Current World Issues: What's Going On

Irish abortion referendum: PM Varadkar to campaign for change The prime minister of Ireland has told the BBC he will campaign for the country's near-total ban on abortion to be liberalised. Leo Varadkar had previously said the laws were "too restrictive". A referendum will take place this summer on whether to repeal a constitutional amendment that effectively bans pregnancy terminations. The wording of the referendum question is yet to be decided. Ireland's eighth amendment places the right to life of an unborn child on a par with that of a mother, meaning abortion is banned even when the pregnancy is the result of rape or when the foetus has a fatal abnormality. Campaigners have long called for the laws to be changed, and last year a Citizens' Assembly and a cross-party parliamentary committee both recommended removing the ban. The committee recommended that abortions should be allowed without restriction up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy. Abort...

Trump and the 'immigrant terrorists' New report from DHS DOJ shows that nearly  3 in 4 individuals convicted in terrorism related charges are foreign born . We have submitted to Congress a list of resources and reforms." So  tweeted  US President Donald Trump on the afternoon of January 16, 2018, days before  the US government shut down . President Trump's tweet, like so many others that have come before, was incorrect even by his administration's lax standards. The International Terrorism Report ( pdf ) prepared by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice  found that three out of four individuals convicted in the United States on "international terror-related" charges are foreign-born. "International" here means that this number includes individuals convicted for acts committed outside the US.  That detail, of course, did not matter to Trump. His goal ever since he took power a year ago is to paint terrorism as ...

Donald Trump takes on Dick Durbin over 'racial slur' President Donald Trump has said he was "totally misrepresented" by those saying he used the term "shithole" to describe African nations last week. Mr Trump also said the allegation was hurting efforts to strike a deal to protect so-called Dreamer immigrants. The president was responding to a claim by Democratic Senator Dick Durbin that he used "vile and racist" language during a meeting on immigration reform. The alleged remarks sparked global outrage and demands that he apologise. "There is no other word one can use but racist," said a UN spokesman. On Monday, two senators who said he did indeed use the disparaging remark stood by their account of what took place. What did the president allegedly say? The row broke out after Republican and Democratic lawmakers visited the president in the Oval Office on Thursday to work on a proposal for an immigration deal. A key...

BBC's Carrie Gracie 'moved' by support in equal pay row Carrie Gracie says the reaction to her resignation as the BBC's China editor shows there is a "depth of hunger" for "equal, fair and transparent pay". She has quit her China post, citing pay inequality with male colleagues and was speaking as she co-presented the Today programme with John Humphrys. She said the support she received from colleagues, MPs and the public had been "very moving". The BBC has said there is "no systemic discrimination against women". BBC broadcasters including Lyse Doucet, Clare Balding, Emily Maitlis and Sarah Montague voiced their support for Ms Gracie; while  Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman , and Labour MPs  Harriet Harman  and Jess Phillips and  Conservative MP Nadine Dorries  have also reacted positively to the move. Many expressed their support using the hashtag  #IStandWithCarrie . It said it was "hugely regrettabl...