ARGENTINA
Pregnant child fuels debate
The pregnancy of a 10-year-old girl raped by her stepfather has shocked the nation, with the debate on decriminalizing abortion running full force ahead of a congressional vote next month. The child was found to be 21 weeks pregnant when she was taken to hospital with stomach pain. Current legislation allows terminations in the event of rape or danger to the mother’s health, but in conservative Salta Province, where the girl lives, abortion in case of rape is permitted only during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Provincial authorities said the girl and her mother declined an abortion in a letter, but feminist activist Mariana Carvajal has expressed doubts about that version of events. “The family is terrified. They told the mother than an abortion was very risky. What we don’t know, is what the girl thinks. An abortion is still possible,” said Carvajal, founder of the feminist NiUnaMenos movement against gender-based violence. Carvajal added that the child was first hospitalized in February, during the first 12 weeks of her pregnancy, but was diagnosed with constipation. It was during a second visit that she revealed she was regularly raped by her mother’s partner.
LIBYA
Bomb kills at least seven
A car bombing on a busy street in Benghazi early yesterday morning killed at least seven people, including a girl, and wounded 10. The blast took place behind the city’s largest hotel, Tibesti, on a commercial street full of people. Benghazi, the second-largest city in nation, is under the control of the Libyan National Army led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, whose forces and supporters control the east of the country. Haftar launched his military campaign in Benghazi in May 2014 in response to bombings and assassinations blamed on Muslim militants in the chaos that followed an uprising that ended the rule of long-time leader Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
MEXICO
Female journalist found dead
A female journalist was on Thursday found dead at her home with stab wounds to the back of the neck, the Nuevo Leon state attorney general’s office said. Alicia Diaz Gonzalez, 52, was found by her children, who were upstairs at the time and did not hear anything awry, the office said. The woman “was on the floor, face down, in a pool of blood having suffered blows,” a source from the state prosecutor’s office told reporters on condition of anonymity. The death was confirmed by newspaper El Financiero, where she had worked since January. Authorities have not established a motive for the crime. Diaz’s colleagues said she reported on local business activity and financial issues, not “sensitive” information, such as drug trafficking.
China’s military news agency yesterday warned that Japanese militarism is infiltrating society through series such as Pokemon and Detective Conan, after recent controversies involving events at sensitive sites. In recent days, anime conventions throughout China have reportedly banned participants from dressing as characters from Pokemon or Detective Conan and prohibited sales of related products. China Military Online yesterday posted an article titled “Their schemes — beware the infiltration of Japanese militarism in culture and sports.” The article referenced recent controversies around the popular anime series Pokemon, Detective Conan and My Hero Academia, saying that “the evil influence of Japanese militarism lives on in
ANTI-SEMITISM: Some newsletters promote hateful ideas such as white supremacy and Holocaust denial, with one describing Adolf Hitler as ‘one of the greatest men of all time’ The global publishing platform Substack is generating revenue from newsletters that promote virulent Nazi ideology, white supremacy and anti-Semitism, a Guardian investigation has found. The platform, which says it has about 50 million users worldwide, allows members of the public to self-publish articles and charge for premium content. Substack takes about 10 percent of the revenue the newsletters make. About 5 million people pay for access to newsletters on its platform. Among them are newsletters that openly promote racist ideology. One, called NatSocToday, which has 2,800 subscribers, charges US$80 for an annual subscription, although most of its posts are available
GLORY FACADE: Residents are fighting the church’s plan to build a large flight of steps and a square that would entail destroying up to two blocks of homes Barcelona’s eternally unfinished Basilica de la Sagrada Familia has grown to become the world’s tallest church, but a conflict with residents threatens to delay the finish date for the monument designed more than 140 years ago. Swathed in scaffolding on a platform 54m above the ground, an enormous stone slab is being prepared to complete the cross of the central Jesus Christ tower. A huge yellow crane is to bring it up to the summit, which will stand at 172.5m and has snatched the record as the world’s tallest church from Germany’s Ulm Minster. The basilica’s peak will deliberately fall short of the
Venezuelan Nobel peace laureate Maria Corina Machado yesterday said that armed men “kidnapped” a close ally shortly after his release by authorities, following former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro’s capture. The country’s Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed later yesterday that former National Assembly vice president Juan Pablo Guanipa, 61, was again taken into custody and was to be put under house arrest, arguing that he violated the conditions of his release. Guanipa would be placed under house arrest “in order to safeguard the criminal process,” the office said in a statement. The conditions of Guanipa’s release have yet to be made public. Machado claimed that
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