Dressed in black, Argentine women took to the streets to protest the brutal rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl, the latest incident of gender violence to shock the country. Others walked off the job as a sign of protest, in what was described as women’s first national strike. Similar demonstrations took place in solidarity in many Latin American cities from Montevideo to Mexico City.
On Friday, U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia Daniel Rubinstein said societies with developing and developed economies should have conversations to create the positive welcoming environment so also young people can take the risks, be creative and start their own businesses.
“A conversation will go on in all of our societies with developing and developed economies to create that positive welcoming environment, not only the legal and regulatory environment but also in all of these issues (risk and failure) to allow young people to pursue their dreams and to create wealth and jobs to solve their societies’ problems,” the U.S. Ambassador told TAP at a debate at the headquarters of Wiki Start Up.
The official visit to China by the President of Uruguay Tabaré Vazquez, which concluded today, has been evaluated by several members of the entourage that accompanied him, as highly positive. The Uruguayan President, who has carried out a busy program with his guest over the last nine days, recognized the positive outcome of the visit while speaking last night with local and foreign press.
The eighth defence meeting of the 5+5 group of western Mediterranean countries took place in Algiers, attended by chiefs of staff or military representatives from the ten countries. The main discussions were on the fight against terrorism, organised crime, and the flow of migrants through North Africa to Europe. On the sidelines of the meeting, the Libyan representative, Major-General Mohamed Al-Ajtal, talked Algeria’s Chief of Staff and Deputy Defence Minister Lieutenant-General Ahmed Gaid Salah on potential Algerian help in restoring security and stability in Libya and improving border security between the two countries.
Three people were lightly injured in two rock-throwing attacks in East Jerusalem on Tuesday. In one incident, two people were lightly hurt when stones were thrown at an Israeli car in the A-Tur neighborhood of East Jerusalem, police said. The two were treated at the scene by Magen David Adom rescue personnel. Security forces later arrested a 15-year-old East Jerusalem resident suspected to be behind the attack. In a separate incident, one person was lightly hurt after he was hit by stones near the Lions’ Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem.
A military investigation found that officers were unprepared for the threat of Hamas attack tunnels during the 2014 Gaza war, despite prior knowledge by Israel’s political leadership, Army Radio reported on Tuesday. A number of tunnels were used by Hamas fighters to infiltrate Israel and carry out deadly attacks on troops during the Gaza Strip conflict in the summer of 2014. During that campaign, dubbed in Israel “Operation Protective Edge,” Israeli forces discovered and destroyed at least 34 tunnels, many of them leading into Israeli territory.
In the presence of professionals, scholars and activists, PLO Executive Committee Member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi yesterday spoke at a conference sponsored by the Association of Norwegian NGOs for Palestine which was held at the Oslo and Akershus University College in Oslo, Norway. She called for immediate international intervention to ensure the protection of the Palestinian people, their land and resources and the urgent need for governments worldwide to recognize Palestine in the immediate future.
Nigeria’s government is negotiating the release of another 83 of the Chibok schoolgirls, but more than 100 others appear unwilling to leave their Boko Haram, a community leader said. The unwilling girls may have been radicalised by Boko Haram or are ashamed to return home because they were forced to marry extremists and have babies. Bitrus said the 21 Chibok girls freed last week in the first negotiated release between Nigeria’s government and Boko Haram should be educated abroad, because they will probably face stigma in Nigeria.
Malian Army spokesperson says four soldiers have been killed and nine wounded after armed men attacked a convoy in the central Segou region. Colonel Abdoulaye Sidibe said an army vehicle hit a land mine on Thursday, and assailants then shot at the convoy traveling between Diabaly and Nampala. He said three of the nine wounded soldiers are in serious condition. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but maybe it has ties to the al-Qaeda-linked Ansar Dine extremist group.
Argentina’s main state-run bank said it lowered its headline interest rates for loans to businesses on Monday amid expectations that inflation will begin to slow in Latin America’s third-largest economy, a move that will help put credit back within firms’ reach. Banco Nacion, the country’s largest financial institution and which also acts as a development bank, set its annual nominal reference rate for business loans at 27%, down from 32%.