Alisa Tang

CAYCE, S.C. -- An Amtrak passenger train slammed into a parked freight train in the early-morning darkness Sunday after a thrown switch sent it hurtling down a side track, authorities said. Two Amtrak crew members were killed, and more than 100 people were injured.

Cambodian activists fighting plans to transform Phnom Penh’s largest lake into a luxury development made a tactical decision when they took to the streets - put women on the frontline to show a “gentle” face and prevent violence.

By Rina Chandran An ambitious government plan to upgrade India’s cities risks further marginalising poor and minority communities and hastening slum evictions, while failing to address the reasons villagers move to urban areas, campaigners said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Smart Cities Mission ai…

South Sudan: Medics and School Staff Forcibly Recruited in War  AllAfrica.com

By Rina Chandran MUMBAI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Indigenous women in Indonesia are taking the lead in the fight to protect their land and communities as a rise in conflicts threatens tribes living on lands coveted by extractive and logging...

Ethiopia: Hunger to Hit Emergency Levels in Ethiopia Despite Rains  AllAfrica.com

By Katy Migiro-NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Hunger is likely to reach emergency levels in Ethiopia and the number in need of food aid will rise beyond the current 7.7 million, experts said, as drought has decimated livestock, rains have been erratic and aid is in short supply. Prolonged d…

By Roli Srivastava Priests, card printers, flower decorators and tent suppliers are among the many players in the lucrative wedding industry being enlisted to help authorities in southern India crack down on child marriages. Priests in southern Telangana state have been told to request proof of age …

Believed by Indians to have miraculous healing powers, the Ganges is also one of the world’s filthiest rivers, with tons of raw sewage and industrial waste dumped into it daily

Aliya Harir was brought up in Pakistan to think of India as the enemy. So when she met Indians while studying in the US, she was surprised to gain a new perspective. She now works on peacebuilding initiatives.

Growing up in eastern Ukraine, Svitlana Moroz said she was a typically reckless teenager who believed she’d live forever.

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In a landmark case, Nada Chaiyajit petitioned her school to issue her official documents according to the gender identity she has chosen, on the basis of her rights rather than mental illness

In a crowded maternity clinic at a refugee camp in Jordan near the Syrian border, Elhem cradled her crying 11-month-old son, bounced him on her knee and then handed him to her mother to help calm him down.

It took four years to eliminate malaria in the United States - elsewhere it has been well over half a century and counting

The world’s first prosecution for rape as an act of genocide is the subject of a new film scheduled for release in the United States on Friday.

Families in Asia and the Middle East rely heavily on domestic workers to cook, clean and care for children as well as the elderly

Child malnutrition cost the Philippines $7 billion or nearly 3 percent of its GDP in one year in terms of education spending and lost productivity, while hunger-related stunting is on the rise among children, a global aid agency said on Tuesday.

Chinese police cracking down on sex workers routinely look for condoms as evidence of illegal activity, hindering efforts to prevent the spread of HIV among sex workers, one of the biggest at-risk groups in the country, experts said.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the Philippines face extortion, violence and rape when seeking help from the police and do not trust law enforcement officers to protect them, a rights group said.