March 8 is International Women's Day! So the next faves, are food for thought.

This particular topic is prevalent even in the US-- Girls not being able to wear certain types of clothing in primary and secondary schools, in fear of drawing negative male attention.

Quoted: 23 February 2008 - On 9 February 2008, remarks by the Chief Justice of Karnataka, Cyriac Joseph that immodest dressing was one reason for increasing ...

How awful and completely unacceptable!!! Ahh...I can't believe my country still does this. I hope this government intervention works...But the foundation of the problem isn't being dealt with, and that is: girls are valued less compared to boys. Unless we aim to change negative social stigma about the value of women, that they are more than just a way of lessening burden once married off, we can't just pay people off. This is ridiculous. We need to redirect focus on educating women, and educating the public against things like dowries and required domesticities of women (especially in the rural areas).

Quoted: By the time you finish reading this story, 10 more female fetuses in India will have been aborted. Aborted by a medical profession that profits ...

Quoted: India has some of the hardest-working bureaucrats in the world, but its administration has an abysmal record of serving the public

pretty cool

Quoted: Revelers fired guns, waved red-and-black Albanian flags and set off fireworks over Kosovo Sunday after parliament proclaimed independence in defiance of Serbia and Russia, which condemned the declaration of the world's newest nation.

great article...mumbai--the city of dreams indeed for millions, rich and poor.

Quoted: The residents of Dharavi, allegedly Asia's biggest slum, are thriving in hardship

I love how US Foreign policy under the Bush administration has always been about hindsight, and hardly ever about foresight. In the late 1990s US was all over India regarding not signing the NPT, conducting underground tests, etc...labeling the country as a "rogue" nation. Seriously, India was your concern? Shouldn't the Bush administration have re-evaluated its foreign policy with Pakistan, post 9/11 and the war on terror? what good will it do to worry now, when over half the country is filled with terrorist factions? i recently had a chance to speak with Ed Meese, and i asked him what he thought about the Bush administration's relationship with Pakistan and what his predictions were...let's just say, the answer was most unsatisfactory.

Quoted: Pakistan says the technology is under control. But Washington wonders.

this is how a democratic nation is born from an Islamic state...not through invasion, but through the realization by its own people, of corruption of power, suspension of constitution, and violation of their rights...

how long can Musharraf continue to postpone the inevitable...

Quoted: Police blanketed the protest site and barricaded the opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto, in her house in Islamabad today.

ah yes...bureaucracy... the inefficient yet effective tool of democracies to appease the masses of contenders. A panel WILL be set up...will any work get done? Will the land reforms *actually* happen? probably not...something tells me this march will reconvene in about ten years...with the same demands.

Quoted: The Indian government says it will set up a panel on land reform to meet the demands of landless farmers and indigenous people.