The world’s most deadly migrant route just got deadlier

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NEED TO KNOW:

The route from Libya to the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa has become the deadliest migrant route in the world — and it's just getting deadlier. As many as 700 migrants were feared drowned Sunday after their packed boat capsized in what was described as the deadliest such disaster to date in the Mediterranean. There appear to be only 28 survivors, and so far Italy's coastguard has recovered 24 bodies. If confirmed, these hundreds of deaths bring the total migrant death toll this year to more than 1,600. 

The migrants seeking to reach Europe are generally fleeing conflict or persecution in places such as Eritrea, Afghanistan and Syria, or poverty and hunger in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. They board overcrowded, unseaworthy boats run by people smugglers who are able to operate out of Libya with impunity because of the chaos engulfing the north African state. Here are the five worst migrant disasters of recent years.

Amid the chaos, the Islamic State on Sunday released a video purportedly showing the executions of some 30 Ethiopian Christians captured in Libya. In the 29-minute video, a masked fighter in black makes a statement threatening Christians if they do not convert to Islam. The video then switches between footage of one group of about 12 men being beheaded by masked militants on a beach and another group of at least 16 being shot in the head in a desert area. 

WANT TO KNOW:

Brace yourself. Ecuador is on the brink of decriminalizing the use of all drugs. Not a full on legalization, but congress is considering a bill that would replace jail time with fines, and treat addicts as patients not criminals. The move is the latest in Latin America away from Washington’s “war on drugs,” including Uruguay’s full-blown legalization of cannabis. Ecuador has already freed thousands of convicted drug mules, whom the president views more as victims than perpetrators of the narcotics trade.

Vietnam is known as a harsh place for canines. Many Vietnamese, especially among the older generation, have an appetite for dog. They see the animals as food, not friends — a delicacy to wash down with a bottle of rice wine. But a growing phenomenon — vigilante attacks against dog thieves — is chipping away at that stereotype. It turns out Vietnamese can be just as hostile to anyone who dares to harm the family dog. 

“You may say we’re cruel to kill people over our dogs,” says 63-year-old Nguyen Dang Huan, a rice farmer. He and his son are among 10 men convicted of murdering two dog thieves in the village of Nhi Trung, which has lost 200 dogs to thieves in just one year. “But the time for patience,” he says, “was over.”

STRANGE BUT TRUE:

The fantasy of the female body, it seems, never gets old. Images of near-naked, well-waxed, ultra-thin women are a welcome sight on social media, in magazines and in movies. But when a woman attempts to show the very normal aspects of being female — menstruation, birth and pubic hair — such images are branded obscene, inappropriate and even illegal.

Nobody knows this better than Japanese artist Megumi Igarashi, who is fighting charges of obscenity for building a vagina-shaped kayak and distributing 3D printer data that would allow others to do the same. And she is not alone. Here are four other women who have faced resistance while challenging society’s fanciful ideas about the female body. 

Meanwhile, when did any old vagina become verboten in the land of kinky fetishes? In Tokyo, you can indulge in weird, perverse pastimes without worry. Wanna sniff a schoolgirl’s used panties? A number of sex shops claim to sell them. Ever wanted to play out your fantasy of being molested on the subway, or just love watching a woman urinate? Look no further than Tokyo’s entertainment district of Ikebukuro. Here are four Japanese porn genres that far outstrip the “obscenity” of Igarashi’s vagina.