IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION CONSENT BECOMES LAW

The Netherlands has become the latest European nation to recognise that sex without consent is rape. Unbelievably, there are still 13 European states that do not define non-consensual sex as rape.

Only now has the Dutch House of Representatives voted to update the law by introducing a consent-based definition of rape. The amendment is expected to be voted into law by the Senate within nine months.

“The Netherlands has taken an important step towards combatting widespread sexual violence and improving access to justice for survivors,” said Dagmar Oudshoorn, director of Amnesty International Netherlands.

The scare of increased coal use after the invasion of Ukraine does not seem to have come to fruition. Analysts at the US-based Global Energy Monitor (GEM), which tracks energy projects worldwide, found there was “scant evidence” of a coal rebound, saying financing of new projects outside of China had in fact plunged to its lowest point in more than a decade.

Writing on Carbon Brief, GEM analysts Alex Hurley and Ryan Driskell Tate said the sector lost $7.7bn (£5.9bn) in planned funding in 2022, when lending arrangements halted the construction of 15 coal plants, including high profile projects in Pakistan, South Korea and Zimbabwe.