Sexual violence and harassment is widespread in India and perpetuated in public places, in the family and in the workplace, a U.N. human rights official said Wednesday after undertaking a U.N.-commissioned study on violence against women in India. Rashida Manjoo, the U.N. special rapporteur on violence against women, said the Indian government's "inability and/or unwillingness" to acknowledge and address the core structural causes of violence against women is the main reason for the failure to prevent such incidents.

HANOVER, Germany (Reuters) - Russia urged Germany to punish a group of women who staged a bare-breasted protest against President Vladimir Putin on Monday during a visit to a trade fair in Hanover with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Three members of the women's rights group Femen, which has staged protests against Russia's detention of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot around Europe, disrupted a visit by Putin and Merkel to an industry fair focusing on Russian business.

Women are "the slaves of this age," according to an Egyptian politician who took a stand against the country's Muslim Brotherhood to back a UN declaration on violence against women. Mervat Tallawy, who headed the Egyptian delegation at a United Nations conference that ended late Friday, said that despite the hard-fought declaration, secured after two weeks of tense negotiations, more help must be given to women in the Middle East.

Muslim and western nations on Friday overcame deep divisions to agree a historic United Nations declaration setting out a code of conduct for combatting violence against women. Iran, Libya, Sudan and other Muslim nations agreed to language stating that violence against women and girls could not be justified by "any custom, tradition or religious consideration." Western nations, particularly from Scandinavia, toned down demands for references to gay rights and sexual health rights to secure the accord after two weeks of tense negotiations between the 193 UN member states.