World

BEIJING, (Reuters) – China’s parliament abolished yesterday an extra-judicial system of forced labour used to punish sex workers and their clients for up to two years, but it stressed that prostitution remains illegal.

PARUNG, Indonesia (Reuters) – On the outskirts of suburban Jakarta, housewife Dita Agusta lives with more than 250 cats she has taken in off the streets, creating a shelter for the animals she hopes will one day be adopted.

ZHENGYUANSI, China (Reuters) – In a short online video, a Chinese man with a round face and a buzz cut pops open a beer cap with a single chopstick.

(Reuters Health) – Screening fathers for postpartum depression is as important as screening mothers, researchers argue, and current guidelines don’t go far enough in urging doctors to identify new fathers who may be suffering.

(Reuters Health) – People who eat oatmeal for breakfast instead of eggs and white toast may be lowering their risk of stroke, a Danish study suggests.

(Reuters) – Archeologists have discovered a large palace likely used by the Mayan elite more than 1,000 years ago in the ancient city of Kulubá, near the modern day tourist hot spot of Cancun in eastern Mexico, Mexican anthropology officials said.

(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc and its Ring home security camera unit have been sued by an Alabama homeowner, who said the cameras’ defective design leaves purchasers vulnerable to cyberattacks.

(Reuters) – Facebook’s Libra project has failed in its current form and needs reworking to be approved, said the president of Switzerland where the cryptocurrency is seeking regulatory consent.

(Thomson Reuters Foundation) – From cockroach milk to beer made from waste water, a raft of eco-friendly food trends hit menus and supermarket shelves in 2019, vowing not to add to the world’s carbon emissions.

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Millions of people joined Pride marches around the world in 2019 and gay, bisexual and transgender rights were increasingly in the spotlight, with some countries legalizing gay marriage while others mulled the death penalty for same-sex relations.

(Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Countries around the world have promised gender equality by 2030, but in 2019 a new index showed that even the most advanced nations weren’t doing enough to reach that goal.

(Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Sithara Shahnawaz is torn between wearing a gown or a traditional salwar kameez when she attends the first all-night New Year’s Eve party for women in her hometown in southern India.

(Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Sithara Shahnawaz is torn between wearing a gown or a traditional salwar kameez when she attends the first all-night New Year’s Eve party for women in her hometown in southern India.

(Reuters) – A Japanese artist whose manga comics about a Uighur woman went viral wants to use the simple power of her work to raise awareness of the “daily suffering” endured by the Chinese mostly Muslim minority.

(Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Anyone in Nepal banishing women to “menstrual huts” during their periods will forfeit state benefits as well as face up to three months in jail, according to a government crackdown on the illegal practice unveiled last week after several deaths.

(Reuters) – When the first Apple iPhone hit the market in 2007, not everyone was convinced it would supplant the flip-phone.

MOGADISHU,  (Reuters) – At least 90 people were killed and dozens were wounded when a bomb-laden vehicle exploded at a bustling checkpoint in the Somali capital Mogadishu today, an international organisation working in the country said, in one of the most deadly recent attacks.

MEERUT/LUCKNOW, India, (Reuters) – India deployed thousands of police and shut down mobile internet services across many cities yesterday to control protests against a new citizenship law, with flashpoint Friday prayers passing largely peacefully.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – The Brazilian army stepped up patrols on the border with Venezuela yesterday, a day after picking up five deserting Venezuelan soldiers amid rising tensions between the two countries.

HINDU NAGAR, India  (Reuters) – When the young woman limped toward shopkeeper Ravindra Prakash, pleading for help on a dark and foggy morning in the northern Indian village, her body was so charred that he thought she was a witch.