India does away with instant divorce
NEWDELHI — India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday banned a rare form of instant divorce sanctioned in its most conservative Muslim communities, saying men could no longer dissolve a marriage simply by stating it three times.
The controversial practice known as instant triple talaq — in which a man tells a woman “I divorce you” three times in succession — is observed in only a handful of countries, including Saudi Arabia.
By a 3-2 judgment, India’s highest court said the practice was un-Islamic and violated India’s constitution, and ordered Parliament to pass a law on the issue within six months.
The decision was hailed as a victory for women’s rights advocates led by Shayara Bano, who filed suit in 2016 after her husband ended their 15-year marriage by writing the word “talaq,” or “I divorce you,” three times in a letter sent to her parents’ house.
Morethan a dozen Muslim-majority-countries have banned triple talaq, but ithas persisted in India because there is no uniform set of laws governing marriage, inheritance and divorce.
The two dissenting judges said India could not outlaw triple talaq because it would infringe on individual freedoms.
Three children rescued
Hospital officials on the Italian resort island of Ischia say that three young brothers rescued from the rubble of their home after a 4.0-magnitude quake are all doing well.
The three boys — 7month-old infant Pasquale, 8-year-old Mattias and 11year-old Ciro — were brought to safety in a 14hour operation, each rescue punctuated by cheers on Tuesday.
Hospital officials said the boys were expected to be released Wednesday.
Two Barcelona suspects
BARCELONA, Spain — A Madrid judge charged two of four suspects in last week’s attacks in Spain with terrorism offenses on Tuesday, after a day of questioning that seemed to confirm that the group had initially planned a more ambitious strike.
The judge, however, ordered the release of one suspect and ordered the fourth to be detained for 72 hours for further questioning.
The four suspects — the only survivors of a terrorism cell that killed 15 people in and near Barcelona — were transferred overnight to Madrid, where they appeared before Fernando Andreu, the judge from Spain’s national court in charge of the case.
Admits Finland stabbings
TURKU, Finland — A young Moroccan man has admitted his role in a deadly stabbing rampage last week, which authorities have called Finland’s first terrorist attack in decades, officials announced Tuesday.
Police said that the man — who has been tentatively identified as Abderrahman Mechkah, 18, and who appeared in court Tuesday via a video feed from his hospital bed — had admitted to the stabbings.
But Chief Inspector Olli Toyras told journalists that much was unclear: whether Mr. Mechkah acted alone, whether his actions were guided or influenced by someone else and even his true name and age.
Police and witnesses say that Mr. Mechkah used two knives to attack women in the center of Turku, in southwestern Finland, on Friday afternoon.
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