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Articles that have appeared on the SARID website within the last three months:

September 12: TAX AVOIDANCE KEEPS "DEVELOPING WORLD POOR": Multinational companies operating in the world's poorest countries are "dodging" around £270bn a year in tax, anti-poverty campaigners claimed today. By not paying the taxes, rich businesses are depriving developing countries of much needed revenue, according to new report.

September12: BAIDU - NOT JUST "CHINA'S GOOGLE": What's the leading search engine in China? If you said Google, you're showing your Western bias. It's actually Baidu.com, whose stock debuted on the Nasdaq exchange on August 5, raising some $87 million for the startup. Investors expectat that Internet searching will become a big business in China--and that local search companies may understand how to reach Chinese consumers better than outsiders like Google.

September 11: THOSE SOLAR PANELS DON"T LOOK SO 1970s: Today, tumult in oil-producing places like the Middle East and Venezuela is roiling markets. And Hurricane Katrina, of course, has worsened the situation. Yet, these dire developments have been a boon for companies that make devices such as silicon wafers and rooftop panels that convert solar energy.

September 8: WEAVING A SAFETY NET: This week, the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria—an organisation established in 2002 to mobilise and disburse international donations for projects to tackle these three afflictions—ended its latest attempt at fund-raising short of its goals.

September 8: ASIA VULNERABLE TO NEW ORLEANS-TYPE TRAGEDY: A senior researcher at the Asian Disaster Reduction Center, Kobe, Japan has said that the devastation of Hurricane Katrina is a lesson to be learned for Asia, which suffers from more natural disasters than any other region. Much of the continent did not have the infrastructure in place to preventcommon disasters such as floods, cyclones and hurricanes.

September 5: SOUTH-NORTH HUMAN RESOURCES: As more science and engineering graduates emerge from the countries of the "South", their large numbers may just offset the qualitative advantage enjoyed by their counterparts in the North — thus turning the tables of traditional North-South trade.

September 4: THE VALUE OF RESEARCH IN PAKISTANI SOCIETY: Tariq Rahman argues that fundamental research, leading to the acquisition of knowledge, should be as important to society as that which enables the generation of the greatest amount of profit.

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August 18: INCLUDE MEDICINAL DRUGS POLICY IN POLLS MANIFESTO: On TV Lanka last Sunday, two doctors of the GMOA and a representative of the Medical College Students Involved in Rational Health Action called on Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva to keep his promise that legislation for the NMDP would be introduced before the WHO regional summit next month.

August 18: THE LOST SUB-CONTINENT: by William Darymple. There is a wonderfully telling line in Mira Nair's movie Monsoon Wedding: as the Verma family gathers from across the globe for a marriage, the heroine announces that she has applied for a creative-writing programme in America. Her businessman uncle nods approvingly: "Lots of money in writing these days," he says sagely. "Look at that girl who won the Booker: she became a millionaire overnight"

August: FOE ISN'T ISLAM, IT'S BINLADENISM: by Abdul Cader Asmal. Whether we are American, Nigerian, Indonesian, or British, we look like them, we dress like them, we speak like them, and we pray like them. We cannot identify them before they strike. They hate us because we reject their ideology. They would kill us as ''infidels." We are Muslims. So are they. But they are terrorists and we are not. That is the distinction. This is where we must make our stand.

August: HEALTHY, WEALTHY AND WISE?: The tiny Himalayan kingdom has become a rare innovator among developing nations, crafting a framework for a political economy based on a theoretically harmonious mix of representative government, south-Asian-style capitalism, traditional religious values, environmentalism, hydropower, tourism, mandated preventative medicine, and universal health care.

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July 29: CHILDREN CHALLENGE WORLD LEADERS ON ENVIRONMENT. Six hundred children from around the world gathered for the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) World Summit for the Environment in Japan, are challenging the world’s leaders to pay closer attention to energy, biodiversity, water and recycling.

July 28: HOW CHINA RUNS THE WORLD'S ECONOMY: China, along with the other emerging giants, India, Brazil and the former Soviet Union, has effectively doubled the global labour force, hugely boosting the world's potential output and hence its future prosperity. Global wages, profits, prices and interest rates are increasingly being influenced by events in China

July 28: 300 TELEPHONE BOOTHS TO BE OPERATIONAL IN KABUL. The 300 telephone booths established by the Communication Ministry in the central capital would start functioning in a week. Of the 300 calling points, 150 had been established in busy markets while the remaining in other populated areas. Calling cards worth 250 and 500 afghani would be used to make calls from the booths.

