🌏 A Japanese Woman MP Was Laughed At For Trying To Protect Teen Girls From Porn Exploitation

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More than 150 Palestinians were injured and hundreds detained after Israeli police stormed Islam’s third holiest site, the Al-Aqsa mosque, on Friday April 15.

The eruption in violence comes during a rare convergence of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan with Eastern and the Jewish celebration of Passover.

A few weeks earlier, Israeli Defense Forces had launched a series of raids in the West Bank that killed 16 Palestinians following a string of attacks in March and April by Palestinians, including two Islamic State members, an IS supporter and two Palestinian gunmen, that killed 14 Israeli civilians.

Rumors had since been circulating online that Jewish hard-liners were planning to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque over the weekend, leading to calls for Palestinians to defend the area, the New York Times reported.

On Friday, Israeli police entered the mosque – also known as Temple Mount – at 5:30 am, when tens of thousands of Muslim worshippers had gathered for dawn prayers.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said police had entered to “disperse violent rioters desecrating the site and endangering the public.”

It said it responded after a crowd started to throw rocks toward the West Wall, a Jewish holy site, according to the Guardian.

Palestinian witnesses, however, said Israeli police had moved deeper in the compound before prayers began and had fired the first shot.

Also Happening Around The World

🇦🇫 At least six people have been killed and 20 wounded in two bomb attacks at a boys’ school in Afghanistan on Tuesday April 18.

🇿🇦 South Africa has experienced its deadliest flood ever, killing at least 341 people and affecting more than 40,000 people.

🇵🇭 Floods and landslides caused by a tropical storm have killed at least 167 people in the Philippines.

A Japanese woman lawmaker who proposed a bill to protect teens from being exploited by the adult industry was laughed at by other MPs, shedding light on sexism in Japanese politics.

Ayaka Shiomura was laughed at during a parliamentary session on March 28 after she called on lawmakers to create a mechanism to allow young people to void their employment contracts for adult films.

The issue arose after Japan lowered its legal age of adulthood from 20 to 18 in April.

Before, underaged girls who changed their minds after appearing in adult films, as well as their parents, could void their contracts and prevent the films from being published.

Speaking on March 28, Shiomura proposed the bill to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who said the government would “closely monitor” the situation and “consider how to deal with it.”

“Hearing today’s discussions, I guess you’re holding off,” Shiomura said.

Then the room erupted in laughter.

“Everyone, this is no laughing matter. It is an important issue,” she said. “I hope that instead of laughing, we can work together on this.”

Women make up just 9.9 percent of the Japanese Diet’s lower house members, and only two members of Kishida’s cabinet are women.

More Badass Women You Should Know About

🇹🇭 Thai rapper MILLI has become a viral sensation after eating mango sticky rice during her debut at the Coachella music festival in California.

🇪🇬 An Egyptian woman TikTok influencer who gained more than 900,000 followers for her lip-syncing and dancing videos has been sentenced to three years in prison for human trafficking.

After six years of discussions, Indonesia’s parliament has finally passed a bill to fight sexual violence.

In a first in the Southeast Asian country, the bill was approved with a majority of votes on Tuesday April 12.

Under the bill, people who commit physical sexual abuse will be sentenced for up to 12 years in prison, while those who commit sexual exploitation will face up to 15 years in prison.

At the same time, forced marriage, including child marriage, can be criminalized by up to nine years. Circulating non-consensual sexual content is punishable by up to four years.

Convicted abusers must pay reparations to the victims, and authorities must also provide counseling to victims.

In Indonesia, few sex crimes are prosecuted due to the lack of a specific legal framework, and victims are often shamed during the interrogation process, according to Reuters.

Human rights organizations help the bill will bring justice for the victims and change how authorities deal with sex crimes.

More Good News For Your Weekend

🇹🇼 From bubble tea, a tiny scooter to a giant claw machine, check out Gaki Hip, a pop-up Instagram museum celebrating Taiwanese culture has opened in Taipei, Taiwan.

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