Today's World News - From Africa, Asia, U.S, Europe and Middle East: Monday, Jan - 21 - 2019

A Pakistani court has overturned the death sentence of a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy, a case that has polarised the nation.

Leaders of Nigeria’s Organised Labour, workers and their civil society allies on Tuesday, trooped into the major streets across the country as part of a sensitisation of workers and Nigerians for November 6, 2018 commencement date of a indefinite nationwide strike to compel the government to peg a new minimum wage at N30,000 (about $84), threatening “no N30,000 new minimum wage, no votes” in 2019 general elections.

A father and his two sons have been sentenced to death after they were found guilty of killing a herdsboy three years ago in Chidi, Kwale County.

Denmark has accused Iran's intelligence agencies of planning to assassinate an Iranian activist on Danish soil.

US President Donald Trump has offered condolences at the Pennsylvania synagogue where 11 Jewish worshippers were shot dead at the weekend.

An ex-nurse in Germany has admitted at the start of his trial that he murdered 100 patients, making him one of the world's most prolific serial killers.

President Donald Trump said in an interview published Tuesday that he intends to sign an executive order that would end birthright citizenship for the children of many immigrants to the U.S.

Rescue workers have retrieved six bodies from the sea where an Indonesian passenger plane crashed close to the capital Jakarta on Monday 13 minutes after takeoff.

Kampala Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga has fronted a controversial proposal that seeks to have the central government deduct 10% from people’s monthly salary and forwarded to the church.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has told her CDU party that she will not run for re-election as its chairwoman in December, sources say.

A Lion Air Boeing 737 passenger plane with 189 people on board has crashed into the sea shortly after taking off from the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

The apparent terror attack in Tunis sent people running for their lives in the street

South Africa's security services have been accused of hacking a politician's phone after a sex tape emerged.

Germany's Angela Merkel has said she will step down as chancellor in 2021, following recent election setbacks.

A man suspected of killing 11 people in a synagogue in Pittsburgh has been charged with murder - in what is believed to be the worst anti-Semitic attack in recent US history.

A woman wielding a kitchen knife has attacked at least 14 children at a kindergarten in Chongqing in central China, local police said Friday.

The US economy grew at an annualised rate of 3.5% in the third quarter of the year, official figures have shown.

A radio presenter in Uganda is holding a mock ceremony to marry a friend later on Friday – the catch is that guests have to pay to attend as it is to help raise money for Ugandan writer Lulu Jemimah to go to Oxford University.

Two men wearing jail garb and with hands still shackled allegedly ran from a courtroom in Lewis County District Court Tuesday afternoon, with one making it outside the building, where he was caught by deputies.

Ethiopian members of parliament have elected Sahle-Work Zewde as the country's first female president.

Ms Sahle-Work is an experienced diplomat who has now become Africa's only female head of state.

Her election to the ceremonial position comes a week after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appointed a cabinet with half the posts taken up by women.

After being sworn in, President Sahle-Work promised to work hard to make gender equality a reality in Ethiopia.

Addressing parliament, she also pledged to promote peace: "I urge you all, to uphold our peace, in the name of a mother, who is the first to suffer from the absence of peace.''

Fighting for women's rights
By Bekele Atoma, BBC Afaan Oromoo

The new president was keen to make a point about gender equality right from the start, telling MPs that if they thought she was talking too much about women, she had only just begun.

There may now be male-female parity in the new cabinet but elsewhere there is still a long way to go.

Ms Sahle-Work's appointment has been welcomed by Ethiopians on social media with many calling it "historic".

She has been described as Ethiopia's first female head of state of the modern era, with some remembering Empress Zewditu who governed the country in the early part of the 20th Century.

Ms Sahle-Work was voted in after the unexpected resignation of her predecessor, Mulatu Teshome.

The prime minister's chief of staff, Fitsum Arega, tweeted that "in a patriarchal society such as ours, the appointment of a female head of state not only sets the standard for the future but also normalises women as decision-makers in public life".

President Sahle-Work has served as an ambassador for Ethiopia in Senegal and Djibouti. She has also held a number of UN positions, including head of peace-building in the Central African Republic (CAR).

Immediately before becoming president, Ms Sahle-Work was the UN representative at the African Union.

In the Ethiopian constitution, the post of president is ceremonial with the prime minister holding the political power.

The last African female head of state was Mauritian President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, who resigned in March over an expenses scandal. She denied any wrong doing.

Credit: The BBC