by Irene Nabusoba, New Vision, Uganda - In Uganda, the uptake of modern contraceptive methods for family planning is still low. The 2007 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS) shows that the contraceptive prevalence rate was 24%, with only 18% women using modern contraceptives.
by Mona Eltahawy, New York Times, USA - I am a Muslim, I am a feminist and I detest the full-body veil, known as a niqab or burqa.
by Hannah Roberts, The Times, UK - Sri Lankan authorities appear to be building permanent camps to house many of the 300,000 refugees from the last phase of the war with the Tamil Tiger rebels, despite promising to resettle 80 per cent of them by the end of the year.
by Yolandi Groenewald & Lynley Donnelly, Mail & Guardian, South Africa - Scientists and environmentalists are worried that burgeoning coal mining in the Waterberg might not be sustainable -- or ecologically desirable -- with the little water available in the region already exploited to the limit.
by Josie Ensor, Daily Star, Lebanon - For hundreds of years the intoxicating tobacco haze of Turkey's water pipes has filled its air, making up part of the cultural landscape as much as the country's Blue Mosque or Grand Bazaar.
by Margaret Stoner, Jerusalem Post, Israel - Jewish leadership is beginning to show a softer, more feminine face, with women flocking to the pulpit and much of the Jewish world becoming more comfortable with the notion of female religious leaders.
by Eve Ensler, Washington Post, USA - The women of eastern Congo are enduring their 12th year of sexual terrorism. The girl children born of rape are now being raped. What will it take for the United Nations to finally do something meaningful to stop the violence?
by Limor Gal, Haaretz, Israel - Most women who opt for unassisted birth consider hospitals to be dangerous places, where they are liable to suffer iatrogenic damage - negative health effects stemming from medical treatment.
by Dalia Haj-Omar, Sudan Tribune, France - What is happening in Iran is a window of opportunity for Sudanese civil society to show that it is part of a global movement that has universal values and aspirations. It is also a chance to start a renewed, creative, realistic and inclusive dialogue on peaceful democratic transformation.
by Joyce Mulama, East African, Kenya - Two years ago, a United Nations Population Fund report said: “Men usually decide on the number and variety of sexual relationships, timing and frequency of sex and use of contraceptives, sometimes through coercion or violence”.
by Joan Baxter, Chronicle Herald, Canada - Around the world, private investors and multinational mining, automotive, agrochemical and seed corporations are scouting out and taking over vast tracts of farmland, many in African countries that are still struggling to feed themselves.
by Diana Gibson and Ray McGovern, San Jose Mercury, USA - This Friday marks the 22nd anniversary of the U.N. Convention against Torture, ratified and signed under President Reagan.
by Kamila Hyat, International News, Pakistan - Support for the Taliban – which still lingers in some quarters – stems in part from the fact that they are unapologetic in their attacks on the US.
by Susan Muyiyi, New Vision, Uganda - It is estimated that 100,000 maternal deaths would be avoided each year if all women who said they did not want more children were able to stop child bearing.
by Helen Thomas, Times Union, USA - A universal health care system based on the single-payer model appears to be a bridge too far for President Barack Obama.
by Dalila Mahdawi, Daily Star, Lebanon - "These figures represent millions of people who are struggling to provide for their children, who have been forced to flee their villages under threat, or who live in constant fear that someone they care for will be killed, assaulted or disappear."
by Kristen Chick, Christian Science Monitor, USA - A swirling 'soup' of tiny pieces of plastic has been found in the Atlantic Ocean, and something similar may be present in other ocean areas as well.
by Mara Kardas-Nelson, Mail & Guardian, South Africa - Women's rights activists have claimed that South African and Namibian public health doctors are making HIV-infected women infertile against their will.
by Tracy McVeigh, Guardian, UK - Africa's longest-running civil war is over and a new country is supposed to grow out of it. But there are few schools or roads and the people live in fear of kidnap and death. Soon, Southern Sudan's humanitarian disaster could dwarf that of its neighbour Darfur.
by Cindy Sui, Taipei Times, China - A demand for errand runners is helping many Taiwanese make ends meet as they ride out the economic downturn
by Eve Ensler, Guardian, UK - Despite an emerging women's movement, the rape of women and girls continues as the UN looks the other way.
by Lisa Denney, Pambazuka News, Kenya - Recent rioting and violence in Freetown and the east of Sierra Leone has brought into focus the fragility of the post-conflict peace, held in place since 2002.
by Mona Eltahawy, Globe & Mail, Canada - Let's call him what he is: a brutal dictator.
by Susan Carroll, Houston Chronicle, USA - Thousands of Iraqi refugees resettled in the U.S. are living in poverty and need additional federal aid to survive the nation’s economic crisis, according to a new report by an international aid agency.
by Ayesha Haroon, Daily Star, Pakistan - Pakistan is now a nation caught between its army and the Taliban, fighting a war not of its own making.
by Elisabetta Povoledo, New York Times, USA - Even before the brouhaha over “Noemigate,” the scandal sparked by the nebulous liaison between Silvio Berlusconi, the septuagenarian Italian prime minister, and the teenaged Noemi Letizia, Italian women had been pondering their collective self-image.
