Garry Trudeau continues to get it right - including his brilliant strips on women in the US military

Feminist Majority Foundation, January 15/10 Noushin Ebadi and Mourning Mothers Released From Prison
Noushin Ebadi, sister of human rights activist Shirin Ebadi, and all arrested members of the activist group Mourning Mothers were released from prison yesterday. It is unclear whether One Million Signatures campaign founder Mansoureh Shojaee, journalist Morteza Kazemian, and other Iranian feminists remain imprisoned.

Women's News Network: Why The Chinese Farmer Might Not Get a Wife: It has been reported that China could face a shortage of 24 million future brides for its menfolk – as a result of its cultural preference for baby boys.
The research comes from a book entitled “Contemporary Chinese Social Structure” and was conducted by the government-backed Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, who have identified the gender imbalance among newborns as the country’s most serious demographic problem for the population of 1.3 billion.

WNN: Detention of 33 Iranian Mothers Sparks Protest
(CNN) — A demonstration erupted Sunday outside an Iranian detention center, where 33 members of a women’s group were being held following their arrest during a peaceful protest in a Tehran park a day before, a human rights organization reported. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, citing an eyewitness account, said more than 100 police and plainclothes officers broke up a gathering of the Mourning Mothers in Laleh Park on Saturday afternoon. The group, formed by women whose children have been killed in recent anti-government protests, gathers every weekend at the park to call attention to the deaths.

Women's News Network: The US Woman Shackled during Childbirth
"Across the USA, women prisoners have been chained while giving birth to prevent them from escaping, but some states are abandoning the practice in all but exceptional circumstances, as Laura Trevelyan explains
Tina Torres shows me the scars on her ankles, which just will not disappear.
She has tried all manner of creams but the marks from the leg-irons she wore while she was in labour with her daughter Adora are there for life. Tina was in a Philadelphia jail waiting to be tried when she went into labour and was taken to hospital under armed guard."

Guardian.co.uk Once the BBC Lets Older Women Back on the News, They'll be There to Stay:
(pictured: recently rehired newsreader Zeinab Badawi)
When a male newsreader gets older, he becomes an authority; when a female newsreader gets older, she becomes a problem. Harriet Harman, equalities minister, says she heard this gem from a former senior executive at the Beeb. It's probably true, but hopefully it won't be for much longer. Last September, the BBC director general, Mark Thompson, decided that the real problem was not enough older women on the telly – and urged his news chiefs to employ more of them. Suddenly, from being a problem, 50-something women news anchors were in demand.

The Sunday London Times: LUBNA HUSSEIN slips out of Sudan to fight against trouser ban - She was among 13 women arrested at a Khartoum cafe in July and charged with violating a “decency law” by wearing trousers. The others admitted guilt and were sentenced to 10 lashes of the whip. Hussein chose to contest the charges in court, risking 40 lashes. An embarrassed government tried to negotiate but she refused to even pay a fine and the government had to do it for her. Now she continues in her defiance.....

“Thousands of women have been whipped,” she said. “They suffer in silence. They go away with heads lowered in shame.” She has received thousands of messages of support from all over the world and hopes that oppressed women everywhere will be inspired to take action. “What will happen if 100 Saudi women, who are forbidden by law to drive a car, join forces to break this rule, getting behind the wheel like they do in London or Beirut, demonstrating in a convoy through the streets of Jeddah or Riyadh? Only shocks like this can bring about change.”

Women's News Network: US troops increase as local hero says no – Afghanistan’s MALALAI JOYA
"Teaching literacy classes at the age of 19, Malalai dedicated her life to speak out for those who could not speak; for those who would never dare to do so. Her statements have come with a price though. She was sanctioned and later removed as a member of parliament amid a legislative exclusion (May 2007) as the Lower House of the Afghan parliament voted to suspend her for comments she made during a television interview. To date, Joya has survived four assassination attempts becoming what BBC news calls, “the bravest woman in the world.”

LaineyGossip. com, November 25: Convicted batterer Chris Brown booked, openly gay singer Adam Lambert cancelled:
"They cut Adam Lambert because they feared he might not be appropriate for morning television, but Chris Brown, that piece of sh-t who pummelled his girl … Chris Brown is totally appropriate for morning television. This is why they’re airing a taped interview with him next week AND considering a live performance, all in service of course of his new album. In other words, Good Morning America and ABC are helping Chris Brown SELL his new album."