UK – A discount store has been branded ‘disgusting’ and ‘irresponsible’ for stocking bathroom scales with a ‘pro-anorexia’ slogan. A shopper took a picture of the scales on sale at B&M stores which have the slogan ‘nothing tastes as good as skinny feels’ emblazoned across them. Supermodel Kate Moss was criticized for making the remarks in 2009 after she was asked what her mottos were in an interview with a fashion website. Rachel May Shevlin posted the picture on Facebook and urged people to write to B&M Stores to complain about the product. The scales have caused a massive backlash online with others turning to Twitter to vent their frustration at the product, accusing it of sending an irresponsible message to vulnerable people.

(Daily Mail)…[+]

AUSTRALIA – A writer has criticized Facebook for double standards after she was banned from the social network for confronting an internet troll, yet a meme she reported depicting domestic violence did not qualify to be removed.

Clementine Ford, a columnist for Australia’s Daily Life, was banned from Facebook for 30-days on Friday after telling an internet troll, who allegedly called her a “diseased whore”, to “f**k off”. Meanwhile, a meme showing a picture of a young woman with a bloodied face accompanied by the caption, “He told me to make him a sandwich, I should have listened”, did not violate Facebook’s Community Standards after Ms Ford reported the picture citing “annoying and distasteful humor”. In light of the two incidents, Ms Ford has lambasted Facebook as “hypocritical” with a “pathetic, hostile attitude towards women”.(The Independent UK)…[+]

/abonnement/YEMEN – Hundreds of thousands of children in Yemen face life-threatening malnutrition, millions lack access to health care or clean water, and some have been drafted as soldiers in the year-old war, the United Nations Children’s Fund said today. A UNICEF report said all sides had “exponentially increased” the use of child soldiers in the conflict between Houthi forces, allied to Iran, and a Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. “On average, at least six children have been killed or injured every day,” said the report “Childhood on the Brink”. UNICEF has confirmed 934 children directly killed and 1,356 injured, but says they are “only a tip of the iceberg”. “Sixty-one percent of those (children) killed and injured were in (Saudi-led) air strikes across the country,” Julien Harneis, UNICEF’s Representative in Yemen, told a briefing by telephone from the capital Sana’a.(Reuters)…[+]

USA – The first new mouse model in which the Zika virus can be tested was described in a medical journal on Monday. Research into drugs or vaccines that might work against Zika has been hampered because there have been no approved animal models in which to test them. Testing is normally done first in cell lines, then in mice and finally in monkeys before human testing can ethically begin.

In The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, virologists at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston announced that they had found a type of immune-deficient mice that lost weight, became lethargic and died when infected.(New York Times)…[+]

CYPRUS – An EgyptAir plane flying from Alexandria to Cairo was hijacked and forced to land in Cyprus on Tuesday by a man with what authorities said was a fake suicide belt, who was arrested after giving himself up. The passengers and crew were unharmed. Eighty-one people had been on board the Airbus 320 when it took off from Alexandria en route to Cairo, Egypt’s Civil Aviation Ministry said in a statement.

Conflicting theories emerged about the Egyptian hijacker’s motives. A senior Cypriot official said he was psychologically unstable and the incident did not appear related to terrorism. The Cypriot state broadcaster said he had demanded the release of women prisoners in Egypt.(Reuters).(Photo: The Independent UK)…[+]

BELGIUM – Young men in the troubled Molenbeek district of Brussels have been sent text messages urging them to “fight the westerners”. The texts, calling for the youngsters to “make the right choice”, were written in French and sent from an untraceable prepaid account. They come less than a week after two terrorist attacks in the European capital – one on a metro train and one in the city airport – killed 35 and injured scores more.  Isis, also known as Daesh, has claimed responsibility for the atrocity. Socialist MP Jamal Ikazban, who posted a copy of the text message on Twitter, told the Guardian: “These people are trying to take our youth by storm. “It is like having a big-time drug dealer outside the school gates.(The Independent UK).

(Photo: Nicolas Maeterlinck/Getty Images)…[+]

IRAN – Bearded and boisterous, the man wearing a chequered keffiya scarf sings a religious song as several Iranians in fatigues beat their chests feverishly. The performance by Saeed Haddadian, a prominent Shi’ite religious singer, took place among volunteers at the front line in Syria and was posted on the Internet in January, a sign of the increasingly high-profile political role being played by the “maddah” – religious performers revered like pop stars among hardliners in Iran. “In a country where music is outlawed and there is no outlet for young people to expend their energy, you have to have a replacement that is more official and without problems,” said Mohammad Javad Akbarein, a former cleric and Shi’ite scholar who studied in the holy city of Qom and now lives abroad…[+]

CUBA – In a lengthy letter to Barack Obama, the 89-year-old former Cuban leader said his country “has no need of gifts from the (US) empire.” The scathing note follows a landmark visit by Obama amid a warming of ties.

Castro Senior’s letter, entitled “El Hermano Obama” (Brother Obama), is his first published remarks since Obama’s three-day visit to Havana last week, during which the former Cuban president remained out of sight. His 1,500 word note appeared to ignore a strengthening of relations between the two former foes by declaring that Cuba “has no need of gifts from the empire.” “Listening to the words of the US president could give anyone a heart attack,” Castro said, in another barbed comment, referring to Obama’s speech.(Deutsche Welle)…[+]

JAPAN – A 15-year-old Japanese girl who disappeared two years ago has been found, claiming she had been kidnapped and held captive by a 23-year-old man – and escaped when he forgot to lock the door. The teenwas found in downtown Tokyo on Sunday after alleged kidnapper Kabu Terauchi left her unattended long enough for her to escape and call police from a payphone. The teenager told police she was abducted by Terauchi on her way home from school in Asaka, Saitama Prefecture, in March 2014, and that he had kept her prisoner ever since. The 15-year-old was reported missing by her family two years ago, after being seen speaking to a young man near her home, now believed to have been Terauchi. Her family later received a handwritten note, which read: ‘I need a little break from home and from school. I’ll be at my friend’s house for now. Please do not come searching for me,’ JapanTimes reports.

(Daily Mail)…[+]

Here is the final part of a boisterous Hong Kong trilogy about the legendary martial arts master Ip Man, who in the 1950s taught the wing chun style of kung fu to Hong Kong and thereby to the world – and numbered among his pupils the young Bruce Lee, here played by Danny Chan. Donnie Yen returns to play the poised and impassive Ip Man, heroically battling for the underdog in local skirmishes and dealing with foreign devils including a corrupt British police captain and a thuggish American boxer, played in cameo by Mike Tyson. (theguardian)…[+]