Embattled May pushes Brexit accord
LONDON — British Prime Minister Theresa May said Saturday she was determined to win lawmakers’ backing for her Brexit deal, after a minister who quit her government said her divorce agreement would leave Britain outnumbered and outmaneuvered in future negotiations with the European Union.
Ex-Universities and Science Minister Sam Gyimah likened the deal to playing soccer against opponents who “are the referee and they make the rules as well.”
Ms. May is battling to persuade British lawmakers to back the Brexit agreement when Parliament votes on Dec. 11. She and EU leaders say rejecting the divorce terms, which were endorsed by the EU last weekend, would leave the U.K. facing a messy, economically damaging “no-deal” Brexit on March 29.
Noteworthy polio trend
Progress has stalled in ridding the world of polio. An emergency committee of the World Health Organization unanimously agreed Friday to continue to designate the paralyzing disease a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern.” WHO originally designated polio in this way in 2014, deeming it a health threat serious enough to endanger communities worldwide.
This year, WHO has recorded 27 cases of wild poliovirus worldwide, compared with 22 total cases last year. Though the small number of cases may appear insignificant, the committee said the trend is noteworthy because it shows stagnation.
Poliomyelitis, which is transmitted person-to-person through the fecal-oral route or through contaminated food, mainly affects young children.
Groundbreaking pageant
One contestant, Elizabeth James of Tanzania, said she had been forced to change schools as a child when people, staring and pointing, started trailing her home.
Another, Okwii Simon Peter, a 26-year-old Ugandan lawyer, said he was taking part to demonstrate that living with albinism does not make him different.
Valencia Bosibori, 25, a customer care executive at a telecom firm in Kenya, said she wanted to “reach people who don’t have that knowledge of what albinism is.”
They all took part in a groundbreaking beauty pageant, the first Mr. and Miss Albinism East Africa pageant, Friday night in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, in a bid to affirm the dignity of people who have faced discrimination, violence and even murder because of their hereditary lack of pigmentation, according to The Associated Press.
A similar event held in 2016 was open only to Kenyans.
Deadly fire lawsuit
BERLIN — A German court is hearing a civil lawsuit against a discount German textile company whose clothes were produced in a factory in Pakistan that burned to the ground in 2012, killing more than 250 people.
The four plaintiffs — a survivor and three relatives — are seeking 30,000 euros ($34,000) each in damages from the KiK clothing company, the dpa news agency reported Thursday.
They maintain that as one of the main buyers, KiK is partially responsible for the conditions at the factory. KiK rejects the charges, and says the case should also be considered past the statute of limitations for a lawsuit.