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World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk

Malaysia Airlines loses contact with plane bound for Beijing– live

Posted: 08 Mar 2014 01:02 AM PST

Malaysian Airlines says it lost contact with flight MH370 about two hours after it left Kuala Lumpur en route for Beijing

Kirsten Broomhall
Mike Ticher

Nepal's chaupadi tradition banishes menstruating women – in pictures

Posted: 08 Mar 2014 01:00 AM PST

Women who practise the tradition must sleep in sheds or outbuildings while on their period. They have little protection from the elements, causing some to die from illness or exposure



The best fictional females - quiz

Posted: 08 Mar 2014 12:15 AM PST

To celebrate International Women's Day we've got a quiz to test your knowledge of the best fictional heroines and female authors

International Women's Day: unfair load - in pictures

Posted: 08 Mar 2014 12:01 AM PST

To mark International Women's Day, Ghanian photographer Asare Adjei captures the heavy loads women carry in Accra

Women's rights: what have we achieved in the last 20 years?

Posted: 08 Mar 2014 12:00 AM PST

This international women's day, activists and advocates reflect on achievements in gender equality since the seminal Beijing conference in 1995

Meet the professional refugees lucky to get the minimum wage in the UK

Posted: 08 Mar 2014 12:00 AM PST

They were professionals in their own countries – lawyers, doctors, academics. Now, having fled and sought asylum in the UK, they're lucky if they can get a minimum-wage job. We meet six refugees adjusting to a very different way of life

Wahid Ahmad, 33

Was: civil engineer, Afghanistan
Now: shelf stacker, north London

Wahid Ahmad trained as a civil engineer in Afghanistan, where he worked in a senior role for the UN on infrastructure projects, overseeing road- and bridge-building. "I was proud of the job I was doing, helping with the development of my country," he says. It was a well-paid job and very satisfying: the new roads he worked on helped farmers get produce to the markets more quickly and children to school more safely. But his role working for an international agency attracted disapproving attention from the Taliban and after receiving a series of threats, in 2008 Ahmad fled to the UK with his wife and two children.

For six months, while his asylum application was being considered, Ahmad was not allowed to work. He studied to pass high-level English language exams, so he could take a one-year post-graduate certificate in construction management. While studying, he worked part-time in a cafe, making pizzas, kebabs and burgers, and delivering takeaway meals.

When he started applying for engineering jobs, he was so discouraged by the constant rejections that he was prescribed antidepressants. Most of the time he gets no response to his applications, just an automated email that tells him to assume his application has been unsuccessful if he hears nothing back within four days. When he calls to ask why, despite his excellent qualifications, he has not been invited for an interview, he is told he has no UK experience. At this point, he often proposes that he volunteers with the company, but the offer is always rejected. "How am I to get experience if they won't even let me volunteer?"

He took on a job in a food shop, working first as a halal butcher and later on the shop floor. "For a while it was very new to me. I would be preparing the fruit and vegetables, and it would keep coming to my mind what I was and what I am now. To be honest, it made me cry, but I have no option but to continue. The people I work with are very kind. They know I am an educated person. They tell me, 'Please don't be sad. You will find a job in your own field eventually.'"

He has been getting support from a charity, Transitions, which helped him work on his CV, try to get work experience and stay positive. On his CV, under the section detailing his civil engineering experience, he summarises the skills he has gained in his new job: "Be attentive to customers' needs; handle the payment for any purchases; make the customer aware of any special offers."

Iftikhar-ul-haq Khan, 46

Was: supreme court lawyer, Pakistan
Now: volunteer, Citizens Advice, Liverpool

In March 2010, Iftikhar-ul-haq Khan was dropping his children off at school when his car was stopped and he was kidnapped by a group hostile to the Ahmadiyya Muslim community to which he belongs. He was held for 19 days, in brutal conditions. As soon as he was released (upon the payment of a substantial ransom by his family), he made preparations to flee to England. It was clear to him that he and his wife and children would be in danger if they were to remain.

The transition was stark: "In Quetta, we had maids, a garden. We had a smooth life. In London, we shared one room in a bed and breakfast." It took almost two years before his asylum request was granted, during which time he was not allowed to work. "That was very difficult for me, particularly from a professional point of view." Once he was granted refugee status in October 2012 and began trying to find work, he was told that, without UK qualifications, his professional experience in Pakistan counted for little. "I was a legal adviser to the UN, to the National Bank of Pakistan." He worked on amending the Pakistan constitution and ran a private legal practice. To work here, he has to do an expensive legal conversion course. "After the course, I would need to start from scratch. People will still be asking what experience I have in this country. I achieved the highest level in my profession. Here I am at the beginning again."

