Daily News & Articles

December 24, 2017 at 03:05AM

The Myanmar leader should be cut from Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, critics insist

It is one of the most popular children’s books of 2017, a collection of stories about female role models from Amelia Earhart and Marie Curie to Hillary Clinton and Serena Williams, inspiring girls to aim high and challenge the status quo.

But Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, likely to be in many Christmas stockings, has run into controversy because of one of the 100 women included in its pages. When the book was written last year, Aung San Suu Kyi was deemed a worthy subject: winner of the Nobel peace prize and epitome of courage in the face of oppression. But her fall from grace over her response to violence against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims, described by the UN as possible genocide, has triggered calls for her to be taken out of future editions. In response, the authors, Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo, are considering removing her from reprints.

Vía World news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2DHAQzq

How the food of Charles Dickens defined Christmas

December 24, 2017 at 03:24AM

The writer was a serious foodie and his books introduced us to a Christmas menu that has barely changed.

Vía BBC News – Home http://ift.tt/2BX0Jus

24 December 2017 0

Snapshots of 2017: the pain, the joy, and the Donald

December 24, 2017 at 03:05AM

It was the year photographers caught the world in turmoil, from the despair of thousands fleeing Myanmar to post-Mugabe joy in Zimbabwe

The extraordinary spectacle of Donald Trump’s presidency has dominated 2017: from Twitter wars with nuclear-armed North Korea, to Robert Mueller’s Russia inquiry, and the fast-shifting White House cast, including several who encouraged Trump in his embrace of the far right.

But it has been an astonishing year of challenged assumptions even beyond America’s borders. Heroes have turned villain, none more prominently than the Burmese leader and Nobel peace laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, who in effect looked away as her military launched a killing spree.

Vía World news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2BXV73b

24 December 2017 0

Breakthroughs put diseases on the back foot

December 24, 2017 at 03:24AM

Once incurable diseases are now in the sights of doctors.

Vía BBC News – Home http://ift.tt/2D4sZKU

24 December 2017 0

There’s plenty of good news coming out of the Welsh valleys | Letters

December 24, 2017 at 03:05AM

Investment and a strong sense of community are helping Ebbw Vale thrive againIt is important that stark regional inequalities and the resulting impacts on people and communities that exist across our country are recognised and responded to (“There’s no life here at all: a journey to the heartlands of Britain’s future”, News, last week). In the case of Ebbw Vale and the towns of the adjoining valleys, the communities grew as a result of the minerals of the area and the resulting coal and steel industries. These have now gone, so it is necessary to identify the assets that can provide the basis for a new future. Most important among these are the people.

James Bloodworth rightly highlights the need for continued investment in education and skills. The warmth and welcoming nature of the communities is also an asset in itself. So, too, is the striking landscape, investment in road and rail connections to cities such as Newport, Cardiff and Bristol, and the area’s heritage.

Vía World news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2BXW2Rb

24 December 2017 0