In The News

Indonesia has a secular constitution, but in 2003 gave a nod to the Aceh province adopting partial sharia law, supposedly an attempt to stem recruiting by a rebel movement. This separate set of laws, often targeting the poor and women, discourages tourism and economic development. Hard-line groups intent on gaining power in other provinces press for similar laws. Though scholars still debate what...

Throughout the spring, large groups of Thai citizens banded together for protests, risking arrest and injury. After a harsh crackdown in May, the Abhisit government promised reconciliation. But rather than listen and respond to opponents, the leaders control the reconciliation process and work on consolidating their own power, dawdling over election reform and limiting freedom of expression....

Enjoying rapid growth, India looks to make use of rich mineral holdings in its eastern states. But the rural poor and tribal people living near these deposits have been deprived of their rights and often oppressed by corrupt officials in cahoots with developers, explains journalist Eric Randolph. About 40 percent of India’s majority rural population lives in poverty but cell phones and...