Afghanistan's army got its first female officers in decades on Thursday when 29 women graduated in a class of new recruits who hope to help take the lead role in national security from foreign forces by 2014.

President Hamid Karzai, NATO and the United States have been pushing to expand and train Afghanistan's army, police and other security forces to allow them to take over during a planned drawdown of foreign troops.

The United States has said it will start its withdrawal in July 2011, although the process may take years.

Yet another glass ceiling has cracked. Year after year, a male cadet had received the 'Sword of Honour', the best all-round cadet award, at the passing out parade of the Officer's Training Academy (OTA), Chennai.

For the first time in the history of the Indian Army, a lady cadet has received the honour, from chief of army staff Gen V K Singh.

A Divya (21) came up trumps over 157 men and 70 women who will be inducted into the Army, to bag the coveted title that is given to the cadet who excels on several parameters including physical agility.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Goodwill Ambassador, Angelina Jolie, has appealed for greater public support for efforts to provide humanitarian relief to the millions of people whose lives have been devastated by the floods taking over much of Pakistan.

Sophie Blanchard shares the name of a French aviation pioneer and has now become one herself -- as the first female captain, or pilot in command, for Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways.

"I am very happy. It still is a pretty macho environment, but my colleagues here encouraged me a lot, and the flight attendants are very proud," said the 33-year-old mother of two, a French citizen.

Blanchard joined Etihad as its first female pilot three years ago and last week took off from Abu Dhabi to London on her first flight as captain, sitting in the left-hand seat of an Airbus A330-200.

Her 18th century namesake was the first professional female balloon pilot, who even attracted the attention of French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.

For the first time, more women than men in the United States received doctoral degrees last year, the culmination of decades of change in the status of women at colleges nationwide.

The number of women at every level of academia has been rising for decades. Women now hold a nearly 3-to-2 majority in undergraduate and graduate education. Doctoral study was the last holdout - the only remaining area of higher education that still had an enduring male majority.

Of the doctoral degrees awarded in the 2008-09 academic year, 28,962 went to women and 28,469 to men, according to an annual enrollment report from the Council of Graduate Schools, based in Washington.

Doctoral degrees, which require an average of seven years' study, are typically the last to show the impact of long-term changes. "It is a trend that has been snaking its way through the educational pipeline," said Nathan Bell, the report's author and the director of research and policy analysis for the council. "It was bound to happen."