‘I was terrified I was going to die.' Rape victims in Brazil struggle to access legal abortions
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A 27-year-old Brazilian woman, who said she became pregnant after being raped in March during Carnival in Brasilia, should have been granted access to a legal abortion. But when she sought to terminate the pregnancy at a hospital around a month later, she was told she needed a police report to access the service, despite it not being a legal requirement.
She decided to abort at home with medication she bought on the black market, with only a few friends on site to help.
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Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
AP Decision Notes: What to expect in New York's primaries
WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters across New York state on Tuesday will pick nominees in municipal primaries that include high-profile comeback bids in New York City by a former governor and a former congressman who both left office mired in scandal. At the top of the ballot, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo leads a crowded 11-candidate Democratic primary field for New York City mayor nearly four years after resigning from office following allegations he sexually harassed 11 women. State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani has also emerged as a major contender for the nomination, winning key endorsements from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Also vying for the nomination are City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Comptroller Brad Lander. The winner of the Democratic mayoral primary typically is the heavy favorite for the general election in overwhelmingly Democratic-leaning New York City. This year's party nominee will face incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who was elected as a Democrat but skipped Tuesday's primary to run as an independent in November. Adams was indicted in a 2024 corruption case that President Donald Trump's Justice Department later dropped. Curtis Sliwa, founder of the anti-crime patrol group the Guardian Angels, will once again be the Republican Party nominee. In the Democratic primary for New York City Council District 2, former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner is seeking to return to elected office more than a decade after multiple sexting scandals ended his congressional career, doomed his 2013 mayoral bid and resulted in a 21-month federal prison sentence. Weiner faces four other candidates, including state Assemblyman Harvey Epstein. A total of 30 City Council districts will hold contested primaries Tuesday. Also facing a primary is Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who won a criminal conviction against Donald Trump in 2024. He faces a challenge from attorney Patrick Timmins. The New York City contests use a ranked-choice voting system in which voters may rank up to five candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, the lowest vote-getter is dropped, with that candidate's votes reallocated to voters' next-highest choices. Ranked-choice voting is used only to determine winners in contests with more than two candidates in which no one receives a majority. The process is not used in any other jurisdiction in the state. Across the state, voters will decide primaries for local offices, including a competitive contest for Buffalo mayor. In the Democratic primary, acting Mayor Christopher Scanlon seeks a full term after replacing Buffalo's longest-serving mayor, Byron Brown, who resigned in October to head an off-track betting agency. He faces a tough challenge from state Sen. Sean Ryan, who has the endorsement of the county Democratic Party. Also running are City Council member Rasheed Wyatt, former fire Commissioner Garnell Whitfield Jr. and community organizer Anthony Tyson-Thompson. The Associated Press does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it's determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why. Under New York state election law, an automatic recount is triggered in races with more than 1 million votes if the margin of victory is fewer than 5,000 votes. For smaller races, the automatic recount is triggered if the margin of victory is either 0.5% or less, or up to 20 votes. In a ranked-choice election, if the margin between the final two candidates meets the recount threshold, then all the ballots in the election are recounted round by round. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is eligible for a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome. Here's a look at what to expect Tuesday: Primary day New York will hold municipal primaries across the state on Tuesday. Polls close at 9 p.m. ET. What's on the ballot? The AP will provide vote results and declare winners in primaries for many of the top elected positions in New York City, including mayor, Manhattan district attorney, comptroller, public advocate and borough president of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan. Also covered are contested New York City Council primaries, mostly Democratic, in 30 districts and the Democratic primary for Buffalo mayor. Who gets to vote? New York has a closed primary system. Registered party members may vote only in their own party's primary. How are ranked-choice voting results reported? In New York City, initial vote results released on primary night will include preliminary tallies only of first-choice votes. These results are not final or official. As these results are reported, the AP will call winners in races in which it's clear a candidate will receive more than 50% of the vote, either in the initial count or once ranked-choice results are counted. City election officials are expected to release preliminary results a week after the primary. This involves running the ranked-choice voting process on just the ballots that have been tabulated by that time. These results will not be final or official and may continue to change as all remaining ballots are processed and tabulated. This means that it's possible, at least in theory, that the leading candidate when preliminary ranked-choice voting results are released may go on to lose the election once all the ballots have been counted and the final ranked-choice voting results are determined. The AP will call a winner based on ranked-choice voting results if it's clear another candidate cannot catch up when additional votes are counted. What do turnout and advance vote look like? As of Feb. 20, there were 5.1 million registered voters in New York City. Of those, 65% were Democrats and 11% were Republicans. About 1.1 million voters were not registered with any party. Slightly more than 1 million voters cast ballots in the 2021 New York City primaries, about 27% of eligible voters, according to the city's Campaign Finance Board. About 12% of ballots in that primary were cast before election day. How long does vote-counting usually take? In the 2024 presidential election, the AP first reported New York City results at 9:01 p.m. ET, about a minute after polls closed. New York City's election night tabulation ended for the night in Queens at 12:25 a.m. ET with about 90% of total ballots counted across the city. Are we there yet? As of Tuesday, there will be 133 days until the November general election. ___ Follow the AP's coverage of the 2025 election at
Toronto Star
2 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Pro-Palestinian activists say they damaged planes on a UK air force base
LONDON (AP) — British police are searching for suspects after pro-Palestinian activists claimed to have broken into a Royal Air Force Base and damaged two planes with red paint, officials said Friday. The group Palestine Action said two members entered RAF Brize Norton on Wednesday and used electric scooters to approach the Voyager jets, which are used for air-to-air refueling.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Pro-Palestinian activists say they damaged planes on a UK air force base
LONDON (AP) — British police are searching for suspects after pro-Palestinian activists claimed to have broken into a Royal Air Force Base and damaged two planes with red paint, officials said Friday. The group Palestine Action said two members entered RAF Brize Norton on Wednesday and used electric scooters to approach the Voyager jets, which are used for air-to-air refueling. The duo sprayed red paint into the planes' turbine engines with repurposed fire extinguishers and caused further damage with crowbars, according to the group, which released video footage appearing to show an individual approach a jet and spray paint into the engine. The activists left the base without being detained, Palestine Action said. The group said in a statement that 'despite publicly condemning the Israeli government, Britain continues to send military cargo, fly spy planes over Gaza and refuel US/Israeli fighter jets.' It called the U.K. 'an active participant in the Gaza genocide and war crimes across the Middle East.' Britain's Ministry of Defense confirmed the incident, saying: 'We strongly condemn this vandalism of Royal Air Force assets.' Planes from Brize Norton, 70 miles (112 kilometers) northwest of London, regularly fly to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, Britain's main air base for operations in the Middle East. The U.K. has sent more Typhoon fighter jets and Voyager tankers to Cyprus since the Israel-Iran war started a week ago for what Prime Minister Keir Starmer called 'contingency support.' Iran has threatened to attack U.S., French and British bases in the region if those countries help Israel fend off Iranian strikes. Thames Valley Police said in a statement that it had 'received a report of people gaining access to RAF Brize Norton and causing criminal damage.' Officers were working with staff at the base and the Ministry of Defense Police to arrest the perpetrators, the department said.
