A model presents a creation by designer Lynn Siregar from her brand Weddingku Gallery during Tokyo Modest Fashion Show, Muslim fashion show, at Halal Expo Japan in Tokyo, Japan, November 22, 2016.

Reports from Iraq suggest that as many as five Japanese are among those detained after the fall of an “Islamic State” stronghold near Mosul. Why did they leave safe and peaceful Japan to live in a war zone?

Laura Passoni was a single mother in a vulnerable state when an IS recruiter sold her a bill of goods about life with the Islamic State. Since her escape, she has dedicated her life to discouraging young people from falling into the same trap.

© Reuters/Hannibal

Anyone who wants to say something on International Women’s Day this year has to say something about what happened on New Year’s Eve in Cologne, Germany. The massive sexual assaults on women in front of Cologne central station – and also in other German and European cities – were reported in various international media. And it is abominable! In Germany this topic is now almost only discussed in the context of “foreigners and women” or “Islam males and their image of women” and “what this means for Germany.” These are of course very important and worthy of debate in the light of the gigantic wave of refugees currently arriving in Germany.

Kurdish Peshmerga female fighters march during combat skills training before being deployed to fight the Islamic State at their military camp in Sulaimaniya, northern Iraq September 18, 2014. © Reuters/Ahmed Jadallah

Shiwa left her home country Iran to fight against “Islamic State” because she believes their ideology goes totally against women’s rights. She feels it’s her duty to try to stop them. Listen to her story here!

Painting from Catita Dias that illustrates the Elsa Figueira film poster. The film titled “Elsa Figueira” deals with a young woman standing up to violence from the man she loves. (© DW/C. Dias)

Turkish authorities arrested a 28-year-old woman who killed her husband with his handgun. She insisted that she was defending her “honor.” Her husband had allegedly beaten, drugged and abused her. Read more here, and other news about women that made it to the headlines.

An Isis court had convicted two women of “witchcraft and sorcery” and beheaded them. Read more here and other news about women that made it to the headlines.

Around 100 German women left to fight for the “Islamic State” and half of them are under 25. Read more about it here, and other news about women that made it to the headlines.