A roundup of links to local stories of global importance from around the world.

The newly formed Arab Coalition for Darfur condemned the Muslim world for its silence on the atrocities in Darfur during the 35th Organization of the Islamic Conference, a meeting of the foreign ministers of 57 Muslim nations.

An imam academy in Morocco graduates 50 women, some of the first women to be officially trained as religious leaders in the Arab world.

Moroccan women, in particular, have achieved some important victories, playing an increasingly active role in politics, and successfully lobbying for a new family law which now grants them equal rights in marriage, divorce and the ownership of property.

From the moment I entered the small pickling plant, I fell in love with the women. Eight women between the ages of 40 and 50 -- all devout Muslims, all widows, who had never heard of the word "feminism" -- were creating a small revolution.