July 26: INDIA THIRSTS FOR BETTER WATER MANAGEMENT PRACTICES: Water scarcity has become a serious problem. Much of the water supplied to the urban areas is sourced from underground wells or river systems. These run almost completely dry in summer.

July 25: SOLAR LIGHTING FOR FLATS PROPOSED.Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency (TEDA) plans to extend mandatory installation of solar water heating and lighting systems to multi-storeyed apartments. At present, solar water heaters are mandatory in commercial establishments measuring more than 5,000 sq ft. These include, hospitals, hotels, lodges and marriage halls. Besides, residential buildings of above 1,500 sq ft must also install the heaters.

July 25: TINY TSUNAMI REVEALS BIG GAPS IN READINESS: The tiny wave generated by a major undersea earthquake off the far Northern California coast last month revealed large gaps in how ready communities hugging the Pacific shoreline are for a true tsunami threat.

July 22: SILICON SOLAR CELLS TO MEET POWER NEEDS: The pilot production of silicon solar cells and modules project would not only improve socio-economic conditions of the people in remote areas but also meet power needs of the country.

July 22: URBAN CENTRES LAGGING IN TAPPING RENEWABLE ENERGY: The Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency is now targeting the urban local bodies to tap the unlimited renewable energy to overcome power shortage in the State, reduce pollution and save depleting natural resources.

July 22: CORN ETHANOL TAKES MORE EMERGY THAN IT MAKES:Using ethanol as an additive to make gasoline burn cleaner does more harm than good to the environment, finds a new report by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.

July 21: TSUNAMI AREAS MUST 'BUILD BACK BETTER' - CLINTON: The unprecedented outpouring of aid for the Indian Ocean tsunami must be used to "build back better" and not simply restore what was there before, former U.S. President Bill Clinton said on Thursday. Nearly seven months after the disaster, the international community was entering the most challenging phase of the relief effort, with many survivors still living in difficult circumstances and increasingly frustrated with the slow pace of help, said Clinton, a U.N. special envoy for tsunami recovery.

July 19: MOBILE PHONES AND DEVELOPMENT: Imagine a magical device that could boost entrepreneurship and economic activity, provide an alternative to bad roads and unreliable postal services, widen farmers' access to markets, and allow swift and secure transfers of money. Now stop imagining: the device in question is the mobile phone.

July 14: BREAKTHROUGH -- AND BIBILE LIVES AGAIN: Amidst the political tension and turmoil over controversies ranging from P-TOMS to Presidential elections, what could be a vital new chapter in the history of Sri Lanka was worked out last week with the finalization of a comprehensive draft for a National Medicinal Drugs Policy.

July 1: FIGHTING AIDS BRAZIL'S WAY: drugs to prevent the spread of HIV and lessen the suffering from AIDS are prohibitively expensive for many developing countries. Brazil's aggressive strategy, that includes allowing local pharmaceutical companies to break HIV/AIDS drug patents, has become a global model.

July 7: PLACEBOS, NOT PILLS: The western medical establishment and drug industry have an uneasy relationship with the placebo effect. Both acknowledge that patients often benefit from their own expectations. But neither seems willing to support efforts to study the underlying physiology of the effect.

July: ALEXANDER'S MARVELLOUS MACHINE: A Russian has successfully tested a helical turbine that looks like "an oversize beater from an old hand-held mixer," so efficient in generating energy that it could one day eliminate the need for environmentally hazardous dams.

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June 30: PAKISTANI GANG-RAPE CASE REOPENED: Pakistan's Supreme Court agreed yesterday to reopen an inquiry into the high-profile case of Mukhtar Mai, an unlettered laborer's daughter from southern Punjab Province who allegedly was gang-raped on the orders of a tribal council in 2002

June 30: UNENDING WAR IN AFGHANISTAN. Almost four years after the American-led invasion, Afghanistan still looks far from pacified: European countries are sending more troops while Afghanistan’s government accuses Pakistan of harbouring the rebels.

June 24: GM FOODS SAFE FOR NOW BUT NEED TESTING? The consumption of genetically modified foods has not caused any known negative health effects to date, the WHO says in a new report. Still, the UN agency stresses the need for safety assessments before new transgenic crops are marketed, to prevent risks to human health and the environment.

