When 18-year-old Mumtaz walks into a room, the first thing you notice about her is the patchwork of painful puffy red scars that stretch across her face.

"I feel so bad, I do not look at myself in the mirror anymore," Mumtaz said.

She is the victim of a scorned man who decided that if he couldn't marry her, he'd make sure no one else would want to. The man had asked for her hand in marriage, but Mumtaz's family declined the offer. One night, she says, several men showed up at their home.

They beat up her family, and finally two armed men held her, pulled her head back and let the man who had wanted to marry her pour acid all over her face.

 

Without a knock, the office door flies open. She barges into the room, a perfumed tornado disrupting every conversation and worker in her path.

Wearing skinny jeans, UGG knockoff boots and a pea coat, she carries the swagger of any self-absorbed American teen. Her long dark hair flows thick, smooth and enviable. Her makeup is impeccable -- barring one small flaw. It doesn’t perfectly match the shade of her prosthetic nose.

 

Anti-female activists are already organizing against the rights of females to hold a conference for females. Besides the usual conservative MRA types, some of the anti-female forces against this conference include transgender activists and pro-prostitution pro-trafficking activists who claim that females must be prevented from organizing and meeting together in female-only spaces.

A British citizen has been arrested in Bangkok after six foetuses were found stuffed into travel bags.

Hok Kuen Chow, 28, a Briton born in Hong Kong of Taiwanese parents, was held in the city’s Yaowarat area after police received a tip-off.

He is suspected of trying to smuggle the foetuses – from two to seven months – back to Taiwan to sell to wealthy customers online.

WARNING: Graphic content

The United States isn't unique when it comes to political and social crises related to immigration. Migrants in other parts of the world face similar, sometimes much harsher struggles. Even those who are "legal" are often extremely vulnerable to economic exploitation, racial discrimination, and physical and sexual abuse. Abuse and enslavement of workers from Asia and Africa has become epidemic in the Middle East.   In the wake of the suicide of an abused Ethiopian worker, Alem Dechasa-Desisa, whose story helped galvanize migrant rights campaigns, the issue has moved into the media spotlight lately:

Stories of migrants dying on the job or taking their own lives are not uncommon, underscoring how their lives are undervalued once they're swept into a "disposable" household workforce. Migrant women in particular struggle often with abusive employers and sexual harassment.

Outstanding  UK-based Australian journalist John Pilger contrasts Obama's sudden conversion to same-sex marriage with his failure to support the human rights of Bradley Manning, the Iraqis, the Palestinians, the Afghans etc etc.

FROM ITS POCKMARKED EXTERIOR WALLSand stark interior, you'd never guess that the pink three-story building tucked in a narrow alley a few blocks from the train station in the fast-growing city of Anand houses India's most successful surrogate childbirth business. 

the Akanksha Infertility Clinic fertilizes eggs, implants and incubates embryos, and finally delivers contract babies at a rate of nearly one a week.

The women—all married and with at least one previous child—have traded the comforts of home to enroll as laborers in India's burgeoning medical tourism industry. Most will spend their entire pregnancies living in this building. In exchange for the inconvenience and physical discomforts, they stand to receive a sum that's quite substantial by their meager standards, but which the clinic's customers understand is a steal. The customers are mostly foreigners—three of the city's boardinghouses are constantly booked with American, British, French, Japanese, and Israeli surrogacy tourists.

The upcoming NATO summit in Chicago must ensure that special measures are taken to protect the rights of Afghan women as US-led coalition forces prepare to pull out, UN organisations said Saturday.

There is widespread concern that gains women have made in the 10 years since the overthrow of the brutal Taliban regime could be lost in government attempts to reconcile with the hardline Islamists when NATO troops withdraw in 2014.

"Now is the time to deal with the longer-term security and protection needs of Afghan women who have long borne the brunt of the war in Afghanistan," said Jan Kubis, special representative for the UN secretary general in Afghanistan.

Chinese student in Australia: "It is easy to see why Australian youth might perceive us as wealthy. Foreign students are the cash cows of a more than $16 billion international education industry, the third-largest export industry of Australia. We also serve as a significant source of domestic economic growth. Research by my own university last year found that every Australian undergraduate student is subsidised to the tune of $1200 by international student fees. My annual tuition fee for a bachelor of arts degree is about $26,000. Books, rent, food and everything else is on top of that."

Two suicide car bombs ripped through the Syrian capital Thursday, killing 55 people and shaving the facade off a military intelligence building in the deadliest explosions since the country's uprising began 14 months ago, the Interior Ministry said.

Residents told an Associated Press reporter that the blasts happened in quick succession during morning rush hour, with an initial small explosion followed by a larger bomb that appeared aimed at onlookers and rescue crews arriving at the scene. Paramedics wearing rubber gloves collected human remains from the pavement as heavily damaged cars and pickup trucks smoldered.

There was no claim of responsibility for Thursday's blasts. But an al-Qaida-inspired group has claimed responsibility for several past explosions, raising fears that terrorist groups are entering the fray and exploiting the chaos.

In addition to the 55 dead, the ministry also said there were 15 bags of human remains, meaning the death toll was likely to rise.

More than 370 people also were wounded in the attack, according to the ministry, which is in charge of the country's internal security. It said the explosives weighed more than 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds).

Central Damascus is under the tight control of forces loyal to President Bashar Assad but has been struck by several bomb attacks, often targeting security installations or convoys, since the revolt against him began in March 2011.

But the previous attacks happened on a weekend when many people stay home from work, making it less likely for civilians to be killed. Thursday's blast was similar to attacks waged by al-Qaida in Iraq, which would bolster past allegations by top U.S. intelligence officials that the terror network from the neighboring country was the likely culprit behind previous bombings in Syria. Read more;

The obsession with victimhood has prevented people in Israel and the United States from focusing on the gravest threat to Israel's existence as a Jewish and democratic state: demography. If there is no progress toward a two-state solution, at some point Israel will not to be able to continue to rule over millions of Palestinians without giving them the right to vote — at which point it will cease to be a Jewish state.  This may be Israel's only weakness today.

Yesterday nine men, all but one originally from Pakistan, were facing lengthy jail terms after being convicted of a string of offences, ranging from rape to sex trafficking. 

Over the next two years, dozens of white teenagers were abused by older men in the gang,

The leader of the Ramadhan Foundation has accused Pakistani community elders of 'burying their heads in the sand' on the issue of on-street grooming.

Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the group, said police should not let the 'issue of race' stop them from addressing the issue.

The Ramadhan Foundation is a Manchester-based moderate Muslim youth group that works for 'peaceful co-existence and dialogue for all communities'.

Mr Shafiq said: 'There is a significant problem for the British Pakistani community, there is an over-representation amongst recent convictions in the crime of on-street grooming, there should be no silence in addressing the issue of race as this is central to the actions of these criminals.

'They think that white teenage girls are worthless and can be abused without a second thought; it is this sort of behaviour that is bringing shame on our community.

 

Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu: "Black South Africans and others around the world have seen the 2010 Human Rights Watch report which "describes the two-tier system of laws, rules, and services that Israel operates for the two populations in areas in the West Bank under its exclusive control, which provide preferential services, development, and benefits for Jewish settlers while imposing harsh conditions on Palestinians." This, in my book, is apartheid. It is untenable. And we are in desperate need of more rabbis joining the brave rabbis of Jewish Voice for Peace in speaking forthrightly about the corrupting decadeslong Israeli domination over Palestinians."

