Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- Empowering women in industrial production will be the focus of this year's International Women's Day celebrations in Ethiopia, a senior official in the trade and industry ministry said here Wednesday. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- Cell C, a South African cellular operator, Tuesday launched the second national annual "take a girl child to work" project aimed at exposing the country's girl children to what goes on in corporate and government institutions. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- Married Tanzanian women living with HIV/AIDS are more likely to be deserted by their spouses and family members than their male partners once the incurable infection comes into the open, indicates a new study on gender-based violence. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- A rumour that women would not be allowed to wear trousers and other "skimpy" dresses in the country by the end of February, is raising eyebrows across Kenya. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- First Lady Lucy Kibaki expressed the need Wednesday for society to address the root causes of gender violence, urging long-term community-based strategies to stem violence against Kenyan girls and women. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- Ministers responsible for Women Affairs in ECOWAS Member States have recommended the adoption of a regional gender policy to accelerate the integration of women in national development and address their development needs. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- DR Congo women cabinet Ministers and MPs have formed a group to promote the interest of women, following a workshop attended by Vice-President Azarias Ruberwa. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- Though African cultures have always recognised the importance of women and their contribution to sustainable family life, ironically, it is extremely difficult to define the legal status of women in many societies, UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said here. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- Zambian journalists have benefited a workshop on gender and newspaper reporting, with emphasis on gender violence and sexual harassment as related to poverty and rural development. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- Women from sub-Saharan Africa started meeting here Sunday in a three-day workshop organised by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to develop a comprehensive strategy for promoting the role of women in the development process in Africa. Full text...

Banjul- Gambia (PANA) -- Amnesty International (AI) Gambia organised a workshop here Saturday to mobilise stakeholders in view of a 12-month national campaign on violence against women, to be launched on 8 March. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The Geneva-based NGO "Femmes Africa Solidarité" (Africa Women Solidarity) (FAS) has signed a headquarters agreement with the Senegalese government to have its Women's Centre for Peace and Development based in Dakar. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- More than 100 representatives from 22 sub-Saharan African countries will attend a three-day workshop organised by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Sunday in Johannesburg to discuss strategies for promoting women's role in the development process in Africa. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The National Council of Women of Kenya (NCWK) has embarked on a countrywide civic education programme to increase the number of women in decision- making positions. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- Although Ethiopia has set 18 years as the legal age of marriage for girls, 60 percent of marriages in the country still involve girls below that age, UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Representative Monique Rakotomalala has said. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- Social Development minister Abdoulwahid Halimatou Ousseini called Friday for a stepping up of the mobilisation against female genital mutilation (FGM) in Niger. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- Eight years to go no African girl should face the threat of undergoing genital mutilation, one of the harmful traditional practices the continent has set on the elimination path. Full text...

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) -- Uganda's National Human Rights Tribunal will on Friday hear the case of a cabinet minister accused of neglecting his children born out of wedlock. Full text...

Bissau- Guinea Bissau (PANA) -- Women in the West African nation of Guinea Bissau are charting a plan of action "to sensitise the political leadership" on the role of women in national development. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- DR Congo government has asked the local chapter of the Network of African Women Ministers and Parliamentarians to provide a listing of female nominees to fill 30 percent of the positions in public institutions. Full text...

Guinea-Bissau (PANA) -- Judge Maria do Ceu Monteiro was Monday elected President of the Supreme Court in Guinea Bissau by her peers, scooping six out of seven votes. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The Senegalese chapter of the West African Women's Association (WAWA) is set to implement a 2004- 2006 action plan beginning March, to contribute to development in Senegal and Africa at large, secretary-general Khady Fall Tall told PANA here Thursday. Full text...

Banjul- Gambia (PANA) -- Gambian Vice-President Isatou Njie-Saidy, Friday lamented that 60% of the country's women were living under absolute poverty. Full text...

Nouakchott- Mauritania (PANA) -- Mauritania Thursday took a giant step in advancing the new information and communication technologies locally with the opening of an Internet centre for women in a Nouakchott market. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- Niger's Workers Union (USTN), one of the most important confederation of trade unions in the country, Sunday set up a national committee against sexual harassment and discrimination in Niger. Full text...

