Foreign News
Nobel Prize-winner to contest Democratic Republic of Congo presidency
In 2012, Nobel Prize-winner Dr Denis Mukwege was attacked by gunmen – a consequence, he believes, of criticising the Democratic Republic of Congo government’s policies on gender-based violence.
A decade later, living under the protection of UN peacekeepers, Dr Mukwege has launched another challenge against the nation’s leadership. He will be running for president in elections due in December, he announced on Monday.
Known as “Dr Miracle”, the 63-year-old rose to global fame for performing reconstructive surgery on women who had been raped in the country’s war-torn east. His hospital has so far treated more than 50,000 survivors of sexual violence, while he has cemented himself as one of the world’s foremost experts in his field.
Dr Mukwege was born in 1955 in Bukavu, a city in eastern DR Congo. After numerous visits to see sick members of the community with his preacher father, he decided he wanted to become a doctor. He began his training at a medical school across the border in Burundi, later studying gynaecology and obstetrics at the University of Angers in France.
In 1998, he set up a clinic in his home city. The doctor intended Panzi hospital to be for maternal health, with his team treating new or expecting mothers. However, when war broke out, more and more women came to the clinic with gruesome injuries from sexual violence committed by various armed groups.
In 2013, Dr Mukwege told the BBC that rape in eastern DR Congo was part of a ‘stratergy’ to force communities away from their land and resources.
For three decades the region has been wracked by conflict, with numerous armed groups battling for gold and other valuable resources. Different militias have been accused of carrying out indiscriminate rape – tens of thousands of women are thought to have been attacked over the course of the conflict, Amnesty International has reported.
Dr Mukwege told the BBC about his first experience of treating a woman who had been raped and mutilated by armed men. “After being raped, bullets had been fired into her genitals and thighs,” Dr Mukwege said of the first rape survivor that came to his clinic. “The real shock came three months later. Forty-five women came to us with the same story.”
Along with his colleagues, Dr Mukwege has since treated tens of thousands of victims and become “the world’s leading specialist in the treatment of wartime sexual violence”, according to the Nobel Prize.
(BBC)
A court in Malta has acquitted businessman Yorgen Fenech of masterminding the murder of prominent anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Fenech, 44, was acquitted on Wednesday at the end of a jury trial. He had been tried on charges of complicity to murder and for the lesser charge of criminal association to commit murder.
If found guilty, Fenech could have faced life in prison.
Caruana Galizia’s family were seen weeping in the packed courtroom in Valletta after the businessman was cleared of both counts by an 8-1 margin following eight hours of deliberation by the jury.
“Nine years after Daphne’s brutal assassination, the institutional failures that enabled her murder remain unaddressed and unreformed,” the slain reporter’s family said in a statement.
“Lasting justice means no person should ever face the same risks again. Our country failed to protect Daphne’s life. It owes it to her to prevent other lives being lost.”
Fenech’s family members were seen celebrating the jury’s decision.
The killing of Caruana Galizia in October 2017 shocked Europe’s journalist community and set off a political firestorm in Malta, focusing international attention on its police and judiciary.
Dubbed a “one-woman WikiLeaks”, Caruana Galizia had exposed corruption at the highest level in the Mediterranean island country, shining a spotlight on links between Malta’s business and political elites. She was 53 when she was killed.
Prosecutors argued that Fenech had wanted Caruana Galizia killed because she was about to reveal information about him.
Fenech has denied the accusations. His defence instead pointed fingers at his one-time friend Keith Schembri, the former chief of staff of then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and a target of Caruana Galizia’s blogs.
Muscat, who was never linked to the murder, stepped down in January 2020 due to the political fallout from the assassination.
Police told the court that Schembri had never been a suspect. He has denied any role in the murder.
An independent inquiry in 2021 found that officials in Malta had failed to protect Caruana Galizia from threats to her life before her death.
[Aljazeera]
A head teacher’s quick decision to evacuate his school saved 900 pupils from deadly flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border
Rajendra Dawadi tells the BBC he was tipped off about incoming flood waters and moved students to higher ground with just minutes to spare. One pupil says she and her friends survived by just 10 seconds and watched as a nearby bazaar was swept away
Wednesday’s disaster has killed at least 794 people and more than 2,500 people are missing in Nepal, local officials say
In Tibet, the official death toll is 16, with 546 reported to be missing, according to Chinese state media –
[BBC]
A ferry carrying around 260 people has capsized off the coast of northern Cyprus with a search underway for survivors, according to local media.
The catamaran-style boat was travelling from the port of Kyrenia, also known as Girne, and started sinking a few kilometres off the coast of the island state on Sunday.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
[Aljazeera]
Sun directly overhead Madampe, Thorayaya, Thotagamuwa, Rattota and Kalavanchikudy about 12.09 noon today (03)
Afternoon thundershowers in the Northern, North-central, Eastern and Uva provinces in next few days, starting from today (03).
22A: SC urged to suspend hearing, appoint full bench
Govt. seeks NATO assistance
Recent ‘Ice’ detection at the Colombo Port made on US intelligence – Embassy
Sri Lanka launches National Food Safety Policy with support from FAO and EU
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
Sunday Island 27 December – Headlines
#SundayIsland 17th December – Headlines
Sunday Island – 28th March
Sunday Island Headlines – 21 March
Sunday Island – 21st February – Headlines
-
News6 days agoEight politicians in drug kingpin probe
-
Features4 days ago“Wrap Me Up in My Blazer”— A Gentlemanly Bradby Reminiscence
-
Business6 days agoSri Lanka opens up: A new season of direct connectivity
-
Features3 days agoWhen Sri Lankan stories find their own voice
-
Features6 days agoRedefining ageing in Sri Lanka
-
Editorial6 days agoThe toxic legacy of two lakes
-
Business6 days agoJaffna Teaching Hospital secures lifeline water supply via ADB-funded Thalaiyadi sea water desalination plant
-
Features4 days agoJVP/NPP government as seen from outside by Lionel Bopage now domiciled in Australia