriation by India of 66 Pakistan nationals brings hope for hundreds of Pakistanis and Indians incarcerated in prisons across each other’s countries - and for peace between the South Asian neighbours.