Crowds gathered in the Royal Square in Jersey to mark Africa Week in the island.

The charity Friends of Africa hosts events through the week to share the continent’s culture with the wider community.

As part of the campaign, Friends of Africa helps to set up food stalls, fashion displays and music performances for the public in St Helier.

One of the charity’s founders, Lainah Pentilla said: “We’re sharing my culture, we want to share Jersey’s culture as well and let the community be one.

The campaign Africa Week has been running in Jersey for the last 11 years and Pentilla said engagement had grown over the years.

“It’s getting bigger and bigger and bigger every year,” she said, adding: “Our aim is for people to know that Jersey is welcoming, Jersey is diverse, Jersey is willing to understand where people are coming from.”

Pentilla added: “My son is born here, he’s a Jersey boy and I just want our young children to be proud of their heritage and be proud to be from Jersey as well

“Jersey is a small island but it’s the most important to make sure that we’re all one and make sure that people are celebrating each other.”

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that citizens’ right to strike is protected under a core International Labour Organization (ILO) convention.

The UN World Court, in a landmark advisory opinion of 10 votes to four, settled a long-running dispute between workers and employers worldwide.

Based in The Hague, the ICJ is the United Nations’ principal judicial organ and is composed of 15 judges elected by the UN General Assembly and Security Council.

ICJ ruled “the right to strike of workers and their organizations is protected” under the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No.

Convention 87 of 1948 guarantees workers and employers the right to establish and join organizations of their own choosing without prior authorization, ensuring they can operate freely without state interference.

The Court, however, stressed that its opinion did not define the exact scope of the right to strike.

Its conclusion, the judges held, “it does not entail any determination on the precise content, scope or conditions for the exercise of that right.”

The case was referred to the Court by the ILO’s Governing Body in November 2023, after years of disagreement among the agency’s core constituents – governments, employers and workers.

The disagreement bothered on whether Convention No. 87 protects the right to strike, even though the treaty does not explicitly mention strikes.

At the heart of the dispute was whether the right to organize under Convention No. 87 includes the right of workers and their organizations to take strike action.

Employers’ groups stress that the convention contains no provision whose ordinary meaning implies such a right, and that the treaty’s drafting history showed no intention to include strike action.

Workers’ representatives, by contrast, argue that the right to strike is inherent in freedom of association and has long been recognized by ILO supervisory bodies.

The ILO said its Governing Body is expected to consider the matter at its November session, including any follow-up.

The Court acknowledged that Convention No. 87 “does not contain an explicit reference to the right to strike”.

ICJ, however, said the absence of such a provision “does not necessarily mean that the issue is excluded” from the treaty.

The judges found that strike action could fall within the ordinary meaning of workers’ organizations’ “activities” under the Convention.

The judges added that strike action could also fall within provisions protecting the right of workers and employers to form organizations and defend their interests.

While the Court was unanimous that it had jurisdiction and should answer the ILO’s request, four judges dissented from the central conclusion.

The case was only the second time in ILO history that a question concerning interpretation of an international labour convention had been referred, and the first such request to the ICJ since its creation in 1945.

ICJ advisory opinions are not binding judgments but they carry significant legal and political weight, shaping debates and national and international law.

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including gonorrhoea and syphilis have hit record levels in Europe, according to new data.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said both diseases had reached their highest levels in over 10 years in 2024.

Gonorrhoea hit 106,331 cases – a 303% increase since 2015 – while syphilis more than doubled in the same period to 45,557.

The health agency said “widening gaps in testing and prevention” were partly behind the surge in transmission, and called for urgent action.

“These infections can cause severe complications, such as chronic pain and infertility and, in the case of syphilis, problems with the heart or nervous system,” said Bruno Ciancio, the head of the agency’s Directly Transmitted and Vaccine-Preventable Diseases unit.

He said congenital syphilis cases – “where infections pass directly to newborns, leading to potentially lifelong complications” – had nearly doubled from 2023 to 2024.

“Protecting your sexual health remains straightforward. Use condoms with new or multiple partners, and get tested if you have symptoms.”

Spain had the highest number of confirmed gonorrhoea and syphilis cases of the participating European countries in 2024, at 37,169 and 11,556.

The ECDC said men who had sex with men remained the most disproportionately affected group, showing the steepest long-term rises in gonorrhoea and syphilis.

It also reported that heterosexual women of a reproductive age saw large increases in syphilis.

While chlamydia was still the most commonly reported bacterial infection overall, cases had fallen 6% since 2015 to 213,443.

The UK has not been part of the research since Brexit, but the government releases its own figures for England each year.

According to a UK Health Security Agency report published in December, there were 71,802 gonorrhoea cases in England in 2024, and 9,535 syphilis cases.

There were 168,889 chlamydia diagnoses during the same 12 months.

The UK rolled out a gonorrhoea vaccine in 2025 after it hit a record 85,000 cases in 2023.

Gonorrhoea symptoms can include pain, unusual discharge and inflammation of the genitals – but in some cases no symptoms emerge.

The NHS says it can be avoided by the proper use of condoms and by accepting the vaccine if offered.

Syphilis symptoms include sores around the genitals and mouth, a rash on the hands, hair loss and flu-like symptoms. They are often hard to notice at first, and can come and go over time.

Like gonorrhoea, it can be avoided by using condoms and treated with antibiotics. Both can cause serious problems if left untreated.