HAITI By Mar 17 Recovery Bill Estimated at 11.5 Billion Dollars - Two weeks before a major donors conference, the Haitian government has estimated that the country will need some 11.5 billion dollars over the next three years to recover from the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake. MORE >>
PAKISTAN By Mar 17 In More Ways Than One, Bollywood Dancing Creates Waves - Saleha Firdaus, a mother of two teenage children, has been moving to the Bollywood beat at a dance studio for over a year now and "loves every moment" of this personal time. For her part, 22-year-old Maheen Jafri was a "bedroom dancer" until she discovered a Bollywood and hip-hop dance studio and "shed my inhibitions totally." MORE >>
RIGHTS-BAHRAIN By Mar 16 Weak Laws Let Rapists Off the Hook - Cunning rapists in Bahrain can avoid victimising virgins so they could escape the maximum penalty provided by law, and those who force themselves on young girls can evade punishment by promising to marry their victims. MORE >>
SRI LANKA By Mar 16 Managing Overseas Workers A Tough Balancing Act - The extent of Sri Lanka’s dependence on its one million citizens who work abroad can be gauged from officials who gleefully count the dollars that come in to sustain the country’s economy. MORE >>
MALAYSIA By Mar 15 Creation of Commercial Hospital Wings a Mistake -Critics - A Malaysian government scheme to create commercial ‘private wings’ in major government hospitals has come under fire from critics, who say it will add to the burden of people who need public healthcare the most. MORE >>
ENVIRONMENT-INDIA By Mar 13 Law on Forest Rights Fails to Deliver - A four-year-old landmark law that was supposed to bring profound changes in the lives of India’s tribal and forest-dwelling peoples has failed to deliver on that promise. MORE >>
PHILIPPINES By Mar 12 Reproductive Health Tests Candidates’ Political Guts - Filipino voters who have yet to make up their minds about their choice for their next president are being advised: look at each aspirant’s stance on reproductive health to help them gauge the candidate’s leadership mettle and political guts. MORE >>
CHINA By Mar 12 Binge-drinking Culture Turning from Fun to Lethal - After Chen Lusheng, a police sergeant from the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, died in December after an off-duty night of heavy drinking with local officials, his superiors tried to have him designated a "martyr" who "died in the line of duty," so that his family would receive greater compensation. MORE >>
VIETNAM By Mar 11 Reports of Child Abuse A Wake-up Call for Parents, Gov't - Vietnamese parents think of day care centres and kindergartens as safe, happy places to leave their children in, given the pressures of work and harder times. But they are no longer so sure now, after a series of incidents about mistreatment of young children that has shocked the public. MORE >>
LATIN AMERICA By Mar 10 Abortion - Still Illegal, Still Killing, Despite Growing Awareness - Although most of the governments in Latin America today are described as progressive, abortion is only legal in one country, while in five countries it is banned under all circumstances, even when the mother's life is at risk. MORE >>
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