President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee say they have raised $207.5m (£154m) since the US election last month.

Since October – including the weeks running up to the vote – Trump committees have raised a total of nearly half a billion dollars.

The money is funding legal challenges to Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.

Mr Trump has refused to concede and alleges without evidence that Mr Biden’s win was the result of fraud.

Over the same period, Mr Biden’s campaign has raised $112m, according to a filing with the Federal Elections Commission.

Mr Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, said the fundraising “positions President Trump to continue leading the fight to clean up our corrupt elections process in so many areas around the country”.

The post-election fundraising drive saw emails sent to supporters asking them to contribute to an “Official Election Defense Fund” to “protect the results and keep fighting even after Election Day”.

However the small print showed that most of the money would be spent on other priorities

China has planted its flag on the Moon, more than 50 years after the US first planted the Stars and Stripes there.

The pictures from China’s National Space Administration show the five-starred Red Flag holding still on the windless lunar surface.

They were taken by a camera on the Chang’e-5 space probe before it left the Moon with rock samples on Thursday.

Two previous Chinese lunar missions had flags on the crafts’ coatings – so neither could be affixed to the moon.

The US planted the first flag on the Moon during the manned Apollo 11 mission in 1969. Five further US flags were planted on the lunar surface during subsequent missions up until 1972.

In 2012 Nasa cited satellite images as showing that five of the flags were still standing, but experts quoted in media reports say they are likely to have been bleached white by the sun’s glare.

The first flag was said by astronaut Buzz Aldrin to have been placed too close to the Apollo lunar module and was, he said, probably blown away when the module blasted off.ADVERTISEMENT

China’s mission?

The state-run Global Times newspaper said the Chinese flag was a reminder of the “excitement and inspiration” felt during the US Apollo missions.

The fabric flag was unfurled by the Chang’e-5 lander vehicle just before its ascender vehicle took off using the lander as a launchpad.

It has taken soil and rock samples to China’s lunar orbiter 15km (nine miles) above the lunar surface – which will then be enclosed in a module that will be aimed at China’s Inner Mongolia region.

The Chinese flag is 2m wide and 90cm tall and weighs about a kilogram. All parts of the flag have been given features such as protection against cold temperatures, project leader Li Yunfeng told the Global Times.

“An ordinary national flag on Earth would not survive the severe lunar environment,” project developer Cheng Chang said.

China’s national flag was seen on the Moon during its first lunar landing mission, Chang’e-3 in photographs taken by the lander and rover of each other. The Chang’e-4 lander and rover brought the flag to the dark side of the moon in 2019.

However, in both cases the flag was on the crafts’ coating rather than being an actual fabric flag on a pole.

The Chang’e-5 mission is China’s third successful landing on the Moon in seven years

Namibia: Man named after Adolf Hitler wins local election

A Namibian politician named after Adolf Hitler says he has no plans for world domination after winning a sweeping victory in local elections.

Adolf Hitler Uunona was elected last week as councillor for the Ompundja constituency.

In an interview with German newspaper Bild, he insisted he had “nothing to do” with Nazi ideology.

Adolf, like other Germanic first names, is not uncommon in the country, which was once a German colony.

He was elected for the ruling Swapo party, which led the campaign against colonial and white-minority rule.

Mr Uunona admitted that his father had named him after the Nazi leader, but said “he probably didn’t understand what Adolf Hitler stood for”.

“As a child I saw it as a totally normal name,” said Mr Uunona, who won his seat with 85% of the vote.

“It wasn’t until I was growing up that I realised: This man wanted to subjugate the whole world,” he said, adding. “I have nothing to do with any of these things.”

Mr Uunona said his wife calls him Adolf and he goes by the name in public, and has no plans to change it.

A tiger “nearly tore” off the arm of a volunteer at a big cat sanctuary in Florida that featured in the Netflix series Tiger King.

Candy Crouser, 69, a volunteer at Big Cat Rescue – the animal refuge made famous by Tiger King character Carole Baskin – was injured on Thursday.

