DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Medina eyes abortion law
President Danilo Medina is urging legislators to decriminalize abortions if a woman’s life is at risk or in cases of rape, incest or fetus malformation. Medina expressed his opinions in a letter sent late on Friday to the leader of the legislative Chamber of Deputies as he explained his reasons for vetoing a measure that would double prison sentences in abortion cases. He did not oppose the stiffer penalties, but said the measure should spell out conditions when abortions can be allowed. The bill would have allowed them in what it called only a “state of necessity.” Abortion is illegal in all cases under the current law. A constitutional amendment in 2009 strengthened the ban by declaring that life begins at conception.
UNITED STATES
NY subway nuptials held
A young couple in New York City decided they spent so much time on the subway that they might as well get married there. So Hector Irakliotis and Tatyana Sandler exchanged vows on Friday on the “N” train as it crossed from Brooklyn into Manhattan. The Daily News reports that the 26-year-old groom boarded first with his groomsmen, who set about decorating the poles and seats with white ribbons. The 25-year-old bride and her maid of honor got on several stops later. An interfaith chaplain performed the ceremony as the train went over the Manhattan Bridge. Riders applauded as the couple were pronounced husband and wife. The groom told the newspaper that he and Sandler chose their wedding venue because they spent so much of their courtship on the subway.
GUYANA
Magistrate suspended
Authorities have suspended a magistrate after he granted a convicted cocaine trafficker a suspended sentence. The Judicial Service Commission said on Friday that it asked Magistrate Alex Moore to step down pending a hearing. Moore recently issued the ruling in the case of businessman Leonard Bacchus, who pleaded guilty to trafficking 60kg of cocaine. Prosecutors have said they plan to appeal. Local laws impose a minimum three-year sentence and a fine on those who plead guilty to or are convicted of drug crimes.
GERMANY
Surveillance loophole found
Legislators investigating the surveillance activities of the US National Security Agency (NSA) have uncovered a legal loophole that allows the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) to spy on citizens. The agency is normally forbidden from eavesdropping on citizens or domestic companies. However, a former BND lawyer told legislators last week that citizens are not protected while working abroad for foreign companies. The government on Saturday confirmed to reporters that work-related calls or e-mails are attributed to the employer. If the employer is foreign, the BND can intercept them. Opposition legislators have accused the government of feigning outrage over alleged NSA spying while condoning illegal surveillance itself.
UNITED STATES
Social media laws mulled
The Supreme Court is to consider a groundbreaking case today about whether death threats posted on Facebook are liable to prosecution or whether threatening comments are protected by constitutional rights to free speech. It is to be the first time the top court’s nine justice — who are not known to have Facebook accounts of their own — will consider the limits of First Amendment protections on free speech on social media.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was