June 25: AN AGEING WORLD. We live in an era of unprecedented, rapid and inexorable global ageing. Never before have so many people lived for so long.

June 25: UN SAYS HUNGER IS ASIA'S "SILENT KILLER." In the last quarter-century, Asia has undergone an economic boom unparalleled in human history. The effects can be seen everywhere, in Thailand as well as in neighbouring countries.

June 16: WOMEN'S RIGHTS IN PAKISTAN: THE WOMAN WHO DARED TO CRY RAPE On a terrible June day three years ago, 14 men from the dominant Mastoi tribe in Meeranwalla volunteered to rape Ms Mai as a way to settle a score after her 12-year-old brother Abdul Shakoor was seen walking with a Mastoi girl.

June 16: STATE OF DENIAL, the most densely populated of the world's big countries, Bangladesh is also among the most sparsely covered by the international press. This is in part the government's choice: it makes it hard for foreign journalists to visit.

June 16: PAKISTAN'S MODERATES ARE BEATEN IN PUBLIC. 'Teach the bitch a lesson. Strip her in public." As one of the police officers told me, these were the orders issued by their bosses.

June 16: BANGALORE: HOT AND HOTTER. "Every time I visit India, Indians always ask me to compare India with China."

June 13: CHINA WORKING TO MAKE NEPAL TRANSIT POINT FOR SINO-INDIAN TRADE. The Chinese government has started doing homework to develop Nepal as a transit point to promote Sino-India trade. King Gyanendra announced in the Asian-African Summit [in Jakarta this year] that Nepal was ready to become a transit point.

June 12: INTEL PLANS TO CAPITALISE ON INDIAN DEMAND FOR PERSONAL COMPUTERS. Intel has announced plans to target India's rising demand for personal computers, marking a strategic step up in a country that has mostly been a source for offshore technology skills for the world's largest manufacturer of micro-processors.

June 8: AFGHAN DAILY WARNS OF DANGERS OF TIMBER SMUGGLING. According to Agriculture Ministry statistics, there were forests on around 1.9m hectares of land in Afghanistan 25 years ago.

June 8: TEA INDUSTRY: NEED FOR GREATER SYNERGY BETWEEN CORPORATE AND SMALL PRODUCERS. Prices for Indian tea at the six auction centres have shown that they have improved in 2004, but are still much below the prices achieved in the late 1990s.

June 7: THE DIVERSE ANCESTRY OF DEMOCRACY, BY AMARTYA SEN. Democracy is best seen as the opportunity of participatory reasoning and public decision making - as "government by discussion". Voting and balloting are, in this perspective, just part of a much larger story. The ancestry of democracy goes much beyond the strictly confined history of some narrowly designated practices.

June 6: NEED STRESSED FOR IMPROVING FISHERIES MANAGEMENT. Secretary, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal), Ismail Querashi, said on Saturday that the country could export $ 2 billion worth fisheries product through better management of fisheries resources and development of aquacutlure.

June 1: A VOICE FOR WOMEN. When the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution was passed in 1993, Indian women rejoiced. The amendment made it mandatory to reserve one-third of the seats in the rural and local councils for women, paving the way for women to come to power in rural India.

June: WHY SCIENCE IS FALLING OUT OF FASHION. Science has a major problem. Western society loves the latest gadgets but fears the people who develop them. Australia, parts of Europe and the USA have all seen a decline in students opting for subjects such as physics, mathematics and chemistry. This is a trend across all of the West.

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May 22: UNICEF SIGNS ACCORD WITH UAE TO HELP CAMEL JOCKEYS BACK HOME. The UNICEF and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have signed a 2.7 million dollar agreement to help return and re-integrate the underage camel jockeys in their home communities, including Bangladesh and Pakistan.

May 22: GROWING PRIVATIZATION OF PROPERTY AMONG REASONS DRIVING HOMELESSNESS, UN RIGHTS EXPERT SAYS.

May 18: THREAT OF BIRD FLU PANDEMIC DOMINATES WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY. Avian influenza is the most serious known health threat the world is facing, World Health Organization Director-General Lee Jong-wook told opening of the 58th World Health Assembly on Monday.

May 18: "STATES MUST FOCUS ON RENEWABLE ENERGY TO TACKLE POWER CRISIS," The Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources has said that States facing power shortages need to focus on renewable sources of generation to tide over the situation.