In a statement, the sanctuary said Ms Crouser was hurt after Kimba, a male tiger rescued from Guatemala, bit her.

She broke protocols by sticking her hand into his cage, it added.

Ms Crouser, who had been with the sanctuary for five years, had arrived for feeding to find that the tiger was “locked in a section that was away from where he was usually fed”, the statement said.

After reaching inside to unlatch a door, the tiger “grabbed her arm and nearly tore it off at the shoulder”.

The statement added: “Candy said she just wasn’t thinking when she reached in to un-clip it [the door].”

Bystanders used a belt as a tourniquet, and packed ice around Ms Crouser’s arm in an effort to save it.

Ambulance workers arrived to transport her to hospital in around 20 minutes, the statement adds.

Ms Crouser was still conscious after the attack, “and insisted that she did not want Kimba Tiger to come to any harm for this mistake”. The organisation added that her arm had been broken in three places and that her shoulder had been “badly damaged”.

The tiger is being kept in quarantine for 30 days as a precaution, Big Cat Rescue said, adding, “but [he] was just acting normal due to the presence of food and the opportunity”.

The incident comes during the same week that the US House of Representatives is due to consider a law that would ban private big cat ownership and the handling of young cubs.

The Big Cat Public Safety Act had been championed by Ms Baskin and Big Cat Rescue, which cited Thursday’s incident as evidence for why the law must be passed.

It “confirms the inherent danger in dealing with these animals and why we need the Big Cat Public Safety Act to eliminate having them untracked in backyards around the country and ending up in sanctuaries”, the group said.

The Tampa-based sanctuary is home to over 50 exotic cats including lions, bobcats and servals.

This world remains an amazing one. Who could imagine that reptiles from Mexico will be smuggled to another country?

German airport customs officers have found 26 rare reptiles – 10 of them dead – smuggled inside parcels of toys and sweets from Mexico.

Some of the dead animals had suffocated as they had been stitched inside cloth dolls, a statement from Cologne Bonn airport customs said.

The endangered horned lizards, alligator lizards and box turtles were destined for private buyers in Germany.

They are among many species that the global Cites accord seeks to protect.

German officials are now trying to trace the origin of the reptiles, using DNA samples.

It is not yet clear if they came from the wild or from captive breeding programmes. They were in two packages seized on 30 October and 8 November.

The customs service is collaborating with Mexican authorities and with zoologists at the Alexander Koenig Research Museum (ZFMK) in Bonn. The smugglers could be fined, if the police can identify them.

The 16 surviving reptiles might be returned to their Mexican habitat.

ZFMK’s work with customs mostly focuses on illegal goods made from poached endangered species, such as snakeskin handbags or furs.

The 1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) has been signed by 182 states and the EU, and covers about 6,000 animal species and 30,000 plant types.

Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy supporter Jimmy Lai has been charged with fraud and detained until a court hearing in April next year.

On Thursday a court denied him bail over a charge relating to the illegal use of his company’s premises.

It comes a day after three prominent pro-democracy activists were jailed.

The cases have raised fears of a renewed crackdown on the city’s activists and media figures, spurred by a controversial new security law.

Mr Lai was arrested under the National Security Law earlier this year and later released on bail.

China has said the new law will return stability to the territory after a year of unrest, but critics say it has silenced dissent.

In another development, former Hong Kong pro-democracy legislator Ted Hui has announced during a trip to Denmark that he is going into exile.

What happened to Jimmy Lai?

Mr Lai, 73, was arrested on Wednesday night along with two other senior executives from media company Next Digital.

Mr Lai is the founder of Next Digital which publishes Apple Daily, a well-read tabloid which is frequently critical of Hong Kong and mainland Chinese leadership.

On Thursday, the three men appeared in court to face charges relating to the alleged illegal use of their company’s headquarters for purposes not permitted by its lease.

The charges stated that they had sublet a section of the premises. The landlord is a corporation established by the government to run the city’s industrial parks.

The fraud charge is not being heard under the National Security Law but, according to an Apple Daily report, the judge presiding over the case had been hand-picked by the city’s leader, Carrie Lam, to handle national security cases.

A police statement on the arrests did not name those detained but pointed out that one of them – Jimmy Lai – was still under investigation for violating the National Security Law.

While the two senior executives were granted bail, Mr Lai was denied because he was deemed an “absconding risk”, according to local reports.

Biocritical information on Jimmy Lai

One of the city’s most prominent supporters of the pro-democracy movement, Mr Lai is estimated to be worth more than $1bn (£766m). Having made his initial fortune in the clothing industry, he later ventured into media and founded Next Digital.

In a local media landscape increasingly fearful of Beijing, Mr Lai is a persistent thorn for China – both through his publications and writing that openly criticises the Chinese leadership.

It has seen him become a hero for many residents in Hong Kong. But on the mainland he is viewed as a “traitor” who threatens Chinese national security.

Earlier this year, he was accused of “colluding with foreign forces” under the National Security Law.

He was arrested in August, becoming the most high-profile person in Hong Kong to be detained under the law, and his newspaper offices were raided by hundreds of police officers.

He was later released on bail.

Interviewed by the BBC before the latest arrest, he said he would not give in to intimidation.

“If they can induce fear in you, that’s the cheapest way to control you and the most effective way and they know it.

“The only way to defeat the way of intimidation is to face up to fear and don’t let it frighten you.”

Earlier today a post was shared on the recent announcement by the UK government to roll out COVID19 vaccine sooner. This vaccine is more than good news, it’s a game changer,” Dr Mohammed Khaki states

Today it was announced the Covid-19 vaccine could be rolled out as early as next week – with NHS staff among the first to get it.

It’s after the UK approved the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for widespread use.

Dr Khaki, who works as a GP and in A&E, says for doctors it’ll hopefully mean the return to a normal situation.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to see patients face-to-face and hold their hands again,” he says.

The British regulator, the MHRA, says the jab offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19.

“It hopefully means we’re able to move away from lockdowns, a world restricted by masks where conversation is difficult, where movement is difficult and working is stifled,” Mohammed says.

He’s looking forward to a world where we can travel and see friends again.

‘I haven’t seen family since March’

For many NHS workers, a vaccine will mean they can see vulnerable family members and friends again.

“I’ve been isolating from vulnerable family members since the beginning of March,” Dr Sara Otung, who’s been treating Covid patients in Cardiff, tells Newsbeat.

“The hope of getting a vaccine and getting that extra layer of protection is really exciting. Vaccines can save lives,” the 27-year-old junior doctor says.

“It feels like a glimmer hope on what’s been such a difficult year.”

‘Hope before the festive season’

“I was ecstatic to hear the news a vaccine is now becoming possible and we’re getting closer to it,” Dr Daniel Olaiya tells Newsbeat.

The 28-year-old works at a busy hospital in London treating Covid patients.

“For clinical staff working in Covid areas, you can wear as much PPE as possible and be as careful as possible, but at the end of the day we are at risk.

“Having another barrier of protection, a weapon of armoury, is exactly what we need.”

“We needed a glimmer of hope and it’s come at the best time – Christmas, New Year and new beginnings.”

‘It’s absolutely amazing and a long time coming’

Lucy works as nurse administering the flu jab to NHS colleagues.

The 23-year-old says she expects to be on the frontline giving fellow NHS workers the Covid-19 vaccine in the next few weeks.

Around 50 hospitals are on standby and vaccination centres in venues such as conference centres are being set up now.

“If you’re asymptomatic, you don’t know if you’ve got the Covid virus ,so it’s a really good way to stop the spread and protect those vulnerable around you.”

A photograph of a paramilitary policeman swinging his baton at an elderly Sikh man has become the defining image of the ongoing farmers’ protest in India.

The photograph, taken by Ravi Choudhary, a photojournalist with Press Trust of India (PTI), has gone viral on social media.

It has also resulted in political wrangling – with opposition politicians using the image to criticise the way the protesters are being treated and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claiming – falsely – that the farmer was not hit.

Hundreds of thousands of farmers have laid siege to Delhi for the past few days, choking almost all the entry points to the national capital.

They are protesting against a recent law that they say is against their interests. The government says the reforms, which open the farming sector to private players, will not hurt farmers.

Unconvinced, thousands of them have marched upon Delhi, where they were met by barricades at the border.

As they arrived in a convoy of tractors and on foot, tens of thousands of police and paramilitary troops were deployed to halt their march, leading to clashes with the police.

In several places, police fired tear gas shells and used water cannons to try to beat them back.

The photograph of the Sikh farmer, with a flowing white beard, being threatened by a paramilitary policeman was taken last Friday at the Singhu border in north-west Delhi as farmers and protesters breached the barricades and entered the city.

“There was stone pelting, barricades were broken and a bus was also damaged with violent clashes between the police and protesters,” photojournalist Ravi Choudhary, who took the picture, told fact-check site Boomlive.com.

He said the police started hitting the protesters and the old man in the photo was also hit.

The photograph went viral quickly, shared by tens of thousands of people on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Many, including the photographer, tagged the image with “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan” (or “Hail the Soldier, Hail the Farmer”) – a slogan coined by former Indian PM Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1965 during the India-Pakistan war to stress the importance of soldiers and farmers in nation building.

Rahul Gandhi, senior leader of the opposition Congress party, also tweeted the image.

“It’s a very sad photo. Our slogan was Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, but today PM Modi’s arrogance has pitted the soldier against the farmer. This is very dangerous,” he wrote.

Covid-19: Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine judged safe for use in UK from next week

The UK has become the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, paving the way for mass vaccination.

Britain’s medicines regulator, the MHRA, says the jab, which offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19 illness, is safe to be rolled out.

The first doses are already on their way to the UK, with 800,000 due in the coming days, Pfizer said.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the NHS will contact people about jabs.

Elderly people in care homes and care home staff have been placed top of the priority list, followed by over-80s and health and care staff.

But because hospitals already have the facilities to store the vaccine at -70C, as required, the very first vaccinations are likely to take place there – for care home staff, NHS staff and patients – so none of the vaccine is wasted.

The Pfizer/BioNTech jab is the fastest vaccine to go from concept to reality, taking only 10 months to follow the same steps that normally span 10 years.

The UK has already ordered 40 million doses of the jab – enough to vaccinate 20 million people.

The doses will be rolled out as quickly as they can be made by Pfizer in Belgium, Mr Hancock said, with the first load next week and then “several millions” throughout December.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the first people in Scotland will be immunised on Tuesday.

The bulk of the rollout will be next year, Mr Hancock said, adding: “2020 has been just awful and 2021 is going to be better.”

While he said that the government does not yet know how many people need to be vaccinated before restrictions can start being lifted, he added: “I’m confident now, with the news today, that from spring, from Easter onwards, things are going to be better. And we’re going to have a summer next year that everybody can enjoy.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson added: “It’s the protection of vaccines that will ultimately allow us to reclaim our lives and get the economy moving again.”

The free vaccine will not be compulsory and there will be three ways of vaccinating people across the UK:

1.Hospitals

Around 50 hospitals are on stand-by and vaccination centres – in venues such as conference centres or sports stadiums – are being set up now.

It is thought the vaccination network could start delivering more than one million doses a week once enough doses are available.

NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens said the health service was preparing for “the largest-scale vaccination campaign in our country’s history”.

But experts said people still need to remain vigilant and follow rules to stop the virus spreading – including with social distancing, face masks and self-isolation.

“We can’t lower our guard yet,” said the government’s chief medical adviser Prof Chris Whitty.

A car has ploughed through a pedestrian area in the western city of Trier, killing four people including a nine-month-old baby, police say.

The driver, a 51-year-old local man, has been arrested. The prosecutor said the suspect had drunk a significant amount of alcohol.

Authorities said they were not working on the assumption that the incident was politically or religiously motivated.

The city’s mayor described the scene as “horrible”.

Witnesses said people screamed in panic and some were thrown in the air by an SUV travelling at high speed in Trier’s Fleischstrasse pedestrianised street, near the city’s famous Roman gate, the Porta Nigra.

