SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq (AFP) -- Medics in Iraqi Kurdistan said on Saturday that they had seen a surge in violence against women in May, with both so-called ""honor"" killings and female suicide on the increase.

""At least 14 women died in the first 10 days of May alone,"" a doctor told AFP in the region's second largest city of Sulaimaniyah. ""Seven of them took their own lives, the other seven were murdered in still unexplained circumstances,"" apparently the victims of ""honor"" killings.
@H=Female Anglican bishop disheartened by opposition to her appointment
@T=Australia (ABC Online) -- Australia's first Anglican female bishop says she was angry and disheartened by members of the Anglican Church who opposed her appointment.
The Right Reverend Kay Goldsworthy was consecrated last night in front of more than 1000 people at Perth's St George's Cathedral. Last year the Anglican Appellate Tribunal ruled the church's constitution could not stop women from becoming Bishops.
@H=Bangladeshi female lawyer calls for efforts to realize equal rights
@T=DHAKA (Xinhua) -- A prominent female lawyer in Bangladesh holds that in a still male-dominated society, women should be encouraged to work hard to realize real equal rights with men.
Although progress has been achieved in the past years, Bangladesh is still a male-dominated country with less women government officials, journalists and entrepreneurs, Lawyer Tania Amir said in an interview with Xinhua recently. ""In the rural areas, girls are not treated equally with boys,"" she said.

@H=S. Korean woman wins battle to rejoin army after breast cancer
@T=SEOUL (AFP) - A female South Korean army officer who was sacked following surgery for breast cancer was reinstated Friday after a legal battle.
The defense ministry said Pi Woo-Jin, 53, would be the first soldier to be brought back to duty after being forced to quit for medical reasons. ""As of today Pi was reinstated as a lieutenant colonel on active duty,"" a ministry official told AFP.