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After over 11 years of preparation, including eight years of negotiation, Vietnam has officially become the 150th member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) upon the General Council's approval of the country's membership agreement on November 7, 2006.

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Cited “for their efforts to create economic and social development from below,” Bangladeshi microcredit pioneer Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank were jointly awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for their work in advancing economic and social opportunities for the poor, particularly women.

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A recent report titled “Still Making Their Own Rules: Ongoing Impunity for Police Beatings, Rape and Torture in Papua New Guinea” found out that police violence against children remains prevalent in the country despite recent juvenile reform efforts. 

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About 2 million people die of tuberculosis (TB) each year, more than half of them in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

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BANGKOK, THAILAND—The military seized control of the Thai government on 19 September while controversial Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was in the United States. Army Commander General Sonthi Boonyaratglin and a group that calls itself the Democratic Reform Council led the bloodless coup d’état. Thaksin attempted to assert emergency powers but was unsuccessful.

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MANILA, PHILIPPINES—Ang Ladlad, a national organisation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) Filipinos will go down in history as the first elected gay political party in Asia—if they get 200,000 party-list votes during the congressional elections on 14 May 2007.