by Eva Bartlett, Countercurrents.org, India - “In Gaza we don’t lead normal lives, we just cope, and adapt to our abnormal lives under siege and occupation.” On International Women’s Day, when many of the world’s women are fighting for workplace equality and an end to domestic violence, the majority of Gaza’s women fight for the most basic of rights.

by Ama Biney, Pambazuka News, South Africa - International Women’s Day is a time to reflect not only on the achievements and celebrations of women but to focus attention on the remaining challenges facing women and progressive men around the world for a more humane, just, free and equal world between women and men. It is a time to reflect on gender, however, these days most people associate ‘gender’ with ‘women’s issues’ as a sphere that somehow does not affect men but only women. Yet, do men not have mothers, sisters, wives, partners, aunties and grandmothers? A great deal of attention in the use of the term ‘gender’ is focused on women or girls. Yet, there is now a need to consciously rethink how we can refocus this discourse to seriously examine how we socialise and condition our male children specifically and young men generally into notions of becoming an ‘adult male’ and more fundamentally challenging negative notions of ‘masculinity’ in our society. Somehow the present focus on ‘gender’ fails to adequately address these issues.

by Maritza Baltazar, Latinamerica Press, Peru - HISATIMA proposes free schooling from first through sixth grades in a multi-grade classroom to provide an education more relevant for children in the Andean highlands that values local expertise and culture, integrating Western and Andean knowledge. It’s financed by cooperating institutions, and funds are raised months ahead of the coming school year.

By Clare Morgana Gillis, Jim Michaels and William M. Welch, USA Today, USA - His 42 years of despotic rule already at an end, deposed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi ran out of places to hide Thursday and was killed after being cornered by rebels in his hometown stronghold of Sirte.

by Hoda Baraka, Al-Masry Al-Youm, Egypt - Planning new ‘cities’ from scratch, instead of finding strategies to densify and reuse our existing built space, is a complete waste of energy and resources.

by Sokari Ekine, Pambazuka, Kenya - I started this week by thinking there was no single theme but now I see that this week's review is about challenging the 'single story' story of Africa. Starting with a technology post, first from AfroMusing – who discusses the future of tech on the continent – people write books on this so I think this post does well to point out some of the main issues. It is an old post but a discussion which is ongoing and which I should have picked up at the time. Juliana makes five points: the growth of mobile phones and the services provided such as MPESA; technology for social change, with mobile phones, especially SMS, again playing a prominent role; the many tech innovations being developed on the continent so the 'knowledge economy is no longer an enclave of the West'; social networking/participation through blogs, Facebook and Twitter as well as local country-specific social networks; and enabling a much closer relationship between the diaspora and the continent, again through blogs, etc.

by Grace Mukasa, The Guardian, UK - With gender empowerment, you only stop to take a breath. You do not quit. There is no one single way to do it. And it is a lifetime commitment

by Audrey Mbugua, Pambazuka News, South Africa - Referring to the misunderstandings, discrimination and at times outright hostility faced by Kenya's transsexuals, Audrey Mbugua discusses the day-to-day hardships faced by transsexual people in the country.

by Sabella Ogbobode Abidde, Pambazuka News, South Africa - Looking back at the immense optimism Nigeria's citizens felt for their country in the immediate post-colonial period, Sabella Ogbobode Abidde stresses that former pride has been entirely replaced by a pervasive desire to escape into 'exile'. In the face of corruption and poor healthcare and education, the average Nigerian cannot help but lament an absence of opportunities. This reality notwithstanding however, Abidde argues that it is incumbent upon Nigeria's youth to shape a better future for themselves and their children.

by Wendy C. Hamblet, Pambazuka News, South Africa - Following a five and a half year scholarly meditation to tackle explicitly the prejudices ‘still deeply embedded’ in the Western academy, Wendy C. Hamblet challenges the ‘popular assumption that violence is an essential quality of certain populations,’ and offers ‘an alternative, more sympathetic, but also more realistic, account of some of the world’s current violences.'