The bodies of 23 people have been found hanging from a bridge or decapitated and dumped along the border city of Nuevo Laredo, where drug cartels are fighting a bloody and escalating turf war.

Authorities found nine of the victims, including four women, hanging from an overpass leading to a main highway

Hours later, police found 14 human heads inside coolers outside city hall along with a threatening note. The 14 bodies were found in black plastic bags inside a car abandoned near an international bridge, the official said.

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT

 The in-laws of a child bride who became the bruised and bloodied face of women's rights in Afghanistan have been sentenced to 10 years in prison for torture, abuse and human rights violation

The plight of 15-year-old Sahar Gul captivated the nation and set off a storm of international condemnation when it came to light in late December. Officials said her husband's family kept her in a basement for six months after her arranged marriage, ripping out her fingernails, breaking her fingers and torturing her with hot irons in an attempt to force her into prostitution.

Two people were arrested in Britain’s second city of Birmingham on Friday after a media report that medics and alternative practitioners had offered to perform female genital mutilation.

West Midlands Police said they had arrested two men aged 55 and 61 on suspicion of offences under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, which forbids the cutting of a girl’s genitalia unless medically necessary.

Female genital mutilation is a serious assault against young girls and while it is perceived by parents not to be an act of hate, it is harmful, it is child abuse and it is unlawful.”

 

Dr Vacy Vlazna analyses Israeli military research links with  Australian universities which are accordingly tarred with the brush of illegal Israeli Occupation and horrendous Israeli human rights abuses.

A 76-year-old Italian strangled his wife to death because she constantly nagged him and accused him of cheating on her.

Vittorio Ninotto, 76, called police after he allegedly used his bare hands to throttle Pierina Bandino, 82, following a blazing row at their home.

He told police at Cuneo in northwestern Italy that he flipped because of her 'constant nagging' and 'unfounded allegations' that he was cheating on her.

In a remote part of Afghanistan early last year, a girl was sentenced to death. Her crime was possession of a cellphone. Her executioners were to be her brothers. They suspected her of talking on the phone with a boy. The girl, in her late teens, had dishonored the family, her brothers said.

Quil Lawrence and Ahmad Shafi

Amina bint Abdul Halim bin Salem Nasser was executed on Monday in the northern province of Jawf for "practising witchcraft and sorcery"

London-based newspaper al-Hayat quoted a member of the Saudi religious police as saying Nasser was in her 60s. The official claimed she had tricked people into giving her money, claiming that she could cure their illnesses.

According to the report, she apparently charged up to $800 a session

The charges of 'witchcraft and sorcery' are not defined as crimes in Saudi Arabia", Philip Luther, Amnesty's interim director of the Middle East and North Africa, said.

"To use them to subject someone to the cruel and extreme penalty of execution is truly appalling," he added in a statement, which stressed the "urgent need" to stop executions.

Another Afghan police officer opened fire on American troops on Thursday, injuring two of them in the latest indication that Washington’s claim that the training mission is going well is a lie.

Also on Friday, it was revealed that an elite Afghan soldier shot dead an American trainer and his translator at a U.S. base on Wednesday. This is the first such rogue attack reported to have been carried out by the “closely vetted” special forces of Afghanistan.

Deadly shootings between Afghan soldiers and their American counterparts has increased markedly in occurrence, especially over the last year. Which is why the Wall Street Journal’s report almost a year ago on a leaked NATO document on the training mission in Afghanistan is so revealing. It said “the killings of American soldiers by Afghan troops are turning into a ‘rapidly growing systemic threat’ that could undermine the entire war effort.” And that was a year ago.

there is a strong and highly significant link
between state security and women's security. In fact, the very best predictor
of a state's peacefulness is not its level of wealth, its level of democracy,
or its ethno-religious identity; the best predictor of a state's peacefulness
is how well its women are treated. What's more, democracies with higher levels
of violence against women are as insecure and unstable as nondemocracies.

Egyptian husbands will soon be legally allowed to have sex with their dead wives - for up to six hours after their death.

The controversial new law is part of a raft of measures being introduced by the Islamist-dominated parliament.

It will also see the minimum age of marriage lowered to 14 and the ridding of women's rights of getting education and employment.

The subject of a husband having sex with his dead wife arose in May 2011 when Moroccan cleric Zamzami Abdul Bari said marriage remains valid even after death.

He also said that women have the right to have sex with her dead husband, alarabiya.net reported.

Charles Taylor,64, the former dictator and president of Liberia, will learn his fate today in the Hague, Netherlands. A man whose life story reads like a bad international crime novel, who is responsible for thousands of peoples deaths, waits for his trial to come to end. His trial began in 2007 and the prosecution rested its case against him early 2009. He was charged with 11 counts of Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes. The defense rested its case in late 2010. Since then it has been a struggle for the prosecution not to lose this case against the mass murderer on technicalities.

Taylor's life has brought him to many countries including the US, where he attended college and successfully escaped from prison. Liberia, where he caused two civil wars and the deaths of thousands. Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, where he was involved in the blood diamond for arms trade, and orchestrated that civil war. President, dictator, embezzler, drug dealer, torturer, fugitive, murderer, gun runner, just to mention a few names which he can be labeled with, there are many more. Well known names, such as evangelist Pat Robertson, Libyan dictator Gadhafi, former South African President Nelson Mandela, and even Naomi Campbell can be found in his resume of who's who. Add detention in the UK and the Netherlands and his story is global and infamous.

Wanted on criminal charges by just about everyone, including Interpol, the ICC, the Special Court for Sierra Leon, and technically the US marshals, justice for the people has been a long time coming. His victims, many who are "war amputees", women who were raped by his thugs, children who were forced in to service as "child soldiers" are still living and waited for this day for years. But the tens of thousands who have been killed at his behest will not see justice done.

If found guilty, Taylor faces up to life in Prison. Only the verdict will be read today[April 26TH]. If convicted his sentence will be announced in a few weeks.

Sanctioning more West Bank settlements will kill the two-state solution.

Speaking after an Israeli ministerial committee authorised three illegal West Bank outposts, Mr Erekat called on Israel to choose between settlements and peace. He said the Palestinians would seek a new United Nations security council resolution condemning settlement activity.

Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement pressure group, said the decision marked the first time since 1990 that the government had created new settlements.

The international community considers all Israeli construction in the West Bank illegal. Israel distinguishes between the 121 established settlements, and scores of illegal outposts, set up without a formal government decision.

The newly-authorised outposts are Bruchin, with some 350 settlers, and Rechelim, with 240 residents, both south of Nablus in the northern West Bank, and Sansana, with a population of 240, in the southern West Bank.

Each was set up without formal government approval.

Interior minister Eli Yishai called the decision "important and just," and he urged the government to legalise more Jewish West Bank communities.

The process to extradite Joran van der Sloot from Peru to the United States has begun, CNN reports. Documents obtained by Maximo Altez, van der Sloot's attorney, show a judge has approved the U.S. request for a provisional detention, the first step in sending him to America to face charges for extorting money from the mother of missing teen Natalee Holloway.
PREVIOUSLY:
Joran van der Sloot, the convicted killer of a young Peruvian woman and the prime suspect in the disappearance of missing American teen Natalee Holloway, could soon be extradited to the United States.
Van der Sloot's attorney, Maximo Altez, has confirmed Peruvian authorities are evaluating a request by the U.S. to extradite the Dutchman for extorting Holloway's mother.

