RIGHTS-US: California Says, "We Do"

On Monday evening, with all the Bay Area local television stations and some of the national news networks on hand, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, two longtime gay rights activists, (re)married at City Hall in San Francisco, California.

EL SALVADOR: Lawmakers Against Therapeutic Abortion

The Salvadoran parliament has given its support to a "Libro de la vida" (Book of Life), which calls abortion "an abominable crime," precipitating a storm of criticism from women’s organisations that consider this blanket endorsement an evasion of serious debate on the issue.

CUBA: Government Deports US Citizen Wanted for Child Sex Abuse

The Cuban government deported a U.S. citizen accused of sexually abusing a young girl in Costa Rica, less than two weeks after Washington included the Caribbean island on a list of countries that it says are not doing enough to combat child trafficking.

HEALTH-CUBA: Free Sex Change Operations Approved

New horizons opened up for transsexuals in Cuba with the approval of a Public Health Ministry resolution that establishes guidelines for their health care, including free gender reassignment operations.

HEALTH-AFRICA: UNICEF Reports Five Million Child Deaths Every Year

When four-year-old Alice Were suddenly developed a fever, her mother Miriam took her to the local medicine woman close to her house in Kangemi, a poor, cramped settlement on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Two days later, Alice was unconscious. Her frantic mother rushed to hospital with the child in her arms. But it was too late. Alice died of malaria.

POPULATION-CHINA: Quake Shakes One-Child Policy

Almond-shaped eyes; a young face of poignant beauty reminiscent of Hu Die - the Shanghai film star of yesteryears. The impression is helped by the stark, retro-like monochrome photo. But the leap of imagination is clipped almost immediately by the black ribbon draped around the photo and the grieving man clutching it.

KENYA: Teenage Mothers Denied Education

At 17, Julia Metito* (*not her real name) should be in her final year in secondary school in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, but three years ago she had to leave school to give birth and then nurse a child. Today, she finds herself in Class Seven with 13-year-olds. 13,000 girls leave school every year in Kenya due to pregnancy, according to research released at the beginning of May by the Centre for the Study of Adolescence, a non-governmental organisation that works on reproductive health, gender and social policy for teenagers.

CUBA: Sexual Diversity – the Rainbow Revolution

Nearly 50 years after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, sexual minorities are at last beginning to feel that their voice is being heard and that they can finally take their place in the movement towards a more just and inclusive society.

CUBA: Exhibitionists Common but Ignored

Many Cuban women say they have been victims of male exhibitionism, a form of sexual aggression that is common in public spaces on the island, according to a documentary produced by the state Institute of Cinematographic Arts and Industry (INCAIC) which has attracted the attention of social scientists.

COLOMBIA: Therapeutic Abortion – A Right in Name Only?

A woman in Pasto, the capital of the western Colombian province of Nariño, found out that the baby she was expecting was severely deformed. But when she went to the provincial university hospital for an abortion, the chief obstetrician gynaecologist told her that "If your son is born deformed, take him to a circus."

DEATH PENALTY-PAKISTAN: Stonings – Sign of Taliban Resurgence

The Taliban have confirmed that their sympathisers have executed by stoning a runaway couple in this remote tribal region bordering Afghanistan - their first known use here of this long drawn-out death sentence for a so-called "honour crime".

Q&A: Circumcision an “Opportunity To Take Great Strides Forward” Against HIV

Results from trials in South Africa, Kenya and Uganda in 2006 showed that male circumcision reduced the transmission of HIV from women to men by up to 60 percent. On the basis of these results, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World Health Organisation have recommended that countries encourage men to be circumcised.

HEALTH-TANZANIA: A Hazardous Route to the Cradle

Tatu Shabani Tumbo's first born was diagnosed with strength-sapping anaemia, and died a toddler. Doctors had no medical explanation for the sudden death of her second child at age one. She then tried to get pregnant a third time, initially without success.

JAPAN: Law Against Possession of Child Porn Soon

When a visiting U.S. justice department official urged the Japanese government to not delay banning the individual possession of child pornographic material, it was a sign of the enormity of the problem stemming from this country.

CHILE: Thousands Protest Ban on "Morning-After" Pill

More than 15,000 people marched in the Chilean capital Tuesday evening to protest a Constitutional Court ruling that banned the free distribution of the "morning-after" pill by the public health system.

SAUDI ARABIA: Women Still Treated as “Perpetual Minors”

Despite Saudi Arabia's accession in 2001 to an international treaty banning discrimination against women, laws and customs in the kingdom ensures that women are treated like "perpetual minors", according to a new report released Monday by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

BRAZIL: Full Frontal Attack on AIDS Among Gays

The poster, reminiscent of the film "American Beauty," features a nude young man in a sensual pose lying on (and partly covered by) masses of pink condoms, with the legend "Do whatever you want but do it with a condom." It is part of a new Brazilian campaign against HIV/AIDS aimed at gays.

DEVELOPMENT: Family Planning Gets Mere Sliver of Aid Pie

The United Nations warns that a sharp decline in international funding for reproductive health is threatening global efforts to reduce poverty, improve health and empower women worldwide.

UGANDA: “God Should Be So Kind That I Can Have Contraceptives”

For many of Africa's women, getting access to family planning services is difficult at the best of times. When war intervenes they can find themselves without any services at all, even as they become more vulnerable to sexual violence - the situation in northern Uganda being a case in point.

DEVELOPMENT-UGANDA: Smaller Families, Manlier Men

For Ugandan men, the equation is often a simple one: an abundance of children equals virility and security. This deeply rooted belief has frightening implications, however. According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, the population of the East African country - now 31 million - will exceed 36 million by 2015, and is projected to reach 54 million in 2025.

DEVELOPMENT: U.N. Poverty Goals Face New Threats

The U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), aimed primarily at reducing poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy, are being undermined by a rash of new problems threatening to cripple the ongoing efforts by developing nations to reach their targets by 2015.