IRIN - Asia
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BANGLADESH: Taking toxins out of ship-breaking DHAKA Friday, September 03, 2010 (IRIN) - A Dutch engineering company is trying to make safer the dangerous job of dismantling old ships contaminated with chemicals - by building the world’s first “green dock wharf” in Bangladesh.


INDONESIA: Eruption spotlights "severe" volcano threat JAKARTA Friday, September 03, 2010 (IRIN) - The eruption of Mount Sinabung for the first time in 400 years has highlighted the urgent need for Indonesian authorities to boost disaster preparedness, experts warn.


PAKISTAN: No firewood, no hot food MINGORA Thursday, September 02, 2010 (IRIN) - A few kilometres outside Mingora, Swat Valley’s principal city in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa Province, a group of village women discuss the various problems they have been facing in the wake of the recent devastating floods - including the lack of firewood, without which they cannot cook.


INDONESIA: Female genital mutilation persists despite ban JAKARTA Thursday, September 02, 2010 (IRIN) - Though the Indonesian government banned female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) four years ago, experts say religious support for the practice is more fervent than ever, particularly in rural communities.


MYANMAR: Rural poor hit by arbitrary "taxes", says report BANGKOK Thursday, September 02, 2010 (IRIN) - Myanmar’s military government, with soldiers scattered throughout the country, is arbitrarily levying fees from the rural poor, pushing some into hunger and debt, experts say.


PHILIPPINES: Bracing for La Niña MANILA Wednesday, September 01, 2010 (IRIN) - The Philippines is bracing for severe flooding over the next few months as a result of the La Niña weather effect, which is expected to whip up heavy storms. Some specialists are saying the country is not adequately prepared.


PAKISTAN: What did you eat today? LAHORE Wednesday, September 01, 2010 (IRIN) - For hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis forced by the floods to abandon their homes, food is a primary concern: some families have gone days without a meal.


SRI LANKA: Addressing needs of stressed children MULLAITIVU Tuesday, August 31, 2010 (IRIN) - Few studies of children in Sri Lanka have examined the daily stress they continue to face since the tsunami and civil war, focusing instead on the direct impact of both, according to two studies in the latest Child Development journal.


In Brief: UNICEF warns of MDG gaps in Philippines MANILA Tuesday, August 31, 2010 (IRIN) - The Philippines will likely fail in meeting its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 in conflict-affected Mindanao, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) warns.


NEPAL: Another blow to food security KATHMANDU Tuesday, August 31, 2010 (IRIN) - - Farmers may reap as little as half of their normal harvests this year due to late monsoon rains in Nepal, a country constantly battling malnutrition and food insecurity, the World Food Programme (WFP) warns.