Full Coverage: Asia and the Pacific

08.05.2008

07.05.2008

07.05.2008 UNITED NATIONS, May 7 (OneWorld) - A major U.S.-based humanitarian aid group is urging the Bush administration to revise its aid policy toward Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) and provide immediate assistance to the cyclone victims in that country.

07.05.2008 Durgabai Deshmukh Award winner Daud Sharifa Khanam from southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu provided Muslim women a platform to challenge the oppressive patriarchal system. For this, she has had to face the ire of Muslim clerics. She was hated, abused and threatened but she never gave up the fight.

07.05.2008 President Bush asked last week that the United States give $770 million in emergency food aid to afflicted regions, but this only amounts to an imperfect first step to confront the global food crisis, says economist Arvind Subramanian.

07.05.2008 Filosofi Slavoj Zizekin mukaan länsimaat projisoivat Tiibetiin omat unelmansa henkistymisestä ja pelkonsa Kiinan nousevaa talousmahtia kohtaan. Näin Tiibetin konflikti näyttäytyy meille kovin erilaisena kuin mitä se todellisuudessa on.

07.05.2008 Afrikan maiden johtajat kokoontuvat toukokuun lopussa Japanin Yokohamaan keskustelemaan mantereen kehittämisestä ja Afrikan sekä Japanin yhteistyöstä. Japanin odotetaan kertovan kokouksessa uudesta Afrikalle suunnattavasta tukipaketista.

07.05.2008 Considered a taboo and anti-Islamic during Taliban regime, condom usage in Afghanistan is slowly increasing. The government however feels a need to boost its demand to achieve public health targets on STD prevention and reduction in maternal mortality.

07.05.2008 Sri Lanka’s worsening human rights record and failed promises for improvement undermine its claim for a place on the UN Human Rights Council, a coalition of national and international NGOs said in a letter released today.

07.05.2008 Members of Indian anti-poverty network WNTA met the HRD minister in the capital to present a memorandum urging the government to table the Right to Education bill in the current parliament session. WNTA campaigns to hold the government accountable to its commitments to end poverty, social exclusion and discrimination.

07.05.2008 New mobile text message service called Reuters Market Light has made it easier for poor farmers in western India to get farm-related information. By subscribing to the service they can get regular updates on their mobiles about weather forecasts, pest attacks and daily market prices for their produce.

07.05.2008 Like Kiribati and Tuvalu, the islands of the Torres Strait are slowly being submerged. But unlike their Pacific neighbours, the plight of their inhabitants is being overlooked.
From: The Independent

06.05.2008 The West is projecting not only its own spiritual fantasies on Tibet, but its own economic fears on China, imagining a power struggle quite different from that which has actually happened in Tibet. We have to learn to look at Tibet as it is – and China too, says Slavoj Zizek.

06.05.2008 Over 22,000 people have died, over a million people are reportedly homeless and tens of thousands are missing, says Burma Campaign UK, as it appeals to the government to allow delivery of aid.

06.05.2008 The United States should repeal restrictions on humanitarian assistance to Burma and help those affected by Cyclone Nargis, said an international refugee agency yesterday, higlighting the "tremendous need inside Burma."

06.05.2008 Coca-Cola is looking to make huge profits as one of the three primary sponsors of the Olympic Torch Relay despite flagrant human rights abuses perpetrated by China, writes grassroots activist Amit Srivastava.

06.05.2008 One of the founders of bambu, a fair trade business making houseware from organic bamboo and other renewable materials, talks about his company's sustainable journey and the green business movement.

06.05.2008 Intel will work with Sheikh Muhammed Foundation to expand its Teach programme in Arab countries. Apart from training 2 million teachers by 2011, Intel also hopes to educate and develop the talent of Arab youth in the region.

06.05.2008 Traditional midwives or dais have been overlooked by India’s National Rural Health Mission that focuses solely on institutional delivery. In a country having the highest maternal mortality rate and collapsing rural health care, there is a need to integrate these women in public health programmes.

06.05.2008 Indian government has decided to table the contentious Women’s Reservation Bill in Rajya Sabha on May 6. Earlier in an interview with OWSA, Dr Ranjana Kumari, Director, Centre for Social Research spoke on the whole gamut of issues concerning the need for women in governance.