Morning Briefing

"A multi-pronged strategy to end female genital mutilation [FGM] in Mauritania is making gradual progress, though campaigners acknowledge much remains to be done in a country where more than two-thirds of girls suffer excision," Inter Press Service reports. "The national program, supported by several development partners, includes lobbying for the adoption of a law criminalizing excision, raising awareness of a fatwa (a religious notice) forbidding excision, and the setting up of regional offices to monitor the practice," according to the news service.