A countrywide debate has erupted in Cameroon over the Maputo Protocol, a document created by the African Union that guarantees certain rights to women.

Not everyone likes it:  the Catholic Church in Cameroon is leading the fight to keep the government from endorsing the protocol, which has already been signed by 45 countries, and ratified by Cameroon's parliament. The church says it's a Trojan horse aimed at legalizing abortion and homosexuality. It wants to keep the Parliament from making the country's law conform to the protocol.

Two Senegalese teenagers will stand trial this coming week for allegedly committing homosexual acts. It is the latest in a string of cases targeting gay men and now young boys in Senegal.

Newspapers here in Dakar are preoccupied with the onset of the Muslim holiday Ramadan and the final matches of the season for Senegal's most popular sport, traditional wrestling. They have yet to comment on the story of two young men from the religious town of Darou Mousty in northern Senegal. The two seventeen-year-old boys will stand trial this week for "homosexual acts" in a juvenile court in the region's capital, Louga.

Iraqi militias are carrying out a spreading campaign of torture and murder against men suspected of homosexual conduct, or of not being "manly" enough, and Iraq authorities have done nothing to stop the killing, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Human Rights Watch called on Iraq's government to act urgently to rein in militia abuses, punish the perpetrators, and stop a new resurgence of violence that threatens all Iraqis' safety.

Two people have been killed and at least 11 wounded in a rare attack on a gay community center in Israel.

An Indian court has ruled that gay sex is not a crime, overriding a 19th century law dating back to the days when the British ruled India. Gay activists have welcomed the ruling, but several religious leaders have opposed it, saying homosexual relationships violate Indian culture.

UNAIDS has welcomed an Indian court's decision to annul the law that criminalizes adult homosexual relations. It said such laws drive the problem of HIV underground and hamper efforts to prevent HIV/AIDS from spreading in the societies where they exist.