A political crisis, which has dragged on for months, crippling progress in drafting a new constitution for Nepal by the Constituent Assembly (CA) has considerably dampened the euphoria of women's organisations here.

The United Nations is stepping up its efforts to help protect the rights of Nepalese women, who are increasingly victims of rape, witch-hunt, dowry, and other forms of gender-based violence as well as deeply entrenched domestic abuse and discrimination.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced two awards with grants up to $ 500,000 for the empowerment of women and girls.

Funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, the Innovation Award seeks to find and bring to scale the most pioneering approaches to the political, economic and social empowerment of women and girls around the globe.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today spoke out against the large number of rapes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), voicing concern at the impunity with which the attacks are being carried out.

The fate of thousands of women and girls held as sex slaves and child soldiers by Uganda's Lords Resistance Army rebels hangs in the balance.

Since the insurgency began in 1986, the LRA has abducted thousands of women and girls. Some find opportunities to escape their captors, but according to a 2008 UNICEF Humanitarian Situation Report, approximately 3,000 women and children are still held by the rebels.

During Lebanon's civil war - and Israel's invasion and occupation of Lebanon - some women fought on the frontlines.

These women proved determined and were often resourceful in the weapons they used.

In Women Warriors, Lebanese Muslim and Christian women reflect on the days when they were fighters and talk about how it has impacted their lives.

Women of the Wall (WOW) began in December 1988 when a group of 70 Jewish women from all streams of Judaism approached the Kotel with a Torah Scroll to conduct a prayer service. Some wore tallit, others did not.

The Philippines has scored another first in Asia, this time as the first country in the continent to adopt a national action plan ensuring human rights of women in armed conflict.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Executive Order No. 865 creating a National Steering Committee on Women, Peace and Security to implement United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820.

Kamla Persad-Bissessar may never want the year 2010 to end.

In February, she became the first woman to hold the post of Opposition Leader, one month after she ousted the leader of the main opposition United National Congress (UNC), Basdeo Panday, in a bruising campaign in which she was portrayed as everything from a drunk to a weak leader.

Haitian women have been increasingly vocal and active in social, political, and economic issues since the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship in 1986. Though it has not come easily, their progress in changing gender relations of power within the home, within social movements, and within the nation has been steady.