The jobcentre is encouraging him to apply for work in the admin sector. "It feels a bit ridiculous. I had status, my own law firm, my profession. After three years here, I am in no man's land. I want to stand on my own two feet. I don't like being on benefits. I'm more used to helping others than taking help."

Khan has volunteered for Refugee Action and for the local Citizens Advice bureau. He enjoys it, but feels occasionally frustrated about the gulf between what he does now and what he once did. "I don't always think of myself as a supreme court lawyer. I try to give what I can. But sometimes it is in my mind that maybe I'm not doing the work I really should be doing."

His eldest daughter, 15, completed a two-year GCSE course in six months and got A*s, and a local newspaper interviewed her. "She made a contribution," Khan says. "We all want to give things back to this country. That makes me happy. I have no regrets. No complaints."

Agnes Tanoh, 57

Was: senior government adviser, Ivory Coast
Now: destitute asylum seeker, Birmingham

Agnes Tanoh, former government adviser on financial and social affairs in Ivory Coast, fled her country because she faced arrest and long-term imprisonment, after regime change pushed her to the wrong side of the political divide. Before the government fell, she worked for the first lady, as her aide, then as head of her administration. Three years after fleeing to England, Tanoh has swapped a five-bedroom house in Abidjan for a flat paid for by the charity Women for Refugee Women in Birmingham. Her initial claim for asylum has been rejected, which means she has no entitlement to benefits and gets only £20 a week from the Hope Projects, a local asylum charity; £15.50 of that goes on her bus pass, which allows her to travel to language classes; she feeds herself by picking up basic supplies once a month from a food bank.

Most of her family have fled Ivory Coast; her husband of 33 years is in Ghana, her four children scattered in different countries. But for the moment, what makes her unhappy is the enforced idleness: the UK Border Agency stipulates, in emphatic capitals, in correspondence with her, "You are NOT allowed to work."

"Work is health," she says, taking off her glasses and rubbing her eyes. "I started working when I was 21. I am an active person. When you have nothing to do, you look on your situation and start to think. You say to yourself: 'What am I doing? What will become of me?'"

Although she is not a qualified teacher, in Ivory Coast she founded and ran a secondary school. For a while, when she was in a hostel in Bolton, she volunteered with a charity and taught French to retired people. "I enjoyed it a lot. I felt I was bringing something to people."

Hasan Abdalla, 58

Was: academic and artist, Syria
Now: jobseeker, London

Hasan Abdalla had a well-equipped studio in the garden outside his Damascus flat; every morning he would walk past orange, apple, pear and pomegranate trees, to paint inside or in the open when the weather was fine. Now he paints in the bedroom of the south London bedsit where he has been living since he was granted asylum. It's much noisier, and he finds that the sounds from the Iceland loading station in front of the house and the railway tracks behind are often distracting. He has tried listening to music or singing to himself to drown out the noise, but on the whole it has been a difficult period for painting. He misses his wife and three sons, whom he hasn't seen since his hurried departure from Syria in July 2011. He finds London an inspirational place, but he also feels disoriented and alone.

Every stretch of wall in his small flat is covered with the artworks he managed to bring with him, and a few that he has done since arriving here. Beneath his bed he keeps rolled-up 3m canvases. The small kitchen table is covered with old newspaper, ready for him to start painting, but at the moment this happens rarely.

When you are dependent on jobseeker's allowance, painting is an expensive habit. In Syria, Abdalla regularly exhibited with two galleries, and made a good living from selling his work. But his reputation has not travelled with him, and although he has had pictures exhibited in three galleries here, he has sold very little. For three months he went by bus every Sunday to Bayswater Road, with as many paintings as he could carry, to try selling them on the park railings. It was a dispiriting experience, since the pictures got battered on the journey; and although passersby made appreciative comments, they rarely bought pictures.

In Syria and Libya, Abdalla sold his work for around £2,500. He has sold only four pictures since coming to England, each for a fraction of that price. Despite these difficulties, he knows that fleeing Syria, and paying an agent £20,000 of his savings, was the right thing to do. Two of his friends, who had been with him on a protest march in 2011, were shot by the authorities. He had spent time in prison in 2010, and been badly beaten. He was sacked from his job as a university lecturer because he failed security checks. Following his departure, his flat was searched and one of his sons arrested.

He has been supported by the Red Cross and thinks he is lucky to have ended up in England. "People are friendly. They try not to make you feel like a stranger."

