Sunday, January 22, 2017

Six In The Morning Sunday January 22

Protesters across globe rally for women's rights


Updated 0352 GMT (1152 HKT) January 22, 2017


More than one million people marched through Washington, D.C., and other American cities Saturday to show support for women's rights and express their discontent over the election of President Donald Trump.
The Women's March drew members of Congress, world-famous actresses and countless citizens like Joanne Gascoyne of Albany, New York a 78-year-old retired teacher who traveled to New York City with her daughter and two granddaughters.
    "I feel people are afraid to vote for a woman for president," Gascoyne said. "I'm really here for women and to inspire my granddaughters to carry on."




    Indian sailors stranded in Norfolk port by ‘modern-day slavery’


    A crew of a supply ship in Great Yarmouth have waited seven months to be paid


    Eventually, Saurabh Saigal could no longer look at his son. “I couldn’t stand it any more. He’s only six and suffers from allergies. When he’s ill I see the suffering in his eyes. Then I avoid talking to him by video link.”
    For seven months Saigal has been separated from his family in India, effectively imprisoned on a ship moored off the coast of Norfolk. A routine inspection of the offshore supply vessel Malaviya Twenty at Great Yarmouth last June found what unions describe as “modern-day slavery” – 15 Indian crew had not been paid for months while working in the oilfields of the North Sea.
    Unwilling to desert the ship without getting paid, its crew have been left abandoned in the Norfolk port. Their fate offers a stark example of what an unfettered liberalised market does to a workforce – globalisation at its most raw.



    Police enter Brazil prison after week of gang-fuelled chaos in which 26 died


    Many of the dead were dismembered in the violence, with investigators finding a full skull, parts of two other skulls and other bones

    Renata BritoSarah Dilorenzo

    Military police have entered a prison in north east Brazil, establishing tenuous control after a week of chaos and fighting between rival gangs that left 26 inmates dead. 
    The unrest was the latest in a spate of violence in the country's penitentiaries, in which at least 126 people have been killed since the beginning of the year. The fighting is typically between members of rival gangs that compete for control of drug trafficking routes outside prison walls. 
    A week after inmates first rioted at Alcacuz prison, riot police and other forces moved into the complex outside the city of Natal on Saturday. As a helicopter flew overhead, an armoured vehicle also entered the complex and later construction equipment was brought in.


    India overturns bull-wrestling ban in response to massive protests

    Protests over the past week have forced India's central government to overturn a Supreme Court ruling banning traditional bull-wrestling. People in Tamil Nadu said the ban showed a lack of respect for their culture.
    A popular bull-wresting festival in India's Tamil Nadu state is to go ahead after the state and central government moved to temporarily overturn a ban on it. 
    People in Tamil Nadu have been bull-wresting for centuries as part of their culture and traditions surrounding the Pongal harvest festival, which was held last week.
    India's Supreme Court banned the sport known as "Jallikattu" in 2014 in response to a petition by animal rights activists, who argue the practice of giving the animals alcohol and throwing chili powder in their eyes amounted to cruelty toward animals.


    Striking Kenyan doctors post photos to reveal horrific conditions


    OBSERVERS


    Kenyan doctors are taking to Twitter to share photos and stories about the abhorrent working conditions in the public health sector. Their testimonies highlight major health hazards — from crumbling hospital walls to surgeons having to conduct operations by torchlight. The social media campaign is helping to turn public opinion in favour of the ongoing strike by Kenyan medical professionals. 

    In Kenya, more than 5,000 doctors and other medical professionals have been on strike since December 5, 2016 to denounce a crisis in the health sector. The doctors are calling on the government to honour a Collective Bargaining Agreement signed in 2013. The agreement, which promised to triple doctor’s salaries, has never been applied. 

    The strike has dragged on for more than a month. After the failure of discussions with the government, Kenyan doctors decided to take their campaign to social media to drum up public support. On Monday January 16, the Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KPMDU) launched the hashtag #mybaddoctorexperience, inviting medical professionals to share some of their daily struggles in their work. 


    Protests erupt in Gaza as electricity crisis deepens

    In many areas, Palestinians received only three hours of electricity at a time, punctuated by 12-hour blackouts.




    Anger is growing among Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip as the narrow coastal enclave's electricity crisis deepens. 
    An estimated 10,000 Palestinians flooded the streets in Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza last week, after more than a week of lengthy power cuts. In many parts of Gaza, residents received only three hours of electricity at a time, punctuated by 12-hour blackouts. 
    Protesters expressed anger at Israel's blockade, and at the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority and Hamas authorities in Gaza. Demanding a solution to the power cuts, some demonstrators clashed with security forces. 
    Speaking to local media on Monday, Gaza's Interior Ministry spokesman Iyad al-Buzm said that protesters arrested for "creating chaos" had been released after an agreement between various political factions. 





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