Vox Sentences is your daily digest for what’s happening in the world. Sign up for the Vox Sentences newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday, or view the Vox Sentences archive for past editions.
Federal judge declares abortion ban unconstitutional; China is using multiple strategies to expand its influence in the media field.
An abortion ban struck down
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/15991364/GettyImages_1084718214.0.144131.jpg)
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images- A federal judge has struck down North Carolina’s law banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy as unconstitutional, a victory for abortion rights groups in the state. [NPR / Matthew S. Schwartz]
- Judge William Osteen gave state legislators 60 days to either amend the state’s law, passed in 1973 and amended to be more restrictive in 2015, or appeal to a higher court. [AP News / Emery P. Dalesio]
- Immediately after President Trump’s election, the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and the Center for Reproductive Rights challenged three state-level abortion laws, including North Carolina’s. [News and Observer / Will Doran]
- The state claimed it never intended to enforce the law, but Osteen argued in his ruling that amendments in 2015 that made the law more restrictive suggested the opposite. [NPR / Matthew S. Schwartz]
- The decision was made amid a wave of new restrictions on abortion from GOP-led statehouses around the country. Last week, Mississippi’s Republican governor signed a “heartbeat bill” that would ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. [The Washington Post / Reis Thebault and Emily Wax-Thibodeaux]
- This year, lawmakers in 14 states have introduced bills that ban abortions after six weeks — early enough that many women don’t know they’re pregnant. The bills won’t all pass. But the underlying hope is that a challenge could make its way to a Supreme Court with a conservative majority that could overturn Roe v. Wade. [Politico / Rachana Pradhan]
How China is influencing the media
- Beijing is using a variety of tools to influence media outlets and their views on China. They do this through spreading accessibility to Chinese state-run TV and radio shows globally, creating extensive advertising campaigns and infiltrating foreign media outlets by purchasing stakes in them, according to a new report released Monday by Reporters Without Borders. [Time / Amy Gunia]
- The report states that journalists are a tool to relay Chinese propaganda to the public, including inviting journalists from around the world on all-expenses-paid trips to conferences in China to help spread positive coverage. [DW / William Yang]
- China is also exporting some of its censorship and surveillance tools like search engine Baidu and chatting app WeChat, while encouraging other authoritarian countries to do the same. [Focus Taiwan News Channel / Joseph Yeh]
- China sees the distribution of their media globally as a way to combat “hostile Western media.” [Global Voices / Jennifer Creery]
- An earlier report showed that China attempts to change Western opinion through the distribution of English-language accounts on social media that favor China. [SC Magazine / Bradley Barth]
Miscellaneous
- A hateful comment was posted on Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s office door, accusing her of encouraging “jihad against the Jews.” [New York Post / Tamar Lapin]
- About 800 ancient Chinese relics will return from Italy to China. Some of them seem to be “of illicit origin.” How did these relics end up in Italy anyway? [CNN / Julia Hollingsworth]
- The manager of an Arby’s restaurant in Oklahoma was charged with first-degree murder for shooting a customer who she said threatened her. [AP News]
- The Indianapolis Zoo has lost its two youngest elephants to the herpes virus in eight days. [ABC News / Karma Allen]
- A new report details how the Trump White House decided to back a federal lawsuit that wants to overