Women’s boxing made its debut at the Pacific Games, in a development hailed Wednesday as a milestone by the International Boxing Association (AIBA). The Games, featuring athletes from around Oceania, are being staged in Papua New Guinea this year and the women’s boxing competition began in Port Moresby on Tuesday. “This is another step forward…
Author: AFP
British Prime Minister David Cameron announced plans on Tuesday to force large companies to publish the difference in earnings between male and female staff in a bid to ensure equal pay. Currently, woman on average are paid roughly 20% less than men in Britain, a discrepancy that Cameron vowed to end “in a generation”. “Today…
Embattled US comedian Bill Cosby admitted having supplied powerful sedatives to at least one woman in order to have sex with her, court documents unsealed on Monday showed. Cosby admitted that in 1976 he had supplied Quaaludes — a strong depressant widely used in the 1960s and 1970s, but which has been discontinued in the…
Wimbledon, for long associated with depressing rain delays, will introduce emergency playing rules for hot weather for the first time on Wednesday when temperatures are expected to reach the mid-30s. Organisers say a heat rule, which allows for a 10-minute break between the second and third sets of women’s matches, can be called for when…
Academy Award organisers have invited more than 300 new members to join the award-giving body, including a number of female and black stars after criticism that nominations for the 2015 race lacked diversity. “As filmmaking evolves, so do we. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,” the body said on its website. The academy,…
A Stockholm rape clinic will open its doors in October to male and transgender victims in addition to the women it already treats, a sexologist at the clinic said Wednesday. “What’s new is that the clinic will now be open to any person, regardless of what gender they are, needing help concerning sexual abuse and/or…
The Austrian city of Salzburg unveiled Thursday gay-themed pedestrian traffic lights after the flashing signals specially installed in Vienna for the Eurovision Song Contest proved a hit. Instead of the usual stick man, the special lights at pedestrian crossings show two figures: either a man or a woman, two men or two women, holding hands,…
UN peacekeepers routinely buy sex with everything from jewellery to televisions and even shoes in countries where they are deployed, a draft UN report says, in the latest damning revelations tarnishing its operations. A third of sexual abuse allegations targeting UN personnel involve children and teenagers under 18, according to the report by the Office…
British Nobel Prize-winning scientist Tim Hunt has resigned from his post at University College London over controversial comments he made about female scientists. Hunt has apologised for causing offence after his suggestion Tuesday that female scientists could not take criticism without crying and that relationships between men and women in the laboratory disrupted work. The…
UN rights experts on Wednesday said Ghana had failed miserably to stamp out a centuries-old tradition in which virgin girls are offered as slaves to local priests for a lifetime. The system of Trokosi, prevalent among the Ewe tribe in southern Ghana, carries on to this day, a UN committee on child rights said. “Even…
Fixtures for the 2015 Fifa Women’s World Cup to be held in Canada from June 6 to July 5 (all times GMT): GROUP STAGE Group A Saturday, June 6 Canada v China at Edmonton (10pm GMT) New Zealand v Netherlands at Edmonton (1am GMT – Sunday, June 7) Sunday, June 07 Group B…
The United Nations voiced fears this week that rescued women and girls who became pregnant in Boko Haram captivity will face stigmatisation in conservative Nigerian communities, and that their babies could become “untouchable”. “For those of them who have (become) pregnant as a result of rape, what are the options available to them?” asked Munir…
Drinking the caffeine equivalent of more than four espressos a day is harmful to health, especially for minors and pregnant women, the EU food safety agency said on Wednesday. “It is the first time that the risks from caffeine from all dietary sources have been assessed at EU level,” the European Food Safety Authority said…
Ivory Coast has banned skin whitening creams, which are widely used in west Africa, because of fears they cause lasting damage to health, the health ministry said Wednesday. “Cosmetic lightening and hygiene creams … that de-pigment the skin … are now forbidden,” the ministry said in a statement. The ban affects whitening creams and lotions…
Fed up with bawdy remarks and wandering hands, dozens of French female journalists have signed a petition published Tuesday denouncing sexism from male politicians. “Get your paws off me!” read the front page of the Liberation newspaper, where 40 female political reporters detailed sexist and lewd behaviour suffered while working in the corridors of power….