https://thephoenixnewspaper.com/table/news/world/feed/atom/ 2025-10-19T16:51:17+01:00 Phoenix Newspaper The Phoenix Newspaper UK | Latest news in UK | Positive news | Inspiring The Next Generation 2025-10-18T18:42:31+01:00 2025-10-18T18:42:31+01:00 https://thephoenixnewspaper.com/chad-restores-ties-with-wildlife-charity-linked-to-prince-harry Super User

<p><img src="https://thephoenixnewspaper.com/A conservation group linked to Prince Harry and Chad's government have agreed to sign a new partnership - less than two weeks after the central African country severed ties with the organisation. Chad had terminated its agreement with African Parks on 6 October, accusing it of failing to curb poaching. The two parties released a joint statement saying they have "initiated, in a spirit of dialogue and cooperation, a series of discussions relating to the delegated management of protected areas". African Parks, which counts Prince Harry as a board member and former president, manages around 20 national parks and protected areas across 12 countries. The new agreement will see African Parks once again manage Zakouma National Park and Ennedi Natural and Cultural Reserve in Chad, which it had managed for 15 years. African Parks would continue to finance and co-manage these protected areas, as well as pursuing the implementation of future projects until new agreements are signed. "This milestone comes at the close of a challenging period that required significant dialogue to reach mutual understanding and commitment on the way forward," a statement from the conservation group read. Peter Fearnhead, CEO of African Parks, said that the reinstatement provided a stable foundation to continue safeguarding some of Chad's most extraordinary natural and cultural landscapes, together with the communities who depend on them. Chad's government had accused the organisation of failing to curb poaching, an arrogant and disrespectful attitude, and not co-operating fully with authorities. The environment ministry had blamed the resurgence of poaching in its natural parks on a lack of investment by the charity. Founded in 2000, the organisation aims to protect Africa's national parks and advance conservation in the continent and around the world. Earlier this year, the charity admitted that employees in a park it managed in the Republic of Congo had abused members of the local community, but refused to publish an independent report into the abuses.g" /></p><p>A conservation group linked to Prince Harry and Chad's government have agreed to sign a new partnership - less than two weeks after the central African country severed ties with the organisation.</p>

<p><img src="https://thephoenixnewspaper.com/A conservation group linked to Prince Harry and Chad's government have agreed to sign a new partnership - less than two weeks after the central African country severed ties with the organisation. Chad had terminated its agreement with African Parks on 6 October, accusing it of failing to curb poaching. The two parties released a joint statement saying they have "initiated, in a spirit of dialogue and cooperation, a series of discussions relating to the delegated management of protected areas". African Parks, which counts Prince Harry as a board member and former president, manages around 20 national parks and protected areas across 12 countries. The new agreement will see African Parks once again manage Zakouma National Park and Ennedi Natural and Cultural Reserve in Chad, which it had managed for 15 years. African Parks would continue to finance and co-manage these protected areas, as well as pursuing the implementation of future projects until new agreements are signed. "This milestone comes at the close of a challenging period that required significant dialogue to reach mutual understanding and commitment on the way forward," a statement from the conservation group read. Peter Fearnhead, CEO of African Parks, said that the reinstatement provided a stable foundation to continue safeguarding some of Chad's most extraordinary natural and cultural landscapes, together with the communities who depend on them. Chad's government had accused the organisation of failing to curb poaching, an arrogant and disrespectful attitude, and not co-operating fully with authorities. The environment ministry had blamed the resurgence of poaching in its natural parks on a lack of investment by the charity. Founded in 2000, the organisation aims to protect Africa's national parks and advance conservation in the continent and around the world. Earlier this year, the charity admitted that employees in a park it managed in the Republic of Congo had abused members of the local community, but refused to publish an independent report into the abuses.g" /></p><p>A conservation group linked to Prince Harry and Chad's government have agreed to sign a new partnership - less than two weeks after the central African country severed ties with the organisation.</p> 2025-10-18T18:39:18+01:00 2025-10-18T18:39:18+01:00 https://thephoenixnewspaper.com/peng-liyuan-calls-for-creating-more-opportunities-for-women-and-girls-through-technology Super User

<p><img src="https://thephoenixnewspaper.com/images/OVERSEAS_-_Peng_Liyuan_calls_for_creating_more_opportunities_for_women_and_girls_through_technology.jpeg" /></p><p>Professor Wang Xiaoyun from Tsinghua University was honoured as one of the five laureates at the 2025 L'Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Awards in May for her significant contributions to cryptography and cryptographic mathematics.</p>

