QUICK READ

Afghanistan

MORE than a dozen Afghan women protested briefly in Kabul, calling for their rights to be recognised on the eve of the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women yesterday.

Afghan women have been squeezed out of public life since the Taliban’s return to power in August last year, but small groups have staged protests that are quickly shut down, sometimes violently.

“We will fight for our rights to the end and we will not surrender,” read a sign in the Dari language carried by one of the protesters.

Most of the group wore sunglasses, their heads covered with veils and masks obscuring their faces. | AFP

Indonesia

DEATH descended on Cianjur when an earthquake struck the Indonesian town this week, but several new mothers also provided some joy for grief-stricken residents. At least three babies were born in the same evacuation tent just a day after the magnitude 5.6 tremor killed 271 people, according to West Java’s governor Ridwan Kamil.

A US study published in September showed that pre-natal babies are at a higher risk of developing psychological and behavioural disorders during a natural disaster. But for these mothers whatever comes next mattered little as their births were a ray of light amid the darkness, at least for a moment. | AFP

Trump

DONALD Trump has been sued for defamation a second time by a writer who accused the former US president of lying by denying he raped her 27 years ago.

In a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court this week, the former Elle magazine columnist E Jean Carroll also accused Trump of battery in an alleged encounter at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan.

Carroll, 78, brought the claim under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, a new law giving sexual assault victims a one-year window to sue their alleged abusers, even if the statutes of limitations have expired.

Trump, 76, has denied raping Carroll or knowing her at the time. | Reuters

Russia

RUSSIAN lawmakers in the lower house of parliament unanimously approved a law banning all LGBTQ “propaganda” this week, as Moscow pushes its conservative turn at home.

“Any propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations will carry a consequence,” Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, said on Telegram, adding the legislation “will protect our children and the future of our country from the darkness spread by the US and European states”.

The upper house and President Vladimir Putin will need to approve the legislation before it is enforced. | AFP