May 18: ENABLING RURAL FOLK TO OVERCOME POVERTY, BY LENNART BAGE. India's commitment to reducing poverty is reflected in the numerous initiatives it has taken, leading to the progress made over the last decades.

May 16: INDIANS TOP ASIAN IMMIGRANTS IN USA. Indians are the fastest growing Asian community in the United States.

May 12: BILLIONAIRE ALLEN TO INVEST IN BANGLADESH. The billionaire co-founder of Microsoft plans to spend $1.6 billion building Bangladesh power and fertilizer plants, marking the second-biggest investment into the poor but fast-growing nation.

May 12: REPORT SHOWS FALL IN POVERTY LEVELS IN NEPAL. A survey has shown that poverty levels in the country have declined in the past eight years.

May 5: UN'S ESCAP POINTS TO TOURISM AS MEANS TO ALLEVIATE POVERTY. The disasters that have affected the region recently appear to have awakened the economists at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (Escap) to the importance of tourism to poverty alleviation.

May 4: INDIA CAN BE A GLOBAL MANUFACTURING HUB. The service sector, particularly software, has played a grand role in placing India on a global scale. However, considering the low education level of the working population, the contribution of services to economic growth, employment and income will not be very high. Besides, measures to boost agriculture would have a long lead time for success.

May 4: WORLD BANK OFFICIAL PROPOSES STEPS FOR SUSTAINABLE GROWTH. World Bank Vice President, Praful Patel told the inaugural session of Pakistan Development Forum that the twin challenges in this year's PDF theme are sustaining growth and improving the quality of life for all citizens.

May 4: HEC TO LAUNCH TWO EDUCATIONAL CHANNELS BY NOVEMBER. Higher Education Commission (HEC) will launch two educational channels via Pakistani satellite system by November 2005, HEC chairman Dr Atta ur Rehman disclosed this here on Monday.

May 1: SRI LANKA TSUNAMI AID IN PLACE, BUT LAND A PROBLEM. "There are land acquisition problems," said Suren Batagoda, head of the state Urban Development Authority's tsunami housing unit tasked with finding and acquiring land to build on.

May 1: SOLAR ENERGY EMPOWERS POLICE STATIONS. After realising the benefits of rainwater harvesting, the Karnataka police seem to have recognised the immense potential of solar power.

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April 21: LITTLE GREEN DATA BOOK 2005. According to a UN report released this week, poor countries are faced with the highest health risks caused by environmental factors such as use of biomass fuels and lack of access to clean water and sanitation, in addition to increased population pressures in urban areas.

April 21: SRI LANKA CENSUS DEPARTMENT RELEASES TSUNAMI IMPACT STATISTICS. The biggest challenge that the Government is facing is bringing the lifestyle of the tsunami affected people to normalcy.

April 21: HOW GREEN BUILDINGS HELP TO BOOST WORKER EFFICIENCY. According to the World Green Building Council, a green building incorporates an excellent practice that results in environmental protection, water conservation, energy efficiency, and use of recycled products and renewable energy.

April 21: INVESTORS TARGET PROPERTY MARKET IN INDIA. US developer Tishman Speyer Properties and ICICI Ventures, a private equity fund in Mumbai, expect to announce within three months joint building projects with an investment of Dollars 450m.

April 20: SRI LANKA'S TSUNAMI SURVIVORS PIN HOPES ON TRADITIONS. At last April's traditional Sri Lankan New Year festival, fisherman Gomes Jayasekera prayed for bigger catches.

April 17: TOURISM INDUSTRY TAKING OFF IN SOUTH ASIA, Tourism industry was taking off in South Asia and the governments in the region have placed this vital sector high on the agenda in their respective countries.

April 15: INDIA LAUNCHES RURAL HEALTH PLAN. India has announced a new programme to deliver health care to millions of poor villagers around the country.

April 14: GERMANY ASSURES HELP IN AFGHAN RECONSTRUCTION. Germany on Tuesday renewed its commitment to the ongoing reconstruction of Afghanistan, ruling out an early withdrawal of its troops and assuring its continued co-operation in areas of police training and promotion of the basic education.

April 14: SUN, WIND, FUEL CELLS POWER CARGO SHIP OF THE FUTURE. A cargo ship designed to run exclusively on renewable energy is making its debut in the Nordic Pavilion at the World Expo 2005.

April 13: INDIA EXPORTS HIT RECORD LEVELS. Exports, which account for about 10% of India's national output, have been growing on the back of demand from the US and Europe - with steelmakers boosted by orders from China.