The incident happened at around 13:45 local time (12:45 GMT), and the suspect drove for 1km (0.62 miles) “hitting people at random on his way” before being stopped by a police car, Trier police spokesman Karl-Peter Jochem said earlier.

The victims were two women, aged 25 and 73, a 45-year-old man and a nine-month-old baby

Who is the officer that has a conscience?

Andrei Ostapovich was a high-flying young police investigator in Belarus when protests broke out earlier this year, in the wake of the country’s disputed presidential election. He was so horrified by the beating and torture of demonstrators in custody that he left the country. He’s one of hundreds of Belarusian police officers now in exile in Poland and the Baltic states.

Sitting on a Warsaw park bench in the autumn sunlight, Andrei Ostapovich is lost in thought. He’s oblivious to the couples strolling past, to the laughing teenagers and to the grandmother and toddler feeding the ducks a few metres away. With his sharp cheekbones and olive green eyes, the 27-year-old could almost be mistaken for a guy modelling Italian knitwear or promoting an expensive brand of aftershave. But Andrei is a policeman on the run.

Strictly speaking, Andrei is not running any more – he feels relatively safe in Poland. But when he decided to quit his job as a high-flying detective in the Belarusian capital, Minsk this summer, he realised he would have to leave the country straight away or risk arrest.

“I’ve been in police uniform for the past 10 years,” he says. “But after the elections in August, I thought I was no longer safe wearing it because of the way people now feel about the police. My uniform made me ashamed”

Brought up in the Grodno region, near the Polish border, Andrei’s bravery and quick wittedness was first spotted when, aged 15, he saved a younger boy from drowning in a lake. Local firemen and paramedics were so impressed by the rescue that they suggested he might like a job with them after he left school.

But Andrei had other plans. After five years at an academy attached to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where he studied law and forensics, he qualified as an investigator. He began with probes into medical negligence and just three months after graduation he made a name for himself by catching a notorious paedophile. He soon moved on to some of the country’s most complex murder cases.

“The job was really exciting,” he tells me, sucking hard on a cigarette. “There were interesting cases in which the suspects proved elusive and it was such a thrill when you managed to outsmart them – like winning a game of chess.”

He says there was little political interference in his work as a senior investigator. But as elections approached he was troubled by the arrest of presidential candidates – a banker, Viktor Babaryko and blogger Sergei Tikhanovsky – on the flimsiest of pretexts.

What other experience?

Andrei went to the rallies after work to see what was going on. He found himself running for cover as police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades into the crowd.

What he saw with his own eyes – and in videos posted online – sickened him. So although he loved his job, he wrote a five-page letter of resignation, detailing all the abuses he’d witnessed, stating that the riot police “were the only people who provoked violence” and claiming that they had executed “criminal orders”. Fully aware that he might face arrest, he fled across the border to Russia.

Very soon the Russian security services, the FSB, showed up at his hotel in the city of Pskov. “They put handcuffs on me and a ski mask covered with black cloth,” says Andrei. “Then they attached a dumbbell to the handcuffs – it was so heavy, more than 30kg of metal. I thought they might throw me in the lake with this dead weight, and I wouldn’t be able to swim. When you can’t see anything, you have no idea what’s going on.”

The FSB officers, who did not introduce themselves, drove for four hours to the Belarusian border. Then they stopped, took Andrei out of the car, and removed his mask and handcuffs.

His Escape

“The FSB tried to act like they were not involved in my arrest,” he says. “They gave me back my things and told me to walk along the road. I saw some [Belarusian] KGB agents approaching so I didn’t hang about, I ran into the forest,” says Andrei. “They chased me but they couldn’t keep up, so I managed to escape.”

Dressed in no more than his jeans, trainers and a T-shirt, Andrei sought refuge among thick forests of pine and birch, lakes and treacherous marshes. He immediately threw away his three mobile phones, to avoid being traced. He had no food apart from some chocolate bars and a bottle of water. Once he slipped into a swamp up to his waist and couldn’t move his legs. Fortunately he was able to reach some thick reeds, but it took all his strength to haul himself out.

