Sending more girls to school may help poor countries get out of the economic slump faster, the NGO Plan International says in a new report. Just a one percent rise in the number of girls attending secondary school boosts a country's annual per capita income growth by 0.3 percent.

Girls are a formidable future workforce - if they get adequate training. There are over 500 million adolescent girls and young women in developing countries, Plan estimates in its report 'Girls in the Global Economy: adding it all up'. But many girls do not have the opportunities for good education, and the financial crisis is worsening their situation.

The information available suggests that investing more in girls is a good way out of poverty. "Countries with the lowest number of girls in education lie at the bottom of the human development rankings," says Nikki van der Gaag, co-author of the report.

Investing in education promises an attractive return. "An extra year of education increases a girl's income by 10 to 20 percent; it is a significant step in breaking the cycle of poverty," the report says.

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By Peter Dhondt
Inter Press Service News

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Actress Mia Farrow headed back to the United States on Sunday haunted by the image of a young girl who spoke in a tiny voice of the destruction of her home and the death of her loved ones in the Gaza war.

"There was fear on her face and she spoke in a tiny voice... of the injustice," the 64-year-old actress said in an interview with AFP as she wrapped up a week-long visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories as goodwill ambassador for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF.)

She said she'll never forget the face of the 12-year-old who told her "about about when her house was destroyed, the people who were killed."

Farrow also recounted visiting a Gaza hospital where "doctors had to make the agonising decision to release babies of only one kilo (2.2 pounds) because there weren't enough viable incubators and they can't get spare parts in."

Gaza is under a crippling blockade Israel imposed after the Islamist Hamas movement violently seized power in the impoverished, overcrowded Palestinian territory in June 2007.

In December 2008, Israel launched a devastating military offensive in response to Gaza rocket fire. About 1,400 Palestinians, hundreds of them non-combatants, and 13 Israelis died during the 22-day onslaught.

"If there is one overriding impression it is how profoundly leadership has screwed up in this region, in Israel and in the Palestinian territory and at what cost to the most vulnerable, the children, the elderly, the innocent," said Farrow.

Farrow also visited the Israeli city of Sderot, which has borne the brunt of the rockets attacks from Gaza, just a few kilometres (miles) away.

She said she heard of children in Sderot not being able to sleep at night, waking up in terror.

Click here to read the full story on Maktoob Business

Susan notes: the stories of the innocent young girls in this BBC News article are heartbreaking... If this issue captures your attention, see a riveting hour-long US Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) documentary on child brides and violence against girls and women around the world.

At the age of 14, Nolizwi Sinama set off from her aunt's home to a neighbouring village. She thought she had been sent on a routine chore. In fact, she was on her way to be married to a 42-year-old man.

Her aunt and brother had arranged the marriage, taking three cows as a bride price, or ilobolo as it is known in South Africa.

Three years later, Ms Sinama says the experience left her feeling worthless.

"They stole my innocence and my childhood," she says.

Her husband forced her to sleep with him, and she became pregnant a month after she was abducted.

"I begged them to not to take me. I told them I wanted to continue with my studies that I wasn't ready to be a wife but they wouldn't let me go," she says.

"They told me that I didn't have a say in the matter - one of them said all the arrangements were made with my family's consent."

Ms Sinama says she told her aunt that her husband forced her into having sex, but was told that a failed marriage would disgrace the family.

She finally fled after discovering her husband was HIV positive.

Ms Sinama, like numerous other girls in South Africa's Eastern Cape Province, was a victim of ukuthwalwa - a cultural practice among people from the Xhosa ethnic group to abduct girls for marriage.

Prince Xhanti Sigcawu, a member of the Xhosa royal family, defends the custom.

"Ukuthwalwa like all our other customs was and remains an important part of who we are as people," he says.

"There is nothing wrong with the practice when it is done in the right way - which is when the girl is at the right age and the parents are involved and agree."

But girls as young as 11 years old are being forced into marriage, and calls are growing for the practice to be banned.

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By Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Lusikisiki

The ministry of women and child development, government of India, has formulated 'Ujjawala', a new comprehensive scheme for the prevention of trafficking and rescue, rehabilitation and re-integration of victims of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation (CSE).

The object of the scheme is to prevent trafficking of women and children for CSE, to facilitate rescue of victims from the place of their exploitation and place them in safe custody.

To provide rehabilitation services both immediate and long term by providing basic amenities/needs such as food, clothing, medical aid, counselling, legal aid, guidance, vocational training and shelter, to facilitate reintegration of the victims into the family and society at large and to facilitate repatriation of cross-border victims to their country of origin.

Click here to read the full story on The Times Of India

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The oldest female athlete at the World Masters Games in Sydney has broken a world record in the shot put - at the age of 100.

All eyes were on Ruth Frith, from Brisbane, as she arrived for day two of the World Masters Games, hoping to win gold in the the shot put and feeling pretty confident as she was the only competitor in the over-100s category.

But her 4.07-metre (13 feet, 4.2 inches) throw on Sunday didn't just win her gold but also broke a world record.

“As long as I didn't foul I was going to win it,” Ms. Frith told Reuters Television.

Click here to read the full story on The Globe And Mail

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World Masters Games