Category Archives: World News

‘Another abuse of power’ as Saudi court upholds Loujain al-Hathloul’s travel ban

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Women’s rights activist was released from prison in February but faces years of probation

A court in Saudi Arabia has denied an appeal by one of the kingdom’s most prominent political activists that would have allowed her to travel freely, her supporters said, weeks after her release from prison.

Relatives of Loujain al-Hathloul, whose 1,001-day detention drew fierce international criticism of the kingdom’s human rights record, had hoped that a five-year ban on travelling outside Saudi Arabia that the court imposed as a condition of her release on 10 February would be lifted. She also faces three years of probation, meaning she cannot return to activism or speak her mind without risking re-arrest, her family said.

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Chinese entrepreneur sells pensive Donald Trump Buddha statues

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One buyer says he bought statue of former US president on Taobao as reminder not to be ‘too Trump’

Donald Trump is not known for his calm and peaceful demeanour, but that hasn’t stopped one entrepreneurial furniture-maker in China from casting a statue of the former US president in a pose more readily associated with the Buddha.

The Trump Buddha statue, listed on the Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao, is priced at 999 Chinese yuan (£110 GBP/$150 USD) for the small version, which measures 1.6 metres tall. A larger version, listed as 4.6 metres tall, is available for 3,999 yuan (£440/$610).

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France to declassify files on Algerian war

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Opening up of defence files from more than 50 years ago may also shed light on 1968 Air France crash

Emmanuel Macron is to allow access to classified national defence documents from more than 50 years ago, covering France’s war in Algeria and other files previously deemed to contain state secrets.

The Élysée said the move, a week after the admission that French troops tortured and killed the Algerian independence activist Ali Boumendjel in 1957, sought to balance “historical truth” with legitimate “national defence issues”.

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To protect women from violence today, we must secure justice for victims in the past | FW de Klerk

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South Africa’s former president calls for the pandemic to be a turning point in strengthening the rule of law and empowering survivors

Violence and sexual assault have surged across the globe since the onset of Covid-19, in what the UN has called a “shadow pandemic”. Even before the pandemic, one in three women experienced physical or sexual assault globally, the World Health Organization reported this week.

In Africa, the impact has been particularly acute. In the first half of 2020, a rise in reported cases prompted Liberia’s President Weah to declare rape and all forms of gender-based violence a national emergency.

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Can red wolves come back from the brink of extinction again?

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Once a US conservation success story, numbers in the wild have plummeted. Now a court has given hope for their survival

There are perhaps no more than 10 red wolves left in the wild, and they are all in just one place: North Carolina.

It is an astonishing statistic for a species once hailed as undergoing the most successful reintroduction programme in the US, providing the blueprint for Yellowstone national park’s much-lauded grey wolf rewilding project.

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Venezuelan women forced to risk online pill market in face of abortion ban

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The socialist-led country has little sex education, acute shortages of contraceptives and one of Latin America’s most restrictive laws

Sofía was 20 years old and coming out of an emotionally abusive relationship when she found out she was pregnant.

Her ex-boyfriend called her a “slut” for having conceived and claimed that he was not the father. Appealing to Sofía’s conservative family for help was not an option, since they had long warned that they would disown her if she ever got pregnant.

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Caste aside: hide names to curb Dalit job bias in India, study says

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Concealing candidates’ surnames in the ultra-competitive civil service exam would help to overcome caste prejudice, report urges

The exam is considered to be the country’s toughest – about a million people sit it every year vying for only a thousand or so vacancies in India’s hallowed civil service. Now a report suggests that it would be much fairer if all the candidates’ surnames were kept secret throughout the application process, as about 90% of Indian surnames reveal a person’s caste.

Candidates’ names are currently concealed, along with their religion, when they sit the written tests. But after the exam, the names of those who qualify for the final interview stage are used. And this, according to the report, scuppers the chances of Dalits, the lowest Hindu caste once called “untouchables”, because of the innate bias of interviewers.

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Coronavirus live: highest new cases in Turkey this year after curbs eased; France reports 30,303 new infections

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Turkish cases rise after curbs eased; France cases above 30,000 for first time in fortnight; nothing to suggest vaccination behind deaths in Austria, EMA says

US President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill secured enough votes in the U.S. House of Representatives to pass on Wednesday.

The Senate has already approved the legislation.

Here is a quick recap of recent Covid related events from around the world:

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Indian theatre festival forced to close after Hindu vigilantes object to satirical plays

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Bajrang Dal hardliners in Madhya Pradesh threaten violence over plays ‘disrespectful to the Indian flag’

Rightwing Hindu vigilante groups in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh have forced the cancellation of an annual theatre festival, after threatening violence over satirical plays they accused of being “anti-national”.

The annual theatre festival organised by the Indian People’s Theatre Association in the small town of Chhatarpur became the object of abuse and violent threats by Bajrang Dal, a hardline Hindu group linked with the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP).

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Anger after Indonesia offers Elon Musk Papuan island for SpaceX launchpad

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Biak island residents say SpaceX launchpad would devastate island’s ecology and displace people from their homes

Papuans whose island has been offered up as a potential launch site for Elon Musk’s SpaceX project have told the billionaire Tesla chief his company is not welcome on their land, and its presence would devastate their island’s ecosystem and drive people from their homes.

Musk was offered use of part of the small island of Biak in Papua by Indonesian president Joko Widodo in December.

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Rescuers find 39 bodies off Tunisia after two boats sink

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Coastguards were able to save 165 people before rescue called off due to bad weather and nightfall

At least 39 migrants have drowned off Tunisia when two boats capsized, the defence ministry has said, as numbers risking the dangerous crossing to Europe continued to rise.

Rescuers pulled 165 survivors from the foundering boats to safety on Tuesday.

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Teen Vogue employees protest new editor-in-chief over anti-Asian tweets

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Staffers sent letter to Condé Nast after racist tweets written by Alexi McCammond 10 years ago resurfaced

Employees at Teen Vogue have sent a letter to publisher Condé Nast, protesting against the hiring of Alexi McCammond as editor-in-chief of the influential magazine.

It follows the resurfacing earlier this week of a series of racist tweets written by McCammond 10 years ago.

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Vitamin D supplements may offer no Covid benefits, data suggests

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Two studies fail to find evidence to support claims supplements protect against coronavirus

The idea that vitamin D supplements can reduce susceptibility to, and the severity of, Covid-19 is seductive – it offers a simple, elegant solution to a very complex and lethal problem. But analyses encompassing large European datasets suggest the enthusiasm for the sunshine vitamin may be misplaced.

Two still to be peer-reviewed papers looked at the link between vitamin D levels and Covid-19 and both reached the same conclusion: evidence for a direct link between vitamin D deficiency and Covid outcomes is lacking.

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House will vote Wednesday morning on $1.9tn Covid relief bill – live

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Progressive congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman said she will vote for the coronavirus relief bill, despite serious concerns about the changes made by the Senate.

“While I will continue to pressure my party to live up to its banner as the party of the people, I cannot ignore the immediate need for relief,” Watson Coleman said in a statement.

pic.twitter.com/VODEIHERDU

This trend is outrageous:

Eliminating $15/hr
Reducing thresholds for payments (cutting off ~400k New Jerseyans)
Cuts to weekly payments

What are we doing here? I'm frankly disgusted with some of my colleagues and question whether I can support this bill.

1/ https://t.co/r9dqZpuCbU

Okay, now it’s official: the House will hold its final vote on the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package tomorrow, not today.

House majority leader Steny Hoyer said moments ago that the House will take up the bill at 9 am ET tomorrow morning, per C-SPAN.

Hoyer this morning in his weekly pen and pad announced the potential timing of House vote on final $1.9T COVID-19 relief bill: “Our expectation is, maybe late this afternoon we would adopt the rule...We will then tomorrow at 9am consider the American Rescue Plan and pass that.”

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House will vote Wednesday morning on $1.9tn Covid relief bill – as it happened

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By Jessica Goodheart for Capital and Main:

Sara Fearrington, a North Carolina waitress, joined the Fight for $15 campaign two years ago. A server at a Durham Waffle House, her take-home pay fluctuates between $350 and $450 a week, leaving her struggling to pay bills every month. She voted for Joe Biden, who had pledged to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. It was the first time Fearrington, who is 44, had ever voted in a presidential election.

Related: Senate minimum wage battle could play out in midterm elections

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Corruption claims threaten to damage Germany’s CDU party

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Angela Merkel’s party tries to distance itself from pandemic deals scandal as elections loom

Corruption allegations and mounting frustration with Germany’s slow vaccination roll-out are threatening to damage Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in weather-vane state elections this Sunday, as the centre-right party is trying to distance itself from politicians whose companies are alleged to have made profits on the back of mask procurement deals.

In the south-western states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate, voters will go to the polls this weekend while digesting the allegations that one lawmaker from the CDU and one from its Bavarian sister-party, the CSU, earned six-figure commissions for brokering deals to procure face masks during last year’s first wave of the pandemic.

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Coronavirus live news: Greece to allow tourists with vaccines, antibodies or negative tests; Johnson & Johnson reportedly tells EU of vaccine supply issues

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Greece aim to reopen to holidaymakers from mid-May; Johnson & Johnson issues may complicate plans to deliver 55 million doses in second quarter

The Czech and Hungarian prime ministers will visit Israel this week to gain know-how on Covid-19 vaccinations and vaccine production, the Czech government has said.

AFP reports:

Czech prime minister Andrej Babis and his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban are due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.

“Israel is a leader in technologies. It is our traditional partner. I think it will be a very useful visit,” Babis said in a statement, adding he would visit a large vaccination centre in Jerusalem.

Spain has again extended its ban on arrivals from Britain, Brazil and South Africa until the end of March to avoid the spread of new coronavirus strains.

Only legal residents or nationals of Spain and the neighbouring micro-state of Andorra are currently allowed in on flights from these countries.

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Quarter of women and girls have been abused by a partner, says WHO

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Largest such study finds domestic violence experienced by one-in-four teenage girls with worst levels faced by women in their 30s

One in four women and girls around the world have been physically or sexually assaulted by a husband or male partner, according to the largest study yet of the prevalence of violence against women.

The report, conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN partners, found that domestic violence started young, with a quarter of 15- to 19-year-old girls and young women estimated to have been abused at least once in their lives. The highest rates were found to be among 30- to 39-year-olds.

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Myanmar: nun begs police to spare protesters – video

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Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng begged a group of heavily armed police officers to spare ‘the children’ and take her life instead, kneeling before them in the dust of a northern Myanmar city.

Her act of bravery in the city of Myitkyina on Monday came as Myanmar struggles with the chaotic aftermath of the military’s overthrow of the civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, on 1 February. 

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UK to return £4.2m of Nigerian funds stolen by governor who was jailed

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James Ibori and his associates stole the money and a failed appeal cleared the way for asset seizure

The UK will return £4.2m of Nigerian government funds stolen by a governor from the oil-rich Delta state who served a jail term in London for fraud – in the first such deal between the two countries.

The money was stolen by James Ibori and his associates. He was jailed in 2012 for fraud amounting to nearly £50m after a drawn-out extradition procedure and his evasion of arrest and prosecution in Nigeria. A failed appeal in 2018 cleared the way for a seizure of his UK assets.

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