April 12: CELEBRATING CREATIVITY. The Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, established the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) in 2000 under the chairpersonship of R A Mashelkar, Director General, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

April 11: NEPAL TO RECEIVE FOOD GRANT FROM FRANCE. The French republic will provide Nepal a grant of 27.66m rupees (300,000 euros) to purchase rice for food deficit districts as humanitarian food aid under the Food Security Programme for Nepal (FSPN).

April 11: MUSLIMS PAY TRIBUTE TO DECEASED POPE. "Pope John Paul II was a unique example in spreading peace and tolerance among all peoples. He was also a staunch supporter of justice and peace," Sheikh Fawzi El-Zefzaf, the chair of Al-Azhar Inter-Faith Permanent Committee, told IOL.

April 8: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON GENDER MAINSTREAMING AND MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS. Addressing the conference, President Pervez Musharraf said that his government has taken various steps for women empowerment in all walks of life.

April 7: AFGHANS SEEK MORE CONTROL OVER AID. Hamid Karzai, president of Afghanistan, called on international donors yesterday to give his government more control over the country's aid budget and help it scrutinise reconstruction spending to make sure foreign money was not wasted.

April 7: INDIA TO REFORM LAWS ON WORKING WOMEN. Women will soon be allowed to work through the night in Indian factories under a long-awaited labour market reform that will increase the country's competitiveness and strike a blow for gender equality in the sub-continent.

April 5: OPEN ACCESS POLICY MAY BOOST WIND-POWER GENERATION. Deregulation of the energy industry will provide a huge impetus for the growth of wind energy, according to Jami Hussein, Technical Adviser for the Indian Wind Energy Association.

April 5: REPORT: NEW GM RICE WILL PREVENT BLINDNESS. British scientists have developed a new genetically modified strain of sunflower-yellow, vitamin-enriched rice for free transfer to countries like India in the hope it will prevent millions of children in the developing world from going blind.

April 5: SOCIAL INVESTMENT AND POVERTY REDUCTION IN BANGLADESH. Unnoticed in the limelight of national politics and the media, a quiet social revolution has been taking place in Bangladesh.

April 3: RETHINKING THE USE OF MUSLIM LAW. The application of the Islamic penal code (known by the widely misunderstood term ''sharia") in Muslim societies is one of the most controversial subjects in the dialogue between the West and the Muslim world.

April 3: WOMEN AND THE WORKPLACE: THE INVISIBLE HELP, Among the many silver, golden and centennial jubilees that mark our calendar this year, there is one golden jubilee that seems to have escaped public attention.

April 01: GAS GUZZLING HYBRIDS. General Motors and DaimlerChrysler showed off the technology, a transmission packaged with two electric motors, at the heart of their recently ­announced hybrid-car partnership.

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March 30: KARACHI AFGHANS RELUCTANT TO REPATRIATE. “Most people are not ready to return,” Haji Ashoor Baig, a long-time Jadeed resident and Uzbek elder added. “Right now I don’t have any plans to go back. There are no jobs for my children. What will we do if we go there?” he asked.

March 22: WOMEN & WATER: INSEPARABLE RELATIONSHIP. Poor women and female children in the developing countries spend eight hours a day for collecting and carrying up to 20 litres of water on their heads in each trip. To find safe and dependable water sources it is women who take initiatives.

March 22: CSE BAGS 2005 STOCKHOLM WATER PRIZE. The Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, India, has won the annual Stockholm Water Prize, which includes a $150,000 cash award. The group, led by Sunita Narain, was cited for its work in promoting effective water management along with improved human rights, democracy and health.

March 20: TSUNAMIS MAY ERODE FREEDOM TO REBUILD. Nearly three months after tsunamis leveled their villages, the fishermen of Aceh province are anxious to return and rebuild. Idle and bored in inland refugee camps, miles away from the coast, they are trickling back to the water's edge.

March 20: NEED TO ENSURE PURPOSEFUL EDUCATION. Federal Information and Broadcasting Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, stressed the need of vigorous promotion of education, saying it was necessary for eradication of poverty and unemployment too.

March 20: INDIA'S WATER RESOURCES AND CHALLENGES. India is challenged by water issues necessary for human health, economic growth, and ecological protection.

March 20: RUNNING RED LIGHTS. The documentary "Born into Brothels" is touching when not heart-wrenching in its depiction of the Calcutta children's plight.

