Peter Hain urges South Africa to protest Afghanistan game at Champions Trophy
The veteran anti-apartheid campaigner Peter Hain has called on Cricket South Africa to challenge the ban on women’s and girls’ cricket in Afghanistan.In a letter seen by the Guardian, Lord Hain urges Cricket South Africa’s chief executive, Pholetsi Moseki, to take up the issue with the International Cricket Council before South Africa’s Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan in Karachi on 21 February.In a particularly striking passage, Hain draws a direct parallel to apartheid with the Taliban’s oppression of women’s rights in Afghanistan.“Having struggled long and hard for black and brown cricketers to represent their country like whites did exclusively for nearly a century, I hope that post-apartheid South African cricket will press for similar rights for all women in world cricket,” Hain tells Moseki.“Will South African cricket please raise the plight of Afghan women cricketers in the ICC and express firm solidarity with Afghan women and girls who wish to play?”Hain, who rose to prominence by challenging the South African rugby and cricket tours during the early 70s, reminds Moseki that female participation in sport has been outlawed since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.
“Upon regaining control of Afghanistan in August 2021, one of the Taliban government’s first acts was to ban women from sport,” writes Hain.“They raided the homes of female athletes, some of whom were forced to burn their kits to avoid being identified.The national Afghan women’s cricket team was disbanded and forced to flee the country; it is now in exile.“That is a direct contravention of ICC rules requiring all member Test nations to support and fund women’s cricket.The men’s cricket team is still allowed to compete internationally, while their women’s team is denied the same right.
”Hain says the Taliban have removed the most basic human rights and freedoms for women “on a prolific scale”.“Women are denied access to schools and universities, have been barred from most forms of employment and have now been denied all healthcare, as they can no longer train as nurses or be treated by male medics,” he writes.“They are banned from beauty salons, stadiums, gyms and parks, cannot travel alone without a male chaperone, dance, sing or drive.Their faces are banned from view, their voices from being heard, even in prayer.Most recently, the Taliban have banned windows through which women might be glimpsed in their domestic spaces.
”Hain’s letter comes after the England and Wales Cricket Board was urged to boycott England’s Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan in another letter signed by almost 200 politicians, including Nigel Farage, Jeremy Corbyn and Lord Kinnock.The ECB chief executive, Richard Gould, has promised to “explore all possible avenues for meaningful change”, but on Monday said a boycott of men’s cricket “could inadvertently support the Taliban’s efforts to suppress freedoms and isolate Afghan society”.Tonia Antoniazzi MP, who wrote the letter, described the ECB’s non-committal response to a boycott as lacking “any sort of backbone”.“What about women? Where is the hope for the women? Where’s the hope for women that want to play sport, that want to go to school, that want to be able to work? Where is the hope for them?”Cricket South Africa and the ICC have been approached for comment.
Rachel Reeves heads to China to build bridges, but a new golden era of relations is impossible
Rachel Reeves will fly with a delegation of City grandees to China this week as Labour seeks closer economic links with Beijing as part of its quest for growth.With the outlook increasingly rocky at home after a run of soft economic data, the chancellor is sorely in need of a positive story to tell.She appears determined to normalise the UK’s relationship with the communist superpower, despite mounting security concerns and a backdrop of growing geopolitical tension.In the past few weeks alone, the UK has expelled an alleged Chinese spy and friend of Prince Andrew, Yang Tengbo, while the US Treasury has accused Beijing of hacking into staff computers. Meanwhile, a lawyer for Shein – the online retailer founded in China and which is lobbying over a potential £50bn London float – was accused of “wilful ignorance” over its supply chain practices by British MPs
Permanent job vacancies in UK shrink at fastest pace for four years
Vacancies for permanent jobs in the UK declined at their fastest pace for four years last month, according to a new survey that adds to the gloomy economic mood.Amid febrile markets and weak economic data, the monthly jobs report from the consultancy KPMG and the recruitment firm REC shows many firms reluctant to hire.The employer survey suggested vacancies for permanent roles had declined at the fastest pace since August 2020, when the UK was in the grip of the Covid pandemic. Temporary vacancies also fell in December.The labour market was slowing for much of 2024
Meta’s changes to policing will lead to clash with EU and UK, say experts
Sweeping changes to the policing of Meta’s social media platforms have set the tech company on a collision course with legislators in the UK and the European Union, experts and political figures have said.Lawmakers in Brussels and London criticised Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to scrap factcheckers in the US for Facebook, Instagram and Threads, with one labelling it “quite frightening”.The changes to Meta’s global policies on hateful content now include allowing users to call transgender people “it”, with the guidelines stating: “We do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation.”Chi Onwurah, the Labour MP and chair of the science and technology committee for the House of Commons, which is investigating how online disinformation fuelled last summer’s riots, said Zuckerberg’s decision to replace professional factcheckers with users policing the accuracy of posts was “concerning” and “quite frightening”.“To hear that Meta is removing all its factcheckers [in the US] is concerning … people have a right to be protected from the harmful effects of misinformation,” she said
Revisions of ‘hateful conduct’: what users can now say on Meta platforms
Meta’s rewritten policies on “hateful conduct” mean users will now be able to say different types of things on its platforms, Facebook, Instagram and Threads. After Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement of sweeping changes to oversight of content on its platforms, multiple edits have been made to its policies.Among them are:A specific injunction against calling transgender or non-binary people “it” has been deleted. A new section has been added making clear that “we do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation”. It said this was a reflection of “political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and common non-serious usage of words like ‘weird’”
‘Anyone can pickleball’: boom sport a hit over rugby ahead of Australian Open debut | Jack Snape
It has been hyped up by the likes of Nick Kyrgios, Patty Mills and Adam Scott, and few social media feeds are safe from an influencer picking up a paddle. Pickleball will now make its Australian Open debut in a milestone that marks the fledgling sport’s legitimacy, as participation booms and professional opportunities mature.The format that resembles mini-tennis with paddles and plastic, hollow balls has now overtaken rugby union, baseball and billiards in participation in Australia. With popularity soaring, local pickleballers are lobbying the government for official status to help with funding for court shortages and integrity measures to police burgeoning elite competitions.Tennis Australia’s head of game expansion, Callum Beale, says the Australian Open has included accessible paddle formats like padel and pop tennis in recent years to expand the appeal of the broad tennis category, but this year’s first pickleball slam is a “symbolic” moment
World Anti-Doping Agency faces crisis after US government withholds funding
The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) is facing a crisis after the US government defaulted on a $3.6m contribution to the global sport watchdog’s annual budget.Wada said the US had missed the 31 December 2024 deadline for payment and retaliated by saying representatives from the US would now be ineligible to sit on its foundation board or executive committee.The funding breakdown comes after a year of sniping between Wada and the US Anti-Doping Agency (Usada), which started when it was revealed last year that Wada had cleared 23 Chinese swimmers to compete at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, even though they had tested positive for banned heart drug trimetazidine (TMZ). Wada accepted the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency reasoning that a kitchen at a team hotel could have contaminated all 23 samples
Former Brexit negotiator Oliver Robbins becomes top Foreign Office civil servant
Tory and Reform MPs accused of ‘weaponising trauma’ of grooming victims, as Farage calls for inquiry to focus on Pakistani men – as it happened
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Jenrick shape-shifts on air with reality-bending Today interview | John Crace