“Rwandan and Congolese rebels gang-raped nearly 200 women and some baby boys over four days within miles of a U.N. peacekeepers' base in an eastern Congo mining district,” wrote Michelle Faul of the Associated Press in an August 23, 2010 article. She cites an American aid worker and a Congolese doctor as her sources.

As the situation in Darfur continues, sexual violence remains in the forefront as a means of war and humiliation. As a result, survivors of sexual violence are not only ostracized by their families and communities but left to struggle alone with the long-term effects of this brutal victimization.

The European Union (EU) has expressed 'deep indignation and consternation' over the group attacks and rape recently perpetrated by militiamen of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and Congolese allied armed groups in the province of North Kivu, official sources in Brussels revealed.

Almost five million people are currently without shelter following devastating flooding sparked more than a month ago by heavy monsoon rains.

"They are scared, traumatized," said Bibi Luqmania, 30, whose four children live with her in a tent donated by the charity Islamic Relief. "And it's so hot in the tent, they cannot stand it. It becomes like an oven during the day."

Though the Indonesian government banned female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) four years ago, experts say religious support for the practice is more fervent than ever, particularly in rural communities.

A lack of regulation since the ban makes it difficult to monitor, but medical practitioners say FGM/C remains commonplace for women of all ages in this emerging democracy of 240 million - the world's largest Muslim nation.

In a country where machismo is still the rule, Sandra Torres doesn't cut the demure figure of past first ladies.

She doesn't host social events or boost charities. What she does do is give orders -- lots of them.

Torres oversees President Alvaro Colom's huge state program of social assistance, which involves anti-poverty handouts to hundreds of thousands of Guatemalans. She oversees the work of several Cabinet members.

The United States on Monday launched a new 40-million-dollar Gender Equity Grants Program in Pakistan to advance women's human rights and support Pakistani government's policies against gender inequities.

"The U.S. and Pakistan are focused on empowering women and advancing women's rights, an issue of great importance to both our countries," said U.S. Ambassador Anne W. Patterson.

Indonesia's women-only train service launched on Aug. 19, 2010 in Jakarta by the Indonesian state-run railway company, PT Kereta Api, was warmly welcomed mainly by female commuters.

The service has been introduced as an attempt to prevent sexual harassment on public transport after a series of complaints of sexual harassment and assault from women who travel on Jakarta's trains and buses.

Welfare rolls in New York State fell by more than 60 percent from 1997 to 2008, according to the New York City-based Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies.

But those numbers do nothing to cheer up Kenneth Stevens Stephens, a lawyer with the Legal Aid Society in Brooklyn, N.Y.

The fact that the average American working woman earns only about 8o% of what the average American working man earns has been something of a festering sore for at least half the population for several decades. And despite many programs and analyses and hand-wringing and badges and even some legislation, the figure hasn't budged much in the past five years.