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.
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
Some things might go without saying, but just in case... Belgium’s food agency issued a public health warning as the festive season wrapped up on Tuesday: Do not eat your Christmas tree. The unusual message came after the city of Ghent, an environmentalist stronghold in the country’s East Flanders region, raised eyebrows by posting tips for recycling the conifers on the dinner table. Pointing with enthusiasm to examples from Scandinavia, the town Web site suggested needles could be stripped, blanched and dried — for use in making flavored butter, for instance. Asked what they thought of the idea, the reply
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