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By Bhuvan BAGGA Agence France-Presse DARBHANGA, India (AFP) — Married off by her parents at 14, Indian mother-of-seven Jaimala Devi kept having children because her husband insisted she could only stop once she had given birth to two sons. Devi’s story is common across Bihar, the poorest state in the world’s most populous country and also its fastest-growing: with around 127 million people, it already has roughly as many people as Mexico. India’s overall birthrate […]
Tehran, Iran | AFP | Iranian authorities ordered the arrest of two women, the judiciary said Saturday, after a viral video appeared to show them being attacked by a man for not wearing the hijab. Video footage widely shared on social media in Iran appeared to show the two female customers, who were not wearing the mandatory hijab or headscarf, in a shop being assaulted by a man after a verbal altercation. The footage […]
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Friday 3/17/2023 Japanese prosecutors on Friday charged three ex-soldiers over sexual abuse of a colleague, who is suing the government for failing to prevent the assaults, local media reported. Rina Gonoi, 23, went public about the alleged assaults last year, after an investigation into her claims was dropped on the grounds of insufficient evidence. Friday’s move by the prosecutors in Fukushima region, where Gonoi was previously stationed, is a reversal […]
by Hazel Ward with AFP bureaux around the world Agence France-Presse MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Women hit the streets from Kabul to Mexico City on Wednesday to mark International Women’s Day and stand up for rights that are coming under increasing attack. With Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers imposing what the United Nations has called a “gender apartheid” on women, Iran’s repression of the Mahsa Amini protests, new US restrictions on abortion rights and the Ukraine war, […]
by Estelle Emonet and Qubad Wali Agence France-Presse KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — Male students trickled back to their classes Monday after Afghan universities reopened following a winter break but women remain barred by Taliban authorities. The university ban is one of several restrictions imposed on women since the Taliban stormed back to power in August 2021 and has sparked global outrage — including across the Muslim world. “It’s heartbreaking to see boys going to the […]
FISCO, United States (AFP) — Japan snapped a four-match losing streak with a 3-0 victory over Olympic champions Canada in their closing match of the SheBelieves Cup on Wednesday. The Japanese, who had failed to score in defeats to the United States and Brazil in their first two matches of the women’s international football tournament, broke out in a big way with goals from Kiko Seike, Yui Hasegawa and Jun Endo. The top-ranked United States, […]
by Estelle Emonet and Jay Deshmukh Agence France-Presse KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — Aid groups say they have been “pushed against a wall” by the Taliban prohibiting Afghan women from working for NGOs, a ban that has left a dangerous gap in life-saving support. Afghanistan’s NGOs have been instrumental in trying to address one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with half the country’s population hungry and three million children at risk of malnutrition. “It is […]
Los Angeles, United States (AFP) Hundreds of high profile figures from the global cinema industry called Wednesday for Iran to release actor Taraneh Alidoosti, who was jailed over her support for the country’s three-month-old protest movement. Actors Emma Thompson, Penelope Cruz, Kate Winslet, Ian McKellen and directors Ken Loach and Mike Leigh were among a host of luminaries to sign an open letter demanding the star of “The Salesman” be freed. “As members of the […]
Tehran, Iran (AFP) Iran’s supreme court has ordered the retrial of a Kurdish rapper who was reportedly sentenced to death over protests sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death, the judiciary said Saturday. Protests have gripped Iran since the September 16 death of Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin, after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic’s dress code for women. Iran this month executed two people in connection with the […]
Kabul, Afghanistan (AFP) by Aysha Safi and Estelle Emonet Hundreds of young women were stopped by armed guards on Wednesday from entering Afghan university campuses, a day after the nation’s Taliban rulers banned them from higher education in another assault on human rights. Despite promising a softer rule when they seized power last year, the hardline Islamists have ratcheted up restrictions on all aspects of women’s lives, ignoring international outrage. A team of AFP […]
by Jay Deshmukh and Qubad Wali Agence France-Presse KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers on Tuesday banned university education for women nationwide, as the hardline Islamists continue to crush their right to education and freedom. Despite promising a softer rule when they seized power last year, the Taliban have ratcheted up restrictions on all aspects of women’s lives, ignoring international outrage. “You all are informed to immediately implement the mentioned order of suspending education […]
Paris, France (AFP) by Stuart WILLIAMS Iran on Monday executed a second man convicted in connection with protests that have shaken the regime for almost three months, defying an international outcry over its use of capital punishment against those involved in the movement. Majidreza Rahnavard had been sentenced to death by a court in the city of Mashhad for killing two members of the security forces with a knife, and wounding four other people, the […]
