🌏 Niger's Coup Could Lead To Regional War, Chinese Women Break Up With Boyfriends After "Barbie" And More

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• 🌏 This Week’s Top Stories
• 👩 Women To Know
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Regional war could be breaking out in Africa after Niger’s military attempted a coup.

Here’s what’s going on.

Also Happening Around The World

🇮🇹 Venice’s famous St.Mark’s Square flooded again and the videos look unreal.

🇹🇿 Zanzibar had banned men from braiding their hair and caused a controversy.

During a round of 16 match in the 2023 Women’s World Cup, England player Lauren James was sent off after literally stamping on the back of Nigerian forward Michelle Alozie in a moment of reckless frustration.

The incident happened during the 87th minute of a match between England and Nigeria on Monday Aug. 7 when both countries were tied at 0-0, before England prevailed 4-2 during a penalty shoot-out at Brisbane stadium in Australia.

21-year-old James was initially given a yellow card, which was later upgraded to a red and dismissal from play following a VAR review for the act of violent petulance.

In a statement released on Thursday August 10, FIFA announced that its disciplinary committee has imposed a two-match suspension on James.

This means that England must advance to the finals in order for James to see anymore playtime in this year’s World Cup.

James has since apologized to Alozie on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“All my love and respect to you. I am sorry for what happened. Also, for our England fans and my team-mates, playing with and for you is my greatest honour and I promise to learn from my experience,” she tweeted.

“abeg, rest. we are playing on the world’s stage. this game is one of passion, insurmountable emotions, and moments. all respect for Lauren James,” Alozie replied.

The release of "Barbie" has sparked a deeper discussion about what it means to be a woman in the real world, and this has been no different in China, with women using the movie as a litmus test on their partners.

Women on Chinese social media have reported seeing men who accompanied their women friends or partners to see "Barbie", walking out the theater half way through the movie.

A user on Chinese social media Xiaohongshu then came up with a litmus test that helps women determine if their boyfriends are worthy of them.

The "Barbie" litmus test divides men into four categories.

The first categorizes men as "toxic" and "misogynistic" if they hate movie, walk out or criticize the woman director.

The second type of man is the ones who can't understand "Barbie" and look confused when everyone is laughing – meaning he has "no brain or culture".

"If a man is willing to watch the "Barbie" movie, understands 50% of the message, walks out of the movie theater and thinks the movie is good and interesting, then he must be a man with normal values and stable emotions," the user wrote.

Finally, if a man loves "Barbie" and wore pink to see the movie, then he must be a Ken, according to the test.

On Weibo, another Chinese social media, men said they were worried their enthusiasm for the movie could be interpreted as fake.

"As a man who enjoyed 'Barbie', even if I were to write a film review, I would be ridiculed with comments like, "Men shouldn't pretend to understand." What should I do?" a male Weibo user wrote.

In response, women have said that the situation then men are in is one that women have lived with throughout their entire lives – trying to prove their love for "manly" things is real.

"Looking at it from a different perspective, women go through these kinds of situations every day. We are constantly questioned – 'Do you like Star Wars? You must be a fake fan. Let me test you. Do you know who created Star Wars?'," a woman user wrote in response.

"Barbie" has received an 8.3 out of 10 rating on the popular Chinese movie review website, Douban.

More Women You Should Know About

🇧🇬 This Bulgarian teen was cut multiple times and disfigured by her ex-boyfriend and people are demanding justice.

In a historic moment, Brazil’s constitution has been officially translated into an Indigenous language for the first time.

The 1988 constitution was created after a two decade military dictatorship and recognized and protected Indigenous Brazilians’ culture and way of life.

It was translated into Nheengatu, the general language used to communicate between different Indigenous groups in the Amazon.

The translation was led by Brazil’s national justice council and done by a group of 15 bilingual Indigenous people.

“We are in a country of immense diversity, and I don’t hear our languages [spoken] in our spaces. We need to be involved. Before being Indigenous, we are people who have a right to respect,” Inory Kamari, one of the translators, said.

It was unveiled at a ceremony with Brazilian authorities and Indigenous leaders in a town in the Amazon on July 19.

Indigenous activists are calling for the government to put the principles in the constitution into practice as Indigenous people and their rights are constantly under attack in Brazil.

More Good News For Your Week

🇷🇴 Tens of thousands of people in Romania held its biggest ever Pride march to celebrate LGBTQ rights.

🇳🇱 Elsewhere in Europe, thousands of people also held a huge Pride parade in Amsterdam’s canals.

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