PAKISTAN
“The progressive activist and organizer who ran Pakistan’s first-ever hackathon and led a human rights and a peace-focused nonprofit known as The Second Floor (T2F) was shot dead today by unidentified gunmen in Karachi.”
AUSTRALIA
“Doctors will be given incentive payments so that parents stick to their children’s vaccination schedule, and the one religious exemption to vaccinations will end, as part of a push by the federal government to boost the immunisation rate.”
UK
The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights has blasted Katie Hopkins, a Sun columnist and former Celebrity Big Brother contestant, after she likened migrants to cockroaches. She was also reported to police for inciting racial hatred over the comments.
INDIA
The state of Maharashtra passed a bill adding bulls and bullocks to the previous ban on the slaughter of cows. People selling or possessing beef can be jailed up to 5 years and face fines. This bill affects mostly Muslims and the poor, since beef in India is cheaper than other meats.
SAUDI ARABIA
A halal sex shop is expected to open soon in Mecca. “The owner consulted with an Islamic cleric in Saudi Arabia before receiving permission to sell the halal sex products that would lead to ‘the improvement of the sexual relationship between husband and wife’”.
VENEZUELA
Resistance to antibiotics found in isolated Amazonian tribe.
CHILE
Have you seen the amazing images of the Calbuco volcano eruption? Did you see the UFO? My best guess is that it’s the moon.
ARAB WORLD
Invisible Atheists: The spread of disbelief in the Arab world. An interesting read on the numbers, problems, trends, and hopes of atheists in Muslim countries.
SUDAN
“Sudan has overhauled a law that led to rape victims being put on trial for adultery, a crime punishable by jail, flogging or even stoning.”
INDIA
“An Indian jewellery advertisement featuring top Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been withdrawn after criticism that it was “racist” and promoted child slavery. The advertisement shows a black, emaciated child holding a red parasol over the fair, bejewelled actress.”
SOMALIA
“The Somali Islamist movement al-Shabab has for the first time publicly killed a man for ‘insulting the prophet Muhammed’”
Featured image: Cabulco volcano eruption