divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/28506?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+Acid+attacks+and+rape%3A+growing+threat+to+women+who+oppose+traditional+orderch=World+newsc3=The+Guardianc4=Afghanistan+%28News%29%2CGender+%28News%29%2CWomen+and+women%27s+interests%2CWorld+newsc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CWomenc6=Clancy+Chassayc7=2008_11_22c8=1122121c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Afghanistanc13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FAfghanistan" width="1" height="1" //divp They were walking to school in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, a group of teenage girls discussing a test they had coming up, when two men on a motorcycle sprayed them with a strange liquid. Within seconds a painful tingling began, and there was an unusual smell as the skin of 16-year-old Atifa Biba began to burn. /ppHer friend rushed over to help her, struggling to wipe the liquid away, when she too was showered with acid. She covered her face, crying out for help as they sprayed her again, trying to aim the acid into her face. The weapon was a water bottle containing battery acid; the result was at least one girl blinded and two others permanently disfigured. Their only crime was attending school. /ppIt was not an isolated incident. For women and girls across Afghanistan, conditions are worsening - and those women who dare to publicly oppose the traditional order now live in fear for their lives./ppThe Afghan MP Shukria Barakzai receives regular death threats for speaking out on women's issues. Talking at her home in central Kabul, she closed the living room door as her three young daughters played in the hall. "You can't imagine what it feels like as a mother to leave the house each day and not know if you will come back again," she said, her eyes welling up as she spoke./pp"But there is no choice. I would rather die for the dignity of women than die for nothing. Should I stop my work because there is a chance I might be killed? I must go on, and if it happens it happens."/ppBarakzai receives frequent but cryptic warnings about planned suicide attacks on her car, but no help from the government. Officials advise her to stay at home and not go to work, but offer nothing in the way of security assistance, despite her requests. She said warlords in parliament who received similar threats were immediately provided with armoured vehicles, armed guards and a safe house by the government./ppAfghan women are feeling increasingly vulnerable as the security situation worsens and a growing number of western and Afghan officials call for the Taliban to join the government./pp"We are very worried that, now the government is talking with the Taliban, our rights will be compromised," said Shinkai Karokhail, an outspoken MP for Kabul. "We must not be the sacrifice by which peace with the Taliban is made."/ppUnder Taliban rule, up until 2001, women were not allowed to work and were forbidden from venturing outside the home without a male escort. /ppAfghan women who defy traditional gender roles and speak out against the oppression of women are routinely subject to threats, intimidation and assassination. An increasingly powerful Taliban regularly attacks projects, schools and businesses run by women. /ppSix weeks ago, Lieutenant-Colonel Malalai Kakar was assassinated in her car on her way to work in Kandahar. She was Afghanistan's highest-ranking female police officer and a fierce defender of women's rights. Only five feet tall, she was known to have beaten men she found to be abusing their wives. Another senior female police officer was killed in the province of Herat in June./ppstrongSafe house/strong/ppTalking to the Guardian at a safe house on the outskirts of Kabul, Mullah Zubiallah Akhond, a Taliban commander from the southern province of Uruzgan, said the group's attacks on women were always political and not based on any desire to target or punish women specifically. /ppHe condemned the acid attack on the group of schoolgirls in Kandahar, and insisted the Taliban were not involved. "We support the education of girls, but separate from boys. We would not attack schoolgirls. We only target those working with the government."/ppThe Taliban's regional commands have varying attitudes toward women, but all those fighting under the Taliban banner are committed to enforcing their interpretation of sharia law, which forbids women from working or leaving the house without a male escort./ppThe Islamist group is just one of the many threats facing Afghanistan's few outspoken female MPs. "Our parliament is a collection of lords," said Barakzai. "Warlords, drug lords, crime lords."/ppIn parliament, she says, she is often greeted with screams of "kill her" when she stands up to speak, and she has had no shortage of personal threats from fellow MPs. /ppThey visit her privately to tell her she will be killed if she continues to speak out on such issues as the right of a woman to have a personal passport (separate from the standard "family passport") or against compulsory virginity tests for young women, and the right of a man to have custody of a child at two years old. It is not only men who oppose women in parliament - both Barakzai and Karokhail have faced obstruction from other female MPs on key women's issues./ppKarokhail said that, of the 68 women in the 249-strong parliament, only five were vocal on women's issues. The majority of women in parliament vote in favour of more traditional legislation that often rules against women's rights./ppSome women now fear the parliament is becoming more conservative towards women. "Talibani ideas are natural among our people, particularly their vision about women," said Barakzai. /ppAccording to Afghan commentators, President Hamid Karzai, desperate to win next year's elections, has been bringing former mujahideen commanders into parliament in the hope they will support him at election time. /ppMost of these former jihadi commanders share the Taliban's ideas about women and are expected to support legislation that will once again limit women's freedom. In addition, according to the Taliban commander, the group has a growing number of MPs in parliament lobbying for their policies./ppIn much of the country, especially rural areas, women remain subservient to the men in their family and rarely venture out of their homes. Even in the relatively liberal capital, Kabul, it is common to see women robed in blue burkas trailing five paces behind their husbands./ppIt is difficult to gauge how the worsening situation in the country is affecting women, but according to a recent study by the UN, some 87% of them suffer abuse in the home. Afghan human rights groups are documenting cases of "honour" killings, forced abortions and rape, and a database is now being constructed by the UN./ppNajla Zewari, who works for the UN's gender and justice unit, believes violence against women is increasing, fuelled by growing frustrations caused by the economic crisis and lack of security. She said there had also been a sharp increase in rapes by men who claimed they could not afford to pay the dowry needed to marry. After the public shame of an attack, the victim is usually outcast and the rapist is then the only man who will have the woman as his wife./ppIt is crimes like this that make many Afghans nostalgic for the harsh justice of Taliban rule. Barakzai countered: "Women were safe, in one sense, under the Taliban - but they were kept as slaves, they were not allowed to do what they wanted even in their own home."/ppAs the Taliban strengthen, the future for women in Afghanistan looks bleaker. Barakzai said women's rights, once heralded as the great success of post-invasion Afghanistan, had been sidelined and might suffer more in the struggle to find a solution to the fighting./ppLast week, a council of 400 women politicians met in Kabul to discuss this possibility and prepare ways to counter it. Karokhail said: "Our biggest fear at the moment is that the return of Talibani ideas to government will wind back the gains we have made in these last years."/pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/afghanistan"Afghanistan/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gender"Gender/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/women"Women/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Newscountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227317660269112201400459684"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Newscountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227317660269112201400459684" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a

