women's rights

A prominent Libyan human rights lawyer and activist has been assassinated in her home in Benghazi.

Armed men fought their way into the house of Salwa Bughaighis before shooting her.

Ms Bughaighis was an outspoken critic of many of the armed groups, which still control much of Libya.

Her husband Issam has disappeared, and relatives believe he has been kidnapped.

While we were meeting with women journalists in Afghanistan this past May, another group of Afghan women journalists were in Washington, D.C., meeting with congressional staff members. The overlap was coincidental, but both groups of Afghan women recounted similar stories of their growing role in Afghan media and, more importantly, the fight for Afghanistan’s democracy.

Human rights activist Salwa Bugaighis was shot dead by unknown assailants at her home in the restive east Libyan city of Benghazi late Wednesday, hospital and security sources said.

“Unknown hooded men wearing military uniforms attacked Mrs Bugaighis in her home and opened fire on her,” said a security official, who did not wish to be named.

She was shot several times and taken to hospital in critical condition, where she died shortly afterwards, a spokesman for the Benghazi medical center said.

The bicycle, when it was still new technology, went through a series of rapid iterations in the 19th century before it really went mainstream. Designers toyed with different-sized front and back wheels, the addition of chains and cranks and pedals, and tested a slew of braking mechanisms. 

By the 1890s, America was totally obsessed with the bicycle—which by then looked pretty much like the ones we ride today.

When Afghan taxi driver Sara Bahai has male passengers in her cab, she takes the chance to lobby them on female rights — and she hopes the country’s next president will also listen to her.

Bahai has been driving the streets of Mazar-i-Sharif city for 10 years, during which Afghanistan has experienced huge changes, including limited improvements in the lives of many women after the harsh years of Taliban rule.

IN THIS heady age of grimy corruption revelations, thanks to the ICAC merry-go-round, it's good to know there's a simple answer to end corruption in politics.

That is, to get more women elected Australia-wide, according to Lennox Head-based NSW Upper House MP Catherine Cusack.

Ms Cusack has just been elected to chair the Commonwealth Women's Parliamentary Steering Committee, and her appointment comes during a crisis point for women.

The number of female MPs is dropping; nationally the number has fallen from 254 in 2010 to 239 in 2014.