Meaghan Beatley

Following a protracted trial many believe put the plaintiff under more scrutiny than the defendants, the men were condemned to nine years of prison each for the less severe crime of sexual abuse, instead of the 22 years and 10 months demanded by the prosecution.

In Senegal, an estimated 40,000 women work as fish processors. But a trifecta of problems — overfishing by foreign fleets, illegal fishing and climate change — is making fish scarce in the region and hitting processors the hardest. In an attempt to make ends meet, fishermen are selling what they are able to catch to fresh fish traders and export factories, who’ll pay more for a batch than the processors, leaving the women high and dry.

The young woman from Madrid, known only as la victima, “the victim,” in local media, was 18 when she claims she was raped by five men in the early morning hours of July 7, 2016.

A new grammar manual released this past September by the Hatier publishing house has plunged France into a heated debate over gender-inclusive writing.

Catalonia’s President Carles Puigdemont declared independence from Spain. The news, though hardly perceptible in the streets, was shouted loud and clear across social media channels with tweets reading, “Welcome to the Catalan Republic” and “Good morning Republic,” seemingly blind to the fact that hours after the proclamation, Spain revoked the region’s autonomy and imposed direct rule via a never-before-used constitutional provision known as Article 155.

The conflict between proponents of Catalan independence and Spanish unity has reached a head this week, as Catalan President Carles Puigdemont continues to threaten to declare unilateral independence while Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy takes steps to revoke the region’s autonomy. Almost daily pro- and anti-independence rallies throughout the country echo the leadership’s division, only ratcheting tensions.

Spearheading this drive for a free and feminist Catalan state is the Candidatura d’Unitat Popular (Popular Unity Candidacy), or CUP: an extreme left, separatist party reviled by Spanish unionists and often viewed wearily by more moderate Catalans.