Indian actress Aishwarya Rai at the Cannes film festival, 2014

Cannes is one of the world’s most important film festivals, but there’s much more to the spectacle than movie stars and the red carpet. DW compiled a list of fast facts and trivia about this celebration of cinema.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will allocate 70 per cent of the new educational institutions to be opened in the province to girls in order to improve female education. Read more in the Dawn.

45-year-old woman has been severely thrashed after being accused of practicing witchery in Pathrabudharam village of Rautahat district. Read more here.

Bangladeshi women have been in the Bangladesh police since 1974, in the Bangladesh Navy since 2000, in the Bangladesh Air Force since 2000 and in the Bangladesh Army since 2002. Read more here.

“The way women are being visually portrayed in Sri Lanka is something that has to be questioned,” says Liz Fernando, a photographer and visual artist in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital. Read more here.

In the world of pen vs. gun, we would all benefit from putting the Arab proverb “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” to good use. If women’s rights are a security threat to violent extremists, then women’s rights must be the asset we protect. Read more here.