RAGE BOILS OVER TEXAS LAWS: United States
Not one, but two bits of legislation in the Lone Star state has the nation, and even world, in an uproar.
First, on Sept. 1, the Texas Heartbeat Act went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene. The main sticking parts of the law make it illegal for a woman to get an abortion six weeks into a pregnancy, and that another party – relevant or irrelevant in any relation to the woman at all – could sue the woman and/or anyone involved with her getting an abortion.
Basically, if you were to tell a woman that there was an abortion clinic somewhere, you and the woman could be sued. Also, upon a successful lawsuit, the plaintiffs would be rewarded $10,000 by the state government.
Finally, there are no exceptions for rape or incest. In response to criticism over this aspect, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that he “eliminate rapists,” though he did not clarify as to how.
Needless to say, this Act has outraged scores of women not just in the U.S. but worldwide. In addition to a bunch of reasons, two that immediately come to mind is that a woman who is late on her period could be in the six-week window. Also, many of the people who signed off on this law are among those who protest wearing masks because “my body my choice.” Yet, this does not apply to women in their opinion for some reason.
The other law that has people up in arms is an elections overhaul that Abbott signed into law Sept. 7 which adds more voting restrictions. Historically, such efforts to limit voting affects minorities and those living in poverty.
Officials from the Biden Administration have vowed to take action on both laws in Texas, and to fight any other states looking to follow suit.
ACAPULCO ROCKED BY EARTHQUAKE: MEXICO
Vacationers looking to enjoy one of the world’s premiere destinations got rocked by something other than the entertainment.
On Sept. 8, a massive 7.0 earthquake shook the Mexican resort town, with at least 100 aftershocks reported. Seismic instruments indicate the earthquake was shallow, originating at a depth of about 12.5 miles beneath the city of Acapulco. Perceived shaking for the quake was very strong near the epicenter. Moderate shaking was felt in Mexico City.
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), a preliminary Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) report is Orange for both shaking-related fatalities and economic losses, indicating significant casualties and damage are likely and the disaster is potentially widespread.
The earthquake resulted from thrust faulting on the subduction zone where the Cocos plate dives down into the mantle beneath the North America plate and Central America. Large earthquakes in the region are common. This earthquake occurred along a segment of the Middle America subduction zone that is thought capable of producing magnitude 8 or greater earthquakes, and that has not hosted an event larger than magnitude 7 since 1911.
FEARS FOR WOMEN IN AFGHANISTAN: MIDDLE EAST
The Security Council cannot fail the women and girls of Afghanistan, former President of Ireland Mary Robinson warned on Sept. 7, as she reminded its 15 members of the relentless work carried out over nearly 20 years to secure their rights through constitutional, legislative and policy changes.
“Women’s rights are not Western rights,” she said, addressing the Council in her role as Chairperson of The Elders, a group of global leaders working for peace and justice across the world, founded by Nelson Mandela in 2007. “They are fundamental human rights, which women had reclaimed in accordance with their cultural values.”
Ms. Robinson, also the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, called on China and the Russian Federation, in particular, to encourage the Taliban to recognize that the participation of women in society and the education of girls on an equal basis with boys, are non-negotiable and must be respected.
“Collectively, you have all been entrusted with a powerful mandate to act on behalf of the United Nations,” she recalled. “A united, purposeful Council is needed now more than ever.”
The issue was one of several raised by Ms. Robinson and Lakhdar Brahimi, Elder Emeritus and former Foreign Minister of Algeria, who noted that the mandate of the United Nations is to protect the fundamental rights of all Afghans – including women and girls, those internally displaced, all minorities and human rights defenders – efforts that will require the Council’s support.
Offering his views on the situation, he recalled that attempts by Afghanistan’s [former] Vice-President Amrullah Saleh and Ahmad Massoud, son of late commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, to resist in the Panjshir Valley appear to have been defeated on 5 September. The Taliban now exercise near sole control over the country.
“Afghanistan today is not the Afghanistan I knew in the late 1990s and from 2001 to early January 2004,” he said. “To say that the humanitarian situation is dire would be an understatement and the needs are most urgent.”
This call for Afghani women support comes as Taliban officials announced that they would be forming an all-male government. Taliban fighters hit a group of women protesting the announcement with whips and sticks.
MENINGITIS OUTBREAK IN CONGO: AFRICA
The global phase-out of leaded fuel represents a “milestone for multilateralism”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Aug. 30, marking the end of a 20-year campaign to eliminate a major threat to the health of people and the planet.
A deadly outbreak of meningitis has been declared in a northeastern province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the World Health Organization (WHO) have been supporting health authorities to deploy an initial emergency response team.
More than 260 suspected cases and 129 deaths have been reported in Tshopo Province; a high case fatality ratio of 50 percent, the UN health agency said on Sept. 8.
Tests carried out by the Institut Pasteur in Paris, detected Neisseria meningitis. It is one of the most frequent strains of the bacterial form of the disease, and it has the potential to cause large epidemics.
WHO said that more than 100 patients are receiving treatment at home and in health centers in Banalia, the community affected by the outbreak.
Meningitis is potentially fatal and must be treated with antibiotics as soon as possible.
Major improvements have also been made on vaccines to treat the viral form of the disease, which is transmitted through the air by infected carriers. Although people of all ages can catch the disease, it mainly affects babies, children and young people.
Over the years, major improvements have been made on vaccines against infection, which are specific to the type of meningitis.
The disease is transmitted through droplets of respiratory or throat secretions from infected people. Close and prolonged contact or living in close quarters with an infected person facilitates the spread of the disease.
Although people of all ages can catch meningitis, it mainly affects babies, children and young people. “
