Europe | Russia | Crimes

Ukrainian pilot tells court she was smuggled into Russia at gunpoint

Source:
Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko, on trial for the murder of two Russian journalists, said Tuesday she was captured by pro-Kremlin separatists and then smuggled into Russia by armed, masked men. "I am a prisoner of war and a hostage who has been abducted," Savchenko told the court in a dramatic speech, saying separatist rebels captured her in eastern Ukraine and told her they would "sell" her to Russia. The 34-year-old military helicopter navigator was testifying for the first time at her high-profile trial in the small border town of Donetsk in southern Russia. The case has made her a nati
Latin America | El Salvador | Crimes

Patricia Valdivieso’s Proposal: Chemical castration for sex offenders in El Salvador

Source:
Patricia Valdivieso, a lawyer and a member of the neo-liberal conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance in El Salvador, started  a controversial debate when she presented two draft amendments to the law for chemical castration. The changes specify that sex offenders would be required to undergo special medical treatment to decrease their libido. Valdivieso argues that the aim of the amendments is to “include an additional penalty for crimes against sexual freedom and to protect victims by stopping offenders through lowering levels of testosterone.”
Asia | Japan | Crimes

Toyota’s Top Female Executive Arrested In Japan On Drug Charges

Source:
Toyota Motor Corp.'s first senior female executive who was appointed head of public relations just weeks ago — has been arrested in Japan for allegedly importing the prescription painkiller oxycodone in violation of the country's narcotics laws. A total of 57 pills were discovered by Japanese customs officials on June 11 inside a package that Hamp mailed to herself from Kentucky, declaring the contents to be a necklace, according to Japanese news reports. Oxycodone is legal in the U.S. with a prescription.
North America | United States | Arts

60 Years Of Jane Doe Portraits Give Nameless Women The Attention They Deserve

Source:
On May 10, 1950, the body of an unidentified woman with red hair and freckles was found in Bath, West Virginia. An unnamed individual had been mushroom hunting along U.S. Route 522 when he stumbled upon the Jane Doe. Forensic experts determined that she was between 35 and 50 years old at the time of her death, and that she had undergone a hysterectomy and appendectomy -- her scars said as much. But little more knowledge came of investigations. She remains anonymous to this day. This story is one of many unsolved cases presented in Sarah Honan's project "Blink.," a series of portraits aim