China’s kidnapped children on sale
A preference for large families and sons, a corrupt authoritarian regime, a police force ready to fabricate papers and a state in denial led to “a human tragedy on a frightening scale” in China over four decades ago. The tragedy, which is very much alive and kicking, has now assumed the proportions of an industry, while the government is just waking up to it. Hundreds of thousands of children go missing every year in China. According to some estimates, the number could be as high as 200,000.
Gangs working hand in glove with the police satisfy the rampant demand for large families and sons, by abducting and trafficking young children. Infant boys, an expert explains, are a premium, and can fetch no less than 120,000 yuan ($18,000) in some of the country’s richer eastern provinces. In recent times though, social media and internet have jolted the state into cognizance, and the government is building a DNA database in order to match parents and children.
Fourth-time loser, Kenya’s opposition leader knocks on Supreme Court’s doors
The previous and latest Kenyan elections haven’t ended very differently for the country’s beleaguered opposition leader. Just like after the 2013 election, Raila Odinga has now decided to challenge the election results in the country’s Supreme Court. “We have now decided to move to the Supreme Court and lay before the world the making of a computer-generated leadership,” the 72-year-old Odinga told journalists.
His restlessness perhaps comes from losing four elections in the past and a realisation that 2017 was his final shot at presidency. Odinga claims that the system was hacked and an algorithm installed to ensure that the incumbent president maintained a lead throughout – a fraud tantamount to “democracy’s slaughter”. “Our decision to go to court constitutes a second chance for the Supreme Court. The court can use this chance to redeem itself or, like in 2013, it can compound the problems we face as a country,” he said.
Muslim, female and judge – Malaysia’s female face of Islamic law
The Islamic law in Malaysia has a female face now. Stipulated to deal with family and morality cases involving Muslim citizens, the country’s Islamic law courts are seeing an increasing number of women join the ranks of Muslim men to become judges, lawyers and court mediators in the Islamic justice system.
Appointed for the first time ever in 2010, there are 27 female Syariah judges in Malaysia today. But they’re no pioneers for women emancipation. “When I’m on the bench, I’m not a woman, I’m not a man. I’m a judge…I need to deal with the case fair and firm, to follow the law, no bias,” one of the Muslim-majority country’s first two female Syariah High Court judges said. Yet, there is a long way to go. Even the country’s secular court system continues to be dominated by men, let alone the Islamic one. “Even though the numbers have risen, the numbers relative to men are still very low,” a former chief judge in the country said.
Africa’s soaring air traffic
African airports are busier than ever now, and turns out that China has something to do with that too. Tunisia and Egypt, which have the most impressive air traffic growth rates – up by 33.5 percent and 24.8 percent since last year – had lifted the visa restrictions on Chinese citizens and saw a huge increase in tourists from China.
Meanwhile, traffic from Europe, which makes up half of the African market, has also increased by 13.2 percent. While three of South Africa’s airports – Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban – continue to be the busiest in the continent, there has been a boost in intra-African travel on the whole. Yet, there are more people travelling to Africa from other continents than Africans travelling within the continent.
Compiled by Sanya Dhingra.