NATION & WORLD WATCH
Chicago-area prosecutor survives expensive primary challenge
CHICAGO – Kim Foxx, the Chicago area’s top prosecutor, won the Democratic nomination Tuesday against three challengers who zeroed in on her handling of the Jussie Smollett criminal case. The primary race for Cook County state’s attorney was one of the most expensive of its kind, particularly with Navy veteran Bill Conway making his first run for office with millions of dollars in family wealth. The win all but guarantees Foxx a second term in November, as Cook County is heavily Democratic, against Republican Patrick O’brien.
Israeli parliament speaker shuts Knesset, enraging opposition
JERUSALEM – Israel’s Knesset speaker on Wednesday abruptly adjourned all parliamentary meetings until next week, apparently a response to the new coronavirus, in a move that froze opposition efforts to discuss bills seeking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ouster. The decision drew angry accusations from Netanyahu’s opponents that the embattled prime minister is using the crisis to cement his hold on power. Netanyahu’s rival vowed to challenge the parliamentary delay in the Supreme Court.
Africa should ‘prepare for the worst’ with virus, WHO says
JOHANNESBURG – Africa should “prepare for the worst” as the coronavirus begins to spread locally, the World Health Organization’s director-general said Wednesday, while South Africa became the continent’s new focus of concern as cases nearly doubled to 116 from two days before. Zweli Mkhize, South Africa’s health minister, this week called that kind of rate “explosive” in the country with the most cases in subsaharan Africa. Fourteen of the latest cases were from local transmission; six were in children under 10.
New Zealand passes landmark law to decriminalize abortion
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Margaret Sparrow was 21 when she drank a concoction to induce an abortion, at a time when the procedure was illegal and socially unacceptable in New Zealand. Now 84, Sparrow was delighted Wednesday when lawmakers passed a bill that treats the procedure as a health issue, not a crime. Until the vote, the procedure was still regulated under the Crimes Act, requiring women to prove to a doctor that their pregnancy presented a danger to their physical or mental health before they could get an abortion.