Full Coverage: Asia and the Pacific

31.05.2006 Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) Child Health Division released a five-year action plan aimed at checking the incidence of anaemia among women and children.

31.05.2006 Every year, 15,000 Nepalis die due to tobacco consumption and smoking.

31.05.2006 India now has more people living with HIV than any other country, a UNAids report has revealed.The report shows that India now accounts for two-thirds of HIV cases in the whole of Asia.

31.05.2006 In spite of Government claims that "excellent treatment is now available; modern medicines have revolutionised the treatment of mental illness; schizophrenia is curable," and so on, it is estimated that there are at least 30 lakh schizophrenics in India who are neither cured nor are they able to lead a normal life, even with the support of the so-called excellent treatment which has now been made available to them.

31.05.2006 Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BWCCI) on May 23, 2006, demanded allocation of at least Tk 25 crore in the budget for 2006-07 for women entrepreneurship development. They also demanded tax holiday facility for up to 10 years for the women entrepreneurs.

31.05.2006 UN agencies have resumed food distribution to camps in East Timor holding 100,000 displaced people but conditions are worsening due to overcrowding and rain.

31.05.2006 Afghan authorities have arrested four men in connection with the killing of three ActionAid staff members on Tuesday.

31.05.2006 A new cheap laptop trademark produced by an alliance of some local computer hardware companies in Viet Nam has been introduced to public.

31.05.2006 Northern Bac Ninh province has become Viet Nam's first e-government province with the application of electronic monitoring systems at its agencies and organisations.

31.05.2006 The world’s rural women can play a crucial role in efforts to restore drylands, according to a new study released by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) at a major UN conference on women and desertification being held in Beijing this week.

31.05.2006 From the uprising of the Taliban to the insurgency in Iraq, the West's strategy for tackling radical Islam is failing, argues Tom Porteous.

31.05.2006 India has finally imposed a ban on cattle drug diclofenac that had almost caused the extinction of vultures in the country in under two decades. While harmless to cattle, the drug causes fatal kidney and liver damage to vultures that feed on animal carcasses.

31.05.2006 Net private capital flows to developing countries reached a record high of $491 billion in 2005, driven by privatizations, mergers and acquisitions, external debt refinancing, as well as strong investor interest in local-currency bond markets in Asia and Latin America, says the World Bank’s annual 2006 Global Development Finance report.

31.05.2006 The Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre has done little for the long-term treatment of gas victims. Though built specifically to give free long-term treatment to gas victims, the hospital, which is the only super-specialty hospital in Bhopal, also caters to other patients who pay for their treatment. In the process, the gas victims are systematically discriminated against.

31.05.2006 Information and communication technology (ICT) is the best means to eliminate poverty. Microsoft Bangladesh Limited Country Manager Feroz Mahmud said this while speaking as the chief guest at the certificate distribution ceremony of the trainees of 'Partners in Learning.'

31.05.2006 According to a new report, China, India, and Brazil could cut their rapidly rising energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by more than 25 percent using existing energy efficient technologies.

31.05.2006 SAN FRANCISCO, May 30 (OneWorld) - American private aid agencies are responding to the massive earthquake that hit Indonesia over the weekend. The magnitude 6.3 quake that struck southern Java in the early morning Saturday left over 5,000 dead, 20,000 injured, and 130,000 homeless.

31.05.2006 Three women members of staff of international charity ActionAid were shot and killed yesterday while working in Afghanistan's Shaberghan province, 500 kilometres from Kabul.
* Seven aid workers killed

30.05.2006 The Central Board of Secondary Education would introduce scholarships for girl students and a slew of reforms from the coming year to make the examination more stress-free and help students perform better.

30.05.2006 Britain's National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education yesterday approved an academic boycott of Israeli higher education institutions that do not condemn Israel's "apartheid policy".
The decision will have an official shelf life of less than three days, as on Thursday the two unions will merge, and the resolution will only be advisory to the new union.