Tripoli- Libya (PANA) -- "As both of you are lazy, I have decided to marry a third wife," Mohamad Maghrabi, then 55, told his two wives in 1960, after humiliating and battering them. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Bookings have opened at Computicket for the Miss South Africa Pageant 2001 scheduled 15 December in the North West province. Full text...

Gaborone Botswana (PANA) -- Education Minister George Goroba Tuesday complained to parliament about the difficulty to deal with the increased cases of defilement of children, especially female pupils. Full text...

Ouagadougou- Burkina Faso (PANA) -- Burkina Faso's chapter of the Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF) on Sunday launched its annual campaign to combat violence against women. Full text...

Lome- Togo (PANA) -- A group of Togolese NGOs Monday in Lome, launched a two-week campaign against sexual harassment of women in schools in the country. Full text...

Paris- France (PANA) -- Every year several hundreds of immigrant women in France are victims of physical and emotional assault, the president of the Association of African Psychologists in France, Kabangu Muanza, observed Sunday in Paris. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- A task force on discriminatory legislation against women has recommended that one-third of senior posts in the Mauritian public service be reserved for women. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Thousands of men marched through the streets of Cape Town on Sunday at the beginning of a 16-day campaign to protest against violence against women and children in South Africa. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Zimbabwean model Brita Masalethulini was crowned Miss Malaika (The African Angel) at a ceremony in South Africa's Sun City Saturday night. Full text...

Algiers- Algeria (PANA) -- Years after independence, Algerian women continue to suffer the status of minor assigned them by the existing Family Code, women's rights groups in the country decry. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Husbands, in the past few weeks, killed three wives in Senegal, where a current study reveals that 78 percent of women suffer various forms of domestic violence. Full text...

Gaborone- Botswana (PANA) -- "We shall not tolerate violence meted out on fellow women", vows Vivian Mazunga, coordinator of Women's NGO Coalition. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- South Africa's Sun City will this weekend host a group of international beauties, as Africa decides on which of its lovely representatives takes the crown of Miss Malaika, the African angel. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- Ahead of Zambia's presidential, parliamentary and council elections announced Thursday for 27 December, the National Women's Lobby Group (ZNWLG) has said it was stepping up support for women candidates. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria has directed the ministry of Aviation to name the Calabar international airport in the south-east after frontline female politician Margaret Ekpo, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported Friday. Full text...

Gaborone- Botswana (PANA) -- A women's rights organisation Wednesday started a 10-day campaign to enlighten the public in Gaborone about the ill effects of violence against women. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- There are more Malian women infected with the HIV than men, said a study of the Counselling, Care and Assistance Centre (CESAC) released Tuesday in Bamako. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- South Africa's Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya has called on citizens to stand up against the increasing cases of abuse, including rape and all forms of violence against women and children. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- A fresh study has shown that women remained the most vulnerable group in Mauritius, the MATERA news agency reported Monday. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- Zambian women have produced a report whose findings show that they are still heavily marginalised in both politics and decision making processes, even as the country moves towards presidential and legislative elections. Full text...

Paris- France (PANA) -- At least 20 films by women directors from Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria are being shown at the Paris-based Arab World Institute throughout November. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- An OAU experts meeting considering the Additional Protocol to the African Charter, on Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Women on Thursday failed to reach a consensus on whether polygamy should be prohibited. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- Some 30 women's associations in Mali's north-eastern locality of Goundam in Tambacounda have received market gardening equipment worth 10 million francs CFA (13 000 US dollars) from the United States International Development Agency (USAID). Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- The Malian Association for the Preservation and Reorientation of Traditional Practices plans to involve traditional rulers in efforts to combat practices that are harmful to the health of women and children. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Consanguine sisters -Prof. Full text...

Bujumbura- Burundi (PANA) -- Burundi women have taken exception to the composition of the new transitional government, which granted them only three cabinet positions as against 23 for men. Full text...

Bujumbura- Burundi (PANA) -- Burundian women are still reeling from the formation of a new transitional government in which only three ministries are headed by women compared to 23 assigned to their male counterparts. Full text...

