Neymar sponsors withdraw ads after rape accusation

Salima Mukansanga, the first woman to officiate an Africa Cup of Nations match, says female referees deserve their place.

Africa's biggest football tournament is on in Cameroon and Rwanda's Salima Rhadia Mukansanga is the first woman to referee a match at the AFCON tournament. Salima took charge of the Zimbabwe vs Guinea game on January 21 and managed the men with grace and firmness.

In a dimly-lit room with racks of women's clothing, Ghanaian artist and LGBT+ activist Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi prepares herself for the day, pairing a dress with carefully applied makeup. Transitioning is not illegal in Ghana, but it will become so if a new law is passed, intended to tighten already strict anti-LGBT+ regulations which render same-sex relations illegal. Homophobia is pervasive in the West African country and trans people are generally considered to be gay.

Ninety-eight-year-old Priscilla Sitieni is the oldest primary school pupil in grade six at a school in Kenya's Rift Valley. Sitieni wants to achieve the goal of a lifetime: to pass her exams and obtain her diploma.

Lawyers for the family of a cinematographer killed when a gun mistakenly fired on the set of the movie "Rust" have said a real firearm was not required, and blamed "reckless behavior" for her death.

In India, a loophole in the penal code states that rape within marriage is not against the law if the wife is over 14 years old. Two rights organisations have now filed a petition with the New Delhi's High Court seeking to criminalise marital rape, but the move has polarised public opinion.

In January, two women's rights organisations filed a petition with the New Delhi's High Court seeking to criminalise marital rape in India. They want to strike down a legal loophole in the Indian penal code which stipulates that rape within a marriage is not against the law. Indian law states that intercourse between a husband and wife over the age of 15 cannot be considered as rape.

The war in Ethiopia has left tens of thousands dead and millions displaced, as government troops and the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front battle over territory. A UN investigation found all sides in the conflict had committed atrocities, including rape. Warning: This report contains descriptions of sexual violence.

Sofiya, one of thousands of Kyiv residents who spent their sixth night at a metro station seeking shelter from Russian missile and rocket attacks, choked back tears as she spoke about Ukrainian families' ordeal. "It is terrible how many kids are there. We want to live as independent, normal country. And thank you that so many countries can hear us and support us. I hope all this violence and cruelness ends soon, ” she said.

A German woman who moved to Syria as a teenager to join the 'Islamic State' has gone on trial in the city of Halle. Leonora M. is accused of aiding and abetting crimes against humanity. Now 22, she is alleged to have enslaved a Yazidi woman in Syria.

In this special edition, we once again focus on the war in Ukraine where allegations are emerging of a systemic, coordinated campaign of sexual violence by Russian forces. Annette Young talks to Maxime Forest, a gender policy specialist, on how the war is reinforcing outdated gender stereotypes; in particular the very worst of toxic masculinity. Plus the women leaders from Russia's neighbouring countries who are standing up to Vladimir Putin.

A Japanese woman born at the dawn of the 20th century and believed to have been the world's oldest person died at age of 119, public broadcaster NHK said on Monday. Kane Tanaka, born in 1903, the year of the Wright Brothers' first controlled flight of their motor-driven airplane, was confirmed by Guinness World Records in 2019 as the oldest living person.