NS Leader writes that the most shocking thing about anti-Muslim mass murderer Anders Breivik is that so many people agree with his Islamophobic, xenophobic and racist opinions.

When a 17-year-old girl said to have the mental capacity of a 5-year-old was reported missing four weeks ago in the sprawling South African township of Soweto, police distributed her photo and asked neighborhood residents for help.

Then a video emerged of seven men and boys raping the girl. Within a day of media alerting them to the video, police said, they on Wednesday found the girl in a house across Soweto from her home. Eight men and boys were arrested on charges of kidnapping and rape.

The women's league of the governing African National Congress said the video, apparently recorded on a cell phone, was widely circulated on the Internet and via cell phones. The league said it again raises questions about South Africans' attitudes toward rape and women in a country with horrifyingly high rape statistics.

"When does it become acceptable amongst a group of peers to rape a girl and laugh about it? It just makes one sick to the stomach," the league said in a statement Wednesday.

The league commended a mother who saw the video clip on her child's mobile phone and ensured it came to the attention of the police, and urged other parents to monitor what their children are doing with new technology and new media.

Police spokesman Kay Makhubela said soon after learning of the video Tuesday, police, with help from people in Soweto, arrested seven men who appeared in the video. Some of the suspects identified the girl's possible location in sprawling Soweto, and police moved through that neighborhood Wednesday, announcing on loudspeakers that they planned to search every home.

The eighth suspect then surrendered and the girl was found in his home, Makhubela said. He described her as quiet and apparently traumatized, and said she was taken first to counselors and then to a hospital.

Makhubela said anyone found to have passed along the video could face criminal charges.

According to the most recent police statistics, more than 66,000 rapes and other sexual offenses were reported in South Africa in the year ending in early 2011. Experts say many rapes go unreported because the victims are ashamed or afraid, or because they believe police will not act.

The state news agency BuaNews quoted South Africa's minister for women's affairs, Lulu Xingwana, as calling the gang rape "despicable." Xingwana added that with the wide distribution of the video of the attack, the victim "is now subjected to a second assault on her dignity."

The faint smell of incense and candle wax permeates the church of Sant’Apollinare near Rome’s famous Piazza Navona. The basilica is one of a handful of churches outside the walls of Vatican City owned by the Holy See.  It is used primarily by members of the ultra-conservative Opus Dei prelature for special masses for student priests and for celebrations of marriage and baptism of those affiliated with the sect. Behind a side door near the back of the basilica is a small courtyard that’s closed to the public. There, in an external crypt near the ornate sarcophaguses of bishops and cardinals, is the curious tomb of Enrico “Renatino” De Pedis, a prominent member of the infamous Magliana organized-crime gang who was ambushed and murdered by rival gang members in 1990.

Why a known-mobster like De Pedis is buried on the grounds of a Vatican church has been the object of much speculation since 1997, when a church maid revealed the tomb’s existence to an inquisitive journalist. The Vatican was always cagey about why the mobster was buried in one of its churches, and ultimately, the church’s silence spurred countless conspiracy theories.  Now, thanks to shocking Vatican letters leaked in the Vatileaks scandal that is rocking the Holy See, the Italian police are less interested in why he’s buried there. Instead, they want to open the tomb to see if the remains of 15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi are interred with those of the mobster.

When a businessman makes a bad bet in America, he's apt to lose money. But as a couple of news items out of China this week reveal, doing business is quite a bit dicier in the Middle Kingdom. Make the wrong bet there, and you may lose more than just money. You may lose your life.

That's the fate awaiting two businesswomen sentenced to death by Chinese courts last week. Read more;

The child, who has not been named, was among 400 children dealt with by the
Home Office's dedicated Forced Marriage Unit, last year. An 87-year-old
woman was also a suspected victim.

But campaigners warned that the case could be just the tip of the iceberg with
"thousands" of children in some communities believed to have been promised
in marriage from birth.

Tomorrow, or today, depending upon when you are reading this article , will mark the 18TH year since the genocide in Rwanda. On April 6, 1994, a terrible series of events began to unfold that would last more than three months and claim the lives of more than 750,000 men, women and children. The small country of Rwanda would be transformed into a killing field, one in which between 10 and 20% of the population would be butchered. The ethnic Hutu majority would turn on their neighbors the Tutsi minority with machetes, guns, knives and carry out atrocities which to this day are to horrendous to describe. Entire villages, towns, neighborhoods and districts would be "ethnically cleansed" of their population in the most disturbing of ways. Violence so savage and disgusting it is difficult to imagine. The killers were combinations of both the military, militias and ordinary civilians. Hutu people, who often grew up with, and went to the same schools, attended the same churches, often lived next to their Tutsi neighbors, would turn them and begin the slaughter.

To be fair I must mention that not all the killing was done by the Hutu's. Some was done by the Tutsi, especially as the Hutu dominated regime fell some three months later. In many instances Hutu and Tutsi were slaughtered together. Some bonds were strong between the two ethnically different groups. In one instance, some 20,000 people, both Hutu and Tutsi would meet their end together, mercilessly slaughtered in a Catholic church in the district of Nyarubuye, where they attempted to seek sanctuary. They were hacked to death, shot and subjected to hand grenade attacks.

I remember reading at the time about the methods that were used. For those who have read enough I warn you that the next description that I give is absolutely barbaric and terrifying. There was a report of a woman who had been brutalized and beaten, she had a baby tied to each arm and leg and was thrown into a river or lake. Her and the children drowned.* It was 18 years ago, but I remember reading that like it was yesterday. I don't have a reference for this, I believe it was in the NY Times.

The reason why I'm writing this is to remind us to remember the victims. Not to forget the horrible events of yesterday, which by the way resurface anew in today's world. Different countries, different faces and names, but these things still happen. The world watched back then for more than three months and did nothing to stop it. One year later it would happen again in a place called Srebrenica. I'm not sure that we have learned anything since the Holocaust, I'm not sure the world has changed at all. Today it is Syria, where it has not been 90 days, but we have watched for more than 365 days. So remember the victims of yesteryear's genocides on April 6. Never Forget, and thank our stars for what we have and often take for granted.

*Citation needed

I am sure you have heard of it – the “Cotton Ceiling,” a term porn actress Drew DeVeaux and other Transgender women use to “challenge lesbians’ tendency to support Transgender causes generally but draw the line at sleeping with Transgender women or including Transgender lesbians in their sexual communities.”

Norris was subsequently targeted and threatened online by men who blamed her personally for the closure of their favourite eatery.
One particularly vile man posted the following on Facebook:
“Sian Norris, of the Bristol Feminist Netowkr is a c*nt. I hate her. I’m posting the details of this on 4Chan. I’m going to find her address and everything. SHE MUST PAY.” Details of her blog, her Twitter and Facebook accounts were circulated, and she received threats, including one that offered to kick her ‘in the vagina’. And who said chivalry was dead?

Indonesia is preparing to ban the mini-skirt under its tough anti-pornography laws 'because they make men do things'.The Muslim country's powerful religious affairs minister said that one of the considerations in its review of what could be considered pornographic would be 'when someone wears a skirt above the knee'.

Pakistani acid attack victim Fakhra Younus had endured more than three dozen surgeries over more than a decade to repair her severely damaged face and body when she finally decided life was no longer worth living.

The 33-year-old former dancing girl – who was allegedly attacked by her then-husband, an ex-lawmaker and son of a political powerhouse – jumped from the sixth floor of a building in Rome, where she had been living and receiving treatment.

