A forthcoming United Nations report says crimes committed by Rwanda’s Army and Congolese rebels during the 1990s in Congo could be classified as genocide. According to The New York Times, the report challenges the conventional history of events in the area following the 1994 Rwandan genocide, charging that after the genocide ended, Tutsi-led Rwandan troops and their rebel allies went on to kill tens of thousands of ethnic Hutus. The report notes that the majority of the victims were children, women, elderly people and the sick, who posed no threat to the attacking forces. The US-supported Rwandan government has dismissed the findings.
Mayor in Mexican Border State Murdered
The mayor of the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas was killed on Sunday, but prosecutors have declined to release any details about the attack. Marco Antonio Leal Garcia was driving with his ten-year-old daughter, who was injured in the attack, reported CNN. The governor of the state said, “it was not just an attack against a person. It was an attack against institutions,” and called in reinforcements from the federal government. This continued violence comes only days after authorities discovered the bodies of 72 migrants in the border state.
Number of Women in Congress Likely to Fall; Women in Poverty Suffer Most
The Los Angeles Times predicts that after the November elections, the number of women in Congress may fall for the first time since 1978. If the predictions of pundits are correct and the elections are extremely unkind to Democratic incumbents, the 90 seats women now hold in Congress may drop to as few as ten. Though a record number of Republican women ran for seats in the House this cycle, many lost during the primary – of the GOP’s 46 “Young Guns,” four are women.
Just in time for Women’s Equality Day, on August 26, a new study highlights the burdens of women in poverty today, reported The Washington Post. The study by the DC-based Urban Institute links depression, economic struggles and family health, finding that one in nine infants in poverty had a mother with severe depression. In addition, a report by the Center for American Progress and Women’s Voices, Women Vote showed that economic instability disproportionately affects unmarried women, placing a particularly hard burden on single mothers.
Obama Not Worried About Muslim Rumors
Despite polls that show nearly 20 percent of Americans believe President Obama is a Muslim, he said in an interview Sunday that he can’t worry about dispelling all rumors about him. Obama told NBC’s Brian Williams that “there is a mechanism, a network of misinformation that in a new-media era can get churned out there constantly,” reported The Los Angeles Times.
Primary Returns Set the Stage for November
In Louisiana, Sen. David Vitter (R) defeated former state Supreme Court Justice Chet Taylor, and will now face Rep. Charlie Melancon (D) this fall. In West Virginia, businessman John Raese won the Republican Senate nomination and will come up against Gov. Joe Manchin (D) in November.
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