(CNN)Canadian model Winnie Harlow, born Chantelle Brown-Young, did not have an easy childhood. At the age of four she was diagnosed with vitiligo, an incurable skin pigmentation disease that causes colorless patches to develop on a person’s body.

Bullied for the way she looked, her peers at school taunted her with cruel nicknames such as “cow” and “zebra”. “The bullying was so bad that I was forced to drop out and be home schooled,” Harlow recalls.

Fast-forward to 2016 and Harlow has over one million followers on Instagram, she’s the face of Spanish fashion label Desigual and she’s been shot by fashion photographer and director of online platform SHOWstudio Nick Knight, whose portfolio includes Kate Moss, Lady Gaga and Kanye. From social pariah to global “it” girl…[+]

INDIA- The Government announced a clutch of measures – including a stake sale on Coal India, revival of stalled projects, and interest relief for exporters, – aimed largely at propping up sagging revenues in the face of a global demand slump.

At a time when markets remain volatile due to global cues, the Cabinet cleared a 10% disinvestment in the Coal India Ltd (CIL), besides approving an initial public offer (IPO) for Cochin Shipyard, power Minister Piyush Goyal said in a post-Cabinet meeting briefing. The move came at a time when the Government is finding it hard to raise even half of the budgeted Rs 69,000 crore from disinvestment and strategic sales. (India Digest/ Business Standard)…[+]

The governor of Mexico’s Morelos state, Graco Ramirez, has taken command of police services in 15 towns and cities following the murder of a newly-elected mayor on Saturday. “The government will not be intimidated by organised crime,” he said. The mayor, Gisele Mota, was shot dead at her home less than 24 hours after taking office in the town of Temixco. She promised to try to clean up the city, where problems associated with drugs and organised crime are rife. Her murder “is a message and a clear threat for the mayors who recently took office to not accept the police coordination scheme that we have supported and that is being built at a national level,” said Mr Graco.  Ms Mota, a left-of-centre former federal congresswoman, was shot dead on Saturday morning. Police shot two of the attackers and arrested two others. Several Mexican mayors were killed last year by alleged drug traffickers.(BBC)…[+]

President Maduro approved the changes on Wednesday, but it only became public on Monday.  The president will now no longer need legislative approval to hire and fire Central Bank directors. The change was announced shortly before a new assembly, controlled by an opposition coalition, is due to be sworn in later on Tuesday. Mr Maduro approved the change to the law governing Venezuela’s Central Bank on 30 December, one day before his power to legislate by decree expired. He was granted the power to govern by decree in March by the National Assembly, which at the time was dominated by his supporters.

The amended law not only curtails the powers of the assembly over Central Bank appointments, it also allows the bank to withhold data if it deems its publication a threat to national security or economic stability. Opposition lawmakers, who won a landslide victory in elections on 6 December, had said they would press for the publication of key data. Inflation figures, estimated to be among the highest in the world, have not been made public since December 2014.(BBC)…[+]

Kuwait has announced it is recalling its ambassador to Iran as a regional row over the execution of a Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia deepens. Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Tehran was ransacked and set alight on Saturday, after it executed Shia Muslim cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others. Saudi Arabia broke off diplomatic ties with Iran in response, followed on Monday by its allies Bahrain and Sudan. The US, UN and Turkey are among those calling for calm in the region. Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran are major rivals for power in the Middle East and back opposing sides in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen.  Saudi insists peace efforts should not be affected by the dispute but has criticised Iran’s contribution to the process. Iran has reiterated its condemnation of Saudi Arabia, with President Hassan Rouhani saying it cannot “hide its crime of beheading a religious leader by severing political relations with Iran”.(BBC)…[+]