Traditionally, Muslim women have not been allowed to marry outside of their faith.

After receiving medical treatment in Singapore, the female physiotherapy student who was beaten and gang raped in Delhi in mid-December died the 29th. There have been protests and vigils across India ever since the attack. In Mumbai, there was a vigil commemorating her death--on that "Black Saturday".

by Junjie Jiang

Park Geun-hye has won South Korea's presidential election. Park Geun-hye is the daughter of former military ruler Park Chung-hee. Despite freezing cold temperatures, turnout was high. The electorate voted for Park by an estimated margin of 51.6% to 48%, making her the first female leader to sit in South Korea's presidential residence, the Blue House.

Thousands of people across Canada mobilized Monday, 10 December 2012 under the banner “Idle No More” to protest the effects of current and proposed government policies on the nation’s indigenous peoples. While it has received little mainstream media attention, Idle No More has capitalized on social media networks to spread information about the widespread rallies, protests, and roadblocks.

A village council in the Indian state of Bihar banned the use of mobile phones by women in the Sunderbari village, roughly 385 kilometers (239 miles) east of Patna, the capital of Bihar. The population of Bihar is 104 million, larger than any European country and one third the population of the United States. The most recent ban, comes after a July ban on mobile phones for girls in the Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh.

With over 400 million users, China's Weibo has become a prominent social media source on domestic news. As the year comes to an end, we've picked China's 10 most memorable Internet memes of 2012 that went viral on Weibo. They include a Kentucky Fried Chicken ad that spread across the Chinese Internet in support of blind Chinese lawyer and civil rights activist Chen Guangcheng.

As thousands of families flee their homes and face the hardship of refugee life, fears are mounting that desperate families will hastily force their daughters into marriage. We haven’t seen evidence that it’s a widespread phenomenon on the ground, but online there is a flourishing array of Arabic language forums where men seek opportunities to pick up a Syrian bride. Some of the requests get very specific.

A key consensus reached during the 18th National Congress of Chinese Communist Party in early November 2012, was the battle against corruption. In the past week, two corruption cases have been exposed, not by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China (CCP), but by the mistresses or second wives of the corrupted officials.

The tragic and unnecessary death of Savita Halappanavar—a 31-year old Indian woman who was denied a life-saving abortion in an Irish hospital—has sparked reactions across the globe. Thousands have marched in Dublin. Demonstrations have taken place in India and elsewhere. An international day of protest is called for November 21. The overriding question now is: Will Ireland finally move toward legalizing abortion?

15 year-old Malala Yousafzai was shot on 9 October 2012 by members of TTP (The Pakistan Taliban Movement) because she was a fearless activist of girl education in Swat. Malala is slowly recovering. A petition has been placed by a Pakistani-British woman living in Birmingham, Shaida Choudry, to nominate Malala Yousufzai for a Nobel Peace Prize. Nominating Malala for the Nobel prize can be achieved if ‘national politicians' take interest.

Last Thursday evening, as many of you will have seen via media reports, a true hero of women and human rights Dr Denis Mukwege narrowly escaped death during an assassination attempt on his life that killed his security guard. Amnesty International is now rightly calling for a full investigation and asking whether his recent criticisms of the Congolese government played a role. Attacks against human rights defenders and humanitarian workers are said to be increasing in DRC, where conflict has raged for years.

Back in 2009, when the news broke that Barbadian-born singing sensation Rihanna's then-boyfriend Chris Brown had allegedly assaulted her, Caribbean bloggers were outraged. Just over three years later, the wound is still festering. Having got wind of an upcoming Chris Brown concert in Georgetown which is allegedly being financially supported (at least via tax breaks) by the Guyanese government, two blogs are voicing their discontent.

A new infographic from the Doha Debates, a series funded by the Qatar Foundation and televised on BBC World News, examines whether people in the Arab world believe women in the region will better or worse off after the Arab revolution. Most Arabs believe women will be better off in post-revolutionary states, according to the graphic. At the same time, women in the region consider intimidation and harassment to be their biggest threats.

The West Bank, and Palestine as a whole, faces a broken political system, rife with problems of representation and corruption. In this context, it’s easy to see female political representation as an issue best left for "later." But as all-female groups are showing, addressing the issue of women in politics has the potential to revolutionize the way that politics are conducted overall.