Tiegisty Kibrom, 27

Was: IT graduate, Eritrea
Now: hotel cleaner, London

Tiegisty Kibrom graduated with distinction in her computer science degree and hoped to open a computer business. "I wanted to have my own shop, which would be open for people who had no access to computers – I could train people on them. There's a real need for places like that in Eritrea."

She fled after being persecuted for her religious beliefs. When she was gone, her mother was arrested and held for three weeks. She thinks that it would not be safe to return.

With her excellent degree, she thought it would be easy to find work here, but when she realised how hard it would be to get a job, she enrolled on a BSc in internet computing at Manchester Metropolitan University. Even after completing the course, she has not found work in computing; last autumn she took a job cleaning rooms in a five-star hotel near Hyde Park. She works an evening shift, is responsible for cleaning 45 rooms and is paid £6.31 an hour. "I was expecting I'd get a better job. I am not ashamed to do a cleaning job. It just embarrasses me that, with all my skills, I can't find a single opportunity to work in my field." The work is hard. "Sometimes you feel abused. They say: 'If you don't do this, we will sack you.' I have enough stress in my life. They say: 'You know, girls, you have to be more grateful. Some people don't have any jobs.'"

She has volunteered as a computer instructor in a refugee centre; ultimately, she would like to be a database assistant, but mostly her job applications are not acknowledged. "I'm a fast learner, I know I could do it if they gave me a chance," she says.

Helal Attayee, 30

Was: doctor, Afghanistan
Now: healthcare assistant, London

Before qualifying as a doctor, Helal Attayee worked for a US charity, Samaritan's Purse International Relief, as well as the British army and for the International Security Assistance Force as an interpreter and project manager in his home town, Mazar-i-Sharif.

He was repeatedly targeted by local fundamentalists, who branded him a traitor and threatened his family. He decided it would be safer to leave the country for his medical training, and went to Turkey. Once he had qualified, he returned to Afghanistan to work as a doctor, but quickly realised his life was at risk. "The local fundamentalists, who became Taliban later, told me that I was helping the infidels," Attayee says. "They warned me that I should stop."

He was forced to flee to the UK. He has been supported by the Red Cross while he studies for a number of exams he must pass before he can take up his old career, including a very demanding English exam. His English sounds flawless to me (as you would expect from a former UN interpreter), but he has failed the exam three times already. Each time he has to retake it, he has to pay £145. His bedroom, in a shared flat in north London, is filled with books and test papers, and ahead of his next test, he has covered a whiteboard on the wall with words that he finds challenging.

Attayee is currently working as a locum phlebotomist, taking blood for testing. "To become a doctor, you have to study for six or seven years," he says. "For phlebotomy, you just have to complete a four-day course. Anyone can do it. It was very, very difficult to find a job, so I was lucky,. Phlebotomy is fine. I know that it is only temporary."

Amelia Gentleman

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Bridget Christie's International Women's Day 2014 quiz

Posted: 08 Mar 2014 12:00 AM PST

Bridget Christie: Today is International Women's Day. Test your knowledge of feminism and sexism in the media, politics and culture

Bridget Christie

Experience: my house was destroyed by lightning

Posted: 08 Mar 2014 12:00 AM PST

'Out of nowhere, I heard an almighty bang and the room went black. I saw huge flames consuming the curtains'

A thunderstorm was raging outside, but I was warm and safe, snuggled on my sofa with my cat Dipstick. I was watching a TV drama, and had some candles flickering and a gas fire glowing. I was 29 and single, and I'd moved into my first proper home, a three-bedroomed semi near Birmingham about a year earlier.

Out of nowhere, I heard an almighty bang and the room went black. I assumed it was a power cut, but when I stumbled through the darkness into the hallway, I saw huge flames consuming the curtains. I was stunned, but strangely calm, and went back to get my phone to call the fire brigade, but the lounge curtains were on fire, too: it was spreading. I had to get out and call 999. I went on to autopilot: I even blew out the candles and turned off the gas fire, then grabbed my phone from the coffee table – but didn't think to take my prized Prada handbag right next to it. I didn't panic until I couldn't find Dipstick.

Enormous flames were licking the walls, bursting up from behind drawers and cabinets, and I was desperately searching for him, but it was too dark. For the first time I felt very frightened. My breathing sped up and my heart was racing when I spotted him waiting for me by the back door. I scooped him up and walked out in my slippers. We were both shaking.

