NEWS OF THE DAY
_1 Terror plot: An 18-year-old British woman was sentenced to a minimum of 13 years in prison Friday for plotting to attack the popular British Museum in London after failing in her ambition of becoming a jihadi bride in Syria. Safaa Boular was convicted in June of preparing terrorist acts. Her mother and sister were also convicted of assisting her in a related plot — Britain’s first case involving an all-female Islamic State-inspired cell. The British Museum houses important artifacts and art works acquired during the heyday of the British Empire.
_2 Anti-racism law: An Italian minister is facing broad condemnation after calling for the abolition of an anti-racism law, with key members of the government including the prime minister distancing themselves from the statements. Family Minister Lorenzo Fontana, of the far-right League party, on Friday called for abolishing a 1993 law condemning racist violence, hatred and discrimination, saying “globalists” were using it to “disguise their anti-Italian racism as anti-Fascism.” Since the appointment of its new government, Italy has made headlines for several attacks, some targeting migrants, being investigated as possible acts of racism, spurring a debate about whether the long-standing migrant crisis was bringing out racism in some quarters of the Italian population.
_3 Medical school bias: Japan’s government urged a medical university to promptly disclose the results of an investigation into its admissions process Friday after reports alleged it had altered the test scores of female applicants for years to deny them entry and ensure fewer women became doctors. The manipulation started at Tokyo Medical University after the share of successful female applicants reached 38 percent of the total in 2010, the Yomiuri newspaper reported, citing unidentified sources. Broadcaster NHK reported that the manipulation in some years had removed as much as 10 percent of women whose true scores merited acceptance, adding up to perhaps hundreds of denials for nearly a decade due to systematic discrimination.
_4 Mass protests: The Bangladesh capital remained largely cut off from the rest of the country on Friday, with local and long-distance buses staying off the roads after five days of protests by young people demanding safer streets in Dhaka. The protests, which began Sunday after two college students were struck and killed by a pair of buses, eventually paralyzed the capital of 10 million, with tens of thousands of demonstrators blocking roads. Students also stopped thousands of private vehicles — including those of top officials and judges — demanding to see if the cars were registered and the drivers licensed. One minister had to abandon his vehicle in the street after protesters found that his paperwork was not in order, according to news reports.
_5 Record heat: Eight places in the center, south and east of Portugal broke their local temperature records as a wave of heat from Africa swept across the Iberian peninsula, with officials forecasting Friday it would continue and possibly worsen over the weekend. Temperatures built to around 113 degrees in many inland areas of Portugal on Friday, and were expected to peak at 116 in some places on Saturday. Large parts of Portugal are on red alert. In Spain, heat warnings were also issued for 41 of the country’s 50 provinces as temperatures were expected to reach up to 111.
Chronicle News Services