NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
_1 Migrant children: Authorities have documented more than 300,000 children migrating alone worldwide over a two-year period, marking a dramatic escalation of a trend that has forced many young refugees into slavery and prostitution, the U.N. children’s agency said in Dakar, Senegal, Wednesday. UNICEF said 170,000 of those children sought asylum in Europe in 2015-16, many after making the treacherous trip across the Mediterranean Sea, where hundreds of children are estimated to have drowned last year. Nearly 92 percent of the boys and girls arriving by boat in Italy in 2016 and early 2017 came unaccompanied or had been separated from their relatives along the way, the report said. They came mainly from the African nations of Eritrea, Gambia, Nigeria, Egypt and Guinea, UNICEF said. “Ruthless smugglers and traffickers are exploiting their vulnerability for personal gain,,” UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Justin Forsyth said.
_2 Amazon rain forest: Brazil’s lower house of Congress has approved a measure significantly reducing the size of a fully protected national park in the Amazon rain forest and opening up a big chunk of land for agriculture and other activities. Lawmakers in Sao Paulo agreed Tuesday night to convert 1.2 million acres of the 3.2 million-acre Jamanxim National Park in Para state into what is called an environmental protection area. That would let the land be used for the extraction of lumber, agriculture and mining — activities not allowed in a fully protected national park. The legislation is seen as a victory of Congress’ rural lobby representing agribusiness. It now goes before the Senate and would also have to be ratified by President Michel Temer to take effect. Environmentalists fear the move will lead to a rise in deforestation and to a wave of illegal occupations. Disputes over land involving indigenous groups, loggers, ranchers and small-scale farmers frequently turn violent in Brazil.
_3 Deadly blasts: Colombian officials say two explosions have rocked an industrial shipyard in the coastal city of Cartagena, killing four people and injuring 22. Witnesses tell local media the Wednesday morning explosions were felt up to 3 miles away. Two large black plumes of smoke were seen rising above the shipyard. Adm. Jorge Carreno says one of the blasts happened while workers were repairing a freighter. The explosion caused a fire that left several people with serious burns. The causes of the blasts are under investigation.
_4 Apology to gays: Canada’s government plans to apologize to Canadians who have faced injustice because of their sexuality. A special adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on LGBT issues said in Toronto Wednesday that the government will acknowledge the role that legislation and policies played in the past discrimination. Liberal Party lawmaker Randy Boissonnault is also expected to study potential follow-up steps, including the possibility of pardons and compensation. _5 Nationalist freed: Puerto Rico nationalist Oscar Lopez Rivera, 74, emerged from house arrest Wednesday and was celebrated in San Juan by supporters after decades in custody, freed in a case that made him a martyr for some but angered those who lost loved ones in a string of bombings. Lopez was considered a leader of the Armed Forces of National Liberation, an ultranationalist Puerto Rican group that claimed responsibility for more than 100 bombings at government buildings, department stores, banks and restaurants in New York, Chicago, Washington and Puerto Rico during the 1970s and early 1980s.