The Government is facing a Labour rebellion over plans that could lead to British National Party members holding positions of power over policing.

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/32024?ns=guardianpageName=Society%3A+Baby+P+review+to+be+seen+by+opposition+MPsch=Societyc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Baby+P%2CChild+protection+%28Society%29%2CUK+news%2CEd+Balls%2CChildren+%28Society%29%2CChildren%27s+ministry%2CPolitics%2CEducation%2CSocietyc5=Society+Weekly%2CUnclassified%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CSchools+Education%2CChildren+Societyc6=Matthew+Weaverc7=2008_11_21c8=1122064c9=articlec10=GUc11=Societyc12=Baby+Pc13=c14=h2=GU%2FSociety%2FBaby+P" width="1" height="1" //divpThe government has agreed to release a detailed review into the a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/baby-p"Baby P/a case to opposition MPs, a day after claiming it had been told to keep the document confidential./ppThe children's secretary, Ed Balls, a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/nov/20/baby-p-childrensministry"told the Commons yesterday/a that lawyers had advised him not to make the full serious case review available./ppHe cited a 2006 ruling by the Information Commissioner in a separate case and voiced concerns that identifying the professionals involved in the case could jeopardise future investigations./ppBut today Ball's department said five MPs would be allowed to study the full report./ppBaby P died in Haringey, north London, in August last year after suffering more than 50 injuries at the hands of his abusive mother, her boyfriend and a lodger - despite repeated visits by the authorities./ppA 15-page summary of the serious case review was published at the end of an Old Bailey trial last week./ppNow the full report will be made available to the Conservative and Liberal-Democrat children's spokesmen, Michael Gove and David Laws, the Children, Schools and Families select committee chairman, Barry Sheerman, and local MPs Lynne Featherstone and David Lammy./ppThe MPs will be allowed to read the document on "privy council terms", meaning they must keep its contents secret./ppThe case was the subject of angry exchanges between David Cameron and Gordon Brown at prime minister questions last week. Since then the government has been keen to establish cross-party consensus on how to tackle the failings highlighted by the tragedy./ppA spokeswoman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: "As Ed Balls said in the House of Commons yesterday and in his letter to the opposition children, schools and families spokesmen, he has been keen to find a way to enable them to study the serious case review report but remaining consistent with the principle that these documents remain unpublished and confidential./pp"In order to ensure that future serious case reviews are not undermined and achieve their purpose, it remains vital to keep the serious case review confidential."/ppThe shadow children's secretary, Michael Gove, welcomed the move./pp"It's important that bureaucracy doesn't get in the way of proper scrutiny," he said./ppThe three people convicted of involvement in the killing of Baby P are facing "substantial" terms in prison, a judge has warned.br /Baby's P's mother, 27, her boyfriend, 32, and their lodger, Jason Owen, 36, will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on December 15 for causing or allowing his death./ppYesterday there was confusion among officials about the bearing the Data Protection Act had on releasing the report./ppThe House of Commons was told the information commissioner had ruled that the full report could not be released to opposition MPs because of the risk of identifying professionals involved./ppBut the Information Commissioner's Office said later that it had not been consulted over the case./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/baby-p"Baby P/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/childprotection"Child protection/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/edballs"Ed Balls/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/children"Children/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/childrensministry"Children's ministry/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Societycountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227291257954112118260344580"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Societycountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227291257954112118260344580" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian lawmakers gave final approval on Friday to a bill extending presidential terms, after a speech on the economy by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin revived speculation over his political ambitions.

