Militants of the Islamic State have abducted thousands of women and girls belonging to the Yazidi community while Kurdish women put on a brave front against the militant oppressors. Read more to find out which women’s themes made to the headlines this week.

If you were to land in Chennai in southern India one of these days, do not be surprised to see sari-clad women with khaki jackets, zipping around the city and ferrying passengers in black-and-yellow tuk-tuks, known as autorickshaws in India.

Sex symbol and screen star, animal rights activist and sympathizer of the French right: Brigitte Bardot has been a controversial personality throughout her life. Recently she celebrated her 80th birthday.

Since 1997 Nighat Shafi pandit and her group of activists have been undertaking different kinds of projects for children and destitute women in India-administered Kashmir. On the Friday I got in touch with her, Pandit was really tense as she spoke on phone for a couple minutes: “I am very upset and startled by the floods in Kashmir.

The Ebola epidemic in West Africa seems to be affecting women the most. Read more about how women in Sierra Leone are coping with the disease and find out which other themes made it to the headlines.

Photographer Meeri Koutaniemi took this picture of a young girl who has undergone genital mutilation. Though the practice violates human rights, it is still practised in 29 countries

How do we humans react to different circumstances? These photographs capture moments from the lives of human beings from different countries across the world.