by Nurit Wurgaft, Haaretz, Israel - 400 asylum seekers came to Levinsky Park, near the Central Bus Station, over the past weekend, after being released from the army bases where they were detained.

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 Marjorie Cohn, JURIST, USA - The rules of evidence governing the recently announced military commission trials of six alleged al Qaeda members, combined with the Bush administration's efforts to sanitize the legal mess made by the use of illegal interrogation methods, ensure that the trials will fall short of due process...

by Juliette Terzieff, World Politics Review - Rape has long been a tool of terror for military forces, but in Africa the practice is now spreading to civilian populations, with members of various ethnic groups using it as a weapon against women and young girls of other groups, UNICEF said Feb. 13.

by Joan Smith, The Independent, UK - I don't know how many times I need to point out that not every single image of a naked woman is exploitative.

by Bekim Bislimi and Jasmina Scekic, RFE, Kosovo - “Our family has been waiting for ages for independence,” says Ramadan, Gezim’s 86-year-old grandfather. “So many people have died for this independence, it is unbelievable. They were killed in prisons, abused. All the things the Serbs did to us. Now, it is a great joy. For me, there can’t be anything bigger."

by Karine Ohanyan, The Moscow Times, Russia/Nagorno-Karabakh - Unlike Kosovo, the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic enjoys no strong support from the European Union or the United States in its bid for independence. But Karabakh Armenians, who, with the support of Armenia, won a bloody war against the Azeris in the 1990s, are seeing parallels with Kosovo and the long struggle of its Albanian majority. For Karabakh's leaders, international recognition of Kosovo's independence would set an important precedent.

by Sylvia Poggioli and Andrea Seabrook, NPR, USA - The move comes nine years after the United States and NATO began airstrikes against Serbian military targets in the former Yugoslavia.

by Stephanie Holmes, BBC News - Penny was almost 29 when she was trafficked from Rwanda to the UK, tricked into believing she could start a new life. Instead, she ended up trapped in a small flat in south-west London

by Barbara Ehrenreich, USA - When Americans vote for "change," what they're really saying is, "Get us out of here!"

by Helen Elliott, Sydney Morning Herald, Australia - This book isn't so much about race or colour, servant or mistress, mothers and sons; it's about the land, who wants it, who gets it and what they do with it.

by Camille Paglia, Salon.com, USA - Old-guard feminists caterwaul for Hillary, while the "weird old coot" rattles right-wing radio. Plus: Balancing the climate debate, real "Teeth," and Suzanne Pleshette, RIP.

by Mona Eltahawy, International Herald Tribune, New York - As a Muslim woman, I am struck by the Archbishop of Canterbury's naïveté in saying that some parts Shariah should be adopted alongside Britain's legal system.

by Helen Briggs, BBC News, Boston - Only about 4% of the world's oceans remain undamaged by human activity, according to the first detailed global map of human impacts on the seas.

by Josephine Hearn, Politico, USA - Ironic twist: Close to half of the 700-plus Democratic superdelegates who could end up determining the party nominee are white men.

by Mialy Andriamananjara, Global Voices - With a Valentine's Day performance of the controversial Vagina Monologues and a human rights committee's decision to call for a review of Madagascar's abortion ban, gender issues are a hot topic the Malagasy blogosphere.

by Maryflor Suárez, El Universal, Venezuela - The country faces scarcity of basic staples, a growing food black market, skyrocketing inflation, and food smuggling to neighbor countries.

by Anette Baldauf, Eurozine, Austria - "Shopping towns" were supposed to strengthen civic life and alleviate women's lives. Yet within a decade, they had become the architectural extension of the policies of racial and gender segregation underlying the US postwar consumer utopia.

by Frida Ghitis, World Politics Review - It is easy to point to the many places around the world where his death will be cause for celebration. Moughniyah lived in a world where murder is seen as a legitimate means of resolving disputes. That he met his end this way is hardly a surprise.

