Iraqi security forces have been training women in an effort to enhance security amid Al Qaida strikes.

Officials said the Iraq Army and police were recruiting young women for field missions. They said many of the recruits, in a program overseen by the U.S. military, have been stationed at checkpoints and inspect female pedestrians for explosives.

Pakistan has appointed its first female foreign minister, filling a key Cabinet position days ahead of peace talks with archrival India.

A statement from the Foreign Office says Hina Rabbani Khar is also the youngest foreign minister in Pakistan's history, but it does not state her age.

Burma's horrific military tactics drag on thanks to Asean's silence, inaction in 1989, following the collapse of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB), a number of armed ethnic armies entered into a series of ceasefire agreements with Rangoon. The fighting stopped, to a degree, but deep down nobody believed it would last. It was just a matter of time before the various groups resumed fighting.

Women's progress is essential to Central Asia's prosperity, top U.S. State Department officials said at the opening of a three-day economic conference in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

A little over a week ago, the largest country in Africa split in two. But violence continues between the two new countries.

Israel could soon have a new government ministry and accompanying minister dedicated entirely to improving the situation of the country's women and promoting their equality in all spheres of society, Likud MK Gila Gamliel said Monday.

Just five days before the submission date, the government has yet to begin work on its report on the Convention Against Torture (CAT). After ratifying the United Nations convention on June 23, 2010, the government was required to submit a report under the “UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment” on July 23.

YESTERDAY I was asked to give the Welcome Message to participants in the National Validation Workshop of a project called “Responding to Women Survivors of Armed Conflict: Research and Advocacy to Enhance Support to Women in Conflict Situations” organized by Pilipina with the support of the Office of the Presidential Adviser in the Peace Process (OPAPP).

Somalia has been plagued by decades of woes - persistent conflict, waves of natural disasters and drought. While these crises make headlines, the country's embattled people - a quarter of whom have been uprooted - also face personal tragedies that are no less devastating.

Tehran's prosecution service on Monday confirmed the arrest of Pagah Ahangarani, a reporter, actress and film-maker who had wanted to cover the women's football World Cup in Germany, ISNA news agency reported.

"Pagah Ahangarani was arrested a week ago and she is being investigated," ISNA quoted an informed judicial source in Tehran's prosecution office as saying, without elaborating.