🛩 Belarus "Hijacks" A Plane To Arrest A Journalist, Kenya's First Woman Chief Justice And More

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Here’s what you can expect:

• 🌏 This Week’s Big Stories
• 👩 Women To Know
• 🙌 Good News To End Your Week On

This Week’s Big Stories 🌏

Belarus “Hijacked” A Plane And Forced It To Land In Minsk To Arrest An Opposition Journalist

• Belarusian authorities diverted the Ryanair plane from Greece to Lithuania that was carrying Roman Protasevich to Minsk over “a potential security threat on board.”
• President Alexander Lukashenko personally ordered a fighter jet to escort the plane and ensure it landed in Minsk, where Protasevich and his girlfriend were arrested by authorities. No bomb was found on board.
• The incident prompted widespread international outrage, with countries condemning it as a “state hijacking.” Ryanair’s CEO also told Irish media they believe there were KGB agents aboard who also got off at Minsk.

• Belarusian authorities has since released a video of 26-year-old Roman Protasevich that appears to have been filmed under duress. In the video, Protasevich, a co-founder and editor of the popular opposition NEXTA Telegram channel, confesses to organizing mass protests in the country last year. His family and friends say he appears to have a broken nose in the video.
• European Union countries have called for EU airlines to not fly over the country and suspend permits for Belarus’ national carrier. Several European airlines have stopped flying over Belarus.
• The bloc has also promised to adopt further economic sanctions.

Elsewhere Around The World

• 🇨🇩 A volcano in the Democratic Republic of Congo erupted, killing at least 15 people and sending thousands fleeing across the border into Rwanda to seek refuge.
• 🇮🇳 A black fungus epidemic is sweeping across India, infecting recovering and recovered COVID patients and making things even more challenging for the healthcare system, which is already buckling under a deadly second wave of COVID-19.

Women To Know  👩

Kenya Has Appointed Its First Woman Chief Justice, Who Is A Lawyer, Judge And Human Rights Defender

• 61-year-old Martha Koome rose to fame for her defence of human rights, representing political detainees who protested against the regime of President Daniel Arap Moi in the 1980s and 90s
• She co-founded and chaired the Federation of Women Lawyers, which campaigns for women’s rights and provides pro-bono representation for victims of gender and sexual violence.
• Koome is also known for her contribution to Kenya’s landmark 2010 constitution, being one of the lawyers who helped to repeal a section that made Kenya a one-country state and writing the rights of women and children into the constitution.

More Women You Should Know About

• 🇼🇸 Even though her predecessor, the world’s second-longest serving prime minister refused to step down and locked her out of parliament, Fiame Naomi Mata’afa was sworn in as Samoa’s first woman prime minister.

Good News To End Your Week On 🙌

This Chinese Shepherd Save Six Runners At An Ultramarathon Hit By Extreme Weather That Killed 21

• As the temperature plunged drastically to below-freezing and rain, hail and high winds hit the running track, Zhu Keming stored firewood and clothes in a cave nearby, where he ended up escorting the runners to take refuge.
• Zhu, who ended up saving three men and three women, told state media that he was “just an ordinary person who did a very ordinary thing”, adding that he was sorry he couldn’t save others.
• There have been calls for accountability after 21 accomplished runners died from the extreme weather, 172 were reported missing, and most of the runners who took part suffered from hypothermia.

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