by Mary Ndlovu, Pambazuka News, South Africa - A season of fear has returned to Zimbabwe, following Morgan Tsvangirai’s decision to ‘disengage’ from the country’s dysfunctional Government of National Unity, Mary Ndlovu writes in Pambazuka News. With unlawful arrests, abductions, beatings, torture, burning of homes and killings by Zanu PF and state agents on the increase again, ordinary Zimbabweans are sceptical that SADC’s latest attempts at mediation will bring the country’s people closer to peace and prosperity. But says Ndlovu, there is ‘still room to hope for a miracle.’

by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Counter Punch, USA - The historic election of Barack Obama represented an undeniable blow against the legacy of racism in the U.S.

by Kathy Sanborn, Counter Punch, USA - Homeless encampments around the country are mushrooming, much to the embarrassment of government officials, may of whom prefer to hear no evil, see no evil.

by Rebecca Murray, IPS News, Italy - A paralysed country is split between the U.S.-backed Sinoira government, and the opposition parties led by Hezbollah and Christian General Michel Aoun, which are allied with Syria and Iran. A parliamentary vote for the current consensus presidential candidate, army head Michel Suleiman, has been delayed for a 16th time this week, leaving the post empty since pro-Syrian president Emile Lahoud served out his term last November.

by Marcela Valente, IPS News, Italy - Argentine companies are competing for professionals and technically skilled employees, and are even hiring students who have not yet graduated, as demand for qualified workers exceeds supply. But the reverse is true among less-skilled workers.

by Frida Ghitis, World Politics Review, USA - The Palestinians have a legitimate right to pursue the creation of an independent state. Nobody, however, has a legitimate right to seek the destruction of another country, and that is precisely what Hamas seeks. That is not a matter of opinion. Take them at their word.

by Mona Alami, IPS News, Italy - It's another way of looking at a world of enormous piles of rubbish, where gunmen and fratricidal wars are common, and where a permanent state of lawlessness reigns. A group of Lebanese photojournalists now gives these children the opportunity to forget their surroundings through the world of photography.

by Simona Pari, Norwegian Refugee Council, Norway - Displaced youths took the opportunity on Saturday to explain to a top UN official why education is key in a crisis situation. “I had to leave my village because of fighting between governmental troops and rebels. Now I live in one of the IDP camps near Goma. Life is very difficult. But thanks to this education programme I can dream of having a better future when I can return to my village.”

by Beena Sarwar, IPS News, Pakistan - Voter apathy marked Monday’s general elections that were accompanied by allegations of massive manipulations and violence on the one hand and lofty promises of development and cash gifts by some candidates on the other.

by Amantha Perera, IPS News, Sri Lanka - As Sri Lanka celebrated the 60th anniversary of its independence from British colonial rule, over 60 civilians were reported killed in the raging ethnic conflict on the island.

by Miren Gutiérrez, IPS News, Italy - Is there a female way to lead? Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has raised that possibility in saying that she tries to lead through consensus, not by imposition.

by Giannina Milich, IPS News, Chile - The longest hunger strike in Chilean history, to draw attention to the plight of the Mapuche people, has been called off.

by Antoaneta Bezlova, IPS News, China - Its thirst for energy is compelling China to resurrect territorial claims to resources-rich spots in the region that have lain dormant for years.

by Elizabeth Owen and Giorgi Lomsadze, Eurasia Daily, Georgia - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was inaugurated on January 20 for a second term in office with a call for Georgians to put aside political battles for a united war on poverty.

by Dalia Acosta, IPS News, Cuba - The number of political prisoners in Cuba fell last year, but arbitrary detentions increased, according to a report by the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN).

by Constanza Vieira, IPS News, Colombia - While the international spotlight was shined on two women hostages released by Colombia’s FARC guerrillas, IPS interviewed by telephone a woman who reflects the other side of the hostage crisis.

by Najum Mushtaq and Jacklynne Hobbs, IPS News, Italy - Ghanaian President John Kufuor will reportedly head to Kenya Thursday to help bring an end to post-election violence that has claimed upwards of 300 lives across the East African country.

by Kwamboka Oyaro, IPS News, Kenya - NGOs have assisted female candidates ahead of Kenya's general elections on the 27th in the hope of giving them a fair shot at the polls.

by Inés Benítez, IPS News, Guatemala - "Before, we didn't know how to market the coffee, or who would buy it in other countries, all we knew about was planting and harvesting," says Guatemalan coffee grower Pablo Pérez.

