News stories by Elizabeth Whitman, page 7

Risk of sexual violence, limited access to education, and health issues such as HIV/AIDS and forced female genital mutilation/cutting are just a few of the obstacles adolescent girls face in developing countries, yet these girls are the key to the future and the eradication of poverty, stress experts at the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

The world's Muslim population will increase by 35 percent in the next 20 years, according to new estimates by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion and Public Life.

A report released Thursday by the World Bank indicates that for the next two years, developing nations are better poised on the road to economic recovery than their more developed counterparts.

That Haiti will not recover from the trauma of 2010 for many years is an unfortunate but understood fact. More disturbing, according to a new analysis, is that aspects of current aid efforts are undermining Haiti's ability to begin the reconstruction process and develop a strong, functional state infrastructure.

Recent revelations of domestic worker abuse may be grotesque and horrifying, but they are only the most visible aspect of the many difficulties faced by these predominantly female workers, activists say.

Many United Nations peacekeepers are not only failing to meet the needs of civilians, but they are also perceived as unresponsive once civilians convey their needs, says a new report by Oxfam International.