<p><img src="https://thephoenixnewspaper.com/images/OVERSEAS_-_Peng_Liyuan_calls_for_creating_more_opportunities_for_women_and_girls_through_technology.jpeg" /></p><p>Professor Wang Xiaoyun from Tsinghua University was honoured as one of the five laureates at the 2025 L'Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Awards in May for her significant contributions to cryptography and cryptographic mathematics.</p> 2025-10-17T08:13:35+01:00 2025-10-17T08:13:35+01:00 https://thephoenixnewspaper.com/cmas-to-unlock-billions-in-climate-finance-for-the-continent Super User

<p><img src="https://thephoenixnewspaper.com/images/OVERSEAS_-_Carbon_Markets_Africa_Summit_to_unlock_billions_in_climate_finance_for_the_continent.jpeg" /></p><p>Africa’s vast natural resources hold enormous potential to drive climate action and sustainable growth, but turning that potential into investment requires collaboration, integrity and readiness.</p>

<p><img src="https://thephoenixnewspaper.com/images/OVERSEAS_-_Carbon_Markets_Africa_Summit_to_unlock_billions_in_climate_finance_for_the_continent.jpeg" /></p><p>Africa’s vast natural resources hold enormous potential to drive climate action and sustainable growth, but turning that potential into investment requires collaboration, integrity and readiness.</p> 2025-10-17T08:10:49+01:00 2025-10-17T08:10:49+01:00 https://thephoenixnewspaper.com/google-parent-company-alphabet-to-invest-$15bn-to-build-ai-data-hub-in-southern-india-s-andhra-pradesh-state Super User

<p><img src="https://thephoenixnewspaper.com/images/OVERSEAS_-_Google_parent_company_Alphabet_to_invest_15bn_to_build_AI_data_hub_in_southern_Indias_Andhra_Pradesh_state.webp" /></p><p>The facility, which will be set up in the port city of Visakhapatnam, will be part of Google's global network of AI centres spread across 12 countries.</p>

<p><img src="https://thephoenixnewspaper.com/images/OVERSEAS_-_Google_parent_company_Alphabet_to_invest_15bn_to_build_AI_data_hub_in_southern_Indias_Andhra_Pradesh_state.webp" /></p><p>The facility, which will be set up in the port city of Visakhapatnam, will be part of Google's global network of AI centres spread across 12 countries.</p> 2025-10-17T08:07:37+01:00 2025-10-17T08:07:37+01:00 https://thephoenixnewspaper.com/hrh-crown-prince-announces-king-salman-gate-project-in-makkah Super User

<p><img src="https://thephoenixnewspaper.com/images/OVERSEAS_-_HRH_Crown_Prince_announces_King_Salman_Gate_project_in_Makkah.jpg" /></p><p>His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, Prime Minister and Chair of the Board of Directors of RUA AlHaram AlMakki Company, announces the launch of King Salman Gate, a transformative multi-use development in the Holy City of Makkah.</p>

<p><img src="https://thephoenixnewspaper.com/images/OVERSEAS_-_HRH_Crown_Prince_announces_King_Salman_Gate_project_in_Makkah.jpg" /></p><p>His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, Prime Minister and Chair of the Board of Directors of RUA AlHaram AlMakki Company, announces the launch of King Salman Gate, a transformative multi-use development in the Holy City of Makkah.</p> 2025-10-17T07:58:11+01:00 2025-10-17T07:58:11+01:00 https://thephoenixnewspaper.com/the-indian-woman-who-stood-up-to-moral-policing-and-won-a-pageant Super User

