🌏 Slovenia Elects New Liberal Environmentalist PM, Missing Mexican Teen Found Dead And More

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Robert Golob, a liberal political newcomer, has defeated Slovenia’s three-time populist prime minister Janez Janša to be elected as the new leader of the country, the same day France’s incumbent president Emmanuel Macron defeated far-right candidate Marine Le Pen for a second term.

Golob, a 55-year-old former energy company executive, launched his environmentalist party Freedom Movement only in January. The party campaigned on a transition to green energy, an open society and the rule of law.

With more than 69 percent of voter turnout – a significant increase from 53 percent in 2018 – Golob’s Freedom Movement received 34.5 percent of the votes over the 23.6 percent for Janša’s Slovenian Democratic party.

Janša, who was seeking a fourth term, has been accused of trying to undermine democratic standards and press freedom, according to the BBC.

The 63-year-old is an open admirer of former US President Donald Trump and a close ally of Hungary’s far-right prime minister Viktor Orbán and has pushed the country further to the right since taking over in 2020, Euronews reported.

“Our objective has been reached: a victory that will enable us to take the country back to freedom,” Golob said in his victory speech on Sunday via a livestream from home, where he was isolating due to contracting COVID-19.

“People want changes and have expressed their confidence in us as the only ones who can bring those changes,” he said.

Also Happening Around The World

🇰🇪 People in Kenya are demanding justice after Sheila Lumumba, a 25-year-old non-binary lesbian hospitality worker, was allegedly gang-raped by six men and murdered in their home.

🇪🇬 Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered the ruins of a temple for the ancient Greek god Zeus in the Sinai Peninsula.

The disappearance and death of Debanhi Escobar, an 18-year-old law student in Mexico, has caused public outrage over gender violence in the country.

In the early hours of April 9, Escobar’s friends hired a private driver to pick her up after a house party. Escobar then got out the vehicle on the side of a highway but never returned home.

A photo of her snapped by the driver has become one of the last time she was seen alive. The image, which has since gone viral, shows the teen with her arms crossed in the middle of a highway on the outskirts of Monterrey, Nueva Leon.

After 13 days missing, Escobar’s body was found on April 22 inside an abandoned underground water tank of a motel in Escobedo city, near where she was last seen.

Two motel workers had found her after they noticed a foul odor coming from one of the water tanks.

Officials say the cause of death was a “profound contusion to the skull”, Reuters reported.

Authorities have yet to determine why Escobar exited the car, but her father said the driver had tried to grope his daughter, citing video footage.

Authorities’ handling of the case has fueled public anger, as it took almost two weeks for Escobar’s body to be found, even though the motel was searched four times, according to El País.

26 women and girls have vanished in Nuevo Leon this year, and five more have been found dead after they were reported missing, according to Reuters.

Protesters are demanding justice for Escobar and other missing women, as well as an end to gender violence.

10 women are killed every day in Mexico, and 25,000 women are missing nationally, official data shows.

More Badass Women You Should Know About

🇸🇾 Meet Hiba Zien, a 24-year-old Syrian student who is delivering free iftar meals to families living in rural areas during Ramadan.

In a landmark ruling, the South Korean supreme court has overturned the conviction of two gay soldiers, who were sentenced for having sexual intercourse during their military service.

In 2016, a military court sentenced an army lieutenant and a sergeant to suspended prison terms for violating the 1962 Military Criminal Act, which prohibits same-sex relationships between military personnel.

The two soldiers were among a group of at least nine others convicted for having same-sex relationships as military personnel in 2017.

Considering the relationship was consensual, occurred off duty, and at a private setting, the court ruled on Thursday April 21 that the conviction infringed upon a person’s right to sexual self-determination.

“Punishing these incidents could... infringe upon the right to equality, the dignity and value as human and the right to pursue happiness as guaranteed by the Constitution,” the South Korean supreme court said, according to Reuters.

The military has been criticized for its discrimination against sexual minorities; openly gay men in military are classified as people with “special needs.”

More Good News For Your Weekend

🇳🇿 On her first overseas trip since the COVID-19 pandemic began, New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern was welcomed in Japan by two giant dancing kiwifruit mascots.

🇸🇾 Amid the rubble and destruction from the war, hundreds of Syrian families came together to break their daily Ramadan fast with a feast outdoors.

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