KARACHI, Nov 26 (IPS) - Wednesday, Nov. 21, dawned like any other in the sleepy town of Faridkot, located some 150 kilometres from the Punjab capital of Lahore in Pakistan. But as the town's 3000 residents went about their daily routines the air grew thick with apprehension, for a reason none wanted to mention.

WARSAW, Nov 26 (IPS) - When the Global Commission on Drug Policy, which advocates an end to what it says has been a failed ‘war on drugs', held its latest working meeting in Warsaw last month, the choice of venue was apt.

TUNIS, Nov 26 (IPS) - A year has passed since the provisional government assumed power in Tunisia. Following in the wake of the revolutionary changes brought on by the Arab Spring, the moderate Islamic Ennahda party won the majority and formed a coalition with the two secular parties Congress for the Republic (CPR) and Ettakatol in October last year.

DAKAR, Nov 26 (IPS) - Watering cans in hand, men and women move back and forth between the wells and water storage tanks and the crops they're watering: carrots, onions, tomatoes, cabbage, and potatoes, as well as fruit trees like palm, coconut, papaya and banana trees.

AN BIEN, Vietnam, Nov 25 (IPS) - For the last decade, many families in this southwestern Vietnamese province have been uprooted at least once every two years – but this is not due to economic or political upheaval.

TOKYO, Nov 25 (IPS) - Okinawa, the largest of a group of 60 sub-tropical islands forming Japan's southernmost prefecture, has an equable climate and preferential treatment for United States servicemen under the Mutual Cooperation Security Treaty between the U.S. and Japan.

JERUSALEM, Nov 25 (IPS) - As the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas seems to be holding, many are hoping that one of the agreement's main points – the easing of restrictions on people and goods coming in and out of the Gaza Strip – signals a new era for the besieged Palestinian territory.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 24 (IPS) - Violence against women is internationally recognised as a threat to democracy, a burden on national economies, and a serious human rights violation.

MANILA, Nov 24 (IPS) - Against the backdrop of growing territorial tensions in the South China Sea, inflamed by a more explicit Sino-American rivalry in the Pacific theatre, the recently-concluded ASEAN Summit in Cambodia represented the best chance at bolstering regional security through peaceful, multilateral mechanisms.

BELGRADE, Nov 24 (IPS) - Stojan Kovacevic spent last weekend going about his usual routine in his tiny dwelling in the village of Grocka, near Belgrade: cleaning the kitchen and bedroom, going to the local green market and watching TV.