A bill to extend Russia's presidential term from four to six years wins the overwhelming backing of MPs.

A bill to extend Russia's presidential term from four to six years wins the overwhelming backing of MPs.

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/32700?ns=guardianpageName=Education%3A+Corby+and+Crawley+hope+to+become+university+townsch=Educationc3=The+Guardianc4=Higher+education%2CEducation%2CUK+newsc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CHigher+Educationc6=Anthea+Lipsett%2CPolly+Curtisc7=2008_11_21c8=1121635c9=articlec10=GUc11=Educationc12=Higher+educationc13=c14=h2=GU%2FEducation%2FHigher+education" width="1" height="1" //divpCorby, Crawley and Croydon are bidding to join Cambridge as university towns, it was announced yesterday. Basildon, Basingstoke, Dudley and Stockport are also among 27 areas in England bidding for funding to launch new higher education (HE) centres, said the universities secretary John Denham. They are among the first places to apply to take part in the government's "university challenge" initiative, launched in March./ppDenham said the project would help regions hit by the recession by providing education and regeneration in rural areas as well as cities. Opposition MPs accused the government of "knocking up" the idea to compensate areas which had been earmarked for casinos but missed out after the project was scaled back at the beginning of the year. /ppPartnerships of regional development agencies, local authorities and colleges have put together bids for the universities centres, which will teach a range of degrees but fall short of being standalone universities because they will not have their own degree-awarding powers or privy council approval. /ppUniversities in neighbouring areas will be a crucial element in the partnerships accrediting the degrees. The government wants 20 new higher education centres planned within the next six years. The new centres could provide study places for up to 10,000 students./ppMinisters want the centres to open up the chance to study for a degree for people who would not have given much thought to a degree previously. According to economists, every extra job a university creates is matched by another elsewhere in the economy, such as in restaurants and bars, to cater for the student population./ppBut Martin Freedman, head of pay, conditions and pensions at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: "Some of the 27 towns interested in setting up higher education centres already have successful further education colleges. We don't want these colleges and new universities to compete for students at each other's expense./pp"In the light of the government's cap on the number of extra HE students, this proposed university expansion raises questions about how additional universities can function if limits are placed on the number of students?"/ppUniversities are already struggling to fill their places after ministers were forced to cut the numbers funded to go to higher education next year. Last month, Denham froze additional student numbers after admitting the government had botched its estimates for student grants and could no longer afford its support package./ph2University hopefuls/h2pAreas bidding to run universities: Accrington, Basildon, Basingstoke, Corby/Kettering, Crawley, Croydon, Doncaster, Dudley, Ebbsfleet, Halifax, Havering, Herefordshire, King's Lynn, Milton Keynes, Rochdale, Rotherham, Sandwell, Scarborough, Shropshire, Somerset, Stratford Island, Stockport, Swindon, Thurrock, Wakefield, Wallsend and Wirral/pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/highereducation"Higher education/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Educationcountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227227727773112100421654622"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Educationcountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227227727773112100421654622" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a