by Irin Carmon, Salon, USA - The Romneys and other Republicans have nothing to offer parents other than manufactured outrage.

by Alisha Hassan, Bikya Masr, Egypt - She stands out in the Indonesia capital. She is taller than most and her black skin receives auspicious looks from those around, who often stare blankly at the young woman. This is Marta’s life now, after spending two years as a sex worker in China and Vietnam.

by Kara Andrade and Ruth Warner, Rabble.Ca, Canada - We're moving into a conflict-torn area where communities, like San Miguel Ixtahuacán and neighbouring Sipacapa, have been drastically changed by the arrival of mining companies like Montana Exploradora, a Guatemalan subsidiary of the Canadian-owned mining company Goldcorp, which began the exploitation of the Marlin Mine in 2004.

by Alka Pande, Arab News, Saudi Arabia - The observance of World Toilet Day was initiated by the World Toilet Organization on Nov. 19, 2001, to raise global awareness of the emotional and psychological consequences the poor endure as a result of inadequate sanitation. Yet it is a disgrace that this completely preventable crisis continues to blight the lives of 2.6 billion people across the globe that do not have access to proper, clean sanitation.

by Linda Heard, Arab News, Saudi Arabia - Moderates should not allow their voices to be drowned out by extremists.

by Louisa Reynolds, Latin America Press, Peru - Still, many indigenous activists point out that most parties continue to pay lip service to inclusion.

by Martine Orange, Mediapart, France - Can European governments atone for their mistakes in the handling of the financial crisis and forcibly introduce genuine transparency on the accounts and risk exposure of financial institutions?

by Michelle Chen, Colorlines, USA - Globalization breeds the impunity that enables violence against women. In countries that rely on imported labor—say, the United States—migrant women work in a shadow economy and live outside the law.

by Ksenija Jurkovic, Southeast European Times, Serbia - Croatia's potential for the development of renewable resources is vast, but still underused, at least when it comes to solar, wind or geothermal sources. The situation, however, has been changing in recent years.

by Slobodanka Jovanovska, Balkan Insight, Serbia - Dragan Paravinja, suspected of serial rapes and killings in Slovenia, Serbia and Bosnia, dodged justice for years as his Croatian passport protected him from extradition. Compare this to the EU, where nationals can be surrendered for stealing a bicycle.

by Akiba Solomon, Colorlines, USA - The mechanisms of victim-blaming will keep on churning.

by Svetlana Kononova, Russia Profile, Russia - Amendments to the media law may complicate foreign broadcasting in Russia.

by Ariella Cohen, The Lens, USA - Years after FEMA moved Hurricane Katrina and Rita victims out of formaldehyde and mold-infested trailers, the very same government-issue dwellings are once again sheltering disaster victims.

by Corinna Barnard, Asia Sentinel, Hong Kong - "They still live in a country that is ravaged by poverty, corruption, violence and terror. They still must cope with a conservative culture that does not uphold their human rights."

by Sonja Karkar, The Palestine Chronicle, USA - Imagine for a moment yourself, wrenched from all that is familiar and everything you love, hastily running into the unknown grabbing only what you can carry from all the personal effects and mementos accumulated over years, ever certain you will soon return, even if it is to pick up the pieces shattered by war or disaster to begin again.

by Andrea Vogt, The First Post, UK - Women entertained him. Women have been investigating him. Women will take the stand as witnesses both against him and in his defence. Women, en masse, are even seeking retribution because, they claim, their dignity has been harmed by his boorish behaviour.

by Annaliza Borg, Malta Independent, Malta - The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has urged Malta “to introduce and support vigorously legislation which permits divorce, allows women to remarry after divorce and grants women and men the same rights to administer property during marriage and equal rights to property on divorce…”

by Bassma Al Jandaly, Gulf News, UAE - A tiny, filthy, badly ventilated room with dirty mattresses on the floor is the last place those infected with contagious diseases will see before they are deported. Rubbish litters the small room, where two cell-like compartments hold men and women.

by Olivia Ward, Toronto Star, Canada - As Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi vows to evacuate 6,200 refugees fleeing North African turmoil from the island of Lampedusa, hundreds more are headed for its shores in rickety boats. Meanwhile, refugee camps on the borders of Tunisia and Egypt house thousands of destitute migrants who fear violence in Libya. And millions of Iraqis and Afghans are still homeless after years in exile from continuing conflicts.

by Catherine Wilson, Asia Sentinel, Hong Kong - Cambodia remains littered with millions of unexploded devices left over from 30 years of civil war, the brutality of the Khmer Rouge and conflict with Vietnam.

by Salome Modebadze, The Messenger, Georgia - There are controversies around the issue in public: some talk of the gender-based violence as a social problem while others find it a more private issue.

by Ruwayda Mustafah, Middle East Online, UK - Protests are a clear indicator that people see a need for reform, and what must be addressed is not so much the way protesters conducted themselves, or the governmental response but the reason for protests to begin with. The crucial element of protests throughout Middle East has been to demand changes, and reform.

by Lara Aryani, Jadaliyya, USA - It would be unfair to the thousands of Yemenis who for years have organized daily protests throughout the country and the thousands who have been killed, imprisoned, injured and tortured by the state to say that the widespread popular organizing against the regime of `Ali `Abdullah Salih had its genesis anywhere but Yemen.

