Women in Colombia can now enlist for voluntary military service after being banned from doing so for decades. About 5,000 women are expected to join this year, with many hoping it will lead to a professional career in the army.

Bogotá

Women in Colombia given right to enlist in army

Early morning military drills by these new female recruits there, among the first 1300 women to voluntary, enlist in Columbia Army in more than two decades, the physical exercises are grueling and the hours-long, but they say they're up for the challenge and happy to be able to serve ability, says men and the physical requirements of the same. We expect no preferential treatment for being women. It fills me with pride that we are eligible for service once again. Like many here. Doing my perry, says, she always wanted to be a soldier but lacked the money to pay for a military academy. She hopes this will be a gateway to achieve it. Professional career is too expensive for many but now we have an opportunity to be here and do what we always wanted wear the uniform and serve our country training here. Before being assigned to a base across the country, earning a monthly stipend of about $80 Galliani Alvarez said she entered the program to help her mother and siblings and understands the dangers of serving in a country, still plagued by Rebel groups and Drug mafias. The risks are high, but that's why we have a chain of command and we're being trained for whatever. We will have to face in the future. Women make up just 1% of the country's 240,000 soldiers, and Columbia still relies on drafting 50,000 men every year into compulsory military service. The overwhelming majority of them come from poor families, while wealthier Colombians pay to avoid it, something the government is planning to change made compulsory military service. Allowing young recruits to choose Social Services instead while increasing the number of health professionals and volunteers including women, increase in the number of women in the Army changed, the institution. And the idea was to rely on the morn different activities, security defense where they can contribute a lot of planning to enlist at least 5,000 women in 2023 alone, strengthen the role and working to Diversified an evolving Force Alessandra, Bogota

World Athletics has banned transgender women from competing in elite female competitions and tightened testosterone restrictions for other athletes, the governing body said. President Sebastian Coe said that the decision to exclude women who had gone through what he called male puberty was based on what he said was "the overarching need to protect the female category."

Monaco City

World Athletics bans transgender women

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made a rare and defiant trip near the front line to personally thank soldiers that have been defending the devastated Eastern city of Bakhmut. It came as Russian missiles hit a residential building in Zaporizhzhia, killing at least one person and injuring more than 30 others.

Bakhmut

Ukraine Invasion

Zelenskyy's morale-boosting visit to Bakhmut

Tiktok Chief Executive Officer Shou Chew says the social media platform has not spied on Americans. He testifies before the US House Energy and Commerce Committee in Washington. 

Capitol Hill

Defiant TikTok CEO faces Congress grilling

French workers angry with a rise in the pension age blocked access to a terminal at Paris' Roissy-Charles De Gaulle airport on Thursday as part of a nationwide day of protests, forcing some travellers to get there on foot. Train services were disrupted and some schools shut while garbage piled up on the streets.

Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport

Protesters block access to Paris Airport

A group of TikTok content creators descended on the US Capitol Wednesday to protest against calls for a ban on the popular Chinese-owned video-sharing app, amid fears that it presents a national security threat.

Washington

TikTok creators protest looming U.S ban

New research published in the journal Current Biology uses DNA sequencing to uncover that the great composer did not die from lead poisoning after all...

Bonn

Scientists uncover cause of Beethoven's death

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese fought back tears on Thursday as he revealed the question the government wants to ask in a referendum on whether to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the country's constitution. 

Canberra

Australia set to vote on indigenous referendum

Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan says it is only a matter of time before he is imprisoned or killed. He made the remarks in an online post, in which he spoke out against the government and the military. The Lahore district administration has granted permission to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to hold a rally at Minar Pakistan between the night of the 25th and 26th of March.

Lahore

Imran Khan warns 'matter of time' before his murder

The United States Federal Reserve has announced its latest interest rate hike, a move aimed at lowering inflation by making borrowing more expensive for consumers. The increase of a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday sets the US central bank’s benchmark overnight interest rate in the 4.75 to 5 percent range, its highest level in 15 years.

Wall Street

U.S interest rates hiked again

Former U.K. prime minister Boris Johnson clashed with MPs at a hearing over parties held at Downing Street while the rest of the country was in lockdown. The scandal, which drove Johnson out of the prime minister’s office, could now get him booted from Parliament.

London

Boris Johnson grilled over Partygate

Seventeen Ukrainian children who were sent to camps in Crimea by Russian officials were reunited with their families in Kyiv today. They are among thousands who were transferred to Russia or the regions it occupies. It follows charges laid against Vladimir Putin over the alleged kidnappings levelled by the International Criminal Court.

Kyiv

Children 'taken' by Russia returned

The House of Commons voted 515-29 to back a key portion of The Windsor Framework, designed to resolve a trade dispute between the UK and Northern Ireland.