A few people were standing outside, watching, and someone told me the fire brigade had been called. For a moment, I stood with them in silent shock and watched my house burning down. Flames and black smoke were roaring through the roof, and it looked and smelled like an enormous bonfire. An elderly neighbour took me to hers and gave me a cup of tea while the firemen and paramedics spoke to me. I'd only been in there a few minutes, and there hadn't been much smoke, so I was fine but in shock. I rang my parents and they came straight over. As they drove me away, I saw firefighters trying to control the blaze that used to be my home.

Mum and I stayed up all night. The next time I saw my house was at 5.30am on the news, and that's when I finally found out what had happened: my home and my neighbour's had been struck by lightning. Thankfully my neighbours were on holiday, because it started in their young son's bedroom.

Later that morning I went back to the remains of my house. I looked around the blackened, empty shell and retched. The walls and part of the ceiling were still there, but everything was black and everything was trashed. There was debris on every surface and an overpowering chemical stench.

The fireman said the stairs and roof could collapse, but gingerly I went up to my bedroom to save what I could. In the wall by my bed there was a long, two-inch-thick crack running down where my pillow used to be. Had the lightning struck half an hour later, I would have been in bed and could have died. I found some jewellery and photographs that I was relieved to see had been protected by a glass desk, and I grabbed my grandmother's piano stool on the way out. In my car I had three pairs of shoes, a hosepipe and a bag of cat litter. That was all I had left of my old life. I'd lost everything. I collapsed on my driveway and cried.

My insurance covered everything, so I spent the next few days finding a flat to rent and buying everything I needed. I tried to see it as a chance to get a new wardrobe, but it wasn't fun. Suddenly I owned nothing and felt stripped of my identity. When I went back to work three days later, my colleagues had a collection and gave me over £300, and neighbours I'd never spoken to gave me two huge boxes packed full of food.

The house was rebuilt, but it's not actually uncommon for lightning to strike the same place twice, so I didn't wait before selling it. I suffered from insomnia and nightmares, reliving that night moment by moment. I used to be fearless – a few months before the fire, I'd jumped out of an aeroplane for a charity skydive – but even eight years on, I hate flying, and if there's a thunderstorm I have to sit in the kitchen with my husband and our three children, so I know we can get out. When I see flood victims on the news, their houses destroyed, my heart aches. Nature can destroy everything we have.

• As told to Moya Sarner

Do you have an experience to share? Email experience@theguardian.com


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Asylum seekers across Australia launch legal appeals following data breach

Posted: 07 Mar 2014 11:37 PM PST

Government faces slew of federal court appeals after details of every asylum seeker on the mainland was accidentally published

Oliver Laughland
Paul Farrell

Missing plane: government ‘fears the worst’ for six Australian passengers

Posted: 07 Mar 2014 11:19 PM PST

Officials confirm names on the flight's passenger manifest and contact family members living in the country

Daniel Hurst

Malaysia Airlines: experts surprised at disappearance of 'very safe' Boeing 777

Posted: 07 Mar 2014 10:31 PM PST

Aviation consultant says it is highly unusual for an aircraft to lose contact completely without any previous indication of problems









Unsound Adelaide – Morton Subotnick: electronic music’s elder statesman – video

Posted: 07 Mar 2014 09:33 PM PST

Playing his first ever Australian show at the 2014 Adelaide festival, US electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnick speaks to the Guardian about his groundbreaking 1967 album Silver Apples of the Moon, his role in creating the world's first synthesiser, and the fact he's still performing live as he approaches his 81st birthday

Bill Code

International Women’s Day marchers take to the streets of Sydney

Posted: 07 Mar 2014 08:27 PM PST

Marchers carry banners demanding equal pay for women and the rejection of the controversial "Zoe's law" bill

International Women's Day celebrated in Google doodle

Posted: 07 Mar 2014 06:17 PM PST

Rights campaigner Malala Yousafzai features in doodle providing 'a glimpse' of what some women across the world are doing

Google is celebrating International Women's Day with a homepage doodle featuring footage of women from around the world including the education rights campaigner Malala Yousafzai and the British businesswoman and charity worker, Camila Batmanghelidjh.

The search engine's creative team put together the doodle, which features 27 female chromosomes and a video package with the faces of more than 100 women as well as a musical soundtrack from the Belgian-Congolese vocal group Zap Mama. Others who make an appearance include the President of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaitė.

The doodle was designed by Google with the intention of providing "a glimpse" of what some women across the world are doing and to focus in a positive way on their lives.

International Women's Day has been observed since in the early 1900s, a time of turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies. The first National Woman's Day (NWD) in the US was observed across the United States on 28 February, 1909.

