News stories by Hannah Rubenstein

No man, except for those raised here as children, lives in Umoja village in Kenya; one has not for two decades. It is a village only of and for women, women who have been abused, raped, and forced from their homes.

Sharon White remembers the breaking point vividly. She was 21 years old and had been married to Andre for a little over a year. Looking back, she describes their life together as 'a nightmare. Every day was a fight.'

A month ahead of the 2010 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) review summit at the United Nations, some women's groups are voicing concern that member states' commitment to women's issues is insufficient and slowing progress towards gender parity worldwide.

At first glance, Sara Samarasinghe's website could be any teenager's: cheerful pink text scrawled against a black background, blog entries about summer clothing sales, and lists of favourites: music (Kelly Clarkson), movies (10 Things I Hate About You), and quotes (Jennifer Aniston, J. K. Rowling).

A woman waits on a subway platform, head bowed, pretending to ignore the insults. Perched on bar stools, a group of friends listen to racist jokes, suppressing giggles. Kneeling, a young war veteran tells his fiancée of his decision to return to combat. Two men wait expectantly at a job interview. An old man and a young graffiti artist sit together on a bench, discussing the power of language.

Lauding the conviction of a Khmer Rouge leader Monday as a historic moment in the history of Cambodia, some international human rights groups also expressed disappointment with what they view as a lenient sentence, and urged an end to what they described as 'political interference' in the judicial process.

Leaning back in a squeaking plastic chair, one leg crossed over the other, the lieutenant is at once relaxed and commanding. She smiles often, absent- mindedly running her hands through short brown hair before speaking. Her words are thoughtful, her manner candid.

A comprehensive report, released Thursday by Chatham House, finds that production of illegal timber worldwide has declined by 22 percent since 2002, a trend that is benefiting both communities dependent on tropical forests and the global climate.

'I was baking a cake when my contractions were two minutes apart,' Kristine says, her voice warm with memory, 'not in a hospital, holding onto a bedside somewhere screaming.'

Nearly 50 government delegations spent the past week at U.N. headquarters in New York hashing over the progress that has been made and challenges that remain in pursuing gender parity worldwide, one of the crucial elements of the Millennium Development Goals.