Full Coverage: Asia and the Pacific

30.03.2007 World leaders agreed more than 100 years ago on a process to settle international disputes like the one causing sabres to rattle in London and Tehran this week, says the Transnational Foundation. Why don't they use it?

30.03.2007 The Lao military is using the excuse of a long-concluded war to continue attacks on a destitute population of Hmong jungle-dwellers, says a new human rights report.

30.03.2007 Vice Chancellors and other high level representatives of Universities in Afghanistan, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan, have come together with major regional and European organisations to launch the Himalayan University Consortium as an alliance for knowledge networking, policy advocacy, and for promoting the concept and practice of sustainable mountain development.

29.03.2007 Workers is Gaza are challenging the official Palestinian labor unions -- which are widely considered ineffective and politically motivated -- by forming their own labor committees. And their bosses are listening.

29.03.2007 Greenpeace activists beamed huge slides on to the cooling tower of the National Thermal Power Corporation's (NTPC) power plant, that supplies electricity to Indian capital New Delhi, to brand the culprits of climate change. The message Stop Climate Change – Energy (r)evolution now! is for the Indian government to rethink its energy strategy before climate change starts affecting economic development of the country.

29.03.2007 Citisens of Indian capital New Delhi and Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) appealed to the government to stop and review the brutal onslaught on thousands of trees lining the roads of the city for making way for the High Capacity Bus Service Corridor and widening of roads for more lanes.

29.03.2007 UNESCO has launched an online platform to make available training and capacity-building resources developed by a variety of stakeholders in myriad subjects, including literacy, computers, business, environment and community development.

29.03.2007 UNITED NATIONS, Mar 28 (OneWorld) - There can be no durable peace in the Sudanese region of Darfur unless major world powers take swift and effective measures to protect civilians and punish those responsible for committing crimes against humanity, say foreign policy experts in a new study released Tuesday.

27.03.2007 Every seven minutes a woman in India dies of a pregnancy-related cause. The White Ribbon Alliance India is raising awareness about safe motherhood, building alliances to effect changes, and acting as a catalyst for action.

27.03.2007 More than 5.5 million people are short of drinking water because of an acute drought and unusually warm temperatures in Sichuan province.

27.03.2007 The Philippines government has gone to great lengths to annihilate political opponents and social movement leader, who are increasingly seen as the genuine representatives of the great majority of the Filipinos, says James Petras.

27.03.2007 A constitutional amendment would give sweeping powers of arrest to Egypt's police, grant broad authority to monitor private communications, and allow the president to bypass ordinary courts and refer terrorism suspects to military and special courts.

25.03.2007 The Taliban convicted eight people of disclosing their whereabouts to foreign troops and executed them in February. The strict interpretation of Sharia law has teachers, aid workers, and others worried for their safety.
From: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

23.03.2007 More than any other countries on Earth, the United States and China hold the key to whether humanity can put the brakes on greenhouse gas emissions and avoid the dire consequences of global warming.

23.03.2007 A group of HIV-positive women met in a Kathmandu shelter, and now provides AIDS counseling, networking, medical checkups, and emergency crisis services to other women. Up next: computer programming classes.
From: United Nations Development Programme

23.03.2007 Iraqis regained the top spot among asylum-seekers in the world's industrialised countries last year, but the overall trend in applications by all nationalities fell for the fifth straight year, says the UN refugee agency.

23.03.2007 A chronic shortage of safe drinking water in Iraq is threatening to push up rates of diarrhoea - already the second highest single cause of child illness and death in the country, United Nations agencies warned.
* Ban Ki-moon holds talks with political leaders during surprise visit to Iraq

22.03.2007 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced that there is no evidence that Japan forced women into sexual slavery during World War II, reversing the country's 1993 apology.

22.03.2007 India must close a highway running through Jarawa lands, or the Andaman Island tribe may be wiped out, a UN report warns.

21.03.2007 More than 6 million children in Afghanistan are heading back to school this week, as the UN Children's Fund and partners distribute essential school supplies and teaching materials around the country to meet their needs.