Full Coverage: South Asia

31.01.2007 from Unplugged Living:
“These heaters are capable of heating water up to 80 degree Centigrade. It takes 30 minutes to boil rice using these heaters,” explains hospital Dean.

31.01.2007 The Sri Lankan government should allow newsprint and ink to be transported into Jaffna to enable the city’s publications to function, two freedom of expression groups have urged.

31.01.2007

27.01.2007 Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis must drop its controversial court case against India which begins in Chennai on 29 January, Oxfam urged. The case challenges India's patent law designed to promote cheaper generic medicines for poor patients.
+ MSF urges Novartis to drop its case

25.01.2007 Five people have died and a curfew has been imposed in a district in Nepal's plains region after a clash between Maoists and activists for regional autonomy left a student dead.

24.01.2007 The number of people unemployed worldwide remained at an historic high in 2006 despite strong global economic growth, the International Labour Office (ILO) said in its annual Global Employment Trends released on Thursday. The report also said that south Asia faces growing gender employment gap and challenge of creating jobs.

24.01.2007 The Sri Lankan government has been accused of complicity or willful blindness in the abduction and forcible recruitment of children for combat in the fight against secessionist guerrillas.

22.01.2007 When Tahmima Anam went home to Dhaka to cast her vote in the now-postponed election, she found a nation in chaos, tormented by corruption and brutality. Her father, Mahfuz Anam, says Our independent press is not safe

21.01.2007 An Indian law intended to promote economic development is causing environmental damage and harming the livelihoods of some of the nation's poorest people, according to a report released today.

19.01.2007 A five days training programme on computer applications and its effective usage in advocacy and communications at rural level was organised for the filed functionaries of the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) on 13 – 17 January 2007 at Jehangirabad in Barabanki district in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

18.01.2007 For incense sticks (agarbattis) sold at Rs.100 in market, a homebased worker rolling them receives a meager Rs.2.30 only!

18.01.2007 Some of the work of the IMF, the World Bank and the UN should be brought together, the British Chancellor, Gordon Brown, said in a speech in India yesterday. He suggested that the Bank should have a focus on energy security and environmental care.

18.01.2007

18.01.2007 Environmental, human rights and occupational health workers from 14 Asian countries attending the fifth Waste Not Asia (WNA) conference have called for adoption of Integrated Zero Waste Management instead of polluting technologies like incinerators. The conference also called upon the UN and affiliated bodies to condemn and end the promotion of incinerators and other materials destruction technologies.

18.01.2007 The Earth Caare Foundation and India International Center are holding a memorial function on January 24 in New Delhi to remember two NGO workers - Ms. Sarita and her colleague Shri Mahesh Pitti - who laid down their lives three years ago while working for the rights of rural people of Gaya district in the central Indian state of Bihar.

17.01.2007 UK Chancellor Gordon Brown must put pressure on the Indian Government to do more to end the exploitation of millions of children forced into child labour when he visits the country this week, following his recent comments on the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery, says Save the Children.

17.01.2007 Rekha Devi is a reporter for Aangan Ke Paar, a BBC World Service Trust-produced weekly radio programme broadcast from 22 AIR stations and BBC Hindi dealing with issues concerning women, especially HIV/AIDS. But unlike other such shows which rely on interviews with experts, this programme has its ears to the ground. Literally.

16.01.2007 from The Hindu:
A choice is now available for those living in apartments to switch over to a renewable energy mode of cooking.

12.01.2007 The Bangladesh government ordered private broadcast outlets to suspend news programmes and print outlets to halt critical news coverage during the state of emergency imposed yesterday in response to the country's political crisis.

10.01.2007 Tuberculosis, malnutrition, and the devastation of wars in the Central African Republic, Sri Lanka, and the Congo are profoundly affecting millions of people yet remain almost invisible in the U.S. media, says Médecins Sans Frontières.