HAVANA, Oct 7 (IPS) - Women’s incursion into baseball, Cuba’s national sport and a bastion of the "machismo" that is so deeply rooted in Cuban culture, has drawn mixed reactions.

NAIROBI, Oct 7 (IPS) - It was a sad occasion, and an occasion to rejoice. Sad, said Dr Ludeki Chweya, introducing Flora Terah's new book, because her heart-wrenching story shows that physical abuse and torture are a weapon of choice to deter women's participation in electoral politics in Kenya.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 (IPS) - An emerging trend in the trafficking of tribal people, mostly young girls, is raising concern among government officials, rights organisations, migration experts and human rights lawyers.

WINDHOEK, Oct 6 (IPS) - Namibian gender activists applaud the goal of a 50/50 split of women and men in government by 2015, but warn that the real work is only just beginning.

PESHAWAR, Oct 6 (IPS) - The current campaign against "honour" killings in Pakistan led by anti-death penalty NGOs has support from lawmakers and lawyers pressing for modifications of Islamic law to prevent perpetrators from evading justice.

CONAKRY, Oct 4 (IPS) - Long absent from the top posts in the civil service and under-represented in political parties, Guinean women are calling for changes during legislative elections planned for December.

FREETOWN, Oct 3 (IPS) - Her reputation as a fiery orator is enhanced whenever she takes the podium, her punch softened by her broad smiles and gorgeous attires in West African style.

SANTA FE, Argentina, Oct 1 (Tierramérica) - Wearing a cap and a white apron, Melina Lucero cuts the heads and tails off fish caught in the Paraná River, before skilfully filleting them. Her co-workers will process and package the fish to sell as traditional, small-scale fish preserves at food fairs along the banks of the river in Argentina.

KAMPALA, Oct 1 (IPS) - Fifteen-year-old Taboni's parents are in a bind. Their daughter has been raped by the commandant of the squalid internally-displaced persons camp they call home, and they do not know what to do.

MBABANE, Oct 1 (IPS) - The crowd ululated, whistled and danced. Their candidate had won! Last Sunday, the people of Mbabane East returned Esther Dlamini to Swaziland's House of Assembly for a second term.

LUANDA, Sep 30 (IPS) - Something looked very different at the inauguration of Angola’s newly elected parliament, held Tuesday at the Talatona Convention Centre in Luanda, the capital -- this is not a boys' club any longer.

JUBA, Sep 30 (IPS) - When Sabrina Dario Lokolong, the Speaker of South Sudan's Eastern Equatoria State Assembly, enters or leaves Parliament, all the other members of parliament must stand up.

KARACHI, Sep 30 (IPS) - Rape and sexual violence are endemic in Pakistan, but cases are rarely registered. Few survivors and their families can withstand the pressure to compromise with the assailants over the years the cases drag on.

MANILA, Sep 30 (IPS) - Liana Garcellano was teaching in a private school here in the Philippines when she got an offer to teach English in Singapore. Though quite happy with her job in her home country, the promise of higher pay and career advancement spurred Garcellano to try her luck overseas.

HARARE, Sep 29 (IPS) - The ink was barely dry on the power-sharing agreement signed by Zimbabwe’s main political parties on Sep. 15 when women activists demanded a fair share of power.