The News Roundup — International (The 1A) 2021-03-12

Protests have continued in the streets of Dakar, Senegal, after the arrest and release of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko. Reuters reports at least five people have died during these demonstrations and describes the protests as “the worst in a decade.” Sonko was arrested after a woman accused him of raping her, though he denies that in addition to other charges of disrupting public order. Sonko is popular in Senegal and critics of the government say the charges are the latest in a series of legal attacks on leaders who oppose President Mackey Sall’s government.

Globally, about one in three women have faced physical or sexual violence at least once in their lives, according to a new report from the World Health Organization. The WHO described their work as the largest-ever study of violence against women. About 736 million women are affected. The data comes from 2000-2018 and does not include figures from the last year of the pandemic.

NPR unpacked the WHO’s findings:

U.N. Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka called violence against women “the most widespread and persistent human rights violation” in the world.

While the problem of violence against women is pervasive globally, it is not distributed equally. Social and economic inequities are a leading risk factor, and women in low- and lower-middle-income nations and regions are disproportionately affected, the report found. For example, in Melanesia – a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean – 51% of women will experience violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime, compared with 25% of women in North America.

Mexico’s legislature has passed a bill to legalize recreational marijuana. Now, the legislation heads to the desk of Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has previously expressed support for marijuana legalization. If he signs the bill, the country could now become the world’s largest legal market for marijuana.

And the fallout from Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey is ongoing. British presenter Piers Morgan has left his job as a host of “Good Morning Britain” after an investigation was undertaken by the U.K.’s media regulator about his comments following the couple’s interview.
Interview: 

https://the1a.org/segments/senegal-china-meghan-mexico/