NEPAL: Witch Tag Only on Dalits, Minorities

Just 40 kms away from the capital Kathmandu, in Thasingtole, Lalitpur District, Kalli Kumari B.K., 46, a local Dalit woman, was mercilessly beaten up. She was accused of being a 'witch', imprisoned in a shed and forced to eat her own excreta

RIGHTS-JAPAN: Privacy Invaded in Sex Crime Trial

Japan's first sex crime trial under the new lay judge system finished in September amid large-scale media attention that troubled the female victims.

AGRICULTURE-CONGO: All Hands On Deck to Repair Rural Roads

Two kilometres from the village of Ngouha II, a party of villagers are busy repairing an old bridge made of logs, and filling in a massive pothole.

MEXICO: Green Light for Gay Marriage, Adoption in Capital

The Mexican capital's local parliament has authorised marriage between same-sex partners, a measure covering the eight million people in Mexico City proper. Adoption by gay couples will also be allowed.

DR CONGO: Access To Credit Hampers Farmers in the East

The hundreds of savings and loan cooperatives operating in South Kivu should be providing an opportunity to develop agriculture and fight food insecurity in the province, but few farmers have been able to take advantage.

DR CONGO: Small-scale Farmers Say They Just Need Land

The more than 800 small-scale farmers belonging to co-operatives around the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) capital, Kinshasa, could produce enough rice and vegetables for the capital's estimated eight million inhabitants, according to the country's agriculture ministry.

EGYPT: Cheap Bread Frees Women to Work

At a small bakery in Cairo's Boulaq district, dozens of hands thrust through a barred window waving coins and small banknotes. The clerk inside deftly takes the money and deals loaves of round flatbread into plastic bags.

DEVELOPMENT: Women Chiefs Change Indian Villages

The villages of Ranmala, Nandagane, Shirgaon and Mengdewadi, in Pune, Sangli and Satara districts, western India, have one thing in common.

SOUTH AFRICA: Hard Lessons for Small Business on the West Coast

The sound of sewing machines fills the room with a low, continuous hum. A handful of women sit behind the machines, their heads bent in concentration on their work.

INDIA: Teacher Training For Gender Sensitive Schooling

Four years ago, the National Council of Educational Research and Training, a premier educational institution, laid down a new curriculum, radically changing the content of textbooks, particularly in social sciences, in Indian schools.

DEVELOPMENT: South-South Cooperation at 30-Year High

As the United Nations commemorated its sixth annual 'U.N. Day for South-South Cooperation' Friday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon singled out the growing new ties among developing countries that go far beyond trade and investments: education, science, agriculture, medicine, health services and information technologies.

HEALTH-EUROPE: ‘Czech Attitudes to HIV/AIDS Risky’

Complacency and ignorance over the risks posed by HIV and AIDS are threatening to send infection rates soaring in the Czech Republic, health authorities.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Zenawi Stands Alone In Copenhagen

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says Africa must compromise and be flexible towards other countries, if the U.N. Climate Conference ending on Dec. 18, is to reach an agreement.

NEPAL: Widows Break Tradition – Wear Red

Bhagwati Adhikari was a teenager when she was married off to a village boy of the same caste. Just a few years later when she was in her early 20s, she became a widow. Her husband, who worked as a security guard in Kathmandu, was murdered. Adhikari was left alone to support her family.

Q&A: South Is No Longer a Peripheral Actor

There are broad prospects for developing countries to build on complementarities and leverage South-South Cooperation for development, according to Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, Ambassador of Qatar to the U.N.

RIGHTS-TANZANIA: ‘I Feel Like Less of a Woman’

In the darkest corner of the room, under the clamour of twelve women’s voices, sits Ghati Chacha*, she can barely be heard. Her newborn suckles as she speaks softly about how she refused female circumcision.

US: Reconsidering War on Drugs

As the war on drugs moves closer to home and a new administration presents new ideas, policymakers in Washington are taking notice of 30 years' worth of ineffectual drug policy and beginning to think about different ways of addressing the northward flow of narcotics.

POVERTY-ZIMBABWE: Multiple Appeals to Support Zimbabweans

While food is readily available in shops and some political and economic stability is returning in Zimbabwe, vulnerable groups such as children and people living with HIV and AIDS still face a shortage of food.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Adaptation Funds Must Reach Africa’s Women Farmers

One of the key components of global action on climate change will be measures to adapt to changes that are already unavoidable. The Global Gender and Climate Alliance argues that specific attention be paid to the needs of women.

POLITICS: Zimbabwe Blasted for Condoning “Sexual Terror”

Zimbabwe’s ruling political party has been accused of launching a "widespread and systematic campaign of rape and sexual terror" aimed at intimidating opponents and voters in the troubled African nation, according to a new report released here.

GENDER: U.N. Women’s Treaty Weakened by Slew of Reservations

A landmark U.N. treaty on women’s rights, which will be 30 years old next week, is in danger of being politically undermined by a slew of reservations by 22 countries seeking exemptions from some of the convention’s legal obligations.