Blantyre- Malawi (PANA) -- Police in Malawi's southern District of Machinga have charged a lady traditional ruler to court over the death of a suspected maize thief. Full text...

Gaborone- Botswana (PANA) -- Women in Botswana Friday marked the International Women's Day with a march denouncing increasing violence against women in the country. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- UNESCO in conjunction with media women associations in eastern Africa Friday launched a website that will act as a data base and anchor reports on HIV/AIDS. Full text...

London- UK (PANA) -- Amnesty International has called on the Kenyan government to reform its laws and practices to end impunity of persons committing violence against women. Full text...

Algiers- Algeria (PANA) -- As the world observes International Women's Day on Friday, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika paid a glowing tribute to female compatriots, and called for reflection on their struggle to develop the country. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- Ghanaian women are scared stiff and the public is outraged over increasing incidence of spouse killings. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Three women scientists from South Africa left for Paris Thursday, to join more than 300 physicists invited from 65 countries to attend the International Conference on Women in Physics. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya, (PANA) -- Kenyan NGO, Coalition of Women against Violence (COVAW), has urged women to actively engage in initiatives that curb domestic violence. Full text...

Cairo- Egypt (PANA) -- "Progress on the road to a better status for Egyptian women is still very slow,," Hind Wassef of the Cairo-based New Woman Research Centre told PANA on Thursday. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- Ghanaian women are scared stiff and the public is outraged, and they have reasons. Full text...

Sirte- Libya (PANA) -- Five African first ladies who met at the weekend in the Libyan city of Sirte, 450-km east of Tripoli, have advocated the creation of an umbrella group for various African women organisations. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- Zambian women were on Tuesday fine-tuning preparations for Friday's international women's day, the first to be held since President Levy Mwanawasa succeeded Fredrick Chiluba following the 27 December 2001 election. Full text...

Sirte- Libya (PANA) -- Five African first ladies Saturday began a meeting at the Libyan city of Sirte, 450-km east of Tripoli, on how to advance the cause of women on the continent. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- Congo's National Development Committee, a women's NGO, on Friday launched Friday a campaign aimed at curbing the violence being perpetrated against women in the current war context. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- The media in Tanzania has reinstated its commitment to intensify the fight against AIDS that continues to ravage the east African country. Full text...

Sirte- Libya (PANA) -- The first ladies of Ghana, Senegal And Rwanda arrived Friday evening in Sirte, 450 km east of Tripoli to attend the second African Women's summit Saturday and Sunday. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- Zambia First Lady Maureen Mwanawasa is considering forming a charitable organisation that would look after neglected senior citizens and deprived families, as well as children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Full text...

Nouakchott- Mauritania (PANA) -- Bride fattening, a practice in Maure society that consisted in "force-feeding" a young girl before she reached puberty, so as to make her plump and attractive to potential suitors, has completely disappeared in Mauritania. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- Twenty-six Benin women from various walks of life are to be honoured 8 March as part of celebrations marking the International Women's Day, the organisers have announced in Cotonou. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Preparations are under way in Tripoli, Libya, for a summit of African First Ladies scheduled to precede the upcoming meeting of Sahara-Sahelian Community (CEN-SAD) leaders. Full text...

Paris- France (PANA) -- Several dozens of Algerian and French women rallied throughout France under the auspices of a movement dubbed "Flames for Algeria" to protest against the civil war raging in Algeria. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- After intense lobbying for greater gender awareness and recognition, the resilience of women across the world is now under international spotlight with the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) saying it will accord them special focus this year. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Ahead of the general polls in Nigeria in 2003, a multi-sectoral forum has advocated a revolutionary transformation of women in the country. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA) -- Three women scientists from South Africa are set to attend next month's international conference on Women in Physics, to hold in Paris, France. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- As Zambians gear up for the 2002 fiscal budget, to be unveiled by finance and national planning minister Emmanuel Kasonde next week, gender activists said they hoped they presentation would not overlook vulnerable women. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- A Bill seeking to repeal harmful and dehumanising traditional practices against women has sparked a heated debate among legislators in Nigeria's south-eastern Rivers State. Full text...

