by Lynnette Hoffman, The Australian, Australia - Experts had a hunch that rates of blindness in the Southeast Asian country of Burma were high. Eight per cent of adults over 40 who were sampled in a regional area of the country were blind. That's the highest rate reported in the world.Blindness affects the developing world disproportionately.

by Rajni George, National, United Arab Emirates - As an orphan and an ‘untouchable’, young Bharti Kumari seems the unlikeliest of schoolmistresses. But the stoic Indian village girl with an old soul has grasped new opportunities and is a charming role model for self improvement.

by Nina Werkhaeuser, Deutsche Welle, Germany - Fresh from a trip to Russia, Germany's human rights commissioner, Markus Loening, says non-governmental organizations in the country are still suffering under an unsympathetic government.

by Annie Lowrey, Washington Independent, USA - The United States currently jails one in every 100 adults — the highest rate in the world. That costs one in every 15 state general fund dollars, more than $50 billion a year.

by Julia Suryakusuma, Jakarta Post, Indonesia - Between Sept. 18 and 25, the Coalition for Sexuality and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies held its third session, this time in Jakarta. t was a religious experience because, as the name implies, the organizers, trainers and participants were mainly from Muslim countries, and the links between sex and religion were a key theme. Imagine a room packed full of Muslims from Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran, Lebanon, Ghana, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania, all learning about sexuality and exchanging experiences.

by Nichole Johnston, Mail & Guardian, South Africa - In an almost forgotten corner of Zimbabwe, the BaTonga people try to scratch a living from the dessicated earth of the Binga district. The region has experienced little development and the chronic poverty of the people plays itself out in the health of mothers and their children, many of who are born with disabilities that might be prevented or easily treated in more affluent societies.

by Judith Scherr, IPS, Italy - "We are not going to the election in tents. We want housing before elections." These words were chanted in Creole and held high on placards during a recent demonstration at Haiti's crumpled National Palace, where protesters decried "inhumane" conditions in the camps for displaced people and condemned the government and NGOs which they said have abandoned them.

by Dorie Turner, Canadian Press, Canada - A handful of the countless songs written by victims of the Holocaust and other World War II prisoners made their world premiere at Emory University in Atlanta on Tuesday during "Testaments of the Heart."

by Catherine A. Fitzpatrick, Eurasia Net, USA - Surat Ikramov, head of the Initiative Group of Independent Human Rights Activists of Uzbekistan, was found guilty of libel by a distict court. Ikramov's case is one of a string of such prosecutions of reporters and human rights monitors in recent months who have been outspoken in their criticism of the government of President Islam Karimov.

by Kalpana Sharma, The Hindu, India - If women are getting more visibility today, it is partly because of the changes initiated by the UN conferences of the 1990s. This month marks 15 years since the UN fourth World Conference on Women that was held in Beijing.I know that these days the United Nations does not have much currency. But through the 1990s, some of the important conferences that the UN convened saw the emergence of an international consensus on a number of important issues.

by Virginia Haussegger, ABC, Australia - Traditional, cultural practices that assert male authority will always disadvantage women. So why do we kow-tow to them? Why are we so ready to adopt a lazy, cultural-relativist position?

by Tanya Lokshina, openDemocracy Russia, UK - In Chechnya there is official support for attacks on women when they are considered to have ‘flouted’ Islamic rules by not wearing a headscarf or covering up enough. Tanya Lokshina listened to some of the women’s despairing accounts.

by Jyoti Thottam, Time, USA - Leaders from every major Indian political party flew to Srinagar this week to demonstrate India's seriousness about resolving the political crisis that has seen months of protests bloodily suppressed in Kashmir. But the three-day meeting ended with little sign that India is willing to try a new strategy, despite the obvious failings of the current one.

by Jenny Leong, Sydney Morning Herald, Australia - The international community, including Australia, has to be ready to speak out forcefully as individuals are harassed and detained for their peaceful political activities in the run-up to the elections.

by Karen Meirik, Radio Netherlands, Netherlands - Polish-Dutch photographer Michel Szulc Krzyzanowski crossed five continents in order to find people who considered themselves the best-looking in the world. Surprisingly, it turns out mainly to be about inner beauty.

by Rawya Rageh, Al Jazeera, Qatar - Families of thousands of Iraqis missing since the invasion fear they will never find out what happened.

by Kabukabu Ikwueme, Conversations for a Better World, UK - What is the purpose of government, if not to safeguard the rights of its citizens? Many people working with victims of domestic violence in developing countries will agree that the law often does not offer adequate protection to victims. Our Goal of Gender Equality (MDG3) will never be reached if we do not address this problem.

by Andrea Lynett, Pambazuka, Kenya - With only five years remaining until governments are to meet the targets set out by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the sub-Saharan Africa region continues to have the highest poverty rates in the world, with millions of people living on less than US$1 per day. After emerging in the early 1990s, microfinance Institutions (MFIs) have increased in sub-Saharan Africa in recent years, with current records from the 2009 Africa Microfinance Analysis and Benchmarking Report showing that more than 195 active MFIs exist throughout the region.

by Samiha Shafy, Spiegel, Germany - Helen is 108 years old. She hates salads, vegetables, getting up early and just about everything that has to do with a healthy lifestyle. She loves rare hamburgers, chocolate, cocktails and nightlife in New York.

by Simona Sikimic, Daily Star, Lebanon - According to officials, of the 1,200 old mansions and buildings inventoried in 1995 by the Culture Ministry, only around 400 are still standing.

by Lisa Armstrong, The Atlantic, USA - Paul, 29, would be living in New York himself now, instead of under a battered white tarp in a Hatian schoolyard, were it not for two things -- he is homosexual, and he's HIV positive.