Full Coverage: South West Asia

27.04.2005 The Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference will be held in New York next week, at a highly sensitive time. This briefing provides a full background to the treaty and the current concerns surrounding Iran and North Korea.

26.04.2005 WASHINGTON, D.C., Apr 26 (OneWorld) - A leading human rights group has condemned the first reported execution of an Afghan woman for alleged adultery since the ouster of the extremist Taliban regime.

26.04.2005 In a scenario that may recur in Iraq, President Karzai has blamed inefficient NGOs for the slow pace of reconstruction in Afghanistan and proposes that more aid should be channelled through the government. In response, Ockenden International suggests that there may be confusion between humanitarian, military, and commercial activities in the country.

25.04.2005 The Knit for Kids project has provided over 250,000 sweaters--crafted by volunteer knitters across the United States--to needy kids around the world. Joan McKeon, the 200,000th sweater knitter, recently visited recipients in an Azerbaijan orphanage.

21.04.2005 Forced to flee the country under Taliban rule, Habiba Sorabi has returned to become the first female provincial governor in Afghanistan. She concedes that much remains to be done to improve the rights of Afghan women.

13.04.2005 Radio journalists saved many lives in Ghazni city, Afghanistan, after news of a collapsing dam on March 29 was broadcast by the local radio station. A report from Radio Ghaznawiyaan allowed people to flee from Khwaja Omari and Ghazni City before the dam burst.

12.04.2005 Families living on the banks of River Ghazni in Afghanistan are thanking a local radio station for saving their lives when the old Sultan Dam burst late last month. News of the collapse was broadcast during a morning show, allowing town residents time to evacuate; shops and homes were swept away but no lives were lost.

08.04.2005 “From that day on my misery started: he was sending around 50 clients a day, sometimes even more. I did not understand what was happening. I had no right to be sick, I had no right to refuse or choose.”

07.04.2005 Uzbek authorities have started criminal proceedings against the international NGO Internews, which supports the development of independent media around the world. Analysts see the move as part of a wider crack-down by the government on pro-democracy forces in light of recent political transitions faced by neighboring Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan.

06.04.2005 Manila-based Asian Development Bank has signed today a pact to lend Afghanistan a loan of US$ 35 million for expansion and upgradation of the country's cellular phone services network.

06.04.2005 Afghan President Hamid Karzai made an appeal to donors to allow the government to control foreign aid because NGOs working in the country have not been able to make a difference to the lives of the people.

05.04.2005 President Karzai of Afghanistan has been complaining that too much aid is channelled through NGOs rather than his government. One test for his views may be the issue of opium production in which all parties (Afghan and US governments as well as NGOs) have strong views. This report says that at present there is some decline in poppy cultivation.