<p><img src="https://thephoenixnewspaper.com/images/OVERSEAS_-_The_Indian_woman_who_stood_up_to_moral_policing.png" /></p><p>Muskan Sharma stood up to men who tried to bully her over her clothes - and went on to win hearts and a beauty pageant.</p> <p>The 23-year-old, who was recently crowned Miss Rishikesh 2025 in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, said that even though it was a small local pageant, "it made me feel like Miss Universe." Sharma's win has made headlines in India as it came after a viral video that showed her spiritedly arguing with a man who barged into their rehearsals just a day before the contest.</p> <p>Sharma, who wanted to be a model and participate in a pageant since she was in school, said the intruders came in just as they broke for lunch. "We were sitting around, chilling, having a laugh when they walked in," she said.</p> <p>The footage showed Raghavendra Bhatnagar, district head of a Hindu group called Rashtriya Hindu Shakti Sangathan, objecting to skirts and western dresses Sharma and other contestants were wearing. "Modelling is over, go back home," Bhatnagar is heard telling them.</p> <p>"This is against Uttarakhand's culture." Sharma refuses to back down, saying: "Why don't you shut the shops which sell Western clothes?"</p> <p>She then tells him that he should expend his energies on things that are worse than women's clothing - social evils such as drinking and smoking. "There's a shop right outside that sells cigarettes and alcohol,” she said.</p> <p>“Why don't you shut that down? First stop those things and I will stop wearing these clothes." The man snaps at her saying "don't tell me what to do".</p> <p>Likewise, she retorts, rebuking: "If you have the right to choose, then so do we. Our opinion matters as much as yours." As the argument continues, Sharma is joined by some of the other contestants and organisers and Bhatnagar and his group, who threatened to stop the show, are finally escorted out by the hotel manager.</p> <p>Sharma says her reaction to Bhatnagar was "spontaneous", going on to say: "I could see my dreams shattering in front of me.</p> <p>“The only question in my mind at the time was will the pageant go on? Will I be able to walk the ramp? Or will all my hard work go waste?"</p> <p>The next day, the event went on as planned and Sharma won the crown. "For three seconds after I heard my name announced, I was shocked," she said.</p> <p>"But then I was happy that I stood up for myself and that I won,” she said. “It felt like a double victory.”</p> <p>“It was a small pageant in a small place, but it made me feel like Miss Universe." Sharma says heckling of women for their clothing is unheard of in Rishikesh, a city in the Himalayan foothills on the banks of the Ganges River.</p> <p>It's known for its ashrams and meditation and yoga retreats and is considered a holy Hindu site that draws in large numbers of tourists and pilgrims. The city is also sought out by fans of Beatles because the Fab Four had spent weeks at an ashram there in 1968.</p> <p>"You see tourists dressed in western clothing here all the time and no-one bats an eyelid," she adds. Globally, beauty pageants have been criticised for objectifying women and reinforcing gender stereotypes.</p> <p>But these contests have been hugely popular in India since 1994 - the year when Sushmita Sen won the Miss Universe crown and Aishwarya Rai brought home the Miss World trophy. Both went on to become top Bollywood actresses and have inspired generations of young women since then to follow in their path.</p> <p>Similar successes in later years of Priyanka Chopra, Diana Hayden and Lara Dutta have only reinforced the belief that beauty pageants can be a ticket to success, especially for young women in small-town India. Sharma says her parents have always been very supportive of her decision to participate in the pageant.</p> <p>In the viral video, she's even heard asking Bhatnagar: "Who are you to comment on my clothing if my parents allow me to wear them?" But the backlash to Western clothing in India is not new where what women wear routinely becomes a subject of debates.</p> <p>In a deeply patriarchal society, many link western clothing, especially jeans, to the "<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-56453929">moral degradation</a>" of young people. Schools and colleges set dress codes for female students and sometimes village elders bar an entire community of girls from wearing jeans.</p> <p>It was reported that there was a number of cases where girls and women have been singled out and humiliated for their clothes. A few years ago, we wrote about a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-58592986">19-year-old student</a> in Assam who turned up in shorts to take an exam and was forced to wrap a curtain around her legs after the teacher objected.</p> <p>In one <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-57968350">extreme case</a>, a teenager was allegedly murdered by her relatives for wearing jeans. Namita Bhandare in her column in The Hindustan Times newspaper points out that there is no objection to the Mr Rishikesh contest where participants are barely dressed.</p> <p>The objection to Sharma and other contestants' clothing, she writes, is "barely a fig-leaf". "The issue is not clothes.</p> <p>“The issue is freedom and aspiration. How dare these young women be on a stage that could springboard them to a larger global platform?</p> <p>“How dare they cross lines of honour and shame that a patriarchal society has imposed on them?" Bhandare writes that in India where there are not enough women MPs or judges, the pushback by young women from a small town is remarkable.</p> <p>Sharma says it's her mother who taught her to stand up for what's right. "The crown is as much my mother's as it's mine.</p> <p>“Without her I wouldn't be the person I am today." Her story, she believes, will now encourage other women to stand up for themselves, for what is right.</p> <p>"I'm saying that in the moment, I was scared and nervous too. But I also want to say that if you believe that you're right, then you can also fight."</p> <p>She says: "For me, the crown was always secondary. The more important thing was to encourage women to stand up against injustice, to speak up for what's right."</p> <p>As for her next step, she said: "I will go for Miss Uttarakhand next year and then Miss India.</p> <p>“After that, I'll see where life takes me."</p>

