SOUTH AFRICA
Churches will will be the subject of an investigative study on the commercialization of religion and the abuse of people’s belief systems. The Advertising Standard Authorities make sure the claims of advertisers can be backed up, but nobody checks on the claims of the scores of churches and traditional healing practices that have sprung up around the country in recent years.
SLOVAKIA
Slovakia says it will only accept Christians when it takes in the 200 Syrian refugees coming from other EU countries under a EU relocation scheme.
SYRIA
“Isis militants have tortured and executed the antiquities chief of the ancient city of Palmyra, according to Syrian officials and activists.”
INDIA
An acid attack survivor sets up a beauty salon where she tries to help other survivors of acid attacks reclaim their sense of pride. At her beauty salon, she tries to help other survivors of acid attacks reclaim their sense of pride. (autoplay video)
ITALY
One of the first formal acts of Venice’s new conservative major was to announce that he would ban from preschool libraries 49 children’s books that had been selected to help preschool educators fight prejudices and stereotypes.
SAUDI ARABIA
“Four years after King Abdullah announced that women will be granted equal voting rights and the right to run for office in the conservative Muslim country, women in Saudi Arabia began to register to vote this past weekend.”
IRELAND
A survey by a Dublin-based employment law consultancy found that almost eight out of 10 Irish women have been victims of sexist jokes in the workplace.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA
We all know about the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean, but hearing a first person account of the journey is always heart breaking. This is the story of Fedussa, a 20 year-old from Somalia making her way to Europe. (TW for sexual violence).
AUSTRALIA
“Australia’s states and territories have decided not to remove an unpopular tax on female sanitary products. Unlike products such as condoms and sunscreen, sanitary products attract the 10% goods and services tax (GST) because they are deemed non-essentials.”
WORLD
The Drinkable Book looks like a regular hardcover book, but in every half page there’s a thick filter infused with silver and copper nanoparticles that will filter out bacteria from the water.
MEXICO
“A new study details the situation in Mexico, where researchers found that one in four sex workers in Tijuana and Juarez say they were forced into the sex trade as minors — under age 18 — and one in eight say they were 15 or younger.”
Featured image: The drinkable book
And Juarez continues to be the site of a continuous femicide. One that has been reported for more than 20 years. Serial killer(s), sex traffickers, ritual induction of corrupt police, narco-terrorism, etc. etc. have all been suggested as unifying origins for the violence.
Of course, the avalanche of death in more recent drug wars may have drowned out the the reporting of the war against women. AND, the media attention to the ‘maquilador murders’ and more recent versions, may have distorted the nature of political/criminal violence in the border territory.
It’s simple: No one cares. The media don’t care, the government surely doesn’t care. Since no one cares, the worst of humanity get to do whatever they want.
And of course, it’s somewhat normalized. I once saw some sex comedy from the 80s about teens going to Tijuana to see a prostitute.