by Julia E.M. Halewicz, Litchfield County Times, USA - A US presidential race reductively shapes its candidates with words like "Mormon," "woman" and "African-American,". Voters now have the chance to transcend catch-phrases in pursuit of a new American ideal.

by Constanza Vieira, IPS News, Colombia - The leaders of Colombia’s FARC guerrillas ordered the release of two women hostages and the young son of one of them as a gesture of "compensation" for the frustrated facilitation efforts made by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba, and of goodwill towards the hostages’ families.

by Roxana Saberi, IPS News, Northern Iraq - "Next to the people of Iraq, the Iranian people were the main beneficiaries of the removal of Saddam Hussein regime".

by Elizabeth Dickinson Calabar, All Africa, Port Harcourt - Nigeria is Africa's largest producer of oil and the third largest supplier of crude to the United States. Since the country's independence in 1960, its oil industry has operated in close proximity to communities in the Delta—sometimes within meters of their homes and farms. But despite the wealth flowing under the soil, the 1,500 communities that host oil facilities remain infamously poor.

by Mary Speck, World Public Opinion - Large majorities believe that human activity causes climate change and favor policies designed to reduce emissions.

by Adrianne Appel, IPS News, Boston - African Americans are 13 percent of the U.S. population but are 50 percent of those diagnosed with HIV each year and 50 percent of those who die of AIDS annually, according to the U.S. Centres for Disease Control (CDC).

by Mona Alami, IPS News, Lebanon - Tensions are rising in Lebanon's many Palestinian camps, home to more than 400,000 refugees.

by Catherine Makino, IPS News, Japan - Ignoring the fact that Japan is an Asian country with a sizeable Buddhist population, the government of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda cold-shouldered the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, during a ten-day visit that ended on Friday.

by Kimberly Hefling, AP, Washington - Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 percent of the general adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday.

by Catherine Makino, IPS News, Japan - About 1,300 Burmese expatriates rallied in the capital’s Yoyogi Park on Sunday afternoon, appealing to the international community to put pressure on the Japanese government to cut aid to their military-ruled country.

Interview with Malalai Joya, IPS News, Canada - Malalai Joya was four years old when her family fled Afghanistan in 1982 to the refugee camps of Iran and later Pakistan.

by Melissa Hahn, PINR, USA - One of the reasons the oppositions won was the desire of many Poles to improve the relationship with the EU in general and their German neighbor in particular.

by Marcela Valente, IPS News, Argentina - In 2003, Argentina was in a state of collapse. President Kirchner managed to bring down soaring unemployment and poverty rates. But whoever succeeds him will still have challenges to face.

by Sabina Zaccaro, IPS News, Rome - The number of disadvantaged people in Latin America reached 220 million in 2006, 20 million more than in 1996.

by Mary Speck, World Public Opinion - A poll taken in the weeks before Benazir Bhutto’s return to Pakistan, whose convoy was met with an attack as well as large adulatory crowds, finds that a plurality of Pakistanis (50%) approve of her return, while one in three are opposed.

by Anita Petry, IPS News, United Nations - Women are seen as the key for ending global poverty and the issue of gender equality is receiving special attention at events marking the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on Wednesday.

by Antoaneta Bezlova, IPS News, Beijing - As a trickle of environmental problems emerging from the Three Gorges dam area steadily grows into a deluge, Chinese authorities have begun weighing plans to relocate several million people to avert an ecological catastrophe.

by Anne-Kathrin Keller, IPS News, United Nations - Last week, while more than 140 world leaders were arriving in New York to wine, dine and address the General Assembly, a group of activists was demonstrating outside the U.N. compound for a hunger-free world.

by Melissa Hahn, PINR - In recent months, the government has been racked by scandals, public embarrassments, foreign policy blunders, allegations of ties to criminal syndicates, debilitating personality clashes, and legislative gridlock - resulting in a loss of its majority status and capacity to govern.

by Miriam Mannak, IPS News, South Africa - One of South Africa’s largest AIDS lobby groups says it has obtained evidence indicating that government was implicated in illegal medical experiments on people living with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania.

by Daniela Estrada, IPS News, Chile - Human rights groups applauded the Chilean Supreme Court’s decision Friday to extradite former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) to be tried in his country for gross human rights abuses, noting that it sets an international legal precedent.