Israeli strikes continue on Gaza throughout Saturday night and into Sunday afternoon, 279 now dead and more than 900 injured. The death toll of the attacks rose to 279, with 900 injured 180 seriously so. Activists prepare protests around the world on Monday 29 December, 4.00pm – 6.00pm.

Feminist Border Crossings Between Post-State Socialist & Postcolonial Studies, INTER-UNIVERSITY CENTER, DUBROVNIK, CROATIA, May , 18^th – 22^rd 2009.

From November 25, to December 10 the third internet conference “No Violence against Women” is taking place at: www.conference.ginsc.net. At the Conference discussion is held between the civil society and decision-makers.

Course Dates: JUNE 29 – JULY 10, 2009, Location: Central European University (CEU), Budapest, Hungary, Detailed course description: http://www.sun.ceu.hu/work

Mutabar TADJIBAEVA, released from prison on the 2nd of June and for the first time allowed to travel abroad, will receive the 2008 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) turns 60 on 10 December 2008. On Human Rights Day 2007, the United Nations Secretary General launched a year-long UN system-wide advocacy campaign to mark this important milestone. The initiative celebrates the Declaration and the promise that has made this document so enduring: “Dignity and justice for all of us”.

Vacancy at the Social Watch International Secretariat. Position Senior Research Associate. Location The Social Watch International Secretariat is located in Montevideo, Uruguay and is based at the Third World Institute (ITeM). Deadline December 12, 2008.

The World Economic Forum published the Global Gender Gap Report 2007.

The Tajikistan Gender Rights Legal Specialist will be working with the Country Director and resident Staff Attorneys in Dushanbe, Tajikistan to direct the gender rights program. The Specialist will conduct skills trainings on domestic violence and trafficking in persons through the facilitation of holistic community action.

In one week’s time, the 11th International AWID Forum will begin in Cape Town, South Africa. AWID spoke with two South African women’s rights activists about their work, their hopes for and concerns about the Forum.

The UNDEF Third Round of Funding is now open. Applications will be accepted from 10 November to 31 December 2008, and can be made only through the UNDEF online facility. They must be written in English or French, the two working languages of the United Nations. Applications sent by E-mail, fax or post will NOT be accepted.

Shirin Ebadi (Persian: شیرین عبادی - Širin Ebâdi; born 21 June 1947) is an Iranian lawyer, human rights activist and founder of Children's Rights Support Association in Iran. On October 10, 2003, Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her significant and pioneering efforts for democracy and human rights, especially women's, children's, and refugee rights. She is the first Iranian to receive the prize.

Some 100 poor single mothers are the first group of beneficiaries of the Comfortable Housing Project for poor rural single mothers in Liaoning Province, and they will move into their new houses in the autumn.

In a three-year collaborative effort, the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) jointly produced the Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook which draws from the operations of the three agencies.

Somali Islamists have stoned to death a woman accused of adultery in the first such public killing by the militants for about two years, witnesses said. The 23-year-old woman was placed in a hole up to her neck for the execution late on Monday in front of hundreds of people in a square of the southern port of Kismayu, which the Islamist insurgents captured in August.