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Israel

Rockets Fired From Gaza As Obama Lands In West Bank

HAARETZ (Israel), WAFA (Palestine), REUTERS, AP

Worldcrunch

RAMALLAH – Barack Obama arrived Thursday in Ramallah in the West Bank to meet with Palestinian leaders, on the second day of his visit to the Middle East.

The U.S. President met with President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah’s presidential headquarters to emphasize the importance of reaching an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, a message AP says was underscored when Palestinian militants in Gaza launched two rockets into southern Israel.

Obama was still in Jerusalem, some 80 kilometers away from the border town of Sderot where one of the rockets exploded in the courtyard of a house early in the morning, causing damage but no injuries; the other rocket landed in an open field, Reuters reports.

"We condemn violence against civilians regardless of its source, including rocket firing," Abbas was quoted as saying by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The second leg of Obama’s four-day Mideast tour started more calmly with a visit to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, where he saw the Dead Sea Scrolls, accompanied by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Haaretz reports.

After his meeting with Abbas, Obama will attend a cultural event at Al-Bireh Youth Center and will meet with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Fayyad. He will then give a speech at the Jerusalem Convention Center, before attending a dinner hosted by Israeli President Peres where he will receive the Presidential Medal of Distinction.

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LGBTQ Plus

Why Is Homophobia In Africa So Widespread?

Uganda's new law that calls for life imprisonment for gay sex is part of a wider crackdown against LGBTQ+ rights that is particularly harsh on the African continent.

Photo of LGBTQ Ugandan group

LGBTQ group in Uganda

Pierre Haski

-Analysis-

Uganda has just passed a law that allows for life imprisonment for same-sex sexual relations, punishing even the "promotion" of homosexuality. Under the authoritarian regime of Yoweri Museveni for the past 37 years, Uganda has certainly gone above and beyond existing anti-gay legislation inherited from British colonization.

But the country of 46 million is not alone, as a wider crackdown against LGBTQ+ rights continues to spread as part of a wider homophobic climate across Africa.

There is exactly one country on the continent, South Africa, legalized same-sex marriage in 2006, and another southern African state, Botswana, lifted the ban on homosexuality in 2019. But in total, more than half of the 54 African states have more or less repressive laws providing for prison sentences.

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