From Washington Post

Toward the end of the CNN-YouTube debate Monday night, the Democratic candidates were put through the goofy exercise of saying one thing they liked, and one thing they didn't, about the candidate standing to their left.

At his turn, John Edwards faced Hillary Clinton and said he admired what she and her husband had done for America. Then he offered a joking appraisal of the senator's coral pink quilted jacket: "I'm not sure about that coat."

Barack Obama, ever the conciliator, joined in. "I actually like Hillary's jacket," he said. "I don't know what's wrong with it." Clinton laughed it off. "John, it's a good thing we're ending soon," she said.

From Washington Post

Lawmakers elected India's first female president, officials announced Saturday, in a vote seen as a step forward for hundreds of millions of Indian women and girls who face bitter discrimination in everyday life.The position is largely ceremonial. But observers said the selection of Pratibha Patil, 72, in a vote by the national Parliament and state politicians, will widen the role of women in the country's often male-dominated political scene.

"This is a victory of the principles of which the Indian people uphold," said Patil, wearing her signature oversize glasses and a red and gold celebratory sari. As she waved a V-for-victory sign on television, marigolds and colored powders used in Hindu celebrations were tossed at her feet.

From DeutscheWella

European papers commented on French First Lady Cecilia Sarkozy's role in the release of the six Bulgarian medics convicted of infecting Libyan children with HIV/AIDS. The six went home Tuesday after eight years in jail.

As they hugged their celebrating family members, the slender silhouette of Cecilia Sarkozy appeared on the plane's stairs," Rome's La Repubblica daily wrote. "She is certainly the heroine of this release along with her husband Nicolas and the grey eminence Claude Gueant, secretary general of Elysee Palace. Despite the criticism from the left-wing opposition, the matter is a triumph for the Sarkozys, the baptism of 'couple diplomacy' that never existed before: Yesterday Cecilia brought the nurses home and at the same time emphasized the humanitarian aspect of her role. Today Nicolas travels to Tripoli to meet [Libyan leader] Gadhafi and to lend the agreement a political dimension."

But others weren't quite so happy with with Sarkozy's behavior.

From AllAfrica

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has challenged Liberians to continue to work towards securing a prosperous future for their country.

In an address marking the 160th Independence Anniversary of Liberia, the president emphasized government's commitment to the processes of national renewal. The Liberian leader paid tribute to the people of Grand Bassa, host for this year's Independence anniversary, highlighting the start of major investment opportunities in the county including Mittal steel, whose operations were official launched on Wednesday by the Liberian leader. The President described the development as a positive turn around for the country.

From Huffington Post

Remember the song by Aretha Franklin, "Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves"? Well, sisters are still doing "it" but now "it" means holding meetings of powerful leaders, shaping the world's agenda, critically evaluating and demanding better leadership, and becoming high-level leaders themselves. Why? Because now, like men, women have both the financial resources and leadership positions to do so.

.Think Oprah, billionaire, using her money to educate girls. Sheila Johnson, billionaire, bringing powerful women to her home in Middleburg VA to end global poverty and empower women; or Swanee Hunt, heir to the Hunt silver fortune, tirelessly using her resources to make women's voices vital in the mainstream and to include women in waging peace.

From Washington Post

About 10 years ago, a group of graduate students lodged a complaint with Linda C. Babcock, a professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon University: All their male counterparts in the university's PhD program were teaching courses on their own, whereas the women were working only as teaching assistants.

That mattered, because doctoral students who teach their own classes get more experience and look better prepared when it comes time to go on the job market.

When Babcock took the complaint to her boss, she learned there was a very simple explanation: "The dean said each of the guys had come to him and said, 'I want to teach a course,' and none of the women had done that," she said. "The female students had expected someone to send around an e- mail saying, 'Who wants to teach?' " The incident prompted Babcock to start systematically studying gender differences when it comes to asking for pay raises, resources or promotions. And what she found was that men and women are indeed often different when it comes to opening negotiations.