Then there was a close encounter with a wild boar – “a huge beast with tusks”, he says. “I managed to dazzle it with my torch and it ran off but it was very scary being alone at night in the forest.”

After 10 days of wandering in circles and getting hopelessly lost, Andrei eventually reached Poland, where he applied for asylum.

Angry members of the Senior Staff Association of Universities and the Non Academic Staff Union of Universities, University of Ibadan chapter have ‘swept’ the feet of Professor Idowu Olayinka, the 12th Vice-Chancellor of the university out of office on Monday, as his tenure ends.
The workers, holding brooms, demonstrated the cleansing of the university after the exit of the immediate past VC, by sweeping the floor of the institution from the office of the VC to the main gate.

Olayinka, the angry union members said, was the most corrupt and most high handed VC in the history of the 72-year-old university.

The Chairman of NASU, Mr Wale Akinremi, said, “Why we are here today is not to dissipate energy or make noise but to appreciate the almighty God for seeing us through the end of the regime of Prof. Idowu Olayinka. We suffered untold hardship under the watch of Prof. Idowu Olayinka as the VC.
“We pray that never again would any Vice-Chancellor put both the staff and students of the university through such tumultous journey. At the time Prof. Olayinka came in 2015, the Federal Government was not owing us promotion arrears in 2014, how come that it was in 2015 that he came in that they owed us promotion arrears?

“The fact is that his regime was an abysmal failure. For five years, both academic and non-academic members of staff could not get promotion arrears. We must have lost about two and half years of academic calendar to the wasteful regime of Prof. Idowu Olayinka.

“Prof. Olayinka tormented teachers of staff school for about five years. Teachers of staff school were collecting pension deductions from Federal Government and they were signing monthly return forms under Prof. Olayinka. Till date, he has not paid them.

“In other universities, teachers were promoted, but he did not do that. What manner of training did you benefit under Prof. Idowu Olayinka? What was the level of morale of workers or are you talking about security? Are you going to talk about works and maintenance or research grants? Till date, the cleaners are complaining. At some point we had to contribute money to contribute succour to the cleaners.

“If there is a corrupt regime, it is that of Prof. Olayinka. Today, go to Distance Learning School, there is no kobo; go to PG school, there is no kobo. All areas where you get Internally Generated Revenue, you cannot get anything.”

Malachy Etim, Chairman of SSANU, UI, said, “We are here by God’s grace to celebrate the exit of Prof. Olayinka. It is a shameful thing for a VC to leave office without having a successor to hand over to. At the last minute to the end of his tenure, Prof. Olayinka rushed to commission an uncompleted building project and one wonders why.”

The Chairman of NASU, College of Medicine, UI, Akinlolu Akinlade, likened Olayinka’s tenure to the inglorious years of the late Nigerian military dictator, General Sanni Abacha.

Calls made to the VC were unsuccessful as his telephone line was unreachable. Text message sent to his number were not replied as of the time of filing this report.

Meanwhile, in a related development, the Governing Council of the University of Ibadan has approved the appointment of Professor Adebola Ekanola as the Acting Vice–Chancellor, University of Ibadan at its meeting today, Monday, 30 November, 2020 on the recommendation of the Senate.

The Council meeting was presided over by the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, Nde Joshua Waklek Mutka.

Before his appointment, Prof. Ekanola served as the Deputy Vice–Chancellor (Academic), Director of Office of International Programmes (OIP) and the Dean, Faculty of Arts, among other appointments.

Olatunji Oladejo Director of Public Communication, University of Ibadan

Women are being offered controversial “virginity tests” at British medical clinics, an investigation by BBC Newsbeat and 100 Women has found.

The intrusive tests are considered a violation of human rights by the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations, which want to see them banned.

Critics say they are unscientific, cannot prove whether someone is a virgin and can be a form of abuse.

The tests involve a vaginal examination to check if the hymen is intact.

