Q&A: Maternal Mortality Rates ‘One of the Saddest Cases’ in Asia
By Marwaan Macan-Markar interviews NOELEEN HEYZER, U.N. under-secretary general and head of UNESCAP
BANGKOK - Nearly 15 years after a landmark international conference to advance the rights and freedoms of women, the picture in the Asia-Pacific region is mixed, says a leading women’s rights advocate and senior United Nations official.
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SOUTH SUDAN: Media Give Us a Fair Deal - Women
By Miriam Gathigah
JUBA, South Sudan - The guns have gone silent – except for sporadic conflict in parts of the vast South Sudan region, such as the Eastern Equatoria State. It may not be the absolute end of the conflict in the region, but it is a reason for renewed hope.
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KOSOVO: Ten Years On, Forensics Continues to ID Missing
By Apostolis Fotiadis
PRISTINA - Pictures of missing people have been hanging for years next to the gate to the fence surrounding Kosovo’s parliament. Some of them have been there for so long that the features of the faces can hardly be seen anymore - a good example of how slow and painful the process of discovering the fate of the missing is.
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SLOVAKIA: Velvet Touch Brings Communists Back
By Pavol Stracansky
BRATISLAVA - As Slovaks mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism this week, former dissidents have lashed out at top political figures, including the prime minister, who they say are trying to paint the totalitarian regime of old in a positive light.
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VIETNAM: Water, Water All Around—Plus All the Risks It Brings
By Helen Clark
HANOI - As Vietnam’s big cities are increasingly deluged by floods, the infrastructure cannot keep up.
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RIGHTS: Tick the Right Box If You Feel French
By Alecia D. McKenzie
PARIS - The stereotypical image of a French person is of someone wearing a beret and carrying a baguette under his arm. But can one wear a burqa and also be French? Can one prefer pitta bread to baguettes and still be French?
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CUBA: Dissidents' Plight Unchanged Under Raul, Charges HRW
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON - While Cuban President Raul Castro has implemented some economic and administrative reforms, his three-year-old government has continued to isolate and persecute political dissidents, according to a major new report released here Wednesday by Human Rights Watch (HRW).
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MIDEAST: U.S. Credibility as Peace Broker Eroding by the Day
By Ellen Massey
WASHINGTON - In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, movement in the standoff between the two sides can be as often backward as it is forward. The past couple of weeks have seen moves from both sides that have garnered the attention of the world, but forward progress remains elusive.
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CLIMATE CHANGE: Women Central to Adaptation, Mitigation
By Nastasya Tay
PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa - Poor women will bear the greatest ‘climate burden’, says the United Nations Population Fund in its 2009 State of the World Population report, released today.
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CORRUPTION-SIERRA LEONE: Song Sparks Governance Debate
By Mohamed Fofanah
FREETOWN - Nothing has ever sparked a debate on the state of governance in the country like the song released by one of Sierra Leone’s most popular artists, Emerson Bockarie.
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