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🌏 China Rejects A Woman's Historic #MeToo Case, The First Black Miss Ireland And More

All the world news you need to know this week.

Sep 17, 2021 — 3 min read

Happy weekend! Here’s your weekly email to help you stay updated and make sense of important stories happening around the world including:

A court in China has rejected a historic #MeToo case brought forward by Zhou Xiaoxuan, a 28-year-old screenwriter, who said she was sexually harassed by a famous TV presenter when she was an intern.

Zhou, who is known in China by her nickname Xianzi, said in a social media post in 2018 that Zhu Jun, a now 57-year-old host at state broadcaster CCTV, groped and forcibly kissed her in a dressing room in 2014 when she was an intern. Her post went viral on social media, and she quickly became the face of the #MeToo movement in China.
Zhu denied the allegations and sued her for defamation. She countersued him, demanding a public apology and 50,000 yuan (US$7,600) in damages.
On Tuesday Sep. 14, the Haidian District court in Beijing rejected Zhou’s case, saying that she had provided “insufficient evidence” to prove the allegation that Zhu had engaged in sexual harassment.
“Even if this case does not achieve a final judicial victory in the end, it is already a victory for many people to be able to see victims of gender-based violence like myself,” Zhou said when she arrived at a hearing in December last year.

🇦🇫 It’s been one month since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. Here’s a guide to all the significant events that have happened since.
🇭🇰 Hong Kong sentenced nine activists to up to 10 months in prison for holding a vigil over the Tiananman Square Massacre.

Pamela Uba, a 26-year-old medical scientist, has made history by becoming the first Black woman to be crowned Miss Ireland on Sunday Sep. 5.

Uba moved to Ireland from South Africa as an asylum seeker when she was seven and grew up with her family in a direct provision center, a government system for asylum seekers.
She later became an Irish citizen, studying medical sciences at university and now works as a medical scientist at University Hospital Galway.
With no previous modeling experience, Uba was crowned Miss Galway 2020 in March 2020 but became the target of racial abuse and trolling on social media.
“It means so much to me, I am so grateful I can show girls that color is not something that holds you back and it doesn’t matter where you come from, the world is your oyster,” Uba said after winning Miss Ireland. She said she hopes to show a more diverse Ireland and will represent the country at the 2022 Miss World in Puerto Rico.

🇫🇷 France will start offering free contraceptives for women up to the age of 25 next year to help them with the financial costs of birth control.

A dog interrupted a cricket match in Northern Ireland and then was named the new player of the month.

Following the match, the International Cricket Council, the world governing body of cricket, announced on Twitter it was giving the cocker spaniel puppy – named Dazzle – a very special award as the Player of the Moment for being the Best Fielder in Ireland Cricket. Great job Dazzle! 🐶🏏

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