CORRECTED-FEATURE-Pandemic puts pressure on Japan to open up rice stockpile to charities Reuters 2/17/2021
(Corrected name of organisation in paragraph 26) Pandemic highlights often-overlooked poverty in Japan Government releases stockpiled rice to charities for first time Calls to ease rules over distributing rice to the needy
By Chang-Ran Kim and Izumi Nakagawa
TOKYO, Feb 17 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When Ayumi lost her part-time job at a restaurant last summer, she ended up relying on rice and pre-packaged fare delivered once a month by a food bank to her college campus in Tokyo. I cut my meals to once a day, in mid-afternoon, the 22-year-old said. Many friends were in the same boat – they worked at eateries that were hit because of the coronavirus.
A baby left without a nationality after she was born in Spain to a same-sex couple from Bulgaria and Gibraltar is at the centre of a test case to be heard by the European Union's top court on Tuesday.
3 Min Read
(Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Nearly six out of 10 voters in the United States said the Biden administration should work directly with China to address climate change, according to a survey published on Tuesday.
The poll released by the Asia Society Policy Institute and Data for Progress found 56% of respondents wanted cooperation with China on climate change, seeing it as more important than all other issues bar nuclear disarmament, including COVID-19.
President Joe Biden has put climate at the heart of his domestic and foreign policy, including rejoining the global Paris Agreement and naming former Secretary of State John Kerry as the U.S. special climate envoy.
5 Min Read
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The first woman to head Britain’s biggest Muslim umbrella organisation said on Monday she hoped to tackle Islamophobia, inspire other Muslim women to go for leadership roles, and encourage ethnic minorities to get COVID-19 vaccinations.
Zara Mohammed, 29, a charities consultant and law graduate from the Scottish city of Glasgow, was elected head of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) after winning nearly two-thirds of the votes against her opponent, an imam.
“It’s humbling, it’s an honour, and it’s really overwhelming because I cannot believe how much attention it’s gotten,” Mohammed told the Thomson Reuters Foundation following Sunday’s win, which drew congratulations from many politicians.
3 Min Read
KATHMANDU (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When Angel Lama sashays down the catwalk in the Miss Universe Nepal finals on Wednesday she will make history as the first transgender woman to be a finalist in the Himalayan nation’s most glamorous annual event.
Nepal ranks among fewer than a dozen countries in the world that accept trans contestants in their national pageants and only the third in Asia after Myanmar and Mongolia, according to LGBT+ activists.
The move comes after new management relaxed the criteria for height, weight and appearance, and allowed any “bold, beautiful and confident woman” between 18 and 28 years to participate.