by Sarah Simpson, CS Monitor, USA - Tens of thousands of Chadians fled when rebels stormed the capital earlier this month. They're returning cautiously.

by Darcey Rakestraw, Worldwatch Institute - The world spent 228 times as much on its militaries in 2006 as it did on U.N. peacekeeping operations. United Nations peacekeeping operations around the world between July 2007 and June 2008 are expected to run to $7 billion-substantially higher than the record $5.6 billion spent in 2006-07. Yet world military budgets stood at a staggering $1,232 billion in 2006.

by Simiyu Barasa, IHT, Nairobi - When you find yourself at a wedding discussing how more than 800 people have been killed and more than 250,000 kicked out of their homes for having certain ethnic origins, you know there is something terribly wrong with your country. Living in Nairobi the past few months has been like living in a relatively comfortable glass cave in the middle of hell.

by Susan J. Douglas, In These Times, USA - The Op-Ed pages of the New York Times do not feature a regular column by a feminist, a Latino, an African-American woman, an Asian American, a young person, a Muslim, a lesbian or gay man. Or anyone from the working or laboring classes, for that matter.

by Jane Macartney, The Times, UK - Steven Spielberg’s decision this week to pull out of the Beijing Olympics in protest against China’s involvement in Sudan has attracted worldwide attention. China, however, has maintained media silence.

by Jeanne Cummings, Politico, USA - Like Giuliani, Clinton must downplay the significance of a string of losses while underscoring the importance of the more populous big states to come.

by Ella Smook, IOL, South Africa - Allegations that soon-to-be-deported immigrants are subjected to "inhumane" shackling while in transit have been confirmed by the Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons.

by Sophia Dembling, World Hum - Sophia hears a lot about her home state while she’s on the road, particularly from other travelers intent on steering clear of the land of George W. Bush, Jasper and big hair. Her response: Get over it.

by Victoria Brittain, The Guardian, UK - Six key Guantánamo detainees are to undergo trial by military commission. But having been tortured, how can they expect a fair trial?

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 Miriam Elder, The Moscow Times, Russia - With emergency talks between Gazprom and Ukraine failing Monday, the possibility of a mid-winter shut-off of gas supplies to the country inched closer.

by Elitsa Vucheva, EU Observer, Belgium - With Kosovo set to declare independence on Sunday, a well-known Balkans analyst has warned the 27-nation bloc against turning the province into an EU "protectorate", whose self-governing powers would be almost non-existent.

by Debra Saunders, RealClearPolitics, USA -The British government has made official the practice of paying welfare benefits for multiple wives in polygamous marriages.

by Benazir Bhutto, The Australian, Australia - In any society, gender equality is a prerequisite for democracy to thrive. This is especially true in Islamic societies where gender inequality was used to promote political subordination and domination for centuries. It stifles social growth and opportunity. Societies with gender equality have without exception been pluralistic, tolerant, economically viable and democratically stable.

by Katharine Q. Seelye, IHT, France - Obama said the country was divided politically, with about 47 percent on each side and the rest in the middle and that Clinton would be unable to bring people together.

by Heda Bayron, VOA, Hong Kong - The assassination attempts shocked the fledgling nation and some residents feared violence would break out again. The United Nations spokeswoman in East Timor, Alison Cooper, says the security situation has so far been stable.

by L Muthoni Waynyeki, The East African, Kenya - We must resist the fear, name the problem accurately and desist from the build up to the declaration of a state of emergency or the deployment of the military or, worse, the usurpation of civilian governance by military governance.

by Tulin Daloglu, The Daily Star, Lebanon - The headscarf debate is not the most important trouble Turkey has, growing political Islam is. Turkey's secular and liberal elites do not want to face the fact that they have actually failed to create a contemporary Islam that would have incapacitated political Islamists long ago, or to raise their society from the bottom up with education, an improved economy and social standards. The outcome of this experiment will affect opinions throughout the Middle East, and hopefully there will be voices supporting a secular Turkey.

