by Navi Pillay, Daily Star, Lebanon - Honor attacks are steeped in the same attitude and stem from the same mind-set that also produces domestic violence. These attacks are rooted in the desire to control women and suppress their aspirations and voice.

by Mary Ndlovu, Pambazuka, Kenya - The prospect is for continued poverty, a stuttering economy, a dysfunctional civil service, violence and even chaos. All of which benefit the power elite of the former ruling party.

by Fran Korten, Yes!, USA - Elinor Ostrom was an unusual choice for the 2009 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

by Sanitsuda Ekachai, Bangkok Post, Thailand - The first Makha Bucha occurred on the full-moon day of the third lunar month, nine months after the Buddha's enlightenment. This year, it falls on Feb 28, the day when the government ends its reprieve for those who desperately need help - the migrant workers who fled harsh poverty and violent persecution in Burma.

by Stacy Smith, Huffington Post, USA - Studies show that the ways characters talk, look, and relate to other characters are different when one or more females are directing, writing, or producing properties for TV/film.

by Haru Mutasa, Al Jazeera, Qatar - Zimbabwe's education system is now in crisis and its poorly paid teachers are leaving government-run schools in the thousands.

by Farangis Najibullah, Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic - Like many other farmers in the remote village of Barchid, lying in the shadow of Tajikistan's Pamir Mountains, Makbulsho Yakinshoev knows little about issues like greenhouse-gas emissions or global warming.

by Amy Goodman, Truthdig, USA - March is Women’s History Month, recognizing women’s central role in society. Unfortunately, violence against women is epidemic in the United States and around the world.

by Elena Godlevskaya, Open Democracy Russia, UK - In 2004, some local journalists in Oryol founded an independent newspaper ‘for those who want the truth’. Although it sold well, members of staff were subject to threats, bribes, attacks and arson. Still, it lasted four years.

by Daniela Estrada, IPS/TerraViva, Italy - When Chile elected Michelle Bachelet as its first woman president in 2005, thousands of women celebrated the historic victory as their own personal triumph, proudly marching in the streets wearing mock presidential sashes. Today, men and women both recognise the concrete and symbolic progress achieved in gender issues under her administration.

by Beverly Bell, Common Dreams, USA - According to Haitian peasant organizations, at the core of the solutions is a commitment on the part of the government to support family agriculture, with policies to make the commitment a reality.

by Graciana del Castillo, Daily Star, Lebanon - The current Afghan situation reflects a failure until now to make national reconciliation – rather than optimal development policies – the bedrock priority of the Kabul government and the international community.

by Diana Cariboni, IPS, Italy - "I've been crying (tears of joy) since yesterday. It's amazing to see how an ordinary person made it so far," said 44-year-old María del Rosario Corbo, referring to Uruguay's new President José "Pepe" Mujica, who was sworn in Monday at the head of this South American country's second leftist administration.

by Reneé Feltz, Investigative Fund, USA - The Supreme Court's Atkins decision struck down executions of the mentally retarded. But dozens of mentally disabled men remain on death row in Texas, with few avenues for appeal.

by Fatma Disli Zibak, Today's Zaman, Turkey - The safety record of Turkey’s coal mining industry lags behind that of most industrial nations and the inspection of mines, particularly those run by the private sector, is insufficient.

by Helena Norberg-Hodge, Counter Currents, India - Should the countries of the South have the right to increase their emissions as they industrialize and ‘develop’?

by Kulani Jalata, Gadaa, Ethiopia - Understanding the politics of malnutrition in Oromia and Ethiopia.

by Khadija Sharife, Pambazuka, Kenya - As the G20 spends its time creating a carbon trade market that does little to reduce carbon emissions, multinationals continue to expand their extractive enterprises, dictators continue to siphon off capital, financial firms continue to cash in on pollution and this illicit capital continues to be laundered through offshore locations that are themselves threatened by the rising waters associated with global warming.

by Lisa Macdonald, Green Left, Australia - In January, Bolivia’s left-wing President Evo Morales began his second term by appointing a new cabinet in which women are equally represented for the first time.

by Kari Lydersen, OnEarth, USA - “Why aren’t the multinational companies that are making billions from cheap labor paying for infrastructure and the problems they’re creating?”