Freetown- Sierra Leone (PANA) -- Female presidential aspirant Zainab Bangura has lashed out at fellow politicians who desert their parties to join the ruling Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) ahead of the upcoming elections. Full text...

Gaborone- Botswana (PANA) -- African and US business women are meeting in Botswana to assert their role in the global economy and explore ways to remove constraints against international trade. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Twenty-six women from 16 English -speaking African countries have graduated from the Cisco Internet Networking Academy after 280 hours of training at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Women pressure groups in Zimbabwe were up in arms Thursday with a growing practice in the country of carrying out virginity tests on young girls as part of efforts to combat HIV/AIDS. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- The government of Benin has disbursed 100 million francs CFA and equipment to 263 women's groupings across the country, State Radio announced Wednesday. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- A movement referred to as "Pro- Choice" has been launched in Mauritius to campaign for women to be given the right to decide whether to abort or not. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- A local NGO has devised a pastoral scheme to lure practising women off female genital mutilation (FGM), popular among some Kenyan communities as an initiation rite into womanhood. Full text...

Freetown- Sierra Leone (PANA) -- A New York-based women and children's right NGO dubbed Witness, has launched a video documentary depicting rape as a weapon of war in Sierra Leone. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Tired of seeking visas for their non- resident husbands, Kenyan women are demanding dual citizenship, a right they insist should be entrenched in the constitution in recognition of the increasing number of children from mixed marriages. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- South African opposition parties have raised a outcry after Thursday's dropping of charges against six men arrested on suspicion of raping a nine month old baby in the Northern Cape last October. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- Twenty Benin women involved in female genital mutilation (FGM) in Kalale district in north-eastern Benin undertook to give up their trade at a ceremony organised last week to present them with materials for alternative sources of income. Full text...

Lusaka- Zambia (PANA) -- Zambian women will on Friday mount a big demonstration in Lusaka against police bias and the stripping of women earlier this week by unruly youths believed to belong to the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy party. Full text...

Freetown- Sierra Leone (PANA) -- British Council director in Sierra Leone Rajiv Bendre has expressed concern over the lack of opportunities for women to play their part fully in the running of the country. Full text...

Kinshasa- DR Congo (PANA) -- A movement grouping a dozen Protestant communities in DR Congo and dubbed 'Women, Source of Abundance' (FEBA), Thursday organised an awareness campaign on the rights of girls. Full text...

Johannesburg- South Africa (PANA -- South African Sergeant Adrian Stuurman from the Claremont Police Station in Cape Town was this week arrested and charged with one count of rape, two years after sex workers laid complaints against him. ) Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- South Africa's Department of Public Works this week handed over a construction project for 2. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- Women in Mauritius have launched a campaign for changes in matrimonial and allied laws that are biased against women in the country. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- Some 263 rural women's credit groups in Niger have received grants from the Zinder district poverty alleviation agency, local press reports indicated at the weekend. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- The rate of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Benin stood at about 12 percent in 2001, a sociological and demographic study has revealed in Cotonou. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- With the support of Prime Minister Aneerood Jugnauth, Mauritius is ensuring that women's equality is reflected in the national budget and economic policies, according to the UN Development Programme. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Senegalese associations for the defence of women's rights are of the view that the late Leopold Sedar was at the centre of women's liberation. Full text...

Saint Denis- Reunion (PANA) -- More and more women in Reunion are seeking jobs, according to the National Institute Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), which explained the trend on a craving for independence. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Migration in West Africa, which has been the preserve of men for a long time, is now increasingly including women, Senegalese sociologist Abdou Salam Fall has said in Dakar. Full text...

Monrovia- Liberia (PANA) -- Liberian President Charles Taylor has denied rumours that he mercilessly flogged the First Lady, Jewel, now in the United States on a medical trip, press reports said Tuesday. Full text...