by Lameck Masina, VOA, USA - Women living with HIV/AIDS in Malawi have formed a united front to ensure they get the nutritious foods they need to maintain their health.

by Augustine Tan, Asia Times, Hong Kong - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe appears to have picked Hong Kong for his final bolt hole as power slips inexorably out of his hands. He couldn't have chosen a more secure place.

by Suzanne Goldenberg, Guardian, UK - Extra-soft, quilted and multi-ply toilet roll made from virgin forest causes more damage than gas-guzzlers, fast food or McMansions, say campaigners.

by Sonia Cardenas, International Herald Tribune, France - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have set back the cause of human rights in China when she said on her Asia tour that while the United States will continue to press China on issues such as Tibet, Taiwan and human rights, "our pressing on those issues can't interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis."

by Shereen Moussad, Al-Ahram, Egypt - Do the present campaigns for women's rights really reflect what the majority of Egyptian women want?

by Luisa Fernanda López, Radio Netherlands, Netherlands - Some see Bolivia as the Saudi Arabia of Latin America: the country's lithium reserves are estimated to make up around 40 percent of the global supply.

by Katherine Butler, Independent, UK - It started with a switch from hijabs to Hermès headscarves. Now, after 30 years of Sharia law, the fight for women’s rights is gathering pace.

by Ellen Goodman, Seattle Times, USA - Are Ivy League schools simply becoming selecting mechanisms for Wall Street?

by Sabina Zaccaro, IPS, Italy - The new president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development takes over at a time when women farmers are becoming a growing force - without a growing voice.

by Yonca Poyraz Dogan, Today's Zaman, Turkey - A girl in the Southeast only has a 48-52 percent chance of going to primary school. Fifteen percent of Turkey's youth have not completed primary school, and seven out of 10 of these are girls.

by Mmanaledi Mataboge, Mail & Guardian, South Africa - According to the United Nations World Youth Report of 2007, politics is too distant from many young people's daily realities of school, leisure and finding work. They just don't see the connection.

by Megan Rowling, Reuters AlertNet, UK - As the global financial crisis squeezes donor budgets, the billion dollar question facing Bangladesh and other poor countries that need to start adapting fast to climate change is: How much support can they realistically expect?

by Kate Sheppard, Grist, USA - Anti-coal activists get a boost from Tennessee ash spill and other mishaps

by Siobhán Dowling, Der Spiegel, Germany - With Hungary in the depths of economic despair, its Roma minority has become an easy target for many people's resentments. The murder of a Roma man and his five-year-old son on Monday is the latest incident in a spiral of fear and hate.

by Ruth Sunderland, Guardian, UK - Iceland's spectacular meltdown was caused by a banking and business culture that was buccaneering, reckless - and overwhelmingly male.

by Christine Ahn and Paul Liem, International Herald Tribune, France - For nearly eight years, the Bush administration threatened North Korea with dire consequences for not acquiescing to demands that it disarm its nuclear weapons program before receiving the benefits of U.S. friendship. As a result, not only did the North continue testing its missiles - it also tested a nuclear weapon in 2006.

by Mona Eltahawy, Globe and Mail, Canada - Now, in honour of Aasiya Hassan, if a religious leader justifies violence against women, we must walk out, complain and push for his removal.

by Galia Golan, Daily Star, Lebanon - It may be hard to believe at this time, but not the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, or the region, or international politics is static.

by Teresa Rehman, Tehelka, India - Activism comes at a price in Meghalaya. A sullen quiet prevails over this comparatively peaceful state — any voice of dissent is silenced by a draconian state ‘anti-terror’ law.

by Berna Namata, All Africa, USA - Child bearing is one of the biggest health risks for women worldwide and the women in the world's least developed countries are 300 times more likely to die in childbirth than those in developed countries.

by Katinka Barysch, Financial Times, UK - As analysts warn of looming banking failures in central and eastern Europe, the European Union’s new member states are plunging into a more profound identity crisis. It is not only their financial systems that are under strain – their entire growth model is in doubt. A sense of helplessness and disillusionment could translate into policy errors with heavy medium-term costs.

by Zofeen Ebrahim, Inter Press Service, Italy - The ceasefire agreement reached by the provincial government in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Taliban on Feb.16, involving implementation of shariah (Islamic law), is being seen as a setback for women’s rights in the area bordering Afghanistan.

by Marjorie Cohn, Marjorie Cohn, USA - Accountability is critical to ensuring that our leaders never again torture and abuse people.