Taiwan becomes first in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage
Lily Kuo, The Guardian | 17 May 2019.
Taiwan has legalised same-sex marriage, the first of any Asian state, with the passage of legislation giving gay couples the right to marry.
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Other News
Two Reuters reporters freed in Myanmar after more than 500 days in jail
Simon Lewis, Shoon Naing, Reuters | 7 May 2019.
YANGON (Reuters) – Two Reuters journalists jailed in Myanmar after they were convicted of breaking the Official Secrets Act walked free from a prison on the outskirts of Yangon on Tuesday after spending more than 500 days behind bars.
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Noodles and Nehru’s nod
Vivek Chhetri, The Telegraph | 6 May 2019.
Kalimpong: Gyalo Thondup, the Dalai Lama’s brother whose noodles factory burnt down here on Saturday, had learnt to make the strips of flour paste from his mother at the age of five at his native village of Taktser in Tibet.
Inauguration of the First Scholarly Conference on Kalachakra
[dalailama.com]Thekchen Chöling, Dharamsala, 6 May – In the cool, clear morning air, as the sun rose over the mountains into a cloudless blue sky, His Holiness the Dalai Lama walked from his residence to the Kalachakra Temple early today. Smiling faces, many of them from Russia, greeted him as walked through the garden. He saluted the statue of the Buddha in the main temple before entering the Kalachakra Temple and taking his seat.
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Fire guts Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris; Macron pledges to rebuild
Sybille de La Hamaide, Julie Carriat, Reuters | 16 April 2019
PARIS (Reuters) – A massive fire consumed Notre-Dame Cathedral on Monday, gutting the roof of the Paris landmark and stunning France and the world, though firefighters saved the main bell towers and outer walls from collapse before bringing the blaze under control.
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‘It’s come full circle’: Tiger Woods pulls off the impossible and mirrors scenes from 1997 by pulling his children into emotional embrace after winning the Masters… just as he did with his father 22 years ago
Danny Gallagher, Mail Online | 14 April 2019
Tiger Woods pulled off arguably the greatest comeback sport has ever seen, and in doing so brought back the memories of yesteryear with a sublime final round at Augusta to become Masters champion.
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Julian Assange’s charges are a direct assault on press freedom, experts warn
d Pilkington, The Guardian | 12 April 2019
The charge sheet accusing Julian Assange of engaging in criminal theft of US state secrets contains a direct assault on fundamental press freedoms and could have a devastating effect on the basic acts of journalism, leading first amendment scholars and advocacy groups have warned.
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The world lost environmental leaders on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302
Just six minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa on Sunday, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 lost contact with air traffic controllers and went down, killing everyone on board. In that moment, the world lost agents of change across multiple humanitarian and environmental movements. Many of the 149 passengers were headed to the fourth United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi. Among them were conference attendants leading work to end global hunger, take on plastic pollution in oceans, and make connections between climate change and gender inequity.
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Brexit: Theresa May’s deal is voted down in historic Commons defeat
BBC News | January 16,2019
Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal has been rejected by 230 votes – the largest defeat for a sitting government in history
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Trump starts withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria, claims victory
Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali, The Reuters | December 19, 2018
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump has begun what will be a total withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, declaring on Wednesday they have succeeded in their mission to defeat Islamic State and were no longer needed in the country.
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