by Deborah Ruiz Wall, SPAN, Australia - If we are to learn from our past and from the wisdom of our elders, we need to undertake ‘deep listening’ to stories such as theirs — stories of struggle, disappointment, losses, triumphs, achievements and vision.

by Emma Jane Kirby, BBC News, France - Lourdes is a massive Roman Catholic pilgrimage site with more hotels than any other French city, except Paris.

by Fatma Disli, Today's Zaman, Turkey - Amid the war between opponents and supporters of the headscarf ban at universities, a study found that Turkish women lag behind women in other countries in terms of participation in the workforce and education.

by Caryl Rivers, Women's eNews, USA - The effect of male domination in the media created very uneven coverage of the Democratic political race, especially on cable, where the enthusiasm for the Obama campaign has been palpable and the dislike for Hillary Clinton obvious.

by Kay S. Hymowitz, City Journal, USA - Today’s single young men hang out in a hormonal limbo between adolescence and adulthood.

by Namita Bhandare, LiveMint.com - Writers need money, publishers have money. So why not just move the money around?” he says.

by Mary Speck, World Public Opinion - 34,500 people in 34 countries around the world took part and the weight of opinion is that "economic globalization, including trade and investment," is growing too quickly.

Most See Unfairness in Distribution of Benefits and Burdens of Economic Growth

In 22 out of 34 countries around the world, the weight of opinion is that "economic globalization, including trade and investment," is growing too quickly, according to a BBC World Service Poll of 34,500 people. On average one out of two (50%) hold this view, while 35 percent say globalization is growing too slowly.

by Chika Amanze-Nwachuku, This Day, Nigeria - The majority of companies who have been awarded contracts for crude oil exportation in 2008 by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) are foreign companies, most of whom have no investments in Nigeria.

by Julie Satow, New York Sun, USA - She added that while there is certainly a slowdown in growth, "there is a big difference between a slowdown in the growth rate and a negative growth rate."

by Elisabeth Rosenthal, IHT, France - Almost all biofuels used today cause more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuels if the pollution caused by producing these "green" fuels is taken into account.

by Lisa Clifford, IWPR, The Hague - Detention of another militia leader from Ituri follows a sensitive period where Congo’s government was enticing rebel groups to lay down arms and make peace.

by Marie Wilson, The Huffington Post, USA - We should be celebrating the fact that this election season has finally brought the diversity of women's voices to the forefront of the political arena.

by Lyse Doucet, BBC News, Afghanistan - One hundred organisations are each spending more than $100m in Afghanistan every year.

by Anna Husarska, openDemocracy - A month of fear and violence following the disputed presidential election has left tens of thousands of Kenyans homeless, displaced and traumatised. Their desperate need is highlighted in Anna Husarska's images and commentary from the frontline of the International Rescue Committee's relief-work.

by Riane Eisler, The Monterey County Herald, USA - According to the 2007 CIA World Factbook report, our wealthy nation ranked 42nd in that most basic measure of quality of life, child mortality.

by Melissa McEwan, The Guardian, UK - They don't make as much noise as the Obamaniacs but her supporters do it where it counts: the voting booth.

by Sibylla Brodzinsky, CS Monitor, USA/Colombia - Hundreds of thousands of Colombians marched throughout Colombia and in major cities around the world Monday to protest against this nation's oldest and most powerful rebel group.

by Joyce Njeri, Khaleej Times, Dubai - I am compelled to write about Kenya's post-election chaos, despite a visible fatigue over the crisis that appears to be worsening by the day.

by Amira Hass, Haaretz, Israel - The strike presents a genuine challenge to the stability and strength of Salam Fayyad's government, and demonstrates the erosion of its public credibility.

by Mary Anne Ostrom, San Jose Mercury News, USA - Hillary Clinton showed herself to be the candidate to beat in the Democratic presidential primary Tuesday night, winning California and a string of key states across the nation. But Barack Obama, who picked up key victories in a raft of smaller states, remained firmly in the hunt for the nomination.

