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India

Indian President Approves Death Penalty For Certain Rape Cases

TIMES OF INDIA, OUTLOOK (India),BBC (UK).

NEW DELHI - Indian President Pranab Mukherjee has approved a new rape law that would provide harsher punishment for rapists, including the death penalty.

The BBC reports the brutal gang rape on a 23-year-old woman in December caused an outrage across the country and sparked a debate about crime against women in India. Six suspects were arrested for the crime; five of the accused are on trial. If convicted, they could now face the death penalty.

The new rape law includes the death penalty for rapes leading to the victim’s death or persistent vegetative state.

Under the new bill, the minimum sentence for gang rape, rape of a minor, rape by policemen or a person in authority will be doubled from 10 to 20 years and can be extended to life without parole.

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Protesters showing their anger against recent gang rape in Delhi. Photo: ramesh_lalwani

According to the Times of India, the law will also treat voyeurism, stalking, disrobing of women and acid attacks as specific offences under the Indian Penal Code.

"The bill will reflect the broadest possible consensus on imperatives and urgent need to have an effective law to protect women and to punish the guilty," Finance Minister P Chidambaram said, according to Outlook.

The Finance Minister rejected criticism that the government had acted in a hurry to pass this bill, saying the measure would act as a deterrent for criminals.

The bill will come into force with immediate effect.

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Migrant Lives

What's Driving More Venezuelans To Migrate To The U.S.

With dimmed hopes of a transition from the economic crisis and repressive regime of Nicolas Maduro, many Venezuelans increasingly see the United States, rather than Latin America, as the place to rebuild a life..

Photo of a family of Migrants from Venezuela crossing the Rio Grande between Mexico and the U.S. to surrender to the border patrol with the intention of requesting humanitarian asylum​

Migrants from Venezuela crossed the Rio Grande between Mexico and the U.S. to surrender to the border patrol with the intention of requesting humanitarian asylum.

Julio Borges

-Analysis-

Migration has too many elements to count. Beyond the matter of leaving your homeland, the process creates a gaping emptiness inside the migrant — and outside, in their lives. If forced upon someone, it can cause psychological and anthropological harm, as it involves the destruction of roots. That's in fact the case of millions of Venezuelans who have left their country without plans for the future or pleasurable intentions.

Their experience is comparable to paddling desperately in shark-infested waters. As many Mexicans will concur, it is one thing to take a plane, and another to pay a coyote to smuggle you to some place 'safe.'

Venezuela's mass emigration of recent years has evolved in time. Initially, it was the middle and upper classes and especially their youth, migrating to escape the socialist regime's socio-political and economic policies. Evidently, they sought countries with better work, study and business opportunities like the United States, Panama or Spain. The process intensified after 2017 when the regime's erosion of democratic structures and unrelenting economic vandalism were harming all Venezuelans.

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