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Turkish cops tear-gas women protesting violence against women
25 Nov, 2021 23:24
November 25, 2021. © Reuters / Umit Bektas
Turkish riot police unleashed tear gas to disperse a large crowd of demonstrators protesting violence against women in Istanbul, as well as the government’s withdrawal from an international treaty devoted to combating it.
The massive group of protesters, reportedly numbering in the thousands, marched to Istanbul’s Taksim Square on Thursday to mark the ‘International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.’ They met a heavy police presence in the square, which was barricaded off by officers clad in heavy riot gear, who proceeded to fire tear gas on the crowd after ordering it to disperse.
Scuffles with police were captured in videos circulating online, showing officers moving in on the demonstrators to clear them from the area as tear gas wafts through the air.
Protesters were also seen carrying a colorful assortment of signs and banners, some even toting flares, while others chanted anti-government slogans and demanded an end to what’s been dubbed by some activists as ‘femicide.’ Some 345 women in Turkey have been killed in acts of gender-based violence so far this year, just shy of the 410 reported in 2020, according to ‘We Will Stop Femicide,’ a women’s rights group.
The protest, which was mirrored on a smaller scale in other cities across the country, comes after the Turkish government formally withdrew from an international treaty meant to address violence against women in July. Known as the Istanbul Convention, the pact was originally negotiated in the same city in 2011, but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decision to pull out of the deal has been sharply criticized both by local activists as well as foreign leaders, with US President Joe Biden dubbing the move “deeply disappointing.”
Ankara, for its part, claimed the convention had been “hijacked” by “people attempting to normalize homosexuality,” which it said was “incompatible with Turkey’s social and family values.” Nonetheless, the government insisted it would not “give up on its fight against domestic violence” and would “continue protecting the safety and the rights of all women.”
But like many Islamic countries, they would prefer their women to be invisible in public and silent.
Kazakh bodybuilder takes second sex-doll wife on honeymoon
– after first bride ‘broke’
26 Nov, 2021 18:39
Bodybuilder Yuri Tolochko, who has shot to online notoriety after 'marrying' a sex doll, has shared details of his honeymoon with his second plastic bride Luna after the happy couple spent a week lapping up the sights in Bulgaria.
The hulking Tolochko, who has garnered well over 100,000 followers on Instagram, recently announced that he has moved on from his first wife Margot - who was also an inanimate sex doll - after their relationship quite literally fell apart when he announced that she "broke" shortly after their nuptials.
Tolochko said at the time that he had sent his bride away for repairs - but apparently had his eye caught by a new disposable companion after the iron-pumping lothario posted photographs to social media of his week-long honeymoon with his new bride Luna.
"I did not get the chance to enjoy a honeymoon with Luna until now. The pandemic changed everyone’s plans massively so when the chance came to go to Bulgaria for work, I was happy I could take Luna," he said recently.
"It was a work trip, but it was also so romantic that I consider it a honeymoon as well. We stayed in the capital Sofia for about a week and it was fabulous."
Photographs posted online show a smiling Yuri showing off his bride at various places in the Bulgarian capital, such as at a restaurant - and another more X-rated snap of the two in what appears to be a bathtub.
Luna, who was unavailable for comment, maintains a steely stare in each of the shots.
"We met a lot of people during my work time and also went out to restaurants and took advantage of the hotel room," Tolochko added.
"Everyone’s reaction was different, but not negative. Kids loved Luna a lot. This sensation was everywhere, on the bus, in public places, and many people approached us for photos. Someone asked for my permission to touch Luna because they had never seen a sex doll before."
He even said that he noticed some wayward glances from several other men, particularly when Luna was wearing skimpy attire.
"Luna wore a very short skirt and men liked to watch her as she sat on my lap,” he said.
"I like it when people look at us and their mood lifts. When the pandemic began, this was especially important. People lived in fear and often came to my Instagram page to smile and cheer themselves up."
Tolochko added that as his fame has risen, so too have comments about his unique sex life - and while he says that no one has said anything to him in person, he claims there was a lot of online abuse from St. Petersburg.
"I sometimes get a negative reaction on the internet, but no one has ever shown it in person," he said.
"There was a bigger backlash before than there is now. Also, most of the hate came from netizens in Saint Petersburg in Russia.
"I used to have social media accounts in Russian, but then there was too much negativity."
This time around, though, Yuri said that he opted to not exchange rings with Luna after he had his heart broken by Margot (we shudder to think what she had broken, by the way) - and this time opted for a more cost effective approach.
"I did exchange rings with Margot so maybe I will come up with some kind of symbolic jewelry that we could all wear. We need to discuss it," he said.
"After Margot, I decided to not throw any more lavish weddings."
Sweden’s first-ever woman PM voted back in days after resigning
29 Nov, 2021 14:32
©Jonas Ekstromer / TT News Agency via REUTERS
The Swedish parliament has again voted in Magdalena Andersson as prime minister. Last week, she resigned the position the same day she assumed it and became the first-ever female head of her country’s government.
Andersson, a former finance minister, threw in the towel just seven hours after her election five days ago. She announced her decision after a junior member withdrew from the minority ruling coalition following its failure to adopt a new budget and its approval of a competing variant proposed by right-wing parties.
On Monday, she returned to the helm of an even smaller minority government, formed only by the Swedish Social Democratic Party, which she has led since early November. It has 100 seats – less than a third of the total 349 seats in the parliament.
Her candidacy was supported by 101 legislators and rejected by 173, but still approved. Under Swedish law, the speaker may nominate a person for PM up to four times before a snap general election is called, and if the same candidate is proposed a second time, an absolute majority of 175 votes is needed to reject him or her, which was the case with Andersson.
Sweden was the last of the Nordic nations to elect a female head of the government. Since 2014, the country has rotated three different cabinets led by Andersson’s predecessor, Stefan Löfven. The latest of them was installed in July and automatically dismissed when its head resigned earlier in November. A new general election is scheduled for September 2022 and is expected to determine Sweden’s course on contentious issues such as immigration.
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