March 20: INDIAN WEALTH OUTSHINES CHINA. If you're curious about the trajectory of the global economy, you could rummage through mountains of data, research reports and countless internet sites.

March 18: COLD EXPOSES AFGHANISTAN'S BROKEN PROMISES. The winter weather death toll in Afghanistan has exposed the country's acute lack of infrastructure, writes journalist Ahmed Rashid in his latest guest column for the BBC News website.

March 18: INDIAN CINEMA IS FASHIONED BY OUR WANTS AND NEEDS. Not the rather intellectual topic of "Cinema and literature: fad or cultural flowering" but "Cinema in India: perception and reality" is what is going to be the topic of this afternoon.

March 18: MALDIVES TOURISM INDUSTRY GETTING BACK ON TRACK. This tiny Indian Ocean nation depends heavily on thousands of tourists, many from Europe, who are drawn to its spectacular atolls, groups of islands set amid sandy beaches, clear shallow waters and necklaces of coral.

March 17: CORPORATION TO GO IN FOR WIND ENERGY. An annual power charge burden of Rs. 8.5 crores has made the Coimbatore Corporation to go in for wind energy generation.

March 16: CORAL REEFS, ISLANDS SAVED TSUNAMI-HIT MALDIVES FROM FURTHER DAMAGE: EXPERTS. Many television viewers have seen for themselves the destructive power caused by the Asian tsunami. But what kind of damage did it cause to the underwater ecology in places like the Maldives?

March 16: PAKISTAN ISLAMIC COURT REINSTATES CONVICTION OF 5 IN GANG-RAPE CASE. Pakistan's highest Islamic court yesterday reinstated the convictions of five men sentenced to death for raping a woman on orders from a village council, following a firestorm of criticism after a lower tribunal ordered the suspects freed.

March 16: STRENGTHENING THE MICROFINANCING MECHANISM. The recent Conference on microfinance in Dhaka indicated, that for all practical purposes, this process is now part of the main-stream development idea.

March 13: A CRICKET MATCH BRIDGES A LONGTIME GAP IN PUNJAB, by Somini Sengupta. After a half-century of fratricide, three wars and a nuclear buildup, now comes another battle between Asia's blood rivals: the India versus Pakistan cricket match.

March 13: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT MEETING FOCUSES ON SLUM DWELLERS, URBAN POOR. If the rapid and ongoing urbanization of poverty was not directly addressed, it would be impossible to meet those goals. Improving the lives of slum dwellers should involve combating HIV, improving environmental sustainability, and addressing gender inequality in the most efficient manner.

March 12: PROMOTING WOMEN'S ROLE IN THE PROFESSION. Women must be in the vanguard of efforts to tackle inequality in the planning profession, insists Olusola Olufemi.

March 12: GLOBAL WARMING TODAY: MEXICO'S GULF COAST IN PERIL, by Catherine Bremer. Global warming is here and it's already affecting us. Our coasts are at risk from rising seas and hurricanes.

March 12: INDIAN BEHIND MICROSOFT'S NEW AGE COMMUNICATION TOOL, by Anand Parthasarathy. New communication tool to be formally announced by Microsoft on Tuesday will integrate instant messaging, voice and video with the telephone.

March 11: GANG-RAPE VICTIM IN PAKISTAN IS DEALT LEGAL BLOW, by Victoria Burnett. last week, a court overturned the convictions of five of the six men involved in the gang rape of Mukhtaran Bibi ordered by a tribal council in Pakistan's Punjab Province.

March 11: TRAVEL SAFETY TIPS FOR PAKISTAN, INDIA, by Anthony Mitchell. How safe is Pakistan today? I feel safer in Pakistan than in many neighborhoods of Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., or New York City -- except for some moments on the highway and at busy traffic intersections.

March 10: PAKISTAN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION EXHIBITION FROM 04/02. The World Learning Bureau (WLB) is organising 15th Pakistan International Education Exhibition (PIEE) from April 2-3, 2005 at Karachi Expo Center.

March 9: INDIA'S REAL CHALLENGES ARE AT HOME, Keynote Address by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh: Pluralism, secularism, multi-culturalism and a commitment to the principles of equity, social justice and the rule of law are the core values of our civilisation and the foundation of our republic.

March 9: LET US BRIDGE THE TRUST DEFICIT, Keynote Address by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz: I will be speaking on a topic I feel passionately about: "The future of South Asia."

