Helen Yeung
Philippines holds a massive breastfeeding event to raise awareness on the malnourishment of children due to the stigma surrounding practices.
Last Sunday, around 1,500 Filipino mothers gathered at a Manila stadium for a government-supported mass breastfeeding event to combat child deaths. According to statistic, millions of children per year that are under the age of two are undernourished due to poor breastfeeding practices, followed by devastating thousands of deaths from the issue.
With mothers wearing tiaras and superhero T-shirts, they sat in groups on the floor of the stadium feeding their children. “Breastfeeding is love. It is difficult, but we do it for love,” said pregnant property manager Abegirl Limjap.
Earlier reports have shown that women in Asia experience widespread harassment for breastfeeding in public. President of the Breastfeeding Mothers’ Support Group in Singapore Mythili Pandi said last year, “mothers still get dirty looks from people who walk by. A lot of people have been told off for breastfeeding in public.” Campaigners have increasingly called for legislation to protect breastfeeding mothers.
Malaysian woman’s right to teach rejected in New Zealand despite exceptionally high scores in English test.
Jacqueline Hsu moved to New Zealand over 20 years ago from Malaysia and has 12 years of teaching experience, however, she has failed to get registered because the Education Council still considers her to be a migrant needing to prove her English standards.
Despite scoring 57/60, or to a “very advanced” level, in her QPT test when she signed up for her Bachelor of Teaching degree, Ms Hsu was told by the council that only “Western people, New Zealanders and Australians” were exempt from English language testing.
Racism has been a prevalent but less discussed issue in New Zealand. Over the past two weeks rallies have broken out in opposition to the visit of alt-right speakers Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneu and their widely broadcasted views of anti-immigration, Islamophobia, and claims that hate speech does not exist.
Young Muslim woman brutally assaulted in an alleged hate crime by two racist men in Belgium.
The 19-year-old woman was walking home in Anderlues town near Brussels on Monday when two men attacked her, tearing off her shirt and headscarf while hurling racial slurs at her. When she tried to escape, the attackers knocked her to the ground and used a sharp object to cut cross shapes over her body. Local authorities have launched an investigation into the incident but have not released further information regarding the woman’s health condition.
A report last year claimed that the extent of discrimination Muslims face in Europe is much greater than the numbers revealed in any report on Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hate crime in Europe.
Singapore Airlines awarded the best airline in 2018, followed by Qatar Airways, ANA All Nippon Airways and Emirates.
This is the fourth time that Singapore Airlines has won the coveted award and is its first win since 2008. This year, the company reported its highest profit in seven years, making $666 million USD in the year ended March. WatchCNBC’s Xin En Lee find out what it takes to build a successful airline.
April Editors
Youjin Lee
