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InterNations
Geopolitics

Ethiopian Prime Minister Dead At 57

THE REPORTER (Ethiopia), THE GUARDIAN, BBC NEWS (UK), CNN (USA)

Worldcrunch

ADDIS ABEBA - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is dead, a government spokesman said Tuesday, ending weeks of speculation about his health, reports CNN.

Meles, who was 57, died Monday night at 11:40 p.m. from an unspecified infection in a foreign hospital, reports CNN.

The spokesman acknowledged the prime minister had been sick for some time, but hadn’t immediately sought treatment. Meles had not made public appearances in two months, adds CNN.

Rumors about his health grew as he missed an African Union summit in Addis Ababa last month, explains BBC News.

Meles took power as the leader of rebels that ousted communist leader Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991 and led the country's economic transformation as president, adds BBC News.

He then became prime minister in 1995, reports The Guardian.

According to BBC News, Meles has played a key role in providing stability in the region. Western powers welcomed his decision to send troops to Somalia to battle Islamic militant military groups.

However, he was largely criticized by human rights groups for the country's lack of democracy and its fierce repression.

Ethiopia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Haile Mariam Desalegne, will serve as the acting-prime minister of the country, reports The Reporter.

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Society

Iran's War On Abortion Rights, A Toxic Mix Of Theocracy And Demographic Panic

Ending a pregnancy has become a major complication, and a crime, for Iranian women who cannot or will not have children in a country wracked by socio-economic woes and a leadership.

photo of a young child surrounded by women in chadors

Iran's government wants to boost the birth rate at all costs

Office of Supreme Leader/ZUMA
Firoozeh Nordstrom

Keen to boost the population, Iran's Islamic regime has reversed its half-hearted family planning policies of earlier years and is curbing birth control with measures that include banning abortion.

Its (2021) Law to Support the Family and Rejuvenate the Population (Qanun-e hemayat az khanevadeh va javani-e jam'iyat) threatens to fine the women who want to abort, and fine, imprison, and dismiss the performing physician, if the pregnancy is not deemed to be life-threatening. The law also bans contraceptives.

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The measures are in line with the dictates of Iran's Supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. He was already denouncing birth control policies by 2018-19, though conservative elements among Iran's rulers have always dismissed birth control as a piece of Western corruption.

Today, measures to boost families include land and credit incentives for young couples, but it is difficult to say how far they will counter a marked reluctance among Iranians to marry and procreate. Kayhan-London had an online conversation with individuals affected by the new rules in Iran.

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