 Pakistani acid attack victim Fakhra Younus had endured more than three dozen surgeries over more than a decade to repair her severely damaged face and body when she finally decided life was no longer worth living.

The 33-year-old former dancing girl -- who was allegedly attacked by her then-husband, an ex-lawmaker and son of a political powerhouse -- jumped from the sixth floor of a building in Rome, where she had been living and receiving treatment.

Younus' story highlights the horrible mistreatment many women face in Pakistan's conservative, male-dominated culture and is a reminder that the country's rich and powerful often appear to operate with impunity. Younus' ex-husband, Bilal Khar, was eventually acquitted, but many believe he used his connections to escape the law's grip -- a common occurrence in Pakistan.

More than 8,500 acid attacks, forced marriages and other forms of violence against women were reported in Pakistan in 2011, according to The Aurat Foundation, a women's rights organization. Because the group relied mostly on media reports, the figure is likely an undercount.

"So many times we thought she would die in the night because her nose was melted and she couldn't breathe," said Durrani, who wrote a book about her own allegedly abusive relationship with the elder Khar. "We used to put a straw in the little bit of her mouth that was left because the rest was all melted together."

Pakistani acid attack victim Fakhra Younus had endured more than three dozen surgeries over more than a decade to repair her severely damaged face and body when she finally decided life was no longer worth living.

The 33-year-old former dancing girl — who was allegedly attacked by her then-husband, an ex-lawmaker and son of a political powerhouse — jumped from the sixth floor of a building in Rome, where she had been living and receiving treatment.

Her March 17 suicide and the return of her body to Pakistan on Sunday reignited furor over the case, which received significant international attention at the time of the attack. Her death came less than a month after a Pakistani filmmaker won the country's first Oscar for a documentary about acid attack victims.

Younus' story highlights the horrible mistreatment many women face in Pakistan's conservative, male-dominated culture and is a reminder that the country's rich and powerful often appear to operate with impunity. Younus' ex-husband, Bilal Khar, was eventually acquitted, but many believe he used his connections to escape the law's grip — a common occurrence in Pakistan.

More than 8,500 acid attacks, forced marriages and other forms of violence against women were reported in Pakistan in 2011, according to The Aurat Foundation, a women's rights organization. Because the group relied mostly on media reports, the figure is likely an undercount.

"The saddest part is that she realized that the system in Pakistan was never going to provide her with relief or remedy," Nayyar Shabana Kiyani, an activist at The Aurat Foundation, said of Younus. "She was totally disappointed that there was no justice available to her."

Younus was a teenage dancing girl working in the red light district of the southern city of Karachi when she met her future husband, the son of Ghulam Mustafa Khar, a former governor of Pakistan's largest province, Punjab. The unusual pairing was the younger Khar's third marriage. He was in his mid-30s at the time.

The couple was married for three years, but Younus eventually left him because he allegedly physically and verbally abused her. She claimed that he came to her mother's house while she was sleeping in May 2000 and poured acid all over her in the presence of her 5-year-old son from a different man.

Tehmina Durrani, Ghulam Mustafa Khar's ex-wife and his son's stepmother, became an advocate for Younus after the attack, drawing international attention to the case. She said that Younus' injuries were the worst she had ever seen on an acid attack victim.

"So many times we thought she would die in the night because her nose was melted and she couldn't breathe," said Durrani, who wrote a book about her own allegedly abusive relationship with the elder Khar. "We used to put a straw in the little bit of her mouth that was left because the rest was all melted together."

She said Younus, whose life had always been hard, became a liability to her family, for whom she was once a source of income.

"Her life was a parched stretch of hard rock on which nothing bloomed," Durrani wrote in a column in The News after Younus' suicide.

Younus' ex-husband grew up in starkly different circumstances, amid the wealth and power of the country's feudal elite, and counts Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar as a cousin.

Bilal Khar once again denied carrying out the acid attack in a TV interview following her suicide, suggesting a different man with the same name committed the crime. He claimed Younus killed herself because she didn't have enough money, not because of her horrific injuries, and criticized the media for hounding him about the issue.

"You people should be a little considerate," said Khar. "I have three daughters and when they go to school people tease them."

In February, Younus said in one of her last interviews that powerful Pakistanis brutally treat ordinary citizens and "don't know how painful they make others' lives."

"I want such people to be treated in the same way" as they treat people whose lives they ruin, she told Geo TV over the telephone from Rome.

Younus was energized when the Pakistani government enacted a new set of laws last year that explicitly criminalized acid attacks and mandated that convicted attackers would serve a minimum sentence of 14 years, said Durrani. She hoped to return someday to get justice once her health stabilized.

"She said, 'When I come back, I will reopen the case, and I'll fight myself,' and she was a fighter," Durrani said.

Durrani had to battle with both Younus' ex-husband and the government to send her to Italy, where the Italian government paid for her treatment and provided her money to live on and send her child to school. Pakistani officials argued that sending Younus to Italy would give the country a bad name, Durrani said.

Younus was happy when Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy won an Oscar for her documentary about acid attack victims in February, but was worried about being forgotten since she wasn't profiled in the film, said Durrani.

Durrani said Younus' case should be a reminder that the Pakistani government needs to do much more to prevent acid attacks and other forms of violence against women, and also help the victims.

"I think this whole country should be extremely embarrassed that a foreign country took responsibility for a Pakistani citizen for 13 years because we could give her nothing, not justice, not security," said Durrani.

___

Associated Press writers Zarar Khan and Asif Shahzad contributed to this report.

Up to 400 women and girls are being held in Afghan prisons for "moral crimes" including running away from home to escape beatings or forced marriage according to a study.Ten years after the toppling of the Taliban government was accompanied by Western promises of a new era of women's rights, the justice system remained "stacked against them at every stage", it found.

Many of us are affected by this expose from Dan Rather on not just the Catholic Church and its involvement in shaming women to give up their children for adoption, but other religious organizations, too.

There are children lingering in the system w/o families to care for them.  They NEED the parents that want to bring them "home".

But no one wants to "take" a child from a mother, w/o her consent and her earnest desire.

Churches are the physical use of the sense of what people believe will connect them and hold them in a good place.  That has come to be a misconception now, where many people feel that the church is just a front for the evil that men can do.

We have to stop being "followers" until we know where the path is going and go back to hearing our own hearts, first.    

This is the unhappy couple who split after just four days of marriage, when the groom accused his bride of flirting with the best man, then beat her up and smashed all their presents.

Tammy Driver, 21, and Nicky Pearce, 29, separated upon returning from their honeymoon weekend, following a violent row at their home near Aberdare, South Wales

Jealous Pearce flew into a drunken rage and attacked his new wife, grabbing her by the neck before allegedly biting her and breaking her nose.

Atheist humanist Dick Gross comments on the departure of Rowan Williams from the position of Archbishop of Canterbury (leading cleric of the Anglican Church).

 A Spanish National Police investigation into two Madrid prostitution rings led to the rescue of a captive 19-year-old woman who was tattooed with a barcode on her wrist after she tried to escape the ring, authorities said Saturday.

The bar code served as a form of identity for the woman and as certificate of "ownership" by one prostitution ring, and beneath the bar code was also tattooed the amount of money she owed the ring, police said.

Held hostage by a pimp, the woman had multiple lesions from being beaten and whipped, and her head and eyebrows were shaven because she tried to flee,

 

Spanish police arrested 22 suspected pimps who allegedly used violence to force women into prostitution and tattooed them with bar codes as a sign of ownership, officials said Saturday.

