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DIRECT ACTION Protesters march through the streets of Hong Kong on Aug. 3, two days before a
general strike there—and a subsequent police crackdown and warnings from Beijing that harsher
treatment was coming. The strike came more than two months after uproar first began over a
controversial extradition bill that many feared would erode Hong Kong’s autonomy. Though the
region’s chief executive declared that bill “dead” last month, the protest movement has continued.
NEWS
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North Korea
nets billions
in cybercrimeNorth Korea has
earned as much
as $2 billion
through large-scale
cyberattacks on banks
and cryptocurrency
exchanges, per a
report to the U.N.
leaked on Aug. 5. The
report said the funds
were being channeled
to the country’s
weapons-of-mass-
destruction programs.Texas GOP
Reps plan
to retireTexas Congressman
Kenny Marchant said
on Aug. 5 that he’ll
retire from the House
of Representatives
next year. As once
conservative suburban
districts have become
more contested in the
era of Donald Trump,
he brings the number
of Texas Republicans
who say they won’t run
in 2020 to four—and
GOP Representatives
overall to 11.New Zealand
proposes
abortion billNew Zealand’s
government unveiled a
new bill on Aug. 5 that
would decriminalize
abortion in the
generally socially
liberal country. Those
seeking the procedure
there currently require
the signatures of two
doctors to certify that
the mother’s physical
or mental health is at
serious risk.saudi araBia has announced sweeP-
ing reforms to its system of wilayah, or
guardianship—a jumble of regulations that
dictate what women can and can’t do on
their own, and that Human Rights Watch
has said constitute “the most significant im-
pediment to realizing women’s rights in the
country.” The publication of the new laws
on Aug. 2 prompted exuberant memes from
Saudi women on social media, even as ac-
tivists who have agitated for changes to the
system remain in jail or on trial.
IN CONTROL On July 31, Saudi Arabia’s
Council of Ministers approved new regu-
lations indicating that women over the
age of 21 will soon be able to obtain pass-
ports without requiring a close male rela-
tive’s permission. The reforms, which Saudi
Arabia’s ambassador to the U.S., Princess
Reema bint Bandar, called “history in the
making,” also promise to improve protec-
tion against employment discrimination
and grant women more autonomy over fam-
ily matters. For example, while they have
long had to depend on male relatives to reg-
ister births, marriages or divorces, the new
laws allow them to take those steps alone.
STUDY IN CONTRASTS Since Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman became the king-
dom’s de facto leader in 2017, he has over-
seen a series of reforms like the latest to
wilayah, including blunting the power of
the religious police and lifting the ban on
women driving. But his attempts to cast
himself as a modernizer have been under-
mined by crackdowns on dissident voices,
mounting criticism of Saudi involvement in
the war in Yemen and a recent U.N. report
citing “credible evidence” linking him to
the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.UNCHANGED Human-rights groups
welcomed the “long overdue” move to
begin dismantling the guardianship system,
but noted women will still require the
permission of a male relative to marry or
to leave prison or women’s shelters. And,
rights groups have also noted, some who
might have offered key insight on the news
could not. Women’s-rights activists like
Loujain al-Hathloul—who was arrested
last year ahead of Saudi Arabia’s first
granting women driver’s licenses—remain
imprisoned there, even as others look ahead
to greater freedom. —josePh hincKsTHE BULLETIN
New freedoms for women in Saudi Arabia
draw cheers—and doubt