<p><img src="https://thephoenixnewspaper.com/images/OVERSEAS_-_The_Indian_woman_who_stood_up_to_moral_policing.png" /></p><p>Muskan Sharma stood up to men who tried to bully her over her clothes - and went on to win hearts and a beauty pageant.</p> <p>The 23-year-old, who was recently crowned Miss Rishikesh 2025 in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, said that even though it was a small local pageant, "it made me feel like Miss Universe." Sharma's win has made headlines in India as it came after a viral video that showed her spiritedly arguing with a man who barged into their rehearsals just a day before the contest.</p> <p>Sharma, who wanted to be a model and participate in a pageant since she was in school, said the intruders came in just as they broke for lunch. "We were sitting around, chilling, having a laugh when they walked in," she said.</p> <p>The footage showed Raghavendra Bhatnagar, district head of a Hindu group called Rashtriya Hindu Shakti Sangathan, objecting to skirts and western dresses Sharma and other contestants were wearing. "Modelling is over, go back home," Bhatnagar is heard telling them.</p> <p>"This is against Uttarakhand's culture." Sharma refuses to back down, saying: "Why don't you shut the shops which sell Western clothes?"</p> <p>She then tells him that he should expend his energies on things that are worse than women's clothing - social evils such as drinking and smoking. "There's a shop right outside that sells cigarettes and alcohol,” she said.</p> <p>“Why don't you shut that down? First stop those things and I will stop wearing these clothes." The man snaps at her saying "don't tell me what to do".</p> <p>Likewise, she retorts, rebuking: "If you have the right to choose, then so do we. Our opinion matters as much as yours." As the argument continues, Sharma is joined by some of the other contestants and organisers and Bhatnagar and his group, who threatened to stop the show, are finally escorted out by the hotel manager.</p> <p>Sharma says her reaction to Bhatnagar was "spontaneous", going on to say: "I could see my dreams shattering in front of me.</p> <p>“The only question in my mind at the time was will the pageant go on? Will I be able to walk the ramp? Or will all my hard work go waste?"</p> <p>The next day, the event went on as planned and Sharma won the crown. "For three seconds after I heard my name announced, I was shocked," she said.</p> <p>"But then I was happy that I stood up for myself and that I won,” she said. “It felt like a double victory.”</p> <p>“It was a small pageant in a small place, but it made me feel like Miss Universe." Sharma says heckling of women for their clothing is unheard of in Rishikesh, a city in the Himalayan foothills on the banks of the Ganges River.</p> <p>It's known for its ashrams and meditation and yoga retreats and is considered a holy Hindu site that draws in large numbers of tourists and pilgrims. The city is also sought out by fans of Beatles because the Fab Four had spent weeks at an ashram there in 1968.</p> <p>"You see tourists dressed in western clothing here all the time and no-one bats an eyelid," she adds. Globally, beauty pageants have been criticised for objectifying women and reinforcing gender stereotypes.</p> <p>But these contests have been hugely popular in India since 1994 - the year when Sushmita Sen won the Miss Universe crown and Aishwarya Rai brought home the Miss World trophy. Both went on to become top Bollywood actresses and have inspired generations of young women since then to follow in their path.</p> <p>Similar successes in later years of Priyanka Chopra, Diana Hayden and Lara Dutta have only reinforced the belief that beauty pageants can be a ticket to success, especially for young women in small-town India. Sharma says her parents have always been very supportive of her decision to participate in the pageant.</p> <p>In the viral video, she's even heard asking Bhatnagar: "Who are you to comment on my clothing if my parents allow me to wear them?" But the backlash to Western clothing in India is not new where what women wear routinely becomes a subject of debates.</p> <p>In a deeply patriarchal society, many link western clothing, especially jeans, to the "<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-56453929">moral degradation</a>" of young people. Schools and colleges set dress codes for female students and sometimes village elders bar an entire community of girls from wearing jeans.</p> <p>It was reported that there was a number of cases where girls and women have been singled out and humiliated for their clothes. A few years ago, we wrote about a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-58592986">19-year-old student</a> in Assam who turned up in shorts to take an exam and was forced to wrap a curtain around her legs after the teacher objected.</p> <p>In one <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-57968350">extreme case</a>, a teenager was allegedly murdered by her relatives for wearing jeans. Namita Bhandare in her column in The Hindustan Times newspaper points out that there is no objection to the Mr Rishikesh contest where participants are barely dressed.</p> <p>The objection to Sharma and other contestants' clothing, she writes, is "barely a fig-leaf". "The issue is not clothes.</p> <p>“The issue is freedom and aspiration. How dare these young women be on a stage that could springboard them to a larger global platform?</p> <p>“How dare they cross lines of honour and shame that a patriarchal society has imposed on them?" Bhandare writes that in India where there are not enough women MPs or judges, the pushback by young women from a small town is remarkable.</p> <p>Sharma says it's her mother who taught her to stand up for what's right. "The crown is as much my mother's as it's mine.</p> <p>“Without her I wouldn't be the person I am today." Her story, she believes, will now encourage other women to stand up for themselves, for what is right.</p> <p>"I'm saying that in the moment, I was scared and nervous too. But I also want to say that if you believe that you're right, then you can also fight."</p> <p>She says: "For me, the crown was always secondary. The more important thing was to encourage women to stand up against injustice, to speak up for what's right."</p> <p>As for her next step, she said: "I will go for Miss Uttarakhand next year and then Miss India.</p> <p>“After that, I'll see where life takes me."</p>