Clara Zetkin, a German Social Democrat, tabled the idea of an International Women's Day in 1910 during an international conference on women's rights in Copenhagen.

The day is being marked in a variety of ways in countries around the world, from Afghanistan to Zambia. In the UK male presenters are to be banished from BBC Radio 1 for 39 hours this weekend to celebrate International Women's Day.


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Twin cyclones expected to hit northern Queensland

Posted: 07 Mar 2014 06:05 PM PST

Warnings of heavy rain and flash flooding after almost 80 per cent of the state is declared to be drought affected









Womadelaide: Hanggai and Neko Case – review

Posted: 07 Mar 2014 05:39 PM PST

Mongolian metal meets haunting alt-country at the opening night of the world music festival

Alfred Hickling

Talking superfans with Tyler Oakley, Grace Helbig and Ze Frank

Posted: 07 Mar 2014 05:23 PM PST

YouTube stars and BuzzFeed's video boss discuss connecting with fans across platforms at SXSW. By Stuart Dredge

Stuart Dredge

Malaysia Airlines loses contact with plane carrying 239 people

Posted: 07 Mar 2014 05:17 PM PST

Airline says it lost contact with flight MH370 – which was destined for Beijing from Kuala Lumpur – two hours after takeoff

A search and rescue operation is under way after Malaysia Airlines said a plane carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew on board went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

The company said that it lost contact with the aircraft two hours after takeoff and it was now working with authorities who had deployed search and rescue teams to locate the aircraft. The plane left Kuala Lumpur at 12.41am local time on Saturday (6.41pm GMT on Friday).

A statement from the airline said it was contacting the next-of-kin of passengers and crew.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected passengers and crew and their family members," it said.

Radar contact with the aircraft, flight MH370, was lost in airspace controlled by Vietnam in the early hours of Saturday morning, China's Xinhua news agency said. The aircraft did not enter airspace controlled by China and did not make contact with Chinese controllers, Xinhua added.

Xinhua said 160 of the passengers on board were Chinese nationals, citing Chinese aviation officials. A Malaysian Airlines spokesman said Australians were believed to be among the other nationalities on board, News Corp reported.

China's foreign minister, Wang Yi, told a scheduled press conference China was doing all it could to confirm details of the incident and said he was "very worried", state media reported.

The flight had been expected to land at Beijing at 6.30am local time. The passengers on board included two infants, according to the airline, which also released a telephone number which members of the public could call to seek information.

The last major accident involving a Malaysia Airlines flight was in September 1995, when one of its aircraft crashed in the Malaysian city of Tawau, killing 34 people on board and injuring nine on the ground.

The initial statement published on Facebook by the airline said: "Malaysia Airlines confirms that flight MH370 has lost contact with Subang air traffic control at 2.40am, today (8 March 2014).

"Flight MH370, operated on the B777-200 aircraft, departed Kuala Lumpur at 12.41am on 8 March 2014. MH370 was expected to land in Beijing at 6.30am the same day. The flight was carrying a total number of 227 passengers (including 2 infants), 12 crew members. Malaysia Airlines is currently working with the authorities who have activated their Search and Rescue team to locate the aircraft.

"The airline will provide regular updates on the situation. Meanwhile, the public may contact +603 7884 1234 for further info."

A Boeing 777, part of Boeing's most popular family of large twin-engine jets, was involved in a crash in July last year in San Francisco in which three people died. One of the passengers who died was hit by a fire truck in the aftermath of the crash. Despite the deaths and injuries suffered by many of the plane's 291 passengers, safety experts subsequently said that the safety features of the aircraft "helped to prevent" a much worse disaster.

One of the planes also crash-landed short of a runway at Heathrow airport in January 2008, ripping off part of its undercarriage. All 136 passengers and 16 crew escaped from the British Airways flight from Beijing. It crashed after losing power because of a restricted fuel flow to both engines, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said afterwards. It concluded that the crash-landing was probably caused by a buildup of ice in the fuel system on the plane.

Malaysia Airlines was last year voted was voted Asia's leading airline at the World Travel Awards 2013, beating 11 other big name full service carriers.

But it has been struggling financially. Earlier this year, it posted its fourth consecutive loss. It announced last month that it was waiting for government approval to place a multibillion dollar order for up to 100 Airbus and Boeing passenger aircraft, two people familiar with the negotiations told Reuters, a move aimed at boosting its profitability.

The new aircraft will lower the airline's operating costs by allowing it to retire its older, less fuel-efficient aircraft. That may help it cope with intense competition at home and within Southeast Asia, the people said.

