Sex workers in Berlin are emerging from the shadows to tell the history of their profession, hoping a new app will help them push back against stigma, abuse and the curse of gentrification.. The AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s, however, whipsawed through the community, and the fall of the Berlin Wall brought an influx of eastern European sex workers, pushing down prices.
South Africa's ruling party on Friday launches a closely watched conference that looks set to re-elect Cyril Ramaphosa as its leader, despite a tarnishing cash-heist scandal.. Despite this, analysts say the 70-year-old leader remains on track to win the party leadership election, set to take place among delegates on Saturday.
A small fire broke out Thursday in machines that operate the historic Miraflores Lock on the Panama Canal, which delayed the crossing of some ships but did not shut down interoceanic navigation.. The fire started in a tunnel where the machinery of the lock is housed, but the other locks continued working normally, said the Panama Canal Authority.
North Korea has successfully tested a "high-thrust solid-fuel motor" with the aim of developing a new weapon, state media said Friday.. On Thursday, he oversaw the successful test fire of a "high-thrust solid-fuel motor", the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
In one of his last diary entries, Japanese teacher Yoshio Kudo lamented workdays that started early and could last until nearly midnight.. That came too late for Kudo, a middle school teacher, who died of a brain haemorrhage aged 40 in 2007.
Japan's government is poised to approve a major defence policy overhaul Friday, including a significant spending hike, as it warns China poses the "greatest strategic challenge ever" to the country's security.. The moves will be outlined in three defence and security documents the cabinet is set to approve later Friday.
Panama ordered a halt Thursday to work at a copper pit that is the largest mine in Central America, after a deadline for a new contract with its Canadian operators expired.. President Laurentino Cortizo said he had ordered that only maintenance work continue at the huge mine operated by First Quantum Minerals.
Jose Arnaldo dos Santos Junior traveled to Qatar to cheer on his beloved Brazilian national team led by Neymar in their ultimately failed attempt to claim a sixth World Cup crown.. Many Brazilians are as desperate to see him win it before he retires as they are to see their own hero Neymar, five years Messi's junior, do so.
Holding a dead fish, Junior Pereira looks grimly at a puddle that used to be part of Brazil's Xingu river, a mighty Amazon tributary that has been desiccated here by the massive Belo Monte hydroelectric dam.. If Belo Monte and other hydroelectric projects disrupt them too much, it could spell the end of the Amazon." str-jhb/fb
Crowds of supporters of Peru's ex-president Pedro Castillo converged on congress Thursday despite a state of emergency declared in an effort to halt sometimes deadly protests triggered by his ouster last week.. Dina Boluarte, the former vice-president who was quickly sworn in as president after Castillo's arrest, on Wednesday declared a nationwide state of emergency for 30 days.
