IPS Inter Press Service - Asia Pacific IPS Inter Press Service - Asia Pacific
IPS, civil society's leading news agency, is an independent voice from the South and for development, delving into globalisation for the stories underneath.

POLITICS-MALAYSIA: Malay-Muslim Call Shakes Opposition U...
KUALA LUMPUR, Jul 25 (IPS) - A key constituent of the opposition People?s Alliance coalition led by Anwar Ibrahim has opened secret talks with the ruling United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) party of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi in a move that threatens the stability of the fragile five-month-old opposition alliance.


BURMA: UN Missions Draw Derision
BANGKOK, Jul 25 (IPS) - In their hour of despair, Burma?s beleaguered people continue to find comfort in humour. New jokes reflect new frustrations. The latest target is Ibrahim Gambari, United Nations special envoy for Burma.


CAMBODIA/THAILAND: Temple Row - Latest in Testy Ties
PHNOM PENH, Jul 24 (IPS) - The armed standoff between Cambodia and Thailand over ownership of the ancient Hindu temple of Preah Vihear is the latest chapter in the neighbouring countries? troubled relationship.


POLITICS-INDIA: Costly Vote of Confidence
NEW DELHI, Jul 24 (IPS) - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has won a bitterly contested motion of confidence in his government by 275 to 256 votes in Parliament, securing his government's survival for several months.


AFGHANISTAN: Taliban Encroach On Karzai's Turf
KABUL, Jul 24 (IPS) - Dozens of civilians were killed over the weekend in Afghanistan, the latest in the trend of spiralling violence that has engulfed the embattled nation. The civilian casualties, Taliban attacks and troop casualty numbers are putting increasing strain on the Western-led coalition, leading some to speculate that the war is unwinnable.


SRI LANKA: No Lessons Learnt From 'Black July' of 1983
COLOMBO, Jul 23 (IPS) - On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom in Sri Lanka there are few signs that any positive lessons have been learnt from the gory events that changed this island nation?s history and sent a once booming economy into a downward trajectory.


POPULATION-PHILIPPINES: Catholic Church Damns The Pill
MANILA, Jul 23 (IPS) - As World Population Day was being marked on Jul. 11, Tess and Andy were attending a family planning seminar as a requirement for their forthcoming wedding. It turned out to be window into one of the major problems besetting the Philippine population programme.


Q&A: 'Guam Matters, Not Guamanian Rights'
MELBOURNE, Jul 23 (IPS) - In this second of a two-part interview, IPS spoke with Julian Aguon -- whose homeland of Guam is soon to receive thousands more U.S. troops -- regarding the island?s economic problems, why Guam matters to Washington and the value of solidarity links between activists who are divided by oceans, yet united in a cause.


US/IRAN: Scowcroft, Brzezinski Urge Bush to Drop Precond...
WASHINGTON, Jul 22 (IPS) - Two of Washington's most prominent foreign policy greybeards praised Saturday's direct participation in multinational talks with Iran by a senior U.S. diplomat but called on the administration of President George W. Bush to drop his demands that Tehran freeze its uranium enrichment programme as a precondition for broader negotiations.


POLITICS-MALAYSIA: Opposition Leader Unfazed by New Sodo...
PENANG, Jul 22 (IPS) - Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia's de facto opposition leader, is locked in a political battle of wills with ruling coalition leaders and determined to wrest federal control despite fresh charges of sodomy brought up against him.


SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Offer to Release Suu Kyi a Ploy?
BANGKOK, Jul 22 (IPS) - Reacting to growing international pressure Burma?s military regime has said it will consider releasing the pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest in six months.


CAMBODIA: Scribe's Murder, Temple Dispute Muddy Polls
PHNOM PENH, Jul 22 (IPS) - Cambodia has entered the final week of its national election campaign shocked by the murder of a well-known journalist and facing an increasingly tense standoff with Thailand over a disputed 11th century Hindu temple.


POLITICS: South Asia Maps Its Own Development Destiny
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 21 (IPS) - When Pierre Trudeau, a former prime minister of Canada, was once asked what it was like to share space with a "giant" neighbour like the United States, he said the Canadians always felt they were living next to a monstrous elephant.


PAKISTAN: Taliban Move In On Peshawar?
PESHAWAR, Jul 21 (IPS) - Hundreds of families have left posh Hayatabad Township amid escalating fear that this Pakistani border city is set to fall into the hands of the Taliban.


Q&A: ''Guam Remains Functionally a US Colony''
MELBOURNE, Jul 21 (IPS) - The tiny island of Guam -- officially an unincorporated territory of the United States -- is soon to be inundated with thousands more U.S. military personnel as the world?s superpower realigns its forces. In this first of a two-part interview, indigenous Guamanian activist Julian Aguon spoke with IPS on issues surrounding the build-up.