Sundus AbdiThursday May 21, 2026 BBC short Proper Ladies has struck a nerve online, winning praise for its manic humour and sharply drawn schoolgirl dynamics, while also prompting fresh debate about how Black and Muslim characters are written for television. Its creator says that, at its core, the show is an attempt to do something different. Its creator opens up about trying to reshape the way Black and Muslim characters are used in TV L-R: Kosar Ali (Hani), Sabrina Ali (Munira), Ebada Hassan (Yasmin) and Samira Tahlil…

Rwanda’s teenage pregnancy rate rose to 8% in 2025 from 5% in 2020, according to the Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey, prompting warnings from health authorities about school dropouts, maternal health risks and reduced economic prospects for girls. Health authorities in Rwanda warned that the rising rate of teenage pregnancy is contributing to students leaving school, increased maternal health risks and limited economic opportunities for young women. The Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey reported that prevalence…

QUINDALUP, Australia — A 13-year-old boy swam for four hours through rising swells off Western Australia to raise the alarm for his family, a feat rescuers called “superhuman” after his mother and two younger siblings were found alive offshore. The ordeal unfolded Friday afternoon near the tourist town of Quindalup, where a family outing in kayaks and on paddleboards turned into a fight for survival. The boy, identified by local media as Austin Appelbee, set out with his mother and two siblings when the wind and waves built…

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland — The death toll from the New Year’s Day bar fire at the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana rose to 41 after an 18-year-old victim died from injuries in a Zurich hospital, regional prosecutors said Saturday. “An 18-year-old Swiss national died at a hospital in Zurich on January 31,” Wallis canton’s public prosecutor, Beatrice Pilloud, said in a brief statement. “The death toll from the fire at Le Constellation bar on January 1, 2026 has now risen to 41.” The inferno, which tore through the basement…

Indiana execution revives fraught national debate over capital punishment On a quiet Tuesday night in Indiana, the state carried out the lethal injection of Roy Lee Ward, a 53‑year‑old convicted in the 2001 rape and murder of 15‑year‑old Stacy Payne. Ward, who was arrested at the scene holding a knife, had been sentenced to death in 2002. His final hours — which included a last meal of a hamburger, a steak melt, chips, shrimp and breadsticks — closed a chapter that has become, for many Americans, part tragedy and part…