🌏 The Beijing Olympics Begin, A Moroccan Boy Trapped In A Well And More

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The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics kicked off on Friday, Feb. 4 in China, with an opening ceremony with bold political undertones.

• At the end of the ceremony, Dinigeer Yilamujiang, a 20-year-old Uyghur cross-country skier from Xinjang, carried the Olympic torch hand-in-hand with Zhao Jiawen, a Chinese Nordic combined skier, and lit the cauldron.
• Choosing Yilamujiang to mark the beginning of the 2022 Games is seen as a direct and provocative nod to one of the harshest criticisms against the host country, which has been accused of committing genocide against Uyghurs and other ethnic Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.
• The day after the ceremony, Yilamujiang competed and placed 43rd out of 65 women in cross-country skiing. After the race, Yilamujiang and the three other athletes from China competing in the event disappeared and did not show up to talk to the media.

Also Happening Around The World

• 🇲🇦 A five-year-old boy who was trapped in a well in Morocco for four days died after rescuers finally reached him, a story that engrossed the nation and led to an outpouring of tributes.
• 🇳🇦 Namibia’s high court has refused to legally recognize the marriages of two same-sex couples who wed outside of the country.

People are showing their support for Zhu Yi, a US-born figure skater who gave up her US citizenship to compete for China, after she fell during her Olympic debut and was attacked by Chinese fans online.

• After Zhu fell over, #ZhuYiFellOver and #ZhuYiMessedUp quickly became trending hashtags on Chinese social media platform Weibo, racking up millions of views. Many users questioned Zhu’s selection in the team event while others criticized her for not being able to speak fluent Mandarin.
• “I’m upset and a little embarrassed,” Zhu said to reporters after her skate. “I guess I felt a lot of pressure because I know everybody in China was pretty surprised with the selection for ladies’ singles and I just really wanted to show them what I was able to do but unfortunately I didn’t.”
• Born to Chinese parents in the US as Beverly Zhu, Zhu changed her name to Zhu Yi and relinquished her US citizenship in 2018 to represent China as part of the country’s “Morning Road” initiative for recruiting athletes for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

More Women You Should Know About

• 🇮🇪 Women in Ireland are demanding justice and better protections for women after a teacher was murdered when she was jogging in broad daylight.

A Chinese soldier raising the flag at the Beijing Olympics really gave it his all despite an encounter with a stray flag and people are loving it.

More Good News

• 🇵🇱 Polish luger Mateusz Sochowicz made an incredible comeback at the Olympics after breaking his legs on the same track in a freak crash in November last year.

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