In a move to appease some of its critics, Saudi Arabia has allowed women to vote and run as candidates in upcoming municipal elections. With more than 70 women already registered as candidates for the December poll, women’s rights campaigners in the country have welcomed the move, announced as far back as 2011, as an important first step towards equality.
The local council in Newcastle, Australia, home to the largest coal-exporting port in the world, has voted to divest from any environmentally damaging entities, including the country’s Big Four Banks. Newcastle City Council is the seventh council across Australia to shun dirty energy. Locals there have hailed this step forward to a cleaner city, free from the coal trains and coal dust marring its landscape.
