Category Archives: Viva!

Ksenia Sobchak – from Russian socialite to Putin’s opponent

Appoint your own “opponent”?

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Journalist and former reality TV star Ksenia Sobchak is ready to take on President Vladimir Putin in Russia’s upcoming election. But is she the face of the opposition or a Kremlin-approved critic?

Scientists in France say they’ve found a cause of dyslexia – The Local

The team used an LED lamp, flashing so fast that it is invisible to the naked eye, to “cancel” one of the images in the brains of dyslexic trialparticipants while reading.In initial experiments, dyslexic study participants called it the “magic lamp,” said Ropars, but further tests are required to confirm the technique really works.About 700 million people in the world are known to suffer from dyslexia — about one in ten of the global population.

Source: Scientists in France say they’ve found a cause of dyslexia – The Local

Imprisonment of Catalan independence leaders gives movement new momentum

Predictable by any who really thought out what might happen if…

The imprisonment of two prominent separatist leaders has emboldened the Catalan secessionist movement, which was feeling frustrated and divided over the symbolic declaration of independence made last week by regional premier Carles Puigdemont.

Seguir leyendo.

Foreign Minister takes up #metoo campaign

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Foreign Minister Margot Wallström.

Lyssna: Foreign Minister takes up #metoo campaign

As the campaign against sexual harassment and assault spreads around the world, Swedish politicians are taking notice. Sweden’s Foreign Minister Margot Wallström praises women for standing up for themselves, and says their appeals need to be followed up by review of legislation.

The campaign has gained a lot of attention in Sweden, with several well-known women taking a stand and speaking out in public about their experiences of sexual harassment. The foreign minister has also talked about an unwanted experience of her own, during an EU-dinner.

“I can confirm that this happens also at the highest political level and I too have experienced this,” she told the news agency TT.

In a book by the Swedish journalist Jan Scherman, Wallström mentioned an incident that took place when she was working with the EU and was at a dinner with several EU-leaders.

“Suddenly I felt a hand on my lap. The man next to me at the table started to fondle me. It was surreal,”

Margot Wallström in the book Räkna med känslorna

Wallström left the dinner and later brought it up with the then Chairman of the EU-commission, José Manuel Barroso.

“Barroso thought it was completely unacceptable. But I do not know if he said anything to the person. I was shocked about what happened,” Wallström said in the book.

When asked today about her own experiences with sexual harassment, she told TT that she did “not want to speak about it too much from a personal point of view, but I can confirm that this happens also at the highest political level”.

Talking about the campaign she said:

“Brave women and girls around the world are stepping forward, but I am also thinking like a politician: What do we do about it? These kinds of appeals are not enough, they have to lead to measures being taken. We have to think about what our laws look like, and how do we change people’s mindsets, and how can we use all our channels to deal with this?”

The Minister for Equality Åsa Regnér, who used to be the general secretary of the national organisation for sexual education RFSU, also took note. She told Swedish Radio that these types of campaigns can make a difference.

“When women speak out about harassment and come up with proposals for improvement this puts it on the agenda. History has been driven forward by campaigns and testimonies from witnesses and lobbying from women and women’s movements,” she said.

Thousands march in Somalia after attack that killed more than 300

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Demonstrators defy police to protest against people responsible for devastating truck bomb in Mogadishu

Thousands of Somalis have demonstrated against those behind the bombing that killed more than 300 people at the weekend, defying police who opened fire to keep them away from the site of the attack.

Wearing red headbands, the crowd of mostly young men and women marched through Mogadishu amid tight security. They answered a call to unity by the mayor, Thabit Abdi, who said: “We must liberate this city, which is awash with graves.”

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Saudi scholars to vet teaching of prophet Muhammad to curb extremism

A bit late considering they spent 100s of millions supporting schools all over the globe over the last 20 years – many which became hotbeds for fundamentalist terror teaching. But hope it does some good, even if late.

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Royal order decrees King Salman Complex be set up in holy city of Medina to root out ‘fake and extremist texts’

Saudi authorities have taken an “unprecedented” step to tackle Islamic extremism by setting up a council of scholars to vet religious teachings around the world.

A royal order issued this week by King Salman established a global body of elite scholars based in the holy city of Medina to root out and “eliminate fake and extremist texts”.

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