In the aftermath of Pussy Riot's two-year sentence, delivered on August 17, 2012, the Russian government has been under intense international pressure to explain a verdict that most Western countries deem excessive, if not downright absurd. For liberal Russian bloggers, the legal system's decision was expected, though many were shocked by its severity. Many Orthodox believers and activists, on the other hand, celebrated the ruling, viewing it as recognition of their primacy in post-Soviet Russian society.

"Women in Togo have been urged to abstain from sex for a week from Monday to push their demand for reform," BBC News reports. "The ban has been called by opposition coalition Let's Save Togo, made up of nine civil society groups and seven opposition parties and movements. Opposition leader Isabelle Ameganvi said that sex could be a 'weapon of the battle' to achieve political change."

The Pussy Riot trial has caused no small amount of debate among Russia's public figures, including an amusing row between two of the country's best known celebrities. After both the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Madonna extended their support to Pussy Riot during performances in Russia, Ksenia Sobchak, a famous TV personality and new entry to the political opposition, tweeted her thoughts.

Saudi activist and Twitter user, Reema Al Joresh, was briefly arrested earlier today (August 19, 2012) when she was on her way to a mosque to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that follows Ramadan. Al Joresh is an outspoken critic of Saudi interior ministry's arbitrary detentions. Moreover, she is the wife of a prisoner who has been detained for eight years without a trial. She was planning to give away 500 gifts that contain a letter to raise awareness about the issue of arbitrary detention in Saudi Arabia.

A spate of murders in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital, has had the web buzzing about what needs to be done to stop them. It all started with an allegedly ritualistic murder of one young woman by the name of Ruth Mbandu in July this year. Her naked body was found with her facial skin peeled off, eyes poked out and ears cut off. The nation reacted as the president of the former ruling party (the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy) Nevers Mumba, paid a visit to the funeral home for the deceased; some sympathized with the family and others asked for the blood of the killer/s.

Men and women are getting their picture taken with hand-written signs stating, “We are all Karina” to show support for the Vice-Minister Karina Bolaños, who was dismissed after a video where she appears in underwear speaking to an undisclosed lover surfaced. Karina was black-mailed for years regarding this video, and once she stopped paying, the video was distributed to media and social networks, leading to her dismissal by President Laura Chinchilla.

Banning people from traveling abroad has been an old practice used by the Iranian state to raise pressure on political and civil society activists for years. However, a security court created a stir recently by banning foreign travel for jailed human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh’s husband and their 13-year-old daughter, Mehraveh Khandan. Nasrin Stoudeh has been sentenced to 11 years in prison.

AMREF midwife Tadelechm listens to fetal heart beat with a pinard horn in a village in Ethiopia.

"The execution of Najiba, an Afghan woman in her 20's, shot 13 times in front of a cheering crowed in Parwan province -- and seen widely online in a grainy cell phone video -- is a show of confidence by the Taliban," Zainab Salbi writes for CNN. "She was reportedly executed last month for adultery, a crime that is indeed punishable in Islam....The taping of Najiba's execution is the Taliban's message that it is confident. What's going to be the message back to them from the Afghan government and the international community?"

"Spaces in a new car park in the Black Forest town of Triberg now come with male and female symbols. The spaces for women are wider and well lit, while those for men are close to concrete pillars and can only be reversed into," reports the Telegraph's Matthew Day. "Explaining the policy, Mayor Gallus Strobel said it was a natural decision because men are better at parking than women."

The intensity of violence against female activists is on the rise in Guatemala. Lolita Chavez, member of the K’iche’ People’s Council, was attacked by armed men who attempted to lynch her as she was returning home after a peaceful protest against abusive extractive practices and projects affecting the environment. And two weeks ago, in an area close to Guatemala City, Yolanda Oquelí Veliz, a human rights lawyer and leader of a movement against the expansion of mining activities, was also attacked when returning from a pacific protest.

In Brazil's private sector, over 85% of births are caesarian, even though the World Health Organisation previously recommended that caesarians not exceed 15% of total births. Brazil is right behind Chile in the list of countries that most frequently carry out this surgical procedure. The high prevalence of this procedure instead of natural birth recently sparked a debate and protest in Brazil.

A local court’s ruling in a sexual harassment case has stirred up numerous jokes and sarcastic comments amongst South Koreans on Twitter. A female sales clerk working at a golf shop, filed a sexual harassment charge against a male customer, claiming that he touched and poked her ‘breast area’ with his finger against her will. Judge Kim in the Daegu District Court dropped the case on July 3, saying ‘the area the victim reported being poked was near her collarbone and is not actually a “sexually sensitive area” such as the bosom.'

On July 1, Mexicans went to the polls to elect their next President. From before the elections, the sentiment among most netizens was that it would be a close race between Enrique Peña Nieto (EPN) from the Institutional Revolutionary Party and Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) from the Party of the Democratic Revolution, although supporters of Josefina Vázquez Mota (from the current ruling party) did not lose hope. As soon as the polls opened, netizens began to share their thoughts and experiences.

The grip of Islamist group Ansar Dine on northern Mali and their imposition of Islamic law or Sharia has recently been tragically demonstrated in Timbuktu. A couple who had a child out of wedlock, publicly received 100 lashes each. The impact of the scene was heightened by the veiling of the young couple's faces and the absence of any reaction from the spectators, as if they were frozen by fear or disbelief. The young couple were then forced to marry.