March 9: MAKING THE DREAM OF AFGHANISTAN A REALITY, Keynote Address by President Hamid Karzai: Democracy, as a system of government, may indeed be unprecedented in Afghanistan.

March 8: KARACHI AWAKENS, by Anthony Mitchell. "These are the good times for Pakistan," said the Cathay Pacific manager in Los Angeles, who is originally from Karachi.

March 8: STUDY SAYS $4B COULD KEEP 3 MILLION ALIVE, by Raja Mishra. The lives of 3 million newborn babies in poor nations could be saved annually through simple improvements in birthing procedures and basic healthcare.

March 8: 30 YEARS ON, TIME HAS STOOD STILL FOR MILLIONS OF WOMEN IN SOUTH ASIA. More than three years since the fall of the hardline Islamic Taliban regime, life for women has improved in Afghanistan.

March 7: GO SOLAR, SAYS UNI ECO EXPERT, by Shoba Rao (Sydney, Australia). Soaring crude oil prices and an over-reliance on coal-based fuel could leave the Hunter region with limited energy resources by 2020.

March 7: PAKISTAN'S FARM SECTOR GETS READY FOR TOMORROW, by Farhan Bokharif. Suhail Malik, a Pakistani economist, considers the evolving character of the average class over the past decade.

March 7: MEETING IN PARIS TO PLAN TSUNAMI EARLY-WARNING SYSTEM, 3-8 MARCH. The Paris meeting will concentrate on defining a work plan and timetable for the establishment of an early-warning system for tsunamis in the Indian Ocean.

March 4: INDIA FUTURE DRIVER FOR 'BRIC' ECONOMIES: GOLDMAN SACHS. India has the potential to become the main driver for economic growth of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries, said Goldman Sachs Managing Director, Ketan J. Patel.

March 4: BEIJING TURNS TO RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES: New law requires use of solar and wind-powered electricity.

March 4: CODE OF CONDUCT FOR PAKISTANI CREDIT RATING AGENCIES ISSUED. In a major move to keep check on credit rating agencies, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has issued 'code of conduct.'

March 3: CHINESE AUTOMAKERS MAY EXPAND BUSINESS IN PAKISTAN. "We plan to build a new automobile assembly plants in a number of countries, such as Pakistan, Venezuela and Syria," said a spokesman for Brilliance China Auto, German luxury carmaker BMW's Chinese mainland partner.

March 3: AFGHAN AMPUTEES TO GET TILING PLANT. A humanitarian organization is setting up a factory in Kabul to provide employment for amputees who lost their legs during the years of war in Afghanistan or to land mines.

March 3: KYOTO PROTOCOL HOLDS OPPORTUNITIES FOR INDIA, said the general secretary of the Energy Conservation Society (ECS), S. Ratnakumar.

March 2: THE BATTLE FOR HEARTS AND MINDS; THE NUMBER OF WOMEN IN ENGINEERING REMAINS LOW, DESPITE A RAFT OF, by Amy McLellan.

March 2: BEING A PAKISTANI MUSLIM IN HIS HOME TOWN. Sarfraz Manzoor and his BBC television show.

March 1: POPULATION OF INDIA FORECAST TO OVERTAKE CHINA’S BY 2030. India's population will overtake that of China before 2030, five years earlier than previously forecast, a new UN population report predicts.

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February 28: IN DELHI, RECYCLING HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CONSCIENCE. IT IS ALL ABOUT SURVIVAL, by Justin Huggler. More than 1,000 people make their entire living scavenging here at the Ghazipur dump in down-at-heel north Delhi, where the city's refuse is consigned.

February 28: AFGHAN QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG WORLD'S LOWEST, by Carlotta Gall. The war-shattered country ranks 173rd of 178 countries in the United Nation's 2004 Human Development Index, according to the new report.

February 25: AGA KHAN TO EXPAND MICROFINANCE, by Frances Williams. The creation of an agency aimed at expanding microfinance services in some of the world's poorest communities was announced yesterday.

February 25: SMALL CITIES ACCOUNT FOR 65% OF PC SALES IN INDIA. India's small city potential has been realised by big PC manufacturers as the next driver for growth.

