Asia

A second woman died of injuries sustained in an acid attack in Chennai in less than a fortnight, her vital organs collapsing on Sunday due to infection from fourth degree burns after an obsessed lover attempted to kill her on January 30.

Vidya (21) died 12 days after Vinodhini (23) suffered fatal cardiopulmonary failure in a city hospital on February 12, following a similar attack in Karaikal on November 14.

Dozens of Lebanese women dance in front of the home of the country's parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, to send a clear message of urgency to pass a law that looks to protect women from domestic violence.

Bangladesh's parliament has amended a law allowing the state to appeal against the life sentence given to an opposition leader for his role in mass killings and rape during the 1971 war for independence.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators in central Shahbag Square cheered as the assembly approved the changes on Sunday.

A teenage Afghan rape victim who secured a rare conviction of her attacker has said she was assaulted this month for a second time, by a group of government employees tasked with protecting her.

Saira Shakeeb Sadat wants her district, Khwaja Dukoh, to change. Surrounded by mud walls, the dusty hamlet in the remote northern Afghan province of Jawzjan is home to about 5,000 families. The isolation means security is good here, but little aid has reached the town.

But Sadat wants to make a difference, and now she has her chance: last month she was appointed Afghanistan's first female district governor.

A U.N. resolution passed over 10 years ago requires women's involvement in conflict resolutions. But that has little bearing on the Israel-Palestine conflict, where women are far from the power roles on either side.

The Independent Commission for Human Rights recently criticized the Hamas police for violently disbanding women protesting peacefully in front of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza City on Nov. 6.

India has been hit by another case of sexual violence after three sisters aged five, nine and 11 were raped and murdered in a remote village.

Bangladesh's rights leaders have joined in the call of the neighbouring India for an end to crimes against women.

The December 16 gang rape of a medical student in New Delhi triggered violent public protests over attitude towards women in the country and raised a unanimous demand that actions be taken to strengthen laws against sexual violence.

In the wake of several recent rape incidents, a group of lawyers in Bangladesh yesterday demanded formulation of a new law to set up speedy trial tribunals for expeditious trial of rape cases.

Terming rape a "social disease", they also emphasised building awareness and social movement against sexual harassment and repression of women.

Sixty-six Christian churches have been burnt down in Kachin state since the conflict erupted in June 2011, according to the Kachin Women's Association of Thailand (KWAT), a figure that is backed by Myitkyina-based Kachin Baptist Convention.

Speaking at a seminar at Chiang Mai University on Friday, Julia Marip of KWAT said that the burning of churches by Myanmar government forces amounts to religious persecution.