50.50

John McCain had a hard act to follow after the thunder of the Democratic National Convention. In the Rockies, Obama scaled the heights of political spectacle, delivering one of the surest and strongest speeches of the campaign year. What could the much more restricted McCain possibly muster in response?

We've now had a few days to dwell on the answer. The choice of Sarah Palin as the presumptive Republican vice presidential candidate breathes new life into a contest that was flagging in the late months of the summer. In selecting Palin as his running mate, McCain anointed a woman he has met only once before; a woman whose anti-choice views are unlikely to win over disgruntled Hillaryites; a woman whose short tenure as the governor of remote Alaska may undermine the edifice of "experience" that surrounds his presidential bid. Yet Palin also adds that element of surprise and adventure altogether absent from the McCain campaign.

Last month, this blog along with many others celebrated the award of the prestigious Olof Palme prize to Iranian women's rights activist Parvin Ardalan. Now, just a few weeks on, Ms Ardalan has been denied a right to travel abroad. On her way to Sweden yesterday to accept the internationally recognised award, she was detained by security officials before the plane could leave. Ardalan explains: "(Officials said) I was banned from travel and that I could not exit Iran. They also seized my passport."

Last month Roja Bandari blogged about Iranian women's rights campaigner Jelveh Javaheri as part of our 16 Days Against Gender Violence coverage. Jelveh had been summoned to court and taken to the Evin prison on the charges of disrupting public opinion, advertising against the system, and publishing lies.

Jelveh and her colleague and journalist Maryam Hosseinkhah were finally released on bail last week - meaning their activities will be restricted until they go to trial. Both were members the One Million Signatures Campaign. [more...]

Roja Bandari tells us that "two other activists, Ronak and Haana, are still in custody in Kurdistan region and we are very concerned about their conditions".

Elsewhere: Reporters without borders' take on the case, pictures of Maryam and Jelveh at World Picture News, and an interview with Jelveh conducted before she was arrested.

I am currently at "Women Deliver" in London's docklands, a strange setting for this, the first global conference in 20 years which aims to combat maternal mortality. So far Douglas Alexander, the UK's Secretary of State for International Development, has pledged to give $200 million over five years to the United Nations Population Fund to tackle the health of women and mothers worldwide. You can read the press release here. [more...]

by Patricia Daniel