by Anjali Ramtel, Republica, Nepal - since only punishing an individual is not enough for addressing the problem of sexual violence within marriage, the policy makers should bring appropriate programmes discouraging the social and cultural habits that increase gender disparity, providing care and support to women affected by sexual violence and punishing the perpetrators.

by Meghan O'Rourke, Slate, USA - A new tally shows how few female writers appear in magazines.

by Laura Carlsen, Toward Freedom, USA - From Feminists in Resistance who joined to fight the coup in Honduras, to the mothers of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, it’s the terrible violence sown by strategies of confrontation and militarism that has motivated women to mobilize on behalf of peace and democracy. Their own experiences compel them to act.

by Mollie McGurk, Czech Position, Czech Republic - Resiliency and the revolution are two of the only things that four women inlvolved in the Velvet Revolution now have in common.

by Svetlana Kononova, Moscow News, Russia - Russia’s mothers are up in arms over New Year’s cuts in maternity benefits, which will now be calculated based on a woman’s average income over the last two years, rather than over a single year.

by Rosa Martinez, Havana Times, Cuba - In Cuba it is very difficult to obtain figures on the number of women murdered during any certain period because our country doesn’t provide public data on women’s deaths from gender violence, and the national press barely mentions it.

by Catherine Wilson, Asia Sentinel, Hong Kong - Whether they find themselves forced to work in factories, domestic labor, prostitution or construction and agriculture, victims of human trafficking are exploited by high-profit, low-risk organized crime syndicates.

by Ruwayda Mustafah Rabar, Middle East Online, UK - What freedom means to women is the ability to choose, and feminism is all about respecting the choices other women make, regardless if we like it or not, argues Ruwayda Mustafah Rabar.

by Alice Chimora, Afrik News, France - Zimbabwe is one of many African countries in which homosexual acts are illegal. Zimbabwe, like neighbouring South Africa, there has been a reported increase in what have been termed "corrective rapes" - sexual assaults on women thought to be lesbians.

by Sherrilyn A. Ifill, The Root, USA - In a case before the Supreme Court, California Gov. Schwarzenegger is arguing that judges have no right to tell states to reduce their prison populations.

by Marta Falconi, Swisster, Switzerland - After encouraging results in Germany, Zurich city officials are considering the installation of "sex boxes", fenced parking areas, where prostitutes and their clients can conduct business away from the public eye. In a city where prostitution is on the rise, the measure could help protect residents and prostitutes alike.

by Kounila Keo, My Sinchew, Malaysia - The vast majority of victims in those countries are women, but in Cambodia men are just as likely to be a target.

by Naomi Klein, Rabble, Canada - In previous G20 summits these same leaders failed to close corporate tax loop holes, failed to impose coordinated banking regulation, failed to break up the big banks, refused to impose a bank tax, failed to impose even a miniscule financial transaction tax, failed to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, and of course resolved to continue waging wars.

by Amy Goodman, Truthdig, USA - As the 2010 elections come to a close, the biggest winner of all remains undeclared: the broadcasters. The biggest loser: democracy.

by Marcela Valente, Inside Costa Rica, Costa Rica - With the 2009 coup d'etat in Honduras still a fresh memory, the presidents of the Unasur bloc gathered as quickly as they could to vigorously condemn Thursday's attempted coup in Ecuador and warn that they would not tolerate any such assault on democracy in the region.

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 Gamal Nkrumah, Al-Ahram, Egypt - Khartoum's refusal to placate the southern Sudanese by separating the state from religion has strengthened the hand of separatist forces in the run-up to next year's referendum.

by Janet Otieno, Africa Review, Kenya - The battle between governments and the media over what the public should know has been raging for decades globally.

by Janine Thomas, Times Online, UK - Doesn’t the job require testosterone, aggression and macho behaviour? “I think there is a change in the generation of people flying now,” she said. “Aggression is certainly not a character trait I would look for in a pilot or navigator. I think being competitive (— mostly with yourself — ) and always aiming high is important, but so is being level-headed and ready to deal with, and adapt to, any situation as it arises.”

by Andrea Thompson, Live Science, USA - Tiny particles of pollution known as "black carbon" — and not heat-trapping greenhouse gases — may be causing most of the rapid melting of glaciers in the Himalayas, a key water source for much of Asia.

by Nomi Prins, The Daily Beast, USA - Wall Street’s big banks are playing dangerous new accounting games—and this time taxpayers are on the hook for hundreds of billions.

by Angel Páez, IPS, Italy - The Peruvian government is once again being called on to bring to justice the perpetrators of the Voluntary Surgical Contraception (VSC) programme

by Dana Frank, Huffington Post, USA - As the Honduran election approaches this Sunday, let's be clear about the conditions under which it is taking place.

by Mary Susan Littlepage, truthout, USA - Government officials were aware that billions of dollars used to bail out American International Group (AIG) last year were used by the insurance giant to pay off its creditors, according to a newly released government watchdog report.

by Ashwini Srinivasamohan, Upside Down World, USA - The history of popular struggle in Bolivia took an unexpected turn when Evo Morales, the candidate of the socialist party (MAS) was elected into office.

by Marcia G. Yerman, Huffington Post, USA - On the second day she was embedded with Marines during the invasion of Iraq, journalist Mercedes Gallego was approached by several service women. They cautioned her

by Juliane von Reppert-Bismarck, Spiegel Online, Germany - When the host of a party predicts a flop, it rarely inspires much confidence in a good bash. With just over a month to go before international climate talks start in Copenhagen,