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 Sheela Reddy, Outlook India, India - Indian writers no longer have to knock on foreign doors: the Big Fat Indian Advance is here.

by Kathy Marks and Daniel Howden, The Independent, UK - A "plastic soup" of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean is growing at an alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States.

by Meera Selva, The Guardian, UK - The current conflict in Chad has deep roots. The rebels are backed by Sudan. In the 1980s, Muammar Gadafy stirred up more trouble by arming various rebel groups in the region as part of an attempt to create a belt of Arab influence across the Sahel. People still remember his malevolent influence, and the African Union is being incredibly forgiving, forgetful or stupid to give him the role of trying to sort out Chad's current crisis.

by Gail Collins, IHT, France - Hard to believe that so many of us actually get to vote in a presidential primary Tuesday. If you're in Virginia or Texas, we are hoping that this thing goes on long enough for you to get your turn, too.

by Florence Mpaayei et all, womensphere, Kenya - Kenyan women assert their rights as citizens of this country to participate in all political processes and initiatives that seek to find solutions to the crisis that currently that our beloved motherland faces. We are mindful of our special responsibilities in all the spheres of nation building including truth & justice seeking, peace building and reconciliation. We embrace all our diversities as we collectively seek solutions. We acknowledge that in the resolution of the current conflict, there has to be ‘give and take’ from both sides of the political divide. We assert that as citizens we must take responsibility for resolving and transforming the conflict and the inclusion and participation of civic groups, including women’s groups at the community level is critical to the success of efforts to resolve the conflict.

by Claire Bigg, Akhmed Sultanov, and Amina Umarova, RFE, Chechnya - Throughout the North Caucasus republic, currency traders wave fistfuls of banknotes to attract customers. A popular joke in Grozny holds that the surfeit of currency traders, waving their bills, explains the city's windy climate.

by Celia Szusterman, openDemocracy, UK - The dispute between two Latin American neighbours over the construction of two paper-mills beside the river separating them is at once local, bilateral, regional and global.

by Kirsten Powers, New York Post, USA - As Super Tuesday approaches, Barack Obama has been closing the gap with Hillary Clinton. More, it seems his gains over the last 10 days have come disproportionately from women.

by Vesna Peric Zimonjic, Belfast Telegraph, Belgrade - Serbian voters backed their pro-European President, Boris Tadic, in a dramatic election race last night.

by Jyoti Malhotra, Asia Times Online, Hong Kong - Pakistan marked the first month since Benazir Bhutto's assassination on January 27. President Pervez Musharraf, whether or not his rogue generals had a hand in the assassination, must go.

by Susanne Koelbl and Alexander Szandar, Der Spiegel, Germany - US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has sent a letter to his German counterpart demanding more German engagement in Afghanistan. Berlin has long resisted such demands, but the pressure to fight is mounting.

by Lila Sophia Tresemer, Common Ground News Service, Australia - In October 2006, a group of women from the Holy Land gathered in Colorado to co-create a Middle Eastern village experience—living, eating, and learning together. The women came from a wide variety of backgrounds: Jewish (several were religious, others secular and some pagan), Arab (Druze, Muslim, Christian and pagan), as well as women from the US with a range of cultural identities.

by Linda Hirshman, New York Times Magazine, USA - When it comes to politics, it’s not just that women are ambivalent; they are less interested than men are — not all women, naturally, but on average.

by Elizabeth DiNovella, The Progressive Magazine, USA - She is one of the leading journalists of our time. “I’ve always been surprised that people say it’s a hopeful program".

by Rana Raschid, Turkish Daily News, Turkey - Ms. Sancar, an American author of books on women’s issues says the headscarf is not a political symbol for the people who wear it, but for those who object to it.

