The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology is accepting nominations for the Women of Vision Awards to honour women making signification contributions to technology. The awards are given in three different categories of Innovation, Leadership and Social Impact (each category has an award).

When 14-year-old Judith, not her real name, was raped in Goma, her father decided not to report the matter to the authorities. Instead, the family of the victim sat down with that of the rapist and hammered out a so-called friendly settlement. Irène Ntambuka, programme director at Dynamique des Femmes Juristes, a local NGO that provides legal aid to rape victims, says that such agreements in sexual violence cases are becoming more common, largely because of a lack of trust in the local justice system.

Though basic social security is critical for mitigating the dire consequences of economic crises, it remains out of reach for most people across the world, above all in poorer countries, finds a new United Nations report. According to the 'World Social Security Report 2010-2011: Providing Coverage in Times of Crisis and Beyond', most of the world's working age population and their families lack effective access to comprehensive social protection systems. Worldwide, nearly 40 per cent of the working-age population is legally covered by contributory old-age pension schemes,

Doctored photographs of Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni showing him as a rap star are damaging his image, his press secretary has told the BBC. The images started appearing in the local media after a rap remix of a song the president sang became a hit ahead of presidential elections next year. Spokesman Tamale Mirundi said those showing the president half-naked and wearing bling were the most offensive.

Hundreds of thousands of Chadians uprooted by violence in the country's east say they can't go home unless the government improves infrastructure and health services in their towns and villages, aid workers say. Four years after inter-communal clashes forced people to flee their homes, Chadian authorities believe there is now enough peace and stability for the displaced populations to return.

As the transgender movement rises across Africa and the world Batswana have formed their own transgender identity oriented organisation titled Rainbow Identity Association (RIA). It aims to offer support to trans people not recognised by the lesbian, gay and bisexual community as well as the general society.

No sooner had Mariness Luhanga announced her intention to contest local elections in Mzimba district in northern Malawi, than she was summoned to appear before a village court on allegations of insulting men. 'I knew that some people in the village were not amused by my campaigns and had started to circulate stories that I was disrespectful to male candidates, that I was calling them names,' Luhanga, who wants to stand as a People Development Movement (PDM) candidate in Chapitamuno village told IPS.

Kenyans are likely from next month to start burying their dead in coffins made from corrugated cardboards or cartons following a local company decision to invest in this venture. The first samples of such coffins, the Eco Jeneza, have already been made and are on display in some major coffin outlets in the city. The coffin manufacturer, East African Packaging Industries (EAPI) Limited, says the coffins are going to be made from cast-off materials, reducing wastages and creating more jobs.

The Security Council has urged parties to the 2005 peace pact that ended the country’s long-running civil war to take urgent action to ensure the holding of peaceful and credible referenda on self-determination in less than two months’ time. Sudanese are slated to vote on 9 January on whether the south should secede from the rest of the country and also to determine the final status of Abyei, an oil-rich area in the centre of the country, as set out in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

On 13 November, independent reporter and filmmaker Nicolas Rossier, conducted an exclusive two-hour interview with former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in the hills of Johannesburg. He spoke with the former president about his life in forced exile, Haiti’s current political situation, and his possible return to Haiti. This is an excerpt of the interview. The interview was re-posted to the website of the Canada Haiti Action Network, with permission of Nicolas Rossier.

The International Journal of Transitional Justice invites submissions for its 2011 special issue titled ‘Civil Society, Social Movements and Transitional Justice,' to be guest edited by Moses Chrispus Okello, Senior Research Advisor, Refugee Law Project and Coordinator, Beyond Juba Project, Uganda and Lucy Hovil, Senior Researcher, Citizenship and Displacement in the Great Lakes region, International Refugee Rights Initiative.

Officers from Bulawayo police’s law and order section say calling for the ratification of the Convention Against Torture and the abolition of torture is offensive and causes disharmony. Chief Superintendent Patrick Moyo summoned representatives of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (the Forum) over billboards and street pole signs calling for the abolition of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Despite having agreed to a meeting for 12 November, the Forum representatives found most of the billboards already destroyed.

A Zambia ruling Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) politician has been jailed for assaulting journalists who had gone to cover President Rupiah Banda at the Lusaka International Airport last July. Lusaka Province MMD youth chairman Chris Chalwe was convicted on 9 November by the Lusaka Magistrates Court which found him guilty of assaulting journalists from state-owned Times of Zambia and the privately-owned the Post newspaper when they went to cover President Rupiah Banda at the Lusaka International Airport.

The Guinean authorities have declared a state of emergency as violence continues in the aftermath of a disputed presidential election. Reports say three people were found dead in the capital Conakry after the latest clashes between the security forces and opposition supporters. The winning candidate, Alpha Conde, says he wants to lead a process of national reconciliation.

Reporters Without Borders has hailed the release of Abdul Kareem Suleiman Amer, the blogger known as Kareem Amer. He was finally set free on the evening of 15 November, 10 days after completing a four-year jail sentence, and is now reunited with his family. He has decided for the time being to make no statement. The blogger was again subjected to physical mistreatment at the headquarters of the internal security department in Alexandria during the 10 days he was held illegally after 5 November, the date he should have been released.

International donors meeting in Dakar next week are expected to finance the prosecution of former Chadian dictator Hissène Habré nearly two decades after his removal from power, according to a coalition of rights organisations. Legal proceedings against Habré - who is accused of thousands of political murders and brutal torture during his rule of Chad from 1982 to 1990 - have been delayed for nearly a decade since he was first indicted in Senegal in February 2000.

The gender unit of TWN-Africa is hosting a round-table on gender and regional economic integration in Africa on 18-19 November, 2010, in Accra, Ghana. The meeting will bring together scholars, feminist economists and gender experts, as well as policy-makers, to discuss issues of gender equity and Africa’s economic integration.

Ghana's efforts to provide universal healthcare coverage for its nearly 24 million people won the hearts of researchers and medics gathered for the world's first-ever conference on health research. A modest West African nation usually classified as just one of the few developing countries closer to meeting the UN poverty goals, Ghana has been increasing its healthcare funding in line with the Abuja declaration on healthcare funding.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) and ARC International are deeply disappointed with yesterday’s vote in the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly to remove a reference to sexual orientation from a resolution on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. The resolution urges States to protect the right to life of all people, including by calling on states to investigate killings based on discriminatory grounds. For the past 10 years, the resolution has included sexual orientation in the list of discriminatory grounds on which killings are often based.

The occupation of the premises of Mine Line and TAP Engineering in Krugersdorp, West Rand, by disgruntled employees is entering its 27th day on Monday. The employees, who are members of the Metal and Electrical Workers Union of South Africa (Mewusa), embarked on the occupation of the two companies, which are under one roof, following an application for the companies’ voluntary liquidation by Mulder. The workers say they have adopted their action to secure the assets of the companies and ultimately to take over the two entities to protect their jobs, and recover unpaid wages and benefits.