News: NAIROBI, KENYA - Kenyans now have eight names from which to elect the country's fourth president in next month's transitional General Election which will crown President Kibaki's retirement. After clearing and handing nomination certificates to the presidential candidates, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) will now press on with printing of ballot papers ahead of the March 4 elections. [Source: "The Standard" - Friday, 01.02.2013] Comment: The coming General…

Natasha Walter, acclaimed British feminist campaigner, today claimed that women still need feminism.  She said feminism had changed and women today did have the freedom to be what they wanted, but were still in more need than ever of feminism due to ‘real and urgent' challenges women still faced. I could not agree more with Walter on one thing - that the challenges women face today are without a doubt,…

n the 23rd of January 2013, the Prime Minister of Malaysia paid, what was described as ‘a humanitarian visit' to Gaza City to show ‘solidarity and steadfast support of Malaysia and its people to the Palestinian struggle.' He was received by the Gaza Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh who declared that "this is an Islamic declaration for breaking the Israeli siege on Gaza." In his speech, Najib "admired the steadfastness…

The Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday 18th January that Ma Jiantang, director of China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), called for the country's one-child policy to be changed because of the nation's shrinking pool of workers. According to the NBS, the working-age population in China decreased by 3.45 million between 2011 and 2012. In October 2011, the China Development Research Foundation, a think-tank affiliated with the Chinese government, also…