Full Coverage: Asia and the Pacific

05/08/2008 Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation is conducting a three-day conference on e-governance in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The event will aim at harnessing ICTs for more efficient, inclusive and transparent governance in the Asia-Pacific region.

05/08/2008 The latest health report of international organisation Save the Children says 83% of all child deaths worldwide happen in 55 developing countries, including India. By pursuing right policies and targeting the poorest families, the governments can easily prevent these child mortalities.

05/08/2008 Climate change is happening faster than predicted and the world could be as much as seven degrees hotter by the end of the century, an Australian scientist says.
From: Sydney Morning Herald

05/08/2008 Open Access to Knowledge and Information: Scholarly Literature and Digital Library Initiatives – the South Asian Scenario released by UNESCO, New Delhi illustrates South Asian initiatives to bridge knowledge gaps in the region. The book is a useful source for building up necessary information infrastructure for development.

05/08/2008 Exile-run media outlets and their undercover, in-country reporters have managed to keep independent news and information flowing on Myanmar politics, policies and natural disasters such as the May 2-3 cyclone.

05/08/2008 The natural caves of Meghalaya's Jaintia hills are a rich repository of climate change taking place over a million years. Indiscriminate coal mining and unsuitable extraction techniques are now imperiling the biodiversity of this archaeological heritage.

05/08/2008 Gazassa toimivan YK-avustusjärjestö UNRWA:n mukaan polttoainepula uhkaa vakavasti sen toimintaa ja Gazan asukkaiden elämää. Israel on jo kuukauden verran estänyt polttoainetoimitukset alueelle.

05/08/2008 Lähes 40 prosenttia Burman myrskyssä kuolleista tai kadonneista arvioidaan olevan lapsia. Virallisten tietojen mukaan 22 000 ihmistä on kuollut ja miljoona ihmistä on menettänyt kotinsa.

05/08/2008 Afghanistan government with UN help will soon carry out a study to assess the nutritional needs of people affected by rising food prices for future interventions. The country has large numbers of stunted, underweight and wasted children, and women in reproductive age suffering from malnourishment.

05/08/2008 Hundreds of members of the remote Dongria Kondh tribe held a protest in India yesterday against plans by a British company, Vedanta, to mine their sacred mountain.

05/08/2008

05/07/2008

05/07/2008 UNITED NATIONS, May 7 (OneWorld) - A major U.S.-based humanitarian aid group is urging the Bush administration to revise its aid policy toward Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) and provide immediate assistance to the cyclone victims in that country.

05/07/2008 Durgabai Deshmukh Award winner Daud Sharifa Khanam from southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu provided Muslim women a platform to challenge the oppressive patriarchal system. For this, she has had to face the ire of Muslim clerics. She was hated, abused and threatened but she never gave up the fight.

05/07/2008 President Bush asked last week that the United States give $770 million in emergency food aid to afflicted regions, but this only amounts to an imperfect first step to confront the global food crisis, says economist Arvind Subramanian.

05/07/2008 Filosofi Slavoj Zizekin mukaan länsimaat projisoivat Tiibetiin omat unelmansa henkistymisestä ja pelkonsa Kiinan nousevaa talousmahtia kohtaan. Näin Tiibetin konflikti näyttäytyy meille kovin erilaisena kuin mitä se todellisuudessa on.

05/07/2008 Afrikan maiden johtajat kokoontuvat toukokuun lopussa Japanin Yokohamaan keskustelemaan mantereen kehittämisestä ja Afrikan sekä Japanin yhteistyöstä. Japanin odotetaan kertovan kokouksessa uudesta Afrikalle suunnattavasta tukipaketista.

05/07/2008 Considered a taboo and anti-Islamic during Taliban regime, condom usage in Afghanistan is slowly increasing. The government however feels a need to boost its demand to achieve public health targets on STD prevention and reduction in maternal mortality.

05/07/2008 Sri Lanka’s worsening human rights record and failed promises for improvement undermine its claim for a place on the UN Human Rights Council, a coalition of national and international NGOs said in a letter released today.

05/07/2008 Members of Indian anti-poverty network WNTA met the HRD minister in the capital to present a memorandum urging the government to table the Right to Education bill in the current parliament session. WNTA campaigns to hold the government accountable to its commitments to end poverty, social exclusion and discrimination.