News Headlines - 12 October 2020
▽Indigenous Peoples' Day: These are the states that have ditched Columbus Day - CNN
Technically, Columbus Day is a federal holiday, which means it is recognized by the US government and thus brings the closure of non-essential government offices, and, usually, places like post offices and banks.
But states and local governments can choose not to observe a federal holiday. And, as is the case with a growing number of places, change the name and intent of the October holiday altogether.
Not listed here are more than 130 cities that have ditched Columbus Day for Indigenous Peoples Day -- and the list grows yearly.
▽Meghan Markle Says Online Trolling Seriously Impacted Her Mental Health | SELF
Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, is opening up about the effect online trolling has had on her mental health-calling it “almost unsurvivable” in a new interview.
In a joint interview with husband, Prince Harry, on the podcast “Teenager Therapy,” Markle says she found out from an unnamed source that she was the “most trolled person in the entire world, male or female,” in 2019. “Now, eight months of that, I wasn’t even visible,” Markle said on the podcast. “I was on maternity leave or with the baby. But what was able to just be manufactured and churned out-it’s almost unsurvivable.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made the podcast appearance, which aired October 10, in honor of World Mental Health Day.
▽Bangladesh approves death penalty for rape cases after protests | Al Jazeera
Bangladesh’s government has approved an amendment that would allow for the death penalty in rape cases, as anger grows in the South Asian country over incidents of sexual assault.
The amendment was approved at a weekly meeting of the council of ministers headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, cabinet secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam told reporters in a news conference on Monday.
▽Tajikistan re-elects leader Rahmon with overwhelming majority | Al Jazeera
Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon has been re-elected with 90 per cent of the votes in a nationwide poll seen as largely ceremonial.
The result, securing Rahmon another seven years in power, was announced by the electoral commission in the capital Dushanbe on Monday.
Around 85 per cent of the country’s five million eligible voters handed in their ballots, according to authorities.
Researchers at a nature reserve in Pennsylvania discovered a truly odd bird - one with both male and female feather coloring.
Rose-breasted grosbeaks are sexually dimorphic, meaning males and females have different color plumage... The condition, called bilateral gynandromorphism, means the bird is both male and female, with one ovary and one testis.
This occurs when two sperm fertilize an egg that has two nuclei instead of one, which results in the egg to develop a chromosome from each sex.