Police are calling the gang the "bar code pimps." Officers freed one 19-year-old woman who had been beaten, held against her will and tattooed with a bar code and an amount of money — (EURO)2,000 ($2,650) — which investigators believe was the debt the gang wished to extort before releasing her.

The woman had also been whipped, chained to a radiator and had her hair and eyebrows shaved off, according to an Interior Ministry statement.

All those arrested were of Romanian nationality and had forced the women to hand over part of their earnings, the statement said.

The women were tattooed on their wrists if they tried to escape, the statement said. Police also seized guns and ammunition. It was not immediately clear when the raids took place.

Police seized (EURO)140,000 ($185,388) in cash, which had been hidden in a false ceiling, a large amount of gold jewelry and five vehicles, three of which were described as luxury cars.

The gang was made up of two separate groups, referred to as "clans" in the statement, each dedicated to controlling prostitution along fixed stretches of a street in downtown Madrid.

One of the alleged ringleaders who was identified only by the initials "I.T." is wanted by authorities in Romania for crimes linked to prostitution, the statement said.

The women were controlled at all times to ensure "money was taken off them immediately," the statement said.

Sex is a multibillion-dollar industry in Spain, with colorfully lit brothels staffed mainly by poor immigrant women from Latin America, Africa and eastern Europe lining highways throughout the country.

Prostitution falls in legal limbo: it is not regulated, although pimping is a crime. The northeastern city of Barcelona plans to introduce regional legislation in coming weeks banning prostitution on urban streets.

TORONTO - A local bookstore has “sold out” of a controversial marriage guide that advises Muslim men on how to beat their wives.

The 160-page book, published by Idara Impex in New Delhi, India, is written by Hazrat Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi, who’s described in the book’s foreword as a “prolific writer on almost every topic of Islamic learning.”

 

The evil Toulouse Massacre in which 7 people, 3 of them children, were murdered in France, has shocked all decent people. However reason must prevail over emotion and must determine how the chances of a recurrence of this atrocity can be minimized. Compelling conclusions are that, in addition to having better security,  anti-Arab anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and the racist Zionist-backed War on Muslims (12 million dead since 1990) must be halted and that the genocidal racist Zionists must be sidelined from public life as has already happened to like racists such as the Nazis, neo-Nazis, Apartheiders and KKK.

Rational risk management, that is crucial for societal safety, successively involves (a) accurate information, (b) scientific analysis, this involving the critical testing of potentially falsifiable hypotheses, and (c) science- informed systemic change to minimize recurrence of adverse events. Unfortunately,  inevitably corrupt societies typically adopt a dangerously incorrect converse approach that involves (a) lying by omission and commission, propaganda, censorship and intimidation of reportage, (b) anti-science spin involving the selective use of asserted facts to support a partisan position, and (c) resort to violent blame and shame with rejection of sensible systemic change, this further preventing crucially requisite primary reportage. A rational risk management approach to the Toulouse Massacre is outlined below.  

1. There will always be a very small proportion of people who cross the line into the insanity of homicide - indeed criminologists inform us that 90% of  violence and homicide is against people personally known to the perpetrators including family members i.e. people they know or indeed love.

2. The perpetrator of the Toulouse Massacre was killed by the authorities rather than being subdued chemically, but before being killed the mass murderer  reportedly adduced the large-scale killing of Palestinians and Afghans by the Zionists  and the US Alliance as the reason for these appalling crimes (in contrast Norwegian mass murderer Breivik was a self-confessed  virulent Islamophobe and a genocidal pro-Zionist).

3. The mass murder by the West of ethnically or culturally Arab Semitic people  (Arabs and Muslims) has reached holocaust and genocidal  proportions. Thus  in the Zionist-backed US War on Muslims violent deaths plus avoidable deaths from war-imposed deprivation total 12 million since 1990, the breakdown being  4.6 million (Iraq, 1990-2012), 5.6 million (Afghanistan, 2001-2012), 2.2 million (Somalia, 1992-2012), and 0.1 million (Libya, 2011-2012). These estimates are consonant with UN-reported under-5 infant deaths in this period totalling 2.0 million (Iraq), 2.9 million (Afghanistan ) and 1.3 million (Somalia), 90% avoidable and due to Occupier war crimes in gross violation of the Geneva Convention - evidence of an Iraqi Genocide, an Afghan Genocide and a Somali Genocide (Google the terms “Muslim Holocaust” and  “Muslim Genocide”).

4.   A key part of this genocidal madness has been played by the racist Zionists who collaborated with the Nazis before and during the war (notoriously persuading  Churchill to veto the Brand Plan to save 0.7 million Hungarian Jews of whom 0.4 million subsequently perished including all but a dozen of my family). Since 1936  about 100,000 Palestinians have been violently killed as a result of racist Zionist colonization of their country (as compared to 3,700 Jews killed by Palestinians since 1920 according to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs) .  A further 1.9 million Palestinians have died avoidably from war-, expulsion- and occupation-imposed deprivation. Inspection of the latest UNICEF data reveals that race-based, racist Zionist-run Apartheid Israel deliberately murders over 2,000 Palestinian infants each year by imposed deprivation.

5. What should decent people do? Decent people - as exampled by anti-racist Jews (e.g. Google "Jews Against Racist Zionism") - must (a) demand that media inform everyone they can about the ongoing Muslim Holocaust and Muslim Genocide; (b) apply and urge sanctions against all those people, parties, countries and corporations involved in the Muslim Holocaust, the Muslim Genocide and race-based, genocidal Apartheid Israel  (e.g. Google "Boycott Apartheid  Israel"); and (c) demand arraignment before the International Criminal Court of those involved in the Muslim Holocaust (e.g. Bush, Obama, Blair, Brown, Cameron, Sarkozy,  Merkel, Harper, Howard, Rudd, Gillard and their subordinates) and the sidelining of racist Zionists from public life as has already happened to like racists such as the Nazis, neo-Nazis, Apartheiders and KKK.

A man, reported to be Australia's most wanted criminal Malcolm Naden, has been arrested in the New South Wales Upper Hunter.

Police say the 38-year-old was arrested just after midnight (AEDT) after officers from the Tactical Operations Unit and Dog Unit surrounded him on a private property 30 kilometres west of Gloucester.

Fairfax has identified the man as Naden, who's eluded police for nearly seven years.

Police say the man's being questioned over the murder of a 24-year-old woman in Dubbo in June 2005 and the disappearance of a 24-year-old Dubbo woman in January the same year, along with the aggravated indecent assault of a 15-year-old girl in Dubbo in 2004 and last December's shooting of a police officer near Nowendoc.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione says the arrest marks the end of a very difficult and lengthy investigation and search operation by police.

He'll address the media this morning in Sydney along with Assistant Commissioner Carlene York

Armenian filmmaker Suzanne Khardalian has done much to reveal the horrors of the Armenian genocide under the Ottoman government’s systematic decimination of Armenian citizens that began before World War I and lasted until the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1923.

Originally stretching across a large region that now includes 38 separate countries from Sudan to Israel, Jordan to Russia, the Ottoman Empire saw the rise of  extremism in the political party called the Committee of Unity and Progress (CUP) lead by what was known as the ‘Young Turks’ in 1913. Party members sided against Russia with Germany during World War I. During this time a systematic program to ‘rid’ the region of Christian Armenians as well as ethnic Muslim Armenians ensued. Part of the crimes against humanity aimed to destroy Armenians who sided with Russia during World War I.