Gaborone- Botswana (PANA) -- The number of women in Botswana's cabinet rose to five Thursday when President Festus Mogae named Pelonomi Venson new minister of Works, Transport and Communication, replacing David Magang who resigned recently. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- The Zambia National Women's Lobby Group (ZNWLG) has appealed to opposition political parties to seriously consider women in their nomination of candidates for this year's local council, parliamentary and possibly presidential elections. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- A four-day meeting of the African Committee on Women and Development opened here Monday calling on African governments to give special attention to gender issues in preparation of poverty reduction strategies. Full text...

Algiers- Algeria (PANA) -- Violence against women in Algeria is unabated despite the country's socio-political development and a significant improvement in their status, advocates of women's rights have lamented. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Women from various countries have set up in Saly Portudal (seaside resort 70 km from Dakar) a women economists network, under the initiative of the Regional Bureau for French-speaking Africa and the Maghreb of the UN Fund for Women (UNIFEM). Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- The assistant secretary-general of the Inter-parliamentary Union, Christine Pinat, has enjoined MPs from some 15 Parliaments from French-, Portuguese- and Arabic-speaking countries in Africa to beef up their capacities for better involvement in the elaboration of national budgets. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- A study on the feminisation of poverty in Mauritius, released Wednesday revealed that female-headed households earn significantly less than those headed by men. Full text...

Blantyre- Malawi (PANA) -- Thanks to 'radio clubs' set up with financial assistance from donor agencies including UNESCO, USAID and Panos, women across Malawi have found a new vent on the country's air waves, to voice their concerns. Full text...

Luanda- Angola (PANA) -- Women MPs from Central Africa begin meeting Monday in Luanda, to discuss possibilities of setting up a regional network among them. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- UNICEF's Deputy Country Representative Roger Wright, Friday urged Nigeria to pass into law the Bill on child rights, to create the necessary legal environment for the development and protection of children in the country. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- A young Maasai girl was Thursday rescued from a two-month forced marriage ordeal and taken to a boarding school where she will pursue education. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- Opposition Agenda for Zambia (AZ) Thursday unveiled its party manifesto with a strict focus on human resource development and education for all, the Zambia News Agency reported. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- Tanzania's media women have teamed up with a host of local and foreign NGOs to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country. Full text...

Windhoek- Namibia (PANA) -- The Namibian Women's Manifesto Network is demanding equal representation of men and women in all government elective positions. Full text...

Tambacounda- Senegal (PANA) -- Senegalese nationals, who are against Female genital mutilation (FGM) should spread the message to their compatriots living in France, a French woman activist, Emmanuelle Barbaras said in Tamabacounda, eastern Senegal at the weekend. Full text...

Malem Niani- Senegal (PANA) -- Some 101 villages in the Malem Niani rural community of Senegal's Tambacounda region on Saturday declared their abandonment of female genital mutilation (FGM). Full text...

Tambacounda- Senegal (PANA) -- Senegal, where at least one million women and girls are affected by female genital mutilation (FGM), according to corroborating sources, has just drafted a national plan for the eradication of FGM nationwide by 2005. Full text...

Windhoek- Namibia (PANA) -- The Namibian Women's Manifesto Network (NWMN) Thursday launched a pamphlet as part of its campaign to press for a 50/50 women and men representation in government, the Namibia News Agency (NAMPA) reported. Full text...

Windhoek- Namibia (PANA) -- Activists and experts from the southern African region are in Windhoek for a two-day seminar under the auspices of the Namibia National Association of Women in Business and the Foundation of Women's Forum in Sweden, to develop more accurate methods for evaluating empowerment projects. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- Women from about ten villages in the region of Kayes (about 500 km west of Bamako) last weekend decided to stop the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM), health officials affirmed Wednesday. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- The illiteracy rate among rural women in DR Congo ranges between 22 and 85 percent, compared to 5 and 25 percent for men, Social and Family Welfare minister Jeanne Ebamba Boboto affirmed in Kinshasa, on the occasion of the International Rural Women's Day celebrated 15 October. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- Colleen Lowe Morna has resigned as chief executive officer of the Commission on Gender Equality (CGE) as part of an amicable agreement both parties declared to be a "victory for gender equality. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- Health authorities in Tanzania have identified gender inequality and creeping poverty as prime causes for the high rate of HIV/AIDS cases among women in the country. Full text...