February 25: WORLD BANK PRESIDENT PRAISES PAKISTAN'S RECENT ECONOMIC ACHIEVEMENTS, World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn has praised Pakistan's economic achievements

February 24: FIRST BANGLADESH "STATUS" REPORT ON GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS LAUNCHED. Bangladesh is among 189 nations to have signed the 2000 Millennium Declaration

February 24: 'HK' GROUP INVESTS IN KABUL FURNITURE. The renascent private sector sets up offices and shops as demands increases.

February 23: ONE STEP AT A TIME: ELECTRIFYING NEPAL

February 21: SCIENCE: GREEN, LEAFY SPINACH MAY SOON POWER MORE THAN POPEYE'S BICEPS, Deborah Halber, MIT

February 21: CORPORATE INDUSTRY NEEDS TO GIVE LIKE A TREE, Management experts and professors now want the corporate industry to be "like a tree."

February 21: Tourism revival key for Maldives. Many here rely on tourism. It provides two-thirds of employment and the largest proportion of GDP.

February 21: Private Sector to Adopt Islands in the Maldives. Big businesses are readying a pioneering effort aimed at helping people rebuild their homes.

February 18: SOUTH ASIAN DIASPORA, Doing business with South Asian Countries.

February 17: WORLD'S CHALLENGE - MAKE GLOBALIZATION WORK FOR ALL, Remarks by U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette.

February 16: MACRO DEMAND FOR MICROCREDIT: Women in poor nations need more cash to expand start-ups. By Betsy Cummings.

February 6: Bangalore Faces E-Waste Hazards. A time bomb is ticking in Bangalore, but most of its six million inhabitants are largely unaware of the threat (AP).

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FROM KASHMIR TO KATHMANDU, by Charles Haviland, BBC: In a corner of the lobby of Kathmandu's plushest hotel, a remarkable cluster of people sat together over whisky, tea and coffee.

IT OUTSOURCING REPORT; Financial Times: The rapid development of overseas call centres and business process outsourcing (or BPO) has set alarm bells.

A BETTER WORLD WITH "FAIR TRADE"; Boston Globe: Consumers should seek out products labeled as fair trade certified which ensures the farmer and workers were paid a fair price for the crop.

SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL; One World South Asia: Experiments with micro hydro power stations are yielding good results in the Indian state of Uttaranchal.

MILLIONS TO LOSE TEXTILE JOBS; BBC: Millions of the world's poorest textile trade workers will lose their jobs under new trade rules to be introduced in the new year, a charity has warned.

THE CRISIS OF DEMOCRACY; DT: Democracy and participatory governance are popular political notions in today’s world. While it is easy for rulers to pronounce their commitment to these principles, the real challenge lies in making them operational. Dr Hasan-Askari Rizvi.

MOVING TOWARDS SELF SUFFICIENCY; Dawn: When Atiya Suhail learnt quilting, little did she know that one day she would be teaching that art to a group of young impoverished, underprivileged Karachi girls.

LIFTING THE VEIL; Asia Times: a group of Indian journalists tours beautiful but blighted Pakistan-administered Kashmir. A jihadi atmosphere was distinctly lacking. The first article in a three-part report.

WHAT IS GOVERNANCE?; Indian NGOs: Talking about good governance in the voluntary sector Dr. Ashok Khosla, Development Alternatives, feels that the setting up of the ‘Credibility Alliance’ can set a good standard for the entire civil society to follow.

INFORMATION ACCESS AND TRUTH; TR: The truth is out there -- thanks to Google, mobile devices, and always-on Internet connections -- but often it's determined by the links at the end of the search engine.

HIV LESSONS IN MADRASSAHS; CSM: The war on terror has heaped much negative attention on Pakistan's madrassahs. But two nongovernmental organizations view the network of religious schools as a potential partner in their effort to bring AIDS awareness and prevention to the country.

PAYING THE PRICE OF RESEARCH; Sci-Dev: prize-winning essayist Robyna I. Khan argues that asking patients to fund the research they take part in is unethical and can lead to serious conflicts of interest.

GLOBAL WARMING AND REEFS; ENS: A report warns that many of the world's reefs are irreversibly damaged and others are in danger of collapse.

SOLAR CELL DOUBLES AS BATTERY, Designtechnica: Scientists in Japan have developed a solar powered device which can store energy for later use.

A LITTLE CAN GO A LONG WAY TOWARDS MAKING LIFE BETTER, by Farhan Bokhari, Fiona Harvey, Amy Kazmin and Amy Yee. Not long ago, 46-year-old Than Than Win and her husband eked out a living by working the fields of landowners in Kangyi.