It is estimated by Armenians around the world today that over one and a half million people perished during the years in the Ottoman Empire that spanned 1915 to 1923. This figure is still not recognized though by the Republic of Turkey who continues to be at bureaucratic odds with any global stories linking the mention of genocide to Turkey. They also state a ‘more accurate’ death toll is closer to 300,000. In 1913 those known as the ‘Young Turks’ took over the region now known as Turkey via a government coup-de-tat, From 1919-1920 they were charged with crimes that linked them directly to propaganda, mass murder and atrocity.

"Hi everyone, I'm writing this here because I'm not really sure when the next meeting will be. At the demonstration today (February 10, 2012) in Kfar a-Dik, I noticed looks and finger pointing from the shabab (nickname for young Palestinians) that made me feel some discomfort. They talked amongst themselves, and not with me, but the word that came up quite a lot was ‘slut,’ with glances directed toward me. When I met A. and H. (two men), I told them about this, and H. stayed by my side. Despite this, there was some ‘accidental’ touching, and some incidents in which people called me a ‘slut.’ In the end of the day, it was a very unpleasant experience.”

This letter, written by an Israeli leftist activist, is only one of the causes for the stormy debate that has been taking place online among leftist and human rights activists in Israel.

The activist sent the letter to her friends at Anarchists Against the Wall, in which she wrote of the incidents of sexual harassment she had experienced in Kfar a-Dik, a West Bank village where the organization holds protests in support of the Palestinians from time to time.

This correspondence, along with other testimonies obtained by Haaretz, tell of a wider phenomenon of sexual harassment and assault of Israeli and foreign protesters in the West Bank. In the past two years, at least six incidents were recorded in the West Bank and East Jerusalem: two in Sheikh Jarrah, four more in the Mount Hebron area, in Masra, in Kfar a-Dik, and an alleged case of attempted rape in Umm Salmona, near Bethlehem, that was revealed in Haaretz.

Recently, a special forum was started by a group of women from leftist groups for the purpose of dealing and monitoring such incidents. “The objective is to learn the subject,” says one of the group’s members. “We want to develop tools and guidelines for creating an environment with fewer cases of harassment.”

Syrian President Bashar Assad has taken out the torture tool kit his father once employed as he engages in the most widespread and appalling abuses his country has suffered in decades in an effort to put down a year-old rebellion.

“In terms of the number of people being tortured, and the level of torture and the type, of which the more gruesome are now being inflicted, we are seeing the return of the very dark days of the 1970s and 1980s

All told, the report identified 31 methods of torture and other ill-treatment

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday accused Israel of committing greater crimes against Palestinians during its war in the Gaza Strip than those for which Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir had been indicted

West of Eritrea and Ethiopia, and north of Uganda, a new African state has emerged from decades of civil war to gain its independence. Last July, South Sudan was declared an official country and was recognized by the United Nations. Israel, which had been assisting the people of the region for the past decade, extended a warm diplomatic hand right from the start.

Eager to help this new country gain a foothold amongst its complicated host of societal problems, the Israeli humanitarian aid organization IsraAID is launching diplomatic and humanitarian efforts including a new social-worker training program in cooperation with the Israeli NGOs FIRST and Operation Blessing-Israel.

It has been one year, and he is still there. Assad is still very much in control and continues to murder his own people. The only thing that has changed is the number of dead. He still stands by his story that he is battling "terrorist and armed gangs." In the beginning there was so much hope of ridding the world of another hideous dictator, one who kills with impunity. A dictator who has a taste for killing little children. Assad, who has had people beaten, tortured, raped, kidnapped, and dismembered. Initially it looked as if Turkey would do something, that hasn't happened. Then the Arab League, who actually tried many different venues and routes, only to be stopped by the UN. The very group the League went to for help, turned them down because Putin is in bed with Assad. Hell, he continues to supply ammunition to Syria. The League's observer mission did fail.

So much has gone down. The city of Homs and four of it's neighborhoods were ravaged for months, before succumbing to a brutal month long artillery assault. So many people whose stories never made it out, and many more that did. The children, including little Hamza al Khateeb who went missing April 29Th of last year, his battered mutilated body was returned to his family. He was tortured to death. He was only 13 years old. Thereare stories of a musician, Ibrahim Qashoush who was killed for writing a song about the troubles, his throat cut out and his body dumped into the Orantes River. Another musician who performed here in the states, his mom and dad were beaten, given a message to give him. They fled and watched their home being burnt down via the Internet. The hundreds of citizen journalist who have given their lives, pieces of their bodies to get the story out. Danny Dayem who made it out of Homs, braved the barrage of Homs for weeks, documenting the crimes only do meet indifference. Many others did not make it out.

I have written about this for many months. I can't remember everyones name that I wrote about, but I remember their stories. The head of the Syrian Red Crescent, he was killed. As were foreign journalist Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik, both in Homs. We have watched in bewilderment as the ICC, NATO, UN Security Council, Friends of Syria, and the Arab League all pass the buck. The world has watched stunned as the Russians protect this monster, even as news of new massacres come out daily. I have listened to President Obama speak big, but do very little. The same with other world leaders. Terms such as "dead man walking" have been used to describe Assad's regime by analyst, that dead man is "still walking." The Terms let's not be"bystanders" is used, yet that's what we are. The worlds lack of compassion, lack of empathy is disgusting. To be fair, the UN General Assembly has condemned him twice. The Arab League has thrown Syria out of the organization. The US and other nations have slapped him with sanctions.

The people of Syria are brave, they are tenacious in wanting their freedom, they will ultimately win out, and not forget those who helped, and those who didn't. I would like to mention the brave doctors, many of whom have been killed. They are heroic, as are brave members of the Red Cross and Syrian Red Crescent I see and hear very little from any of the religious leaders regarding the Syrian travesty. Where are they? So yes, I have issues with how this is not being dealt with. From world leaders and International organizations right down to the common person in the street.

What did Assad do for the one year anniversary? His ghost militia(Shabeeha) and thugs slaughtered 45 women and children in Homs. The youngest victim was 5 years old. The women were raped, most were killed by stabbing, including the children. Their bodies were set on fire. This story is dedicated to the more than 10,000 Syrians who have lost everything. You are not forgotten. This story is dedicated to the Syrian citizen journalist, the Free Syrian Army, who have valiantly protected the people the best they could. Remember, you will win out, don't give up.

Syrian's main opposition group said that government forces killed nearly 50 women and children and called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting, Al Arabiya reports.The massacre was carried out by the security forces and the regime’s ‘shabbiha’ (thugs), who killed the victims inside their homes, activists told Al Arabiya. The victims were killed by horrific methods; including burning, breaking their bones or slaughtering, according to activists. There were also at least 16 cases of rape reported, according to a local physician.

In May 2009, U.S. citizen Anthony Mark Bianchi was sentenced to 25 years in prison for traveling to Moldova and Romania for the purpose of having sex with minors.

"Sex tourists are a special breed of predatory pedophile," said Michael Levy, the U.S. prosecutor who handled the Bianchi case at the time. "They have the means to travel to foreign places where they think the law cannot reach them and where no one will care about their crimes."

Since its independence from the Soviet Union two decades ago, Moldova has been one of the places such predators visit.

With its combination of poverty and weak governance, Moldova is particularly vulnerable to this kind of exploitation. In addition to being Europe's poorest country, Moldova's breakaway Transdniester region has been de facto independent since 1992 and is a notorious haven for trafficking of all kinds.

