- Billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on Saturday and indicted for the sex trafficking of minors. Prosecutors alleged that some of his victims included girls as young as 14-years-old. In the indictment, Prosecuting US attorney Geoffrey Berman claims Epstein “enticed and recruited, and caused to be enticed and recruited, minor girls” to “engage in sex acts with him, after which he would give the victims hundreds of dollars in cash…This way, Epstein created a vast network of underage victims for him to sexually exploit.”
- Hundreds of women gathered in Paris to protest domestic violence on Saturday. Since January, 75 women have been killed by a spouse or partner. In response, the French government declared that a major consultation on domestic violence will begin from September. Feminist collective Nous Toutes denounced the delay in taking action in a statement titled: “Mr President, violence does not take a holiday”.
- Ugandan feminist Stella Nyanzi was arrested and will stand trial for a poem she wrote referencing the birth of president Yoweri Museveni. The poem contains a graphic description of the president’s birth in a display of “radical rudeness,” which began as a form of anti-colonial dissent in Uganda, and seeks to hold the powerful in society to account through public insult.
- Thousands protested a child rape case in Myanmar on Saturday, demanding justice for the toddler. The girl, only two-years-old, was raped at a nursery. A 29-year-old male suspect has been arrested.