India has banned the broadcast of a controversial documentary in which one of the men who gang raped and murdered a student is shown blaming the victim — a move the film’s maker called “arbitrary censorship”. Home Minister Rajnath Singh told parliament on Wednesday the comments of Mukesh Singh, one of five men convicted over…
Author: AFP
The reinstatement of the cleaning ladies at Greece’s finance ministry was perhaps the most symbolic measure announced by the new anti-austerity government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Wednesday. In news greeted with tears, the women were told they could return to their jobs that were cut in September 2013, as the radical new government…
British tabloid The Sun published a photo of a winking topless model on Thursday, shooting down reports it had ended the controversial tradition that has featured in the newspaper since 1970. Newspaper The Times, which like the Sun is part of billionaire media tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s News UK group, reported on Tuesday that the page…
Britain’s best-selling newspaper The Sun has quietly dropped photos of topless women from page 3, ending a controversial tradition that has lasted decades in a move hailed by feminist campaigners. The Times, which like The Sun is owned by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s News UK, reported on Tuesday that last Friday’s edition of the tabloid…
Mozambique has passed a law permitting women to terminate unwanted pregnancies under specified conditions, a move hailed by activists in a country where clandestine abortions account for a large number of maternal deaths. President Armando Guebuza last week signed into law a revised penal code bill that eases prohibitions in abortion regulations. The new law…
The patient opens his yellow eyes wide but makes no sound as acupuncturist Edurne Cornejo pricks four fine needles into his legs. It is hard to tell whether he is surprised, as his eyes are wide at the best of times. He is an owl — and no newcomer to acupuncture therapy. Two months ago…
Children born to women who suffered a high-blood pressure condition called pre-eclampsia during pregnancy are twice as likely to have autism or other developmental delays, US researchers said Monday. The study in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, a journal of the American Medical Association, also found that the more severe the pre-eclampsia, the higher the likelihood…
The UN Security Council on Wednesday called on Sudan to allow peacekeepers to investigate allegations of a mass rape in Darfur after Khartoum blocked access for the mission. The 15-member council said in a statement that the UN-African Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) must be granted “full and unrestricted freedom without delay … so as to…
Ten women have died in India and dozens more are in hospital, some in a critical condition, after a state-run programme that pays women to undergo sterilisation went badly wrong, officials said Tuesday. Sterilisation is one of the most popular methods of family planning in India, where the government provides cash and other incentives to…
Kenyan Mary Keitany crossed the line to win the women’s professional division of the 2014 New York City Marathon on Sunday, with a time of 2:25:07. Keitany tried a very different tactic in her previous NYC Marathon, surging ahead to a huge early lead in 2011. She was caught that day and had to settle…
A video that shows a woman being pestered by men on the streets of New York has gone viral, sparking renewed debate about harassment endured by women and minority groups. The two-minute video shows actress Shoshana B Roberts walking silently in jeans and a T-shirt through Manhattan as man after man greets her with remarks…
Activists pushing for women’s right to drive in Saudi Arabia declared their online campaign a success Sunday, in the world’s only country where women are not allowed to operate cars. The campaign that began last year and revved up again since the beginning of the month encouraged women to post online images of themselves driving….
A group of South Sudanese women peace activists has suggested that men in the civil war-torn country be denied sex until they stop fighting. The suggestion emerged after around 90 women, including several members of South Sudan’s parliament, met in the capital Juba this week to come up with ideas on how to “to advance…
Serena Williams said Thursday that she and her sister Venus have received a written apology from the head of the Russian tennis federation after he caused a storm by calling them the “Williams brothers”. Williams said Shamil Tarpischev, who has been fined $25 000 and banned for a year by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) over…
Women exposed to high levels of traffic pollution during the second trimester of pregnancy are at higher risk of giving birth to a child with weak lungs, researchers said Monday. In a long-term study, investigators in Barcelona enrolled 1 295 pregnant women who attended pre-natal clinics in Sabadell, in Catalonia, and at Gipuzkoa in the…