Koko was also said to have understood some 2,000 words of spoken English. 'You key there me cookie.' With that sign language, Koko the gorilla tells her mentor [Getty Images] Koko, a western lowland gorilla said to have mastered American Sign Language, has died aged 46, the California institute which studied her said on Thursday. “The Gorilla Foundation is sad to announce the passing of our belove

French-Muslim singer Mennel Ibtissem was forced to pull out of a singing competition following backlash over old social media posts in February [Youtube/TheVoice] An angelic voice emanating from millions of television screens captivated audiences across France on February 4. A contestant on the popular talent show, The Voice was singing Leonard Cohen’s cult anthem, Hallelujah. The spellbinding per

Described as one of the greatest Japanese scientists, Katsuko Saruhashi would have been 98 years on Thursday. Described as one of the greatest Japanese geochemists and hailed as an “iron scientist”, Katsuko Saruhashi would have been 98 years old on March 22. In her honour, Google is changing its logo in 15 countries to an illustration of her. But in her lifetime, she was not always recognised for

Mariam Moustafa was killed in Nottingham three weeks ago. Her family thinks it was a hate crime. Police say no evidence. Read more The Egyptian government is calling for a full investigation into the death of 18-year-old Mariam Moustafa, three weeks after she was attacked in the city of Nottingham. Police allege she was followed by a group of girls last month, verbally abused and punched several t

London, England – Anti-Muslim attacks in the UK rose 47 percent in 2016 compared with the previous year, according to a new report released by Tell MAMA, a hate crime monitor. The attacks were largely levelled at Muslim women – 56 percent of victims of 642 incidents were female. Sixty-six percent of perpetrators were male, and 69 percent were white men. Victims came from a variety of ethnic backgr

Ruling marks largest sum awarded in a series of talcum powder lawsuit verdicts against the company in US court.s Johnson & Johnson said it would lodge an appeal [File: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters] A US jury has ordered drugmaker Johnson & Johnson to pay $417m to a woman who claimed she developed terminal ovarian cancer after using the company’s talc-based products. The case was one of thousands of l

Manzanar, California – Jim Matsuoka left his marbles at Manzanar, the site of the Japanese American internment camp where he grew up during the second world war. Two gallon-sized cans of toy marbles, earned mostly after being dismissed from class for unruly behaviour, are buried somewhere beneath the ruins of the old camp, which is now a US national park. Matsuoka misbehaved as a child, imprisoned

Japanese Americans remember discrimination they endured during WWII and say they will defend Muslim Americans. Children at the Weill public school in San Francisco pledge allegiance to the American flag in April 1942, prior to the internment of Japanese Americans [Dorothea Lange/Ceative Commons] Los Angeles, United States – For Japanese and Muslim Americans embracing a growing relationship in the

Beirut – Diala Brisly has some very powerful weapons in her hands – but while they can influence the world, they cannot hurt anyone. Her weapons are colours. Until a few years ago, Brisly lived in Damascus, where she began to draw – both to help children cope with the trauma of war, and, after fleeing Syria for Turkey, to help deal with the loss of her own brother in the Syrian conflict. Today, sh

Russia, Japan make no progress on territorial dispute Putin and Abe agree to start economic cooperation but do not find common ground on dispute over four islands. Russian President Vladimir Putin headed home from Tokyo with promises of economic cooperation, but did not indicate that there was a possibility of handing back the four islands which were seized by the Soviet Union in 1945. Putin and J

A vote Leave supporter celebrates outside Vote Leave HQ, Westminster Tower on June 24, 2016 in London [Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images] And just like that, over one night, the country became a little island again – and also split apart. The British public voted yesterday to leave the European Union, a decision that sent heads spinning and the pound plummeting. For the 48 percent of the population w

The man accused of murdering Jo Cox, a British opposition Labour Party MP, has appeared in court for the first time. When asked to confirm his name at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court, 52-year-old Thomas Mair said “Death to traitors, freedom for Britain”. Cox was attacked with a knife and a firearm on Thursday outside her constituency surgery in the village of Birstall, northern England. Mair ha

Head of PEGIDA movement is expected to appear in court over inciting racial hatred against refugees. The founder of Germany’s anti-Islam movement, PEGIDA, will appear in court on hate speech charges for branding refugees “cattle” and “scum” on social media. Lutz Bachmann, founder of the far-right “Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident” movement, was charged in October with i

Mosques across Britain are planning to open their doors to the public in a bid to counter negative stereotypes about Muslims next week, against a backdrop of rising Islamophobia. Facilitated by the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), more than 80 mosques will participate in the “Visit my Mosque” day on February 7 in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. “It’s an opportunity for Muslims in th

Al Jazeera gains rare access to ISIL bases where children are being trained to become suicide bombers. Al Jazeera has gained rare access to areas in eastern Afghanistan held by ISIL. The fighters say they are gaining territory from Afghanistan’s largest armed group, the Taliban. And in areas under ISIL control, young children are being trained to become fighters and suicide bombers. Al Jazeera’s O

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Several arrests have been made in Hungary after the bodies of 71 refugees were found in a truck abandoned on a motorway in Austria. Austrian police said three people had been arrested while their Hungarian counterparts said four were in detention. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy. Police had  originally  put the death toll at between 20 and 50 after the truck was found on Thu

Abe’s words are closely watched by China and South Korea for signs of sufficient remorse over nation’s past. China says more than 20 million of its citizens died as a result of Japan's invasion, occupation and atrocities [AP] Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed “profound grief” for his country’s aggression during World War II, and vowed to “never again repeat the devastation of war”.