N'djamena- Chad (PANA) -- Youths in Guéra in Central Chad have formed what was dubbed the Standard Association against Early Marriage and Female Genital Mutilation (ATCMPE) with a view to educating the public on the harmful consequences of such practices. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- Studies by several organisations scrutinising violent crimes against women indicate that more than 1,532 women were raped during the rebel war in DR Congo's eastern Maniema province whose main town is Kindu. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- A national forum on female genital mutilation (FGM) opened here Tuesday to highlight difficulties stakeholders encounter in the fight against the practice and to define a plan of action. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- The NGO, Intra Health International/PRIME II in Ethiopia on Friday announced it has formed a women's leader team to work toward the abolition of female genital mutilation (FGM) in the country. Full text...

Bignona- Senegal (PANA) -- One hundred and eighteen villages in two regions in southern Senegal have declared an end to female genital mutilation (FGM) and early marriage, at a solemn function organised in Oulampane by the NGO TOSTAN, in collaboration with UNICEF. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- A major UNICEF report contends that international development efforts are drastically short- changing girls, leaving hundreds of millions of them uneducated and unable to contribute to positive change for themselves, their children, or their communities. Full text...

KaLomshiyo- Swaziland (PANA) -- Armed with a never-say-die resilience and an unswerving resolve to tackle adversity head-on, 49-year old Anna Gama is a standing example of how some Swazi widows brave the odds to survive. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- The South African Parliament is currently considering a new Sexual Offences Bill which among other things tackles a new definition of rape that will allow women to enter court as the accuser rather than the victim. Full text...

Isiolo- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenyan Muslim leaders are Wednesday meeting in the northern Kenya town of Isiolo for a brainstorming session on female genital mutilation (FGM) in order to find ways to arrest the vice in the mainly pastoral communities inhabiting the desert wasteland region. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- After the Higher Communication Council (CSC), another body in Niger, the Multi-sectoral Regulation Authority (ARM) has had a woman, Sory Boubacar Zalika appointed to head it. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- South Africa's Durban beaches at the weekend hosted more than 120 female surfers for the fifth edition of the Roxy Wahine Cup, the country's only stand-alone all-girl surf contest. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The Mano River Women's Peace Network (MARWOPNET) has been awarded the 2003 United Nations Prize in recognition of its outstanding achievement in human rights. Full text...

Ouagadougou- Burkina Faso (PANA) -- About 100 women from the ten Catholic dioceses of Burkina Faso Friday ended a two-day meeting here, aimed at sensitising people on conflict resolution. Full text...

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) -- Uganda sex workers look set to gain legal status following a change in attitude among MPs towards a law that associates prostitution with being "idle and disorderly," - the legislation police use to harass women on the street. Full text...

Grand Baie- Mauritius (PANA) -- Despite their early motherhood, some 2,600 Zambian girls returned to school after delivering their babies in the past two years, thanks to the adoption of a new policy being propagated continent-wide by the Forum for African Women Educationists (FAWE). Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- The South African Women Entrepreneurs' Network (SAWEN) Thursday launched its Western Cape branch near Cape Town. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- Officials of the Zambian Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) caused a stir here when they opted for a delegation of ten men to represent them at a conference in Lilongwe, Malawi on child defilement and violence against women. Full text...

Paris- France (PANA) -- Women have been accorded a minimal role in the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), according to Yves Marie Laulan, who heads the French Cedimes Institute, which specialises in international co-operation. Full text...

Ouidah- Benin (PANA) -- Some 30 women MPs, NGOs officials and women opinion leaders are meeting in Ouidah, about 40-km from Cotonou, on the UN Millennium Development Goals. Full text...

Manzini- Swaziland (PANA) -- With an increase in all forms of abuse cases in Swaziland, Swazi men have finally taken the bold step of reporting their suffering at the hands of their women to the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA). Full text...

Tunis- Tunisia (PANA) -- The ruling Democratic Constitutional Movement (RCD) in Tunisia has said it would, beginning with the next elections, ensure that women constitute at least a quarter of its candidates for seats in Parliament and local councils. Full text...

Mbadlane- Swaziland (PANA) -- Thanks to a thriving wood carving business, Thembelihle Dludlu of Mbadlane in the Swazi region of Lubombo continues to provide for her family after the retrenchment of her husband from the defunct Mpaka coal mine. Full text...

Siphofaneni- Swaziland (PANA) -- To break free from the grip of poverty in her home and community, Swazi teenager Nonciniseko Gamedze is making the best of her talent in dancing 'sibhaca' to raise money for her school fees. Full text...

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) -- Police authorities are holding 22 primary school teachers for allegedly defiling over 50 female students attending various primary schools of Kayunga district, about 120 km east of the capital. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- As South Africans observe the "16 Days of Activism on No Violence Against Women and Children", a local business expert against crime warned Thursday of the negative effects on gender violence the economy. Full text...