The airline has 88 aircraft in its fleet, including Airbus A330s and A380s, and Boeing 777-200s and 737s, according to its website.

Ben Quinn
Tania Branigan

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Gay vice-principal sues Seattle-area school that fired him

Posted: 07 Mar 2014 05:05 PM PST

Mark Zmuda's suit against Catholic school alleges violation of Washington state's law against discrimination

Kristen Millares Young

Sochi 2014: 11th Winter Paralympic Games opens – in pictures

Posted: 07 Mar 2014 04:48 PM PST

A spectacular ceremony in the Fisht Stadium opened the games for the Paralympic athletes in Sochi

Edginess and a reluctance to rattle Russia's cage in former Soviet republics

Posted: 07 Mar 2014 04:05 PM PST

Alec Luhn and Joanna Lillis examine the reaction to Russia's takeover of the Crimean peninsula

Russia's takeover of the Crimean peninsula has drawn condemnation from the west, but reaction has been more varied in the 14 former Soviet republics in Russia's "near abroad". Many have played a balancing act between Russia and the west, and almost all have significant Russian-speaking populations – like the one that served as a justification for Moscow's intervention in Crimea.

Azerbaijan

The oil-rich country in the South Caucasus has carefully played the United States and Russia off against each other, previously hosting a Russian radar base and American troops facilitating the transit of goods to Afghanistan. "It happened in South Caucasus and it's happening now in Ukraine, it's sort of the Soviet Union coming back," said Emin Milli, a journalist and activist in Baku. "This is what we feel in Azerbaijan, whether you're in government or civil society."

Georgia

Reaction has perhaps been strongest in Georgia, which lost about 20% of its territory when Russia cemented its control of two breakaway republics in the 2008 war. "What you hear a lot is that Russia is repeating in Ukraine what they did to Georgia in 2008," said Koba Turmanidze, president of the CRRC Georgia research centre. "The government is trying to be diplomatic … because they came to power promising to improve relations with Russia and negotiate a deal over the territories they took from us."

Kazakhstan

A rising oil-and-gas power and the most influential country in central Asia, sparsely populated Kazakhstan is one of only two full members of Putin's customs union and hosts Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome. Nargis Kassenova, director of the Central Asian Studies Center at KIMEP University, said: "There is a considerable chunk of the population whose opinions are formed by Russian media, and there are increasingly vocal patriotic and liberal community that are getting more and more upset with Russian politics and policies."

Armenia

In 2013, Armenia declined an EU association agreement similar to the one offered to Ukraine and began moving towards membership of Russia's customs union. "Anti-Russian people have criticised [Moscow's takeover]; pro-Russian people have mostly kept silent," said musician Artyom Babayan. "Neutral people have mostly just drawn their own conclusions about what lessons Armenia should learn."

Kyrgyzstan

A revolution in impoverished, mountainous Kyrgyzstan in 2010 brought in a regime which voted decisively to close the US airbase at Manas, the main transport hub for the war in Afghanistan, in 2014. "We can imagine very vividly how the Russian airbase in Kant [in Kyrgyzstan] could be used to land paratroopers to 'restore constitutional order' at the behest of an ousted kleptocrat," said Edil Baisalov, a Bishkek-based political analyst. "But most Kyrgyz, including most of the political class, view the world through the prism of the dichotomy of good Russia versus evil America."

Uzbekistan

The US leased an airbase there until strong-arm president Islam Karimov, who has ruled the country since 1989, ended the arrangement in 2005 in an apparent move to improve relations with Russia and China. "Officials in Tashkent are seriously worried about the domino-effect consequences from an unbound Russia: in the minds of security-freak Uzbek officials, the fall of Ukraine will inevitably lead to the fall of Uzbekistan," said Alisher Khamidov, a researcher on central Asian affairs. "After Ukraine, Uzbekistan will move to beef up its military and build even closer military partnerships with China and the west."

Tajikistan

Located on the border with Afghanistan, Tajikistan is the former republic most dependent on remittances, with half its GDP coming from Tajik citizens working in Russia. "All the countries in the former Soviet Union are on their guard; they understand that the strategy used in Ukraine, Ossetia, and Abkhazia could be used against them," said Parviz Mullodzhanov, a political analyst in Dushanbe. But the majority of the population doesn't criticise the intervention in Crimea, he added.

Estonia

Estonia joined the EU and Nato in 2004 and has had frequent political clashes with Russia, including over the removal of a Soviet-era war monument in Tallinn. "People fear that Russia could use these methods against Estonia although we are members of Nato," said Silver Meikar, of the Institute of Digital Rights. "People living near the Russian border watch the Russian news, and then when they talk to another Estonian they have a very different understanding of what's going on in Ukraine … and it's because of the propaganda war."