The BBC investigation found a number of private clinics advertising “virginity repair” which, when contacted, then also offered the so-called virginity test for between £150 and £300.

The BBC identified 21 clinics and managed to make inquiries with 16 of them, seven confirmed they offer “virginity testing” and several others would not clarify their position.

All said they would carry out hymen-repair surgery, which costs in the region of £1,500 to £3,000. Data from NHS England shows 69 hymen-repair procedures have been carried out in the past five years.

Newsbeat has heard the story of one woman helped by the charity Karma Nirvana, which supports victims of so-called honour-based abuse and forced marriage.

“I had a very emotionally abusive relationship with my parents who wanted me to have an arranged marriage,” she says.

‘Running away was my only option’

“One day, an elder in the community saw me out with my friends and said to my mum that one of the boys was my boyfriend. There were lots of rumours in the community about it.”

She was then threatened with a “virginity test” by her parents.

“My parents and the family of the man they wanted me to marry said I had to have a virginity test to prove I was still a virgin so the marriage could go ahead.

“I was scared and didn’t really understand what it meant. I felt running away was my only option – so that’s what I did.”

Priya Manota manages the helpline for Karma Nirvana.

“We have received calls from girls who are concerned about this. It might be that they are worried their families have found out perhaps they’ve been in a relationship or they’re not a virgin. It might be family are pressuring them to go through with tests and they are concerned about the outcome of that.

“Triggers for honour-based abuse and forced marriage are being in a relationship, choosing your own partner and being in an intimate or sexual relationship. We know at the charity many victims in extreme cases have been killed. For other victims it might be they are disowned by family.”

Virginity testing is known to be practised in at least 20 countries, according to WHO, which says there is no evidence that it can prove whether a woman or girl has had sex or not. This is because the hymen can tear for many reasons, including tampon use and exercise.

Last year, US rapper T.I. sparked outrage after admitting during a podcast he takes his daughter for a test every year to check her hymen is still intact.

Moldova’s incoming president Maia Sandu has called for the withdrawal of Russian troops from a breakaway region at the border with Ukraine.

In her first news conference as president-elect, Ms Sandu said Russian forces never had permission to be in the separatist area of Trans-Dniester.

The Kremlin has rejected her comments, saying the move could be destabilising.

Ms Sandu defeated incumbent president Igor Dodon, who was openly backed by Russia, in a vote earlier this month.

The 48-year-old is a former World Bank economist who favours closer ties with the European Union.

On Monday, she said Russia’s peacekeeping force – the Operational Group of Russian Forces in Trans-Dniester (OGRF) – should be replaced in the Moldovan territory by civilian monitors under the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

“We are an independent country that does not want foreign troops to stay on its territory,” she told reporters in the Moldovan capital, Chisinau.

“This is not just a declaration – this is a necessity,” she added, stating that she would “work with Russia for as long as it takes to solve the issue of the arms removal and troop withdrawal”.

Moldova regards the OGRF as the descendants of the Russian forces that sided with Russian-speaking separatists after the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Russia has about 1,500 troops stationed in the region.

The United Nations has backed a number of resolutions calling on Russian troops to withdraw “unconditionally” from the territory, along with the weapons stockpile they are guarding there.

Responding to Ms Sandu’s comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow that Russia expected the authorities stationed in Trans-Dniester to remain in place.

“Russia performs a very important function,” he said, adding that any change “could lead to serious destabilisation” in the region.

The separatist region of Trans-Dniester – a narrow strip of land between the Dniester river and the Ukrainian border whose main city is Tiraspol – broke away from Moldova after a brief war in 1992.

The international community does not recognise its self-declared statehood, and the de-facto government, which remains in a tense stand-off with Moldova, is economically, politically and militarily supported by Russia.

Ms Sandu, a former prime minister of Moldova, scored an emphatic victory against Mr Dodon, who Russian President Vladimir Putin had openly supported in Moldova’s presidential election, in a run-off ballot on 15 November.

She has said that as president she would make it her priority to tackle corruption and unite the country. Ms Sandu is due to be sworn in as president in the coming weeks.