NEWS OF THE DAY
_1 Transgender rights: Changing the name or gender on a government-issued document like a driver’s license has long included a frightening step for transgender people in almost two dozen European countries: mandatory sterilization. But those days may be coming to an end. The European Court of Human Rights issued a ruling last week in favor of three transgender people in France who had been barred from changing the names and genders on their birth certificates because they had not been sterilized. In so doing, activists said, the court set a new legal standard that calls for changes to laws in 22 countries under its jurisdiction. The European Court of Human Rights, in the French city of Strasbourg, ruled that the sterilization requirement was a violation of Article Eight of the European Convention on Human Rights, which states “everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.”
_2 Corruption probe: Brazil’s Supreme Court said in Sao Paulo late Tuesday that it had opened probes into around 100 top politicians as part of the largest corruption scandal in Brazil’s history. The investigation has already unveiled billions of dollars in kickbacks and bribes paid to politicians by Brazilian companies, including the construction giant Odebrecht. It now threatens to derail President Michel Temer’s administration and bring Congress to a standstill. The numbers in Tuesday’s decision were staggering: Investigations have been opened into 24 senators — one of whom is a former president of Brazil — 39 congressional deputies, eight Cabinet ministers and three governors. Brazil’s highest court also asked lower courts to decide whether to proceed with investigations of 200 other politicians — including three former presidents. The evidence in the cases comes from plea-bargain testimony by current and former Odebrecht employees.
_3 Children at risk: The United Nations’ child relief agency is warning that thousands of children in Peru are at risk of severe malnutrition as a result of floods and mudslides that have killed 106 people and left countless more homeless. An estimated 15,000 children under the age of 2 living in the Andean nation’s hardest-hit regions don’t have access to sufficient food, clean water and sanitary living conditions, UNICEF representative Maria Luisa Fornara said Wednesday. Recent floods and mudslides have destroyed thousands of homes, crippled roads and bridges and ruined agricultural lands.
_4 Drug suspect: A Tanzanian court on Wednesday approved the extradition to the United States of the alleged leader of a global drug trafficking ring who was arrested after a two-year manhunt. The court in Dar es Salaam approved the Tanzanian government’s plan to extradite Ali Khatib Haji Hassan to face drug trafficking charges. He is accused of leading a drug trafficking ring based in East Africa but with operations in Asia, Europe and North America.
_5 Ahmadinejad returns: The race for the presidency of Iran expanded unexpectedly Wednesday, when former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a maverick politician who was sidelined over tensions with the political and religious establishment, registered as a candidate. The surprising decision by Ahmadinejad, who became notorious in the West by threatening Israel and denying the existence of the Holocaust, is likely to present a test for Tehran’s establishment as it prepares for the presidential election May 19.
Chronicle News Services