Belarus

Often called the last dictatorship in Europe, Belarus has not seen many of the market reforms and investment that many other former Soviet republics have, and its strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko is a persona non grata in Europe and a firm ally of Putin. "Speaking selfishly, a Russian Crimea is more preferable and comfortable as a vacation destination for Belarusians, but they see Hitler in Putin's methods," said photographer Andrei Dubinin. "If it wanted to, the Kremlin wouldn't have much trouble joining the whole country to Russia with economic and political methods."

Lithuania

Lithuania joined the EU and Nato in 2004 but retains a sizable population of ethnic Russians. "Most people know there is a small chance for something similar to happen here, but the Russian minority is too small here," said Jonas Bidva, a logistics manager in Vilnius. "Latvia and Estonia would be more on the radar. But the majority of the people do not believe that Nato or EU would do anything to defend us if it happened in the Baltics."

Moldova

Russia has propped up Moldova's breakaway republic of Transnistria, but the country has had mixed relations with Moscow. About 1 million Moldovans work in Russia and half as many work in the EU. "Part of the population is more inclined toward EU, and it considers this to be Russian imperial expansion," said Tatyana Nita, international secretary for Moldova's Social Democratic party. "But others consider Russia to be a superpower that supports Moldova and other former Soviet republics, and that Europe wants to get revenge on Russia through economic ties with other former Soviet republics, like Belarus, Georgia, and Ukraine."

Alec Luhn
Joanna Lillis

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Clare's law letting women know if partner has abusive past rolled out

Posted: 07 Mar 2014 04:01 PM PST

Domestic violence disclosure scheme is rolled out across England and Wales on International Women's Day

Women will be able to find out if their partners have an abusive past as the domestic violence disclosure scheme – known as Clare's law – is rolled out across every police force across England and Wales.

The scheme, named after Clare Wood, who was murdered five years ago by her former partner, was announced last year and piloted by four police forces. From Friday anyone who fears a partner is abusive, or may have an abusive past, will be able to go to police and ask for any past convictions to be revealed.

To mark International Women's Day the government also announced the introduction of domestic violence protection orders (DVPOs), designed to provide protection for women in the initial aftermath of an attack by imposing conditions that can immediately prevent contact.

"Protection for victims is improving but sadly there are still too many cases where vulnerable people are let down, said the home secretary, Theresa May. "I am determined to see a society where violence against women and girls is not tolerated, where people speak out, and where no woman or girl has to suffer domestic abuse."

Clare Wood, 36, was strangled and set on fire by her ex-boyfriend George Appleton at her home in Salford. He had a history of violence against women, including kidnapping an ex-girlfriend at knifepoint. Wood's father, Michael Brown, said he was absolutely delighted that women had been given the right to know their partner's history. "It's tinged with a bit of emotion and a bit of sadness but we have got what we were fighting for – to bring protection into the country for half the population," he said.

But while some organisations welcomed the scheme, others feared it could leave women more vulnerable. According to Refuge two women are killed by a current or former partner every week, but 77% of domestic violence cases are never reported to police, so if a vulnerable woman seeks information she may be left with a false sense of security, or feeling that her own fears have been undermined.

"If a woman inquires about her partner she may be told that he has no history of violence, she may then believe that she is safe, but this does not necessarily mean that she will be safe – possibly quite the reverse," said Sandra Horley, chief executive of Refuge. "What will happen if a woman is told that her partner does have a history of violence? Will she be expected to pack her bags and leave straight away? We know that it isn't that simple. And if women do leave, where are they supposed to go? Refuges are closing up and down the country because of huge funding cuts."

According to a recent Women's Aid survey of 150 organisations, 112 specialist posts were lost in 2013/2013 , while on one "snapshot" day - 27 June 2013 - 155 women and 103 children were turned away from the first refuge they approached.

Felicity, now 23, was studying law in London when she was attacked by her then partner. "He smashed up the house, grabbed me by the throat until I could barely breathe and said that if I moved he would kill me," she said. "Then he put a knife to my throat but I managed to grab my phone, barricaded myself in the bathroom and call the police."

When officers arrived the man admitted what he had done and was released on bail on condition he didn't contact Felicity, didn't return to the property and paid for the damage. Within days he had broken all three conditions. "The first officer who dealt with me was brilliant, but then her supervisor took over, and honestly – he just wasn't bothered. He said his bail would be up in three days, and just to wait it out." The partner would call Felicity and ask why she wasn't home so she knew he was watching – she was terrified because police had not confiscated his keys. "It was the scariest ten days of my life, I would phone the police in tears but they just didn't care."

