Fifteen months after the end of fighting between Sri Lankan government forces and the Tamil Tigers, women in the north are taking up a new and challenging role as breadwinners - with more and more becoming day labourers to support their families.

Continued militancy has taken the life of a woman in Iraq's northern province of Nineveh while others have been wounded in a separate incident in the capital.

Unknown gunmen killed a woman Tuesday afternoon in the al-Akidat region in central Mosul, Nineveh's provincial capital, a security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

The Women's Network for Rural Development has received an international award in recognition of its role in transforming the lives of rural women in Rwanda.

Ambassador Rice: I want to begin by thanking Assistant Secretary General Khare and SRSG Wallstrom for what was both in the chamber and in our consultations a very frank, comprehensive and we think illuminating briefing on the tragic events that transpired over the last several weeks in Eastern DRC. The rapes, the sexual violence are outrageous and the United States and the Council have condemned them in the most forceful terms.

Taliban violence and intimidation are threatening Afghanistan's parliamentary elections as the government fails to protect candidates, especially women, a human rights watchdog said Thursday.

Afghanistan is due to go to the polls on September 18, when around 2,500 candidates will contest the 249 seats in the lower house of parliament, the Wolesi Jirga.

The U.N. Security Council is considering leveraging sanctions against the perpetrators of the mass rapes that occurred last month in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) following a meeting held on the recent violence Tuesday.

On the third anniversary of the stoning of Du'a Khalil Aswad to death in public and in condemnation of all forms of violence against women join us in this public seminar to remember Du'a and all women around the world who were killed in so- called honour killings.

Eight months after the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti, having no home is still not the hardest thing to bear. Thousands of women living in makeshift camps in southern Haiti dare not speak about the sexual and domestic violence they are subjected to in the camps. Faced with being stigmatized by police and society, or with revenge and impunity for the perpetrators, they remain silent—and some say the situation is getting worse.

With international forces edging close to withdrawal and Taliban violence on the rise, Afghanistan's women appears to be facing a grim future.

A suspected poison gas attack on a girl's school in Kabul last month highlights the dangers that exist in a society dominated by patriarchal tribal traditions. Dozens of students were injured in the kind of incident that is becoming commonplace across the country.

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks brought about many changes in American society.

The government established a new department to deal with terrorist threats. Airports instituted tough new security rules. Public awareness of Islam and Muslim countries grew and - in many cases - so did distrust and hate.