by Kim Gamal, The Scotsman, Scotland - Remote controlled explosives strapped to two women with Down's syndrome were detonated by mobile phone, suggesting the women may not have been aware of what was happening – killed at least 73 people and wounded more than 160.

by Ebtihal Mubarak, Arab News, Riyadh - Former Prime Minister of Norway Gro Harlem Brundtland, encouraged Saudi women to promote change and women's rights from within.

by KA Dilday, openDemocracy, UK - In Morocco, as in most Muslim countries, homosexuality is technically a crime.

by Deborah Siegel, More, USA - Will life change if the 44th president is a woman? More asked some opinionated women who've seen plenty of firsts to imagine the early days of a Hillary future.

by Marsha Lederman, Globe and Mail, Canada - “We couldn't claim to be doing the very best of Canadian art if we weren't prepared to wrestle those really difficult subjects".

by Isabel Hilton, The Guardian, UK - The arrest of a leading Aids and environmental activist doesn't bode well for China's human rights record in the run-up to the Olympics

by Bérengère Massignon, Eurozine, Austria - How does the European Union handle the relationships between confessional faiths and the unified body that it is striving to bring about? Being inherently pluralistic, it is incumbent upon the EU to develop a new form of secularisation.

by Janet Bagnall, The Gazette, Canada - For women around the world, Hillary Clinton should be the symbol of a new, egalitarian age: A smart, articulate, capable woman, she has a real shot at becoming the Democratic

by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!, USA - As the race narrows, it is a key moment to reflect on what the US stands for as a country.

by Marifeli Perez-Stable, Miami Herald, USA - After berating the three million who voted for him in 2006 but failed to show up at the polls two months ago, Chávez appears to have taken some stock of his defeat.

by Grace Matsiko, Daily Monitor, Uganda - This is a big boost to the peace process aimed at ending the 20 year-old rebel insurgency in northern Uganda.

by Catrina Stewart and Anna Smolchenko, The Moscow Times, Russia - Amid the growing instability on global financial markets, the widening diplomatic spat between Moscow and London over the British Council was potentially damaging to business interests, as foreign investment is more crucial than eve

by Yvonne Roberts, The Guardian, UK - In watching 24-hour coverage of the horrific violence in Kenya, are we keeping abreast of the news - or turning into voyeurs?

by Maria Luisa Mendonça, Worldpress.org - "MINUSTAH tried to build legitimacy by saying that it is fighting criminals. But many people realize that the only things that can truly reduce the lack of safety are public policies and social services. Unfortunately, what we have is a violent military apparatus."

by Laura Miller, Salon.com, USA - Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison have both gone public with their presidential picks. What do their overwrought odes tell us about the candidates they favor?

by Mona Eltahawy, PostGlobal, USA - With U.S. presidential primary season in full swing, there's a lot of talk here about "change" vs. "competence" in leadership. Which does your country have more of? Is that a good thing?

by Zoe Chafe, World Watch Institute - Worldwide, carbon trading reached a value of $59.2 billion in 2007. However, its effectiveness in addressing climate change is uncertain.

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 Halima Muzaffar, MEMRI/Al-Watan, Saudi Arabia - She criticizes the Saudi education system for using scare tactics and for instilling in young children the fear of death, as part of their religious education. She claims that this "culture of death" is the reason for the spread of terrorism in Saudi society.

by Sarah Boxer, The New York Review of Books, USA - The whole culture of linking—composing on the fly, grabbing and posting whatever you like, making weird, unexplained connections and references— doesn't sit happily in a book. Yes, I'm talking about bloggy writing itself.

by Kathleen Parker, RCP, USA - The Republican race looks like a Barnum & Bailey elephant walk with every candidate trying to tie his trunk to Reagan's tail. Democrats continue trying to recapture that JFK moment when America was better looking, slimmer by far, glamorous and rhetorically rich.

by Ulrike Putz, Der Spiegel, Germany - Abdul studies by day and builds bombs at night for the Islamic Jihad. He and his fellow militants can produce up to 100 per night.

