Women in Uganda have protested against their breasts being checked for bombs at entry points to public places.
The protest comes after a directive from the police demanding that womens' bras should be checked thoroughly. They argue that terrorists are now manufacturing suicide bombs similar to bras.

Investigations of the raping of women in the 1980s during Peru's counterinsurgency war have ground to a halt, even though the national Truth and Reconciliation Commission filed the respective complaints in 2004. Not one sentence has been handed down for the soldiers alleged to have committed the rapes, while more victims come forward.

On January 9, a new country may be added to the world map as southern Sudanese vote on independence from their northern neighbors.

In Kyrgyzstan, bride kidnapping is considered an old tradition. However, an increase in incidents in recent years shows that the current economic and political climate is primarily responsible for fostering the phenomenon. Edda Schlager reports

With sharp minds, inquisitive souls, and iron wills, they are an 11-strong group of top-level women scientists in agricultural research with their eyes set on influencing national and regional policy to improve livelihoods in Mozambique and across Africa. Through their work, they are helping to change the face of a continent where women are seldom heard, but are always called on to give and to nurture.

There were so many tasks left unfinished by the government in 2010 related to gender equality. The gaps are seen not only in the increasing cases of domestic violence, but also in the commodification of working women (Read: female migrant workers).

The world is welcoming the year 2011, but the women of North-east India are just not able to do the same. How can they, when they face brutal rapes and murders daily? They remember 2010 with nothing but panic and alarm. The several instances of brutalities against women reported are not only alarming but also signify that the safety of women is turning from bad to worse and to worst.

When Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wrote a year-end op-ed piece for an Australian newspaper last week, he talked about the future of a world body facing a new generation of threats: climate change, poverty, nuclear disarmament and human rights.

But, wittingly or unwittingly, he left out one of the biggest political success stories of the world body: the creation of a separate body, UN Women, to promote gender empowerment worldwide.