Abdul Rahum Ayubi, who is a lawmaker from Kandahar province where the tragedy occurred, said Monday it seemed impossible for one soldier to cover the ground between the houses that were attacked — over a mile (2 kilometers) — and also burn the dead bodies.

Bismullah Afghanmal, a parliament member, said the reports he received from villagers indicate the shooting before dawn Sunday came from several directions.

"One man can't kill so many people. There must have been many people involved," Bacha Agha of Balandi village told The Associated Press. "If the government says this is just one person's act we will not accept it. ... After killing those people they also burned the bodies."

In a statement, Afghan President Hamid Karzai left open the possibility of more than one shooter. He initially spoke of a single U.S. gunman, then referred to "American forces" entering houses. The statement quoted a 15-year-old survivor named Rafiullah, who was shot in the leg, as telling Karzai in a phone call that "soldiers" broke into his house, woke up his family and began shooting them.

"This is an assassination, an intentional killing of innocent civilians and cannot be forgiven," Karzai said.

"This is an anti-human and anti-Islamic act," Khan said. "Nobody is allowed in any religion in the world to kill children and women."

One woman opened a blue blanket with pink flowers to reveal the body of her 2-year-old child, who was wearing a blood-soaked shirt.

"Was this child Taliban? There is no Taliban here" said Gul Bushra. The Americans "are always threatening us with dogs and helicopters during night raids."

Dozens of villagers crowded the streets as minibuses and trucks carried away the dead to be washed for burial. One man used the edge of his brown shawl to wipe away tears.

Sixteen civilians were killed, nine of them children.

An Egyptian military tribunal on Sunday acquitted an army doctor of a charge of public obscenity filed by a protester who claimed she was forced to undergo a virginity test while in detention.
The court denied the humiliating tests even took place, despite a ruling by another court and admissions by generals quoted by a leading rights group.

A U.S. soldier was taken into custody in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, a few hours after he opened fire on Afghan civilians, killing 10, U.S. and Afghan officials said.

The shooting took place at approximately 3 a.m. as a lone soldier walked off a checkpoint in Kandahar Province's Panjwai district and opened fire on civilians in two villages, Javed Faisal, the director of the provincial government's media center, said in a phone interview.

Citing preliminary reports, Faisal said at least 10 people were killed and five were wounded. Provincial authorities said they were awaiting news from an investigative team sent to the villages before releasing a definitive death toll.

It is highly unusual for American soldiers to wander alone off base.

Professor Martin Sevior (Physics Deoartment, University of Melbourne) : "Now Iran, of course, is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty – unlike many other Middle East nations – and thus far the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has found no direct proof of nuclear weapons development in Iran. I don’t know whether Iran is developing nuclear weapons – or, if it is, why."

(CBS News) In a video shot secretly inside a Syrian regime military hospital in the besieged rebel stronghold of Homs, men are blindfolded and shackled to their beds. The chains are extremely tight.

 One man's chest and hand show what appear to be wounds from a severe beating. Instruments of torture lie on a nearby table - an electric cable and a rubber whip.

 The hospital staffer, who risked his life to capture this footage, said he's seen doctors assault opposition activists

Kony is #1 on the ICC's list of war criminals. He has managed to escape justice because no one knows about him.

Over 30,000 children have been kidnapped by his forces. The females are turned into sex slaves and the males are forced to murder their own parents, and then become his soldiers, committing horrific crimes against humanity. All before they have turned 15.

Kony uses peace talks to re-arm.

Kony is spreading across Africa.

Pres. Obama sent 100 advisers to assist Ugandan military forces in the arrest of Kony, and that mission is already in danger of defunding due to a lack of awareness.

Watch this short video about Kony, and the effort to bring him to justice. Then decide for yourself whether these children need you help.

Afghanistan's president on Tuesday endorsed a "code of conduct" issued by an influential council of clerics that activists say represents a giant step backward for women's rights in the country.

President Hamid Karzai's Tuesday remarks backing the Ulema Council's document, which allows husbands to beat wives under certain circumstances and encourages segregation of the sexes, is seen as part of his outreach to insurgents like the Taliban.

Both the U.S. and Karzai hope that the Taliban can be brought into negotiations to end the country's decade-long war. But activists say they're worried that gains made by women since 2001 may be lost in the process.

When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan prior to the 2001 U.S. invasion, girls were banned from going to school and women had to wear burqas that covered them from head to toe. Women were not allowed to leave their homes without a male relative as an escort.

The "code of conduct" issued Friday by the Ulema Council as part of a longer statement on national political issues is cast as a set of guidelines that religious women should obey voluntarily, but activists are concerned it will herald a reversal of the trend in Afghanistan since 2001 to pass laws aimed at expanding women's rights.

Among the rules: Women should not travel without a male guardian and women should not mingle with strange men in places like schools, markets or offices. Beating one's wife is prohibited only if there is no "Shariah-compliant reason," it said, referring to the principles of Islamic law.

Asked about the code of conduct at a press conference in the capital, Karzai said it was in line with Islamic law and was written in consultation with Afghan women's groups. He did not name the groups that were consulted.

"The clerics' council of Afghanistan did not put any limitations on women," Karzai said, adding: "It is the Shariah law of all Muslims and all Afghans."

Karzai's public backing of the council's guidelines may be intended to make his own government more palatable to the Taliban, or he may simply be trying to keep on the good side of the Ulema Council, who could be valuable intermediaries in speaking to the insurgents.

But either way, women's activists say that Karzai's endorsement means that existing or planned laws aimed at protecting women's rights may be sacrificed for peace negotiations.

"It sends a really frightening message that women can expect to get sold out in this process," said Heather Barr, an Afghanistan researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Shukria Barikzai, a parliamentarian from the capital Kabul who has been active in women's issues, said she was worried that Karzai and the clerics' council appeared to be ignoring their country's own laws.

"When it comes to civil rights in Afghanistan, Karzai should respect the constitution," Barikzai said. The Afghan constitution provides equal rights for men and women.

The exception for certain types of beatings also appears to contradict Afghan law that prohibits spousal abuse. And the guidelines also promote rules on divorce that give women few rights, a real turnaround from pledges by Karzai to reform Afghan family law to make divorces more equitable, Barr said.

"This represents a significant change in his message on women's rights," she said.

Afghan women's rights activist Fatana Ishaq Gailani, founder of the Afghanistan Women's Council, said she feels like women's rights are being used as part of a political game.

"We want the correct Islam, not the Islam of politics," Gailani said. She said she supported negotiations with the Taliban, but that Afghanistan's women should not be sacrificed for that end.

Hadi Marifat of the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization, which surveyed 5,000 Afghan women for a recent report on the state of women's rights in Afghanistan, argued that the statements show Karzai is shifting more toward the strictest interpretations of Shariah law.

"In the post-Taliban Afghanistan, the guiding principle of President Karzai regarding women's rights has been attracting funding from the international community on one hand, balanced against the need to get the support of the Ulema Council and other traditionalists on the other," Marifat said.

"The concerning thing is that now this balance is shifting toward the conservative element, and that was obvious in his statement."

Israel's prime minister is vigorously asserting his country's right to defend itself against an Iranian nuclear threat.

Benjamin Netanyahu's tough talk suggests he would attack Iranian nuclear facilities alone if he thinks Israel needs to do that.

Netanyahu told a gathering of the pro-Israel lobby on Monday that Israel has "patiently waited" for diplomacy and sanctions to work.

He says, "None of us can afford to wait much longer. As prime minister of Israel, I will never let my people live in the shadow of annihilation."

Why is the Department of Homeland Security spying on a peaceful and nonviolent group of Americans?

The jury in the trial of a man accused of raping and murdering a heavily pregnant teenager has been sent out to consider its verdict.

Carl Whant, 27, of Bettws, Newport denies murder, rape, child destruction and arson.

John Pilger: "The warmongering and human rights abuses of the New Labour years seem forgotten by all but the likes of Gareth Peirce. Yet Blair’s legacy lingers on in Afghanistan and Iraq and is re-emerging in Syria and Iran."

Report: "Nearly 45,000 annual deaths are associated with lack of health insurance, according to a new study published online today by the American Journal of Public Health. That figure is about two and a half times higher than an estimate from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2002. The study, conducted at Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance, found that uninsured, working-age Americans have a 40 percent higher risk of death than their privately insured counterparts, up from a 25 percent excess
death rate found in 1993."

The Obama Administration has vowed to retain close military ties to its European allies after revealing  plans to withdraw more than 11,000 troops from Germany and Italy as part of a strategic shift to Asia.

Shakila, 8 at the time, was drifting off to sleep when a group of men carrying AK-47s barged in through the door. She recalls that they complained, as they dragged her off into the darkness, about how their family had been dishonored and about how they had not been paid.

On this day when love should be in the air. Canadian Native women and others will march again to protest the lack of follow through by the Canadian authorities on the hundreds of missing and murdered Native women.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Vancouver Police Department have apologized for their lack of concern in these cases.

One case in Vancouver really brought home the lack of effort by the authorities.

Hamish Ford: "On Australia Day in Canberra this year two stark effects of an intertwined political and mainstream media narrative were revealed. First, that protests, no matter how small, are increasingly portrayed as security threats. Second, the way the events were relayed at the time and then over ensuing days illustrates how historical and ongoing Indigenous disadvantage — despite being an international scandal — is treated here with a mix of dishonest platitudinal concern and "move-on" belligerence."

"

Bullying has no place in our Society. May this Legislation by Quebec Provincial Gouvernment of Canada be an example for to stop "bullying..."once and for all.

Catriona Menzies-Pike (managing editor of progressive Australian web magazine New Matilda): "Is it sexist anytime anyone ever criticises any woman? Can anything any female politician ever does be shielded from criticism on the grounds that to do so is sexist? If a female politician who happens to be a Prime Minister screws up royally and appears to make a habit of doing so, can she ignore all the slings and arrows that come her way because they’ve all been hurled by sexist bastards who want nothing more than to see a good woman fall? The answer to all of these questions should obviously be "no".

Former Australian Democrats MP Cheryl Kernot re sexism allegations over treatment of Australian  PM Julia Gillard: "The first thing I’d say is none of those other countries [Germany, US, New Zealand] has the “gotcha” media syndrome. We seem to have perfected that. American presidential campaigns have it, but the wider political discourse doesn’t have it as much as we do. We are the masters of it. The second thing I think we need to remark upon is that Angela Merkel, Julia Gillard and Helen Clark all have no children. That has been used against Julia Gillard. There have been occasional insinuations against Helen Clark [implying] her husband is a homosexual. I haven’t heard anything much about Angela Merkel. Hillary Clinton has one child, and both Clintons are power players."

Mehdi Hasan: "

How do we stop the ongoing killings in Syria? It is an urgent and important question but one that defies a simple or easy answer.

Let's be clear: Syria is a human rights disaster. The revolution's death toll now exceeds 6,000 and thousands of others have been "disappeared" into the country's mini-gulags, to be tortured and starved. Syria's third-biggest city, Homs, is under daily bombardment from shells, mortars and machine-gun fire."

"

British Zionists responding to Ben White and claiming that race-based Israel is "democratic": "BICOM has recently published articles by four experts to raise the level of discussion in the UK about the state of Israeli democracy. We are starting from a position of caring about Israel's future as both a state expressing the Jewish right to national self-determination, and a democracy for all its citizens. On that basis, we wanted to stimulate a more nuanced conversation about Israel"

Canada's Prime Minister, Right Honourable Stephen Harper, a World Class Diplomat accomplishing a Noble Mission .

Australian ABC Radio National Late Night Live presenter Phillip Adams presents a tribute to "Late Night Live's longest and most outstanding contributor, the late Christopher Hitchens, journalist, author and contrarian" (and pro-Iraq War war atheist).

We hear so often about Muslims as victims of abuse in the West and combatants in the Arab Spring’s fight against tyranny. But, in fact, a wholly different kind of war is underway—an unrecognized battle costing thousands of lives. Christians are being killed in the Islamic world because of their religion. It is a rising genocide that ought to provoke global alarm.

Muslim clerics in Canada issued a fatwa on Saturday against honour killings, domestic violence and hatred of women.

“These crimes are major sins in Islam, punishable by the court of law and almighty Allah,” said Prof. Imam Syed Soharwardy, representing 34 clerics affiliated with the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada.

Francine Kopun

Ben White: "Firstly, foundational to Israel's legal framework as a Jewish state is legislation passed in the first few years, specifically the Law of Return, the Absentee Property Law, and the Citizenship Law. These laws shaped an institutionalised regime of ethno-religious discrimination by extending Israel's 'frontiers' to include every Jew in the world (as a potential citizen), at the same time as explicitly excluding expelled Palestinians."

It's time for another sense of the vine poll. This one will be a done a little differently from other polls I've done recently. I am going to ask about 22 issues that people are talking about. For each one, please indicate if that issue is of high priority, medium priority, or low priority for you. Once you have completed the poll, I am asking that the reader identify the three issues that are the most important to you and explain why they are such significant issues. We hear candidates talk about a million peripherals. What should they be talking about? Please try to hold your discussion to the three most important issues to you and a reaction to other individual's prioritizations.

Nineteen-year-old Zoliswa Nkonyana, who lived openly as a lesbian, was stoned and stabbed to death outside of an informal bar in the Khayelitsha Township in 2006.

Sexual violence and hate crimes are shockingly prevalent in post-apartheid South Africa.

The country has one of the highest rates of child sexual abuse and "baby rape" in the world,

The Taliban, backed by Pakistan, are set to retake control of Afghanistan after Nato-led forces withdraw from the country, according to reports citing a classifed assessment by US forces.The Times described the report as secret and "highly classified", saying it was put together last month by the US military at Bagram air base in Afghanistan for top Nato officers. The BBC also carried a report on the leaked document.

An Afghan woman has been strangled, apparently by her husband, upset that she gave birth to a second daughter rather than the son he had hoped for, police say.

It was the latest in a series of grisly examples of subjugation of women that have made headlines in Afghanistan in the past few months - including a 15-year-old tortured and forced into prostitution by in-laws and a female rape victim imprisoned for adultery.

Kingston, Ontario (CNN) -- A Canadian jury Sunday convicted three members of a family of Afghan immigrants of the "honor" murders of four female relatives whose bodies were found in an Ontario canal.

Mohammed Shafia, 58; his wife, Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 42; and their son, Hamed, 21, were found guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of Shafia's three teenage daughters and his first wife in his polygamous marriage. Sunday's verdicts followed a three-month trial, in which jurors heard wiretaps of Shafia referring to his daughters as "whores" and ranting about their behavior.