by Shailja Patel, Mshale.com, USA - The first type of violence, which erupted in the immediate aftermath of the elections, was spontaneous, anarchic protest at the announcement of the presidential result.

by Fatma Disli, Today's Zaman, Turkey - There are currently two main issues dominating the Turkish media. One is the headscarf ban at universities.

by Bronwen Maddox , The Times, UK - The President tried to reassure the West, but he has different ideas about freedom.

by Rosemary Bechler, openDemocracy, UK -
The intractable dispute between Palestinians and Israelis is open to practical initiatives and new understandings that can create the foundation of progress.

by Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times, USA - President Bush used his final State of the Union address last night to call for quick passage of his tax rebate package, patience in Iraq and a modest concluding agenda that includes $300 million in scholarship money for low-income children in struggling schools.

by Seema Sirohi, Outlook India, India - French presidential visit to India was shortened by a day and India cancelled defence deals and refused to sign a civil nuclear agreement with France.

by Carrie Budoff Brown & Mike Allen, The Politico, USA - “This is the biggest Democratic endorsement Obama could possibly get short of Bill Clinton,” said a high-level Democrat.

by Siobhán Dowling, Der Spiegel, Berlin - Two people have died and thousands of trucks have been stuck at the border between Poland and Ukraine this week after customs officials went on wildcat strikes. They're complaining about bad pay, overwork and a lack of preparation for dealing with the new Schengen zone borders.

by Amy Glass, Arabian Business, Dubai - Saudi Arabia will establish a society dedicated to the rights of the kingdom’s women after two years of negotiations, the society's founder said in comments published on Monday.

by Vanessa Friedman, FT Weekend, UK - Recession is looming, carbon emissions uncapped, the insurgency in Iraq ongoing. What’s to be cheerful about? Yet ask Pankaj Shah, a 35-year-old US entrepreneur endeavouring to prove that a for-profit charitable enterprise is not an oxymoron, how he feels when he wakes up in the morning and he beams a beatific smile and says: “This is such a captivating moment in time. I wake up in wonderment almost every day."

by Sonia Phalnikar, IHT, France - India's boldest English-language news magazine, Tehelka, is struggling to expand and take a bigger slice of a highly competitive print market.

by Erin Anderssen, Shawn McCarthy and Eric Reguly, Globe and Mail, Canada - How did the quest to retrieve the treasure hidden beneath huge swaths of northern Alberta go from fool's errand to monumentous payoff?

by Arundhati Roy, Countercurrents.org - Genocide is an old human habit. I use the word Genocide advisedly, and in keeping with its definition contained in Article 2 of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

by Bridget Kendall, BBC News - As ties between London and Moscow grow increasingly frosty over the role a cultural organisation, BBC diplomatic correspondent looks back at the history of the British Council in Russia.

by Susan Weinstein, Worldpress.org - He survived seven years in the secret jungle prisons of the Communist Pathet Lao with the idea that one day he would survive to bear witness to his country's shame.

by Bronwen Maddox, The Times, UK - The best part of the resolution against Iran now taking shape is that all the members of the United Nations Security Council will put their names to it.

by Ruth Morris, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, USA - Foreign-born voters bring a global perspective to elections.

by Perla Wilson, TerraViva, Chile - "Social inequality doesn’t make the news". No one has ever said that the relationship between the social world and mass media outlets is easy, even less so in the case of initiatives to foster a new political approach such as the World Social Forum.

by Zeinobia, Egyptian Chronicles, Egypt - Where are the rich Gulf states? Why don't they send food stock and medical supplies to Rafah for free? Where are the red crescent associations from Egypt, Jordan, Emirates and Bahrain?

by Florence Machio, RH Reality Check - As Americans prepare to vote for President, please remember the women of Africa. Apart from the economy, one of the key issues that is clearly emerging in this election is abortion, especially after President Bush spoke in support of the anti-abortion rally.