After the bail hearing, no charges were made. "The supervisor said: 'He seemed like a decent guy and I believed him.' It was like thinking someone had your back, and turning around to find they'd gone - it was a very lonely place." Since then Felicity has left her course and moved back to her parents, and is paying of the debt caused by the damage her ex caused, which he has never paid for.

She thinks that without a complete change in attitudes to domestic violence, Clare's law will not help, and could be dangerous. "If a woman asked about my ex-partner, there would be no records against him – but that wouldn't mean they were safe, far from it," she said.

Hollback London - part of a worldwide anti-sexual harassment network that names and shames harassers - are battling to take the hassle from a night out, by involving top night clubs such as Ministry of Sound, Fabric, The OPld Blue Last and Dalston Superstore.

Clubs and bars across the capital have agreed to put up posters telling women to tell staff if they have been groped or harangued. "Groping, bum-slapping, and sexually aggressive behaviour are all too common aspects of night outs in London," she said adding that the "good night out" campaign was "sending a public message that this behaviour won't go unchallenged".

Alexandra Topping

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Let's use International Women's Day to fight violence against women | Jane Martinson

Posted: 07 Mar 2014 04:01 PM PST

A third of women in 28 countries in the EU report being the victim of abuse. This is an issue that affects us all

What is it with the Conservatives and history? Maria Miller, the woman and equalities minister, and London's mayor, Boris Johnson, both chose to mark International Women's Day with events celebrating the contribution and role of women in the first world war. All very laudable, but there is a battle waging right now that affects us all and every single politician should be focusing on what can be done about it.

The extent of violence against women and girls is so widespread across Europe that the author of an alarming report this week called it an "extensive human rights abuse". Morten Kjaerum, director of FRA, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, wasn't talking about the Republic of Congo, or Afghanistan - or any of the other countries that have become bywords for gender inequality - but countries otherwise lauded for their human rights records. Places like Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the UK, where between 44% and 52% of the female population reported having suffered physical or sexual violence since the age of 15.

Violence of any kind is abhorrent of course - a hideous and painful way to assert power - and women are by no means the only victims. But all those who greet every study of this kind - and there have been several - with the fact that men suffer violence too seem to me to be presenting an argument akin to suggesting that we shouldn't worry about child abuse because kids smack pets too. According to the report, one in three of the 42,000 women in 28 countries in the European Union surveyed reported being the victim of some kind of abuse. Imagine if that statistic dealt with a disease, or any other life-threatening complaint? There would be an outcry the like of which would have every policy maker working together on a solution.

To be fair to Miller and Johnson, others in government are largely responsible for trying to tackle the issue of violence against women: the Home Office with crime, the Department for Education on how we teach young men and women about the issue, and the Department for Health on the long-term consequences of abuse, which often starts in childhood. But this is a subject that cuts across all departments and needs a coordinated approach.

Some parts of the government seem to get it, particularly the fact that attitudes towards sex and violence start early. More than half of the 1,100 calls made to the Rape Crisis helpline in the three months to the end of January reported violence committed before the victim turned 18. The "This is Abuse" campaign, led by the Home Office and which is due to launch an online drive in the next few weeks, aims to teach boys about the issue of consent.

The double standards that condemn young girls as "sluts" for engaging in sex, while boys are "studs", does the latter no favours either. Working on the coal face, Fiona Elvines, coordinator at Rape Crisis South London and researcher for the Children's Commissioner on the issue, says: "Young men are using sex with women as a battleground to prove that they are masculine and heterosexual."

This is not all young men by any means, yet evidence suggests that violence against women, once started, is habit-forming.

The two changes announced by the Home Office on Friday - the national rollout of Clare's Law and domestic violence protection orders - offer some protection to victims of violence against women. But there is so much more to be done. Increased awareness, largely a result of the Jimmy Savile scandal, led to a 20% increase in calls to Rape Crisis in the year after the story broke. Yet those calls are going largely unheeded if the number of complaints considered for prosecution by the police is anything to go by.

And there are signs of a backlash. After each celebrity acquittal, the calls in the media and indeed down the pub to call off the search and let these old men go back to their happy memories of the way we lived seem to escalate.

There is much to celebrate this International Women's Day - including the unsung and vital role of women in the first world war - but if we are to pick one issue to focus on for the denizens of the whole world (not even just half of them) violence against women should be it.

Jane Martinson

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