by Tovah Lazaroff, Jerusalem Post, Israel - A can of humous from Gaza is a rarity anywhere in the world, Oxfam spokesman Mike Bailey said as he added his voice to a group of 36 aid organizations, who along with the UN on Wednesday protested Israel's two-year-old "blockade" of the Strip.
by Sevanti Ninan, The Hindu, India - Under a new proposed Bill, the government is arming itself with the power to block websites without the right to be heard. Why is no one talking about it?
by Aysegul Aybar, Today's Zaman, Turkey - Women's organizations have called for gender equality education for all in society starting from the top levels, including the president and the prime minister, and down to the bottom, including private citizens, police officers, judges and prosecutors in the wake of a landmark European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) decision that punished Turkey for failing to provide its citizens with better protection from domestic abuse.
by Nava Thakuria, Asia Sentinel, China - India's vultures are disappearing from the country's skies, declining by as much as 99 percent from their original numbers, with the remainder dying at a rate of more than 40 percent annually, victims of pollution, declining habitat, poisoning, urbanization and a host of other problems, conservationists say.
by Zubeida Mustafa, Dawn, Pakistan - We are still being told that the people of Swat wanted Nizam-i-Adl because they are pious and orthodox. The fact is they wanted the Sharia since they believed it promised them speedy and impartial justice. It took the women, the supposedly weaker ones, to sum up courage to call a spade a spade.
by Barbara Ehrenreich, New York Times, USA - The deprivations of the formerly affluent Nouveau Poor are real enough, but the situation of the already poor suggests that they do not necessarily presage a greener, more harmonious future with a flatter distribution of wealth.
by Naomi Chazan, Jerusalem Post, Israel - Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's forthcoming policy address at Bar-Ilan University is being touted as a direct response to US President Barack Obama's speech at Cairo University last week.
by Dalila Mahdawi, Daily Star, Lebanon - It sees itself as one of the Middle East's most liberal countries, but Lebanon's lack of women politicians sticks out like a sore thumb.
by Nicole Pope, Today's Zaman, Turkey - In a landmark ruling on domestic violence, the European Court of Human Rights has just found Turkey guilty of acting in a discriminatory way by failing to adequately protect Nahide Akgün (Opuz) and her mother from violence at the hands of her abusive former husband, H.O.
by Tracey Shelton, Phnom Penh Post, Cambodia - The Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team have been battling the illegal wildlife trade for eight years - and with huge success. Experts say they are a model for other conservation initiatives.
by Chrissie Long, Tico Times, Costa Rica - Signs that Cuba's neighbors in the hemisphere are beginning to mend a relationship that soured a half-century ago during the cold war era have begun to surface in all sizes and forms.
by Rozalyn Farmer Love, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, USA - I plan to become an obstetrician-gynecologist. I dream of delivering healthy babies, working with families and supporting midwifery. But as part of my practice, I also envision providing abortions to women who need them.
by Nicole Baute, The Star, Canada - Two researchers crunching population statistics have confirmed an unsettling reality. Siwan Anderson and Debraj Ray noticed the ratio of women to men in developing regions and in some cultures is suspiciously below the norm.
by Sharmila Devi, The National, United Arab Emirates - “At discussions after the screenings, people say they’re very appreciative of the fact that film-makers go and spend time in places that they wouldn’t necessarily go to, such as Chechnya or Saudi Arabia. People are definitely spurred on to volunteerism by seeing these films.”
by Nosheen Abbas, Dawn, Pakistan - Children in schools mean less on the streets and more hope for them to be able to put their potential to maximum use.
by Christine Toomey, Times Online, UK - As a crucial election looms, young Iranians are once again standing up against a repressive and brutal regime.
by Frida Ghitis, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, USA - Every time we become distracted, the generals in Burma manage to jolt us back to attention. The world’s most despotic regime is alive and well, inflicting suffering on its people after five decades in power, while the world does little more than issue an occasional statement of outrage.
by Fazile Zahir, Asia Times, Hong Kong - Turkey hasn't seen a woman's funeral like it since feminist hero Duygu Asena was laid to rest in 2006.
by Mona Eltahawy, New York Times, USA - It’s wonderful to see the power of women put the fear of God into countries. At least that’s how I like to explain Saudi Arabia’s decision to delay municipal elections for two years.
by Sarah Boseley, Guardian, UK - A quiet sexual revolution, brought about by the overwhelming success of bright young women applying to medical schools, is about to deliver the NHS into female hands. Within eight years, according to a report published today, most doctors will be women.
by Denise Grady, New York Times, USA - Abortion is illegal in Tanzania (except to save the mother’s life or health), so women and girls turn to amateurs, who may dose them with herbs or other concoctions, pummel their bellies or insert objects vaginally.
by Ayse Karabat, Today's Zaman, Turkey - The commencement of crude oil exports from northern Iraq via Turkey to the European market on Monday is not only a historic moment for regional economic cooperation, but also, according to experts, can contribute positively to the solution of the long-standing Kurdish problem in Turkey.
by Natalya Krainova, The Moscow Times, Russia - Russia's current system of fighting child sex crimes is ineffective, especially when compared to that of the United States, Russian and U.S. experts concurred at a recent conference on fighting child sexual abuse.
by Anne Barrowclough, The Times, UK - The Western Australia sky is raining dead birds in what is becoming a regular, and mysterious, event for the region.
