Full Coverage: Asia and the Pacific

28.02.2005 Finance Minister P Chidambaram has announced the Union Budget for the fiscal year 2005-06, largely guided by the framework set by the UPA government agenda. Building of an enabling infrastructure particularly for the rural areas and urban slums is priority in this Budget.

28.02.2005 Indonesia doesn't have the resources to combat illegal logging and the U.S. has no law against importing illegally sourced timber, but environmentalists are calling on the U.S.'s largest wood distributor to stop importing products from the country where logging threatens the home of millions of indigenous people and a long list of endangered species.

28.02.2005 Federal finance minister pledges more resources for education, health and employment generation.

28.02.2005 In December Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski were featured on OneWorld for their film Born into Brothels. Sunday night millions watched as Briski and Kauffman were given the movie industry's highest award for the film, which portrays the fimmakers' work teaching the children of Calcutta's red light district to express themselves through photography.

28.02.2005 The Malaysian government has resorted to bounty-hunting vigilante groups to "capture" undocumented migrant workers. Civil society groups in Malaysia are appalled.

28.02.2005 The British Company, Premier Oil, was forced to pull its operations out of Burma in light of the human rights record of the regime. Now campaigners turn their attention to the oil giant, TOTAL, whose engagement on the Yadana gas project is enabled by the French government veto of EU sanctions.

28.02.2005 The World Food Programme has air-dropped food supplies over regions in Afghanistan which are inaccessible because of poor road conditions and heavy snow.

28.02.2005 The South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies (SIFFS) is actively working for the relief and rehabilitation activities in the tsunami-affected Nagapattinam and Kanyakumari districts of Tamil Nadu. It is seeking funds and help for tsunami relief.

28.02.2005 In spite of the adoption of a mission to universalise elementary education, the dropout rate in India' elementary and primary schools continues to be as high as 52 per cent.

28.02.2005 While India ostensibly nears the achievement of universal education, high enrolment figures of 92% mask a worrying dropout rate from primary and elementary levels. The responsibility lies with state governments.

25.02.2005 Indian President Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam reiterated the growing importance and benefits of information and communications technologies (ICTs) for achieving universal education and pro-poor growth in India, particularly in the rural areas.

25.02.2005 In his address to the joint session of Parliament today, Indian President Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam once again reiterated the needs to leverage the benefits of information and communications technologies (ICTs) for achieving universal education and pro-poor growth, particularly in the rural areas.

25.02.2005 In an effort to make its software products available in local languages, Mircosoft has signed a pact today with the West Bengal government. The Bengali version of Windows operating sustem and Office package have been demonstrated during this signing ceremony.

25.02.2005 The government rejects the findings of a survey by The Lancet which concluded that there have been tens of thousands of deaths of Iraqis since the US/UK invasion. Whatever the validity of this figure, is there any reason why a proper investigation should not be carried out? Email the Foreign Secretary.

25.02.2005 The Jordan Pilot Expansion Program, launched in cooperation with the Jordonian Ministry of Education, will train 1,000 teachers in using technology in providing quality learning in classrooms. Through this Project, World Link will integrate ICTs into the school curriculum.

25.02.2005 Sujata Koirala, a senior leader of one of Nepal's main political parties, fled the country in disguise after the King seized absolute power earlier this month and began an intense crackdown against political leaders, students, trade unionists, and human rights activists. She sheds light on how the country reached such a crossroads, and what's coming next.

24.02.2005 UNICEF reports that, even with a ceasefire in place, progress in restoring school enrolment in the conflict region is inhibited by parental uncertainty and by continued child soldier recruitment.

24.02.2005 Although Sri Lanka has a low prevalence of HIV/AIDS, there are concerns that high risk sexual behaviours, increasing labour migration, and a growing AIDS problem in South Asia as a whole is creating an environment in which an epidemic could emerge.

24.02.2005 Helping people with disabilities to become volunteers themselves provides one of the most challenging and fulfilling experiences of volunteering. In India the International Year of Volunteers (2001) was the inspiration for subsequent government action, writes OneWorld Volunteer Editor, Vedabhyas Kundu.

23.02.2005 In response to the murder of a High Court judge, the president's office of Sri Lanka has announced that "the death penalty will be effective... for rape, murder and narcotics dealings". For the last 30 years the president has commuted all death sentences and this announcement is a blow to human rights in Sri Lanka.