Westminster

Sunak's Brexit deal clears Commons vote

Two Defence Force personnel have been injured after an Australian Army helicopter crashed into the water during routine counterterrorism training on New South Wales south coast. There were 10 personnel on board the aircraft when the incident occurred and all have been recovered from the water. Chief of Army Lieutenant General Simon Stuart says the incident had the potential to end in "tragedy".

Jervis Bay

Two army personnel injured in helicopter crash

Emmanuel Macron has defended his Government's decision to force the controversial pension reforms through Parliament during a rare national 
television address, designed to quell the violent protests that have gripped the country. The French President condemning the violence, saying he had 'no regrets' despite facing multiple no-confidence motions.

Paris

'No regrets': Macron defiance amid protests

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson insists he did not lie to lawmakers, defending himself at a parliamentary hearing as part of a probe into whether he misled lawmakers over rule-breaking Covid-19 lockdown parties. Johnson faced a grilling before a cross-party committee that has the powers to suspend the MP and force a by-election in his London seat.

'Hand on heart': Boris denies lying

Stocks on Wall Street have climbed after the rescue of Credit Suisse calmed nerves about a larger banking crisis. The United States treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, says the local financial sector is stabilising after it was put to the test by the collapse of two banks this month. But the world's largest economy is still facing some strong headwinds.

Banking Crisis

U.S bank failures 'very different' from 2008

Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin stress that'“responsible dialogue' is the best way to resolve the Ukraine crisis as Moscow reaffirms its commitment to peace negotiations. The Chinese leader says Beijing has an “impartial position” on the conflict in Ukraine and supports peace as Putin says China’s peace proposals could be used as the basis for talks.

Moscow

Xi's trip to Russia: A boost for Putin

A Virginia grand jury formally indicted 10 people, including police officers and hospital workers, over the death of Irvo Otieno - a Black man who was restrained before he died in a mental health facility. His family demanded justice and mental health reform. 

Richmond

Video shows police 'piling on' man before his death

Lawyers for Fox Corp faced a sceptical judge on Tuesday (March 21) as they sought to block a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems from going to trial, while the voting-technology company accused Fox News of knowingly airing vote-rigging claims that the network knew were false.

Delaware

Fox News fights to avoid trial by jury

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday a Chinese peace plan could provide a basis for a settlement of the fighting in Ukraine when the West is ready for it. Speaking after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Putin charged that Ukraine’s Western allies so far have shown no interest in that.

Russian Sanctions

Putin: Ukraine 'doesn't want' peace

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is battling for his political future as he tries to convince a cross-party committee that he 'unintentionally' misled Parliament over the Partygate scandal. If the committee decides he 'recklessly' misled MPs, he faces a suspension from Parliament that could force a by-election in his West London seat.

Boris Johnson in trouble again

A magnitude 6.5 earthquake was felt across huge swathes of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and parts of India on Tuesday night, forcing people to spend the night outside.

Islamabad

Deadly earthquake rocks Pakistan, Afghanistan

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has offered strong support to Ukraine during a visit to Kyiv, inviting President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to the G-7 Summit in May.

In Kyiv, Japan's Kishida backs Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping discussed Beijing's proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine in talks in Moscow, while displaying a warm friendship forged on a mutual rivalry with the West. China has refrained from condemning Russia or referring to Moscow's intervention in its neighbor as an "invasion". It has also criticized Western sanctions on Russia.

Xi urges Ukraine ceasefire during Putin talks

The NATO Secretary General said China needs to "understand Ukraine's perspective" and engage with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

China 'must condemn' Russian aggression; NATO

Russian authorities on Tuesday detained human rights activists including members of the Nobel-winning Memorial organisation after raids on homes and offices, sparking an outcry among the international human rights community. 

Tsentralnyy administrativnyy okrug

Russian Police raid homes of Nobel Prize winners

Protesters are trying to pressure lawmakers to bring down the government and doom the unpopular retirement age increase President Macronis trying to impose without a vote in the National Assembly.

Protestors rally as Macron survives no-confidence vote

U.S. President Joe Biden signed a bill that requires declassification of information related to the origins of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Whether the pandemic was the result of a lab leak from China's Wuhan Institute of Virology, or jumped from animals to humans at a Wuhan market remains a hotly contested debate. China has said there is no credibility behind the lab leak theory.

Wuhan

Biden orders release of COVID intelligence

Russia has opened its own criminal investigation into the International Criminal Court's (ICC) prosecutor and judges. Russia’s Investigative Committee says the ICC has knowingly accused an innocent person of a crime, in another show of defiance against the court.

Russia retaliates after Putin arrest warrant

A damning report by an independent member of Britain's House of Lords has found that London's Metropolitan Police force is institutionally racist, sexist, and homophobic. In her report, Louise Casey says officers are not properly vetted and calls for wide-ranging reform.