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Melinda French Gates to donate $1bn in women’s rights
Billionaire philanthropist Melinda French Gates announced Tuesday that she is committing $1 billion (£782.4m) over the next two years to women’s causes and gender equity around the world.
About $200 million (£157m) will go to organisations fighting for gender and reproductive rights in the US.
In a New York Times guest essay, Ms French Gates said she felt compelled to support US reproductive rights following the 2022 Supreme Court decision that overturned the constitutional right to an abortion.
The announcement comes two weeks after Ms French Gates said she would step back from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the philanthropic powerhouse she co-founded with her former husband, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
The money will be distributed through her company, Pivotal Ventures, through 2026.
Ms French Gates plans to give $20m (£16m) to a “diverse group of 12 global leaders” to distribute to organisations of their choice before the end of 2026.
The company said it will set aside another $250 million (£196m) in the autumn to global organisations focused on women’s mental and physical health.
Ms French Gates said she chose the first grant recipients working in the US to “protect the rights of women and advance their power and influence”.
“When we allow this cause to go so chronically underfunded, we all pay the cost,” she wrote in the New York Times. “As shocking as it is to contemplate, my 1-year-old granddaughter may grow up with fewer rights than I had.”
One grant recipient is the Center for Reproductive Rights, which advocates for abortion rights and currently represents 50 women in lawsuits challenging abortion restrictions and other reproductive health measures in several states.
Joung-ah Ghedini-Williams, the Center’s chief communications and marketing officer, said the money is needed now more than ever. “The attention and the public debate about reproductive rights and abortion is greater than ever,” Ms Ghedini-Williams said. “That’s not necessarily being reflected in donations, which is why this is so wonderful right now, when we need to continue fueling this fight.”
Other recipients include MomsRising, an organisation to support women’s economic security; the National Women’s Law Center, which focuses on law as a means to improve gender equity; and The 19th, a nonprofit media outlet dedicated to gender and policy news.
The National Domestic Workers Alliance, which advocates for millions of nannies, housecleaners, home-care workers and others in the US, also received a grant.
The flexible terms and multi-year security the grant provides are a significant help to the group, but the message it sends is even more important, said Ai-jen Poo, president of the organisation.
“Boldly resourcing women forces the question of, ‘why haven’t we done this before?’” she said. “It’s long overdue when women are more than half the workforce, half the electorate and doing 70% of the care work in our communities and our families.”
(BBC)
Canada’s new Prime Minister Mark Carney has moved to dissolve Parliament and trigger a snap election on April 28.
The widely anticipated decision on Sunday kicks off an election race less than two weeks after Carney took up his post, succeeding Justin Trudeau at a time of soaring tensions with the United States.
“We are facing the most significant crisis of our lifetimes because of President Donald Trump’s unjustified trade actions and his threats to our sovereignty,” the Liberal Party leader told reporters in Ottawa after he met with the governor general to request parliament’s dissolution.
“I’m asking Canadians for a strong, positive mandate to deal with President Trump and to build a new Canadian economy that works for everyone because I know we need change – big change, positive change.”
The election had to be held by October 20, but experts say Carney is hoping that an early vote will benefit his Liberal Party, which is riding a wave of momentum.
The party, which has been in government since 2015, has seen a surge in support since Trudeau’s January announcement that he planned to step down and amid repeated threats from Trump.
[Aljazeera]
Three people were killed and 15 others injured in a mass shooting between two rival groups at an unsanctioned car show on Friday in the US state of New Mexico, according to local authorities.
The shooting took place at Young Park in the city of Las Cruces, about 22:00 local time.
Four people have been charged with in relation to the three murders, Las Cruces Police Department said on Sunday, including a 15-year-old boy.
Two 19-year-old men and one 16-year-old boy died in the shooting, police said.
In a statement on X, Las Cruces police said those arrested and charged were two 17-year-old boys, a 15-year-old boy and a 20-year-old man.
Police chief Jeremy Story said there had been “an altercation between two groups of people and that altercation escalated to gunfire between both groups”. “Several other people were also injured in the crossfire.”
Mr Story said there had been “ill will” between the two groups prior to the car show.
About 50 to 60 bullet shell casings from handguns were found at the scene, police said, adding that the crime scene was huge and about 200 people had been at the park.
Police have asked any witnesses to come forward with information or video.
Those injured in the shooting ranged from ages 16 to 36. Authorities have not yet named any of the victims.
Seven patients were sent to nearby El Paso, Texas, which is just over the New Mexico border, for further medical treatment, said fire chief Michael Daniels.
Four other victims had been treated and released, Mr Daniels said.
[BBC]
The main rival to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been formally arrested and charged with corruption.
Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul, is expected to be selected as the opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) 2028 presidential nominee in a ballot on Sunday.
He has denied the allegations and said they are politically motivated. “I will never bow,” he wrote on X before he was remanded in custody.
His detention sparked some of Turkey’s largest protests in more than a decade. Erdogan has condemned the demonstrations and accused the CHP of trying to “disturb the peace and polarise our people”.
Imamoglu was one of more than 100 people, including other politicians, journalists and businessmen, detained as part of an investigation on Wednesday, triggering four consecutive nights of demonstrations.
On Sunday, he was formally arrested and charged with “establishing and managing a criminal organisation, taking bribes, extortion, unlawfully recording personal data and rigging a tender”. He was remanded in custody pending trial. AFP and local media reported he had been taken to a prison in Silivri.
In social media posts, Imamoglu criticised his arrest as a “black stain on our democracy”, and said judicial procedure was not being followed. He urged people across the country to join protests and to take part in Sunday’s vote.
Imamoglu is the only person running in the CHP’s presidential candidate selection.
The arrest does not prevent Imamoglu’s candidacy and election as president, but if he is convicted of any of the charges against him, he will not be able to run.
The party’s chairman said nearly 15 million people had cast a ballot in the vote, which was extended for three hours due to heavy turnout. The party said some 1.6m votes came from its members. The rest were cast by non-members at separate ballot boxes for those who wished to show solidarity with Imamoglu. [The BBC cannot independently verify these figures.]
Imamoglu’s arrest sparked a fifth night of protests. Crowds had gathered near Istanbul’s city hall by early evening, and could be seen waving Turkish flags and chanting in front of a row of riot police.
As night began to fall, officers were seen firing water cannons at some protesters.
The jailed politician is seen as one of the most formidable rivals of Erdogan, who has held office in Turkey for 22 years as both prime minister and president.
However, due to term limits, Erdogan cannot run for office again in 2028 unless he changes the constitution.
Opposition figures say the arrests are politically motivated.
But the Ministry of Justice has criticised those connecting Erdogan to the arrests, and insist on its judicial independence.
In a message shared on X through his lawyers late on Sunday, Imamoglu said he sent his greetings to those protesting and that voters had showed Turkey had had “enough” of Erdogan.
Also that evening, X’s Global Government Affairs department said it objected to “multiple court orders” from Turkey’s communications regulator to block over 700 accounts on the platform, including those of Turkish political figures and journalists.
It said the move was “not only lawful, it hinders millions of Turkish users from news and political discourse in their country”.
Imamoglu has meanwhile been suspended from his post as Instanbul’s mayor, Turkey’s interior ministry said in a statement.
Prosecutors also want to charge Imamoglu with “aiding an armed terrorist organisation”, but the Turkish court said it was not currently necessary.
The CHP had a de facto alliance with the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) in connection with last year’s local elections.
DEM has been accused of being affiliated with the PKK – or Kurdistan Workers’ Party – which it denies.
The PKK declared a ceasefire early this month, after waging an insurgency against Turkey for more than 40 years. It is proscribed as a terrorist group in Turkey, the EU, UK and US.
Meanwhile, Istanbul University announced on Tuesday it was revoking Imamoglu’s degree due to alleged irregularities.
If upheld, this would put his ability to run as president into doubt, since the Turkish constitution says presidents must have completed higher education to hold office.
Imamoglu’s lawyers said they would appeal the decision to revoke his degree to the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights.
The Supreme Election Council will decide whether Imamoglu is qualified to be a candidate.
[BBC]
Canada’s PM Carney triggers snap election, vote set for April 28
Three killed and 15 injured in New Mexico mass shooting
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