BUDAPEST, Hungary (AFP) — The Hungarian parliament Thursday elected Katalin Novak, a close ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, as the EU member’s first ever woman president. Novak, who most recently served as a minister for family policy, portrayed her election as a victory for women. She was elected to the mostly ceremonial role by 137 votes to 51 in the parliament dominated by Orban’s right-wing Fidesz party ahead of opposition challenger Peter Rona, […]
Tag: woman
Astronaut becomes first Chinese woman to spacewalk
BEIJING, China (AFP) – Astronaut Wang Yaping became the first Chinese woman to walk in space, authorities said Monday, as her team completed a six-hour stint outside the Tiangong space station as part of its ongoing construction. Tiangong — meaning “heavenly palace” — is the latest achievement in China’s drive to become a major space power, after landing a rover on Mars and sending probes to the Moon. Its core module entered orbit earlier this […]
Afghan woman news anchor stopped from working after Taliban takeover
KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — An Afghan woman journalist has said she was barred from working at her TV station after the Taliban took control of the country, and pleaded for help in a video posted online. Wearing a hijab and showing her office card, well-known news anchor Shabnam Dawran said “our lives are under threat” in the clip on social media. Under the Taliban’s regime from 1996 to 2001, women were excluded from public life, […]
Russian newborn has coronavirus: health officials
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — A baby was born with the coronavirus in Russia’s Caucasus region, health officials were quoted by TASS news agency as saying on Sunday, to a mother who is also infected. The birth in the North Ossetia city of Beslan follows one in mid-April in Peru, which health officials there said was the second known case of a COVID-19 positive newborn worldwide. In North Ossetia, “a pregnant woman was infected by […]
US judge declares mistrial in Cosby case
by Thomas Urbain Agence France Presse NORRISToWN, United States — A United States judge declared a mistrial Saturday in Bill Cosby’s case with the jury deadlocked on whether the disgraced star drugged and molested a woman in 2004, as prosecutors vowed to seek a retrial. It was a stunning development — and a momentary victory — for the 79-year-old pioneering black entertainer who risked spending the rest of his life in prison if convicted of […]
Indian woman sets Mount Everest summit record
KATHMANDU, Nepal (Reuters) – Indian climber Anshu Jamsenpa has made the fastest double ascent of Mount Everest, becoming the first woman in the world to reach the highest point on earth twice in five days. The 38-year-old mother of two climbed the peak along the Southeast Ridge route on May 16. She repeated the feat on May 21 improving a record set by a Nepali woman, Chhurim Sherpa, who made the dual climb in seven […]
Malaysia reports first pregnant Zika patient
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysia on Wednesday reported its first case of a pregnant woman with Zika — a resident of a Malaysian state bordering Singapore where authorities are grappling with scores of cases. The 27-year-old woman in the southern state of Johor is the third case in Malaysia of the virus, which can result in infected pregnant women giving birth to deformed babies. The virus causes infant microcephaly, a condition marked by abnormally […]
French woman who left baby to drown gets 20 years in jail
by Zoé LEROY SAINT-OMER, France (AFP) — A woman who claimed that witchcraft caused her to leave her baby to drown on a beach in northern France was on Friday sentenced to 20 years in jail. Fabienne Kabou, 39, had faced life imprisonment for the November 19, 2013, murder, but the court deemed that she suffered from impaired judgement. The court in the town of Saint-Omer, near Calais, also ordered Kabou to undergo psychological treatment […]
Indonesian accused of cyanide coffee murder on trial
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — An Indonesian woman accused of murdering a friend with cyanide-laced coffee went on trial Wednesday, in a case that has caused tensions between Indonesia and Australia over the death penalty. Jessica Kumala Wongso, who is an Australian permanent resident, denies the premeditated murder of her college friend Wayan Mirna Salihin, who collapsed and died after drinking the coffee at an upmarket Jakarta cafe in January. The case has attracted huge national […]
U.S. state of Georgia executes a woman for the first time in 70 years
The U.S. state of Georgia executed its only woman on death row on Wednesday (September 30), marking the first time in 70 years the state has carried out a death sentence on a woman, a prison official said. Kelly Gissendaner, 47, died by lethal injection at 12:21 a.m. EDT at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, a prison spokeswoman said. “She was praying, and when she was not singing she was praying, and became […]





