Leila, 17, presses her hijab-clad head against the front door and strains to hear outside. 'There's nothing,' she says cautiously, turning towards her mother Rawda, the head of the household, in their quiet basement apartment. Along the brocade couch sit her two sisters, Mona, 19, Nadja, 15, and 10-year-old brother Khaled.*

To some in her country she is known as 'The Lady,' and to others, the more endearing 'Aunty Suu.' Yet beyond the borders of Burma, which has endured nearly 50 years of oppressive military regimes, Aung San Suu Kyi has been long regarded as the icon of the country’s struggling democracy movement.

The western world sees China erecting trade walls. But China sees a throwback to an era of plundering and forceful western politics that followed the Opium wars of the 19th century and precipitated the collapse of the Chinese empire.

India's Dalits are turning to the ''Goddess of English'' for deliverance from centuries of religiously-sanctioned caste oppression.

The last time Estela Domínguez of Mexico saw her daughter Estela Paz was in April 2006, when the young woman left home with the goal of reaching Las Vegas, Nevada.

Just days after his party suffered defeat in the U.S. congressional elections, President Barack Obama is finally taking a twice-postponed trip to Asia.

Women from a dozen countries convened in New York this week to share their struggles to implement state legislation and empower women at the grassroots level to put an end to gender- based violence (GBV) worldwide.

Nicaragua has made some progress promoting gender equity and the empowerment of women, but it will have to step up efforts and overcome a number of hurdles if it is to eliminate inequalities between the sexes at all levels by 2015.

'Put yourself in God's hands,' his mother told him just before she died. Only later did he understand that as she was dying of kidney failure, she was urging him to continue her work as a Catholic evangelist.

Namibia's national power utility says plans are moving ahead to construct a series of hydro-electric power stations along the Lower Orange River.