Oslo, Norway | AFP | Champions of the fight against sexual violence, Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege and Yazidi activist Nadia Murad, a former captive of jihadists, will on Monday receive the Nobel Peace Prize, which this year highlights rape as a weapon of war. Murad, 25, and Mukwege, 63, will …
Read More »Child marriage costs countries billions in lost earnings: World Bank
Accra, Ghana | AFP | Respect Ruvimbo Topodzi was 15 and walking home from school in her native Zimbabwe when a 22-year-old man asked her out. She turned him down but it was too late. Her father saw them and assumed they were already together. He told her she had …
Read More »Israeli women hold nationwide protest over domestic violence
Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | Thousands of Israeli women protested against domestic violence in a nationwide strike on Tuesday, calling for more action and state funding to deal with the problem. The strike came after two girls were killed last week, bringing the number of women and girls murdered in …
Read More »Stigma, blame means African women wary to say #MeToo
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | The #MeToo campaign has given mostly Western women confidence to speak up about violence at the hands of men, but in Africa women say stigma and victim-blaming still keep many silent. Fiercely patriarchal societies and religious and traditional views on the role of women means …
Read More »What social media platforms and search engines know about you
New York, United States | AFP | The Facebook scandal involving the harvesting of data from tens of millions of users has raised a lot of questions about social media and search engines. As Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the US Congress this week on protecting user data, …
Read More »11 die after drinking bootleg alcohol in Indonesia
Jakarta, Indonesia | AFP | Eleven Indonesians died Sunday and several others are critically ill after drinking bootleg liquor, police said, days after the death of 24 others from illicit alcohol. The latest victims were among 27 people admitted to hospital after sampling homemade alcoholic drinks in Cicalengka district in …
Read More »Almost 80% of UK firms pay men more than women: data
London, United Kingdom | AFP | Almost eight out of 10 companies and public sector bodies operating in Britain pay men more than women overall, said data published Thursday confirming long-standing gender inequality in the workplace. Prime Minister Theresa May introduced laws last year to force all employers with more …
Read More »Cobalt boom turns life upside down in DR Congo
Kolwezi, DR Congo | AFP | In early 2014, according to local folklore, a man digging a septic tank or a well in his garden in Kasulo came across rocks with a distinctive grey-green sheen: cobalt. From then on — rather like the find at Sutter’s Mill in 1848 that …
Read More »Japanese ‘baby factory’ man wins custody of 13 kids
Bangkok, Thailand | AFP | A Bangkok court on Tuesday granted a Japanese man “sole parent” rights to 13 children he fathered through Thai surrogate mothers, a ruling that paves the way for him to take custody of the group. Mitsutoki Shigeta caused a “baby factory” scandal in 2014 after …
Read More »UK appoints ‘minister for loneliness’
London, United Kingdom | AFP | Britain appointed a “minister for loneliness” on Wednesday to tackle what Prime Minister Theresa May described as “the sad reality of modern life” affecting millions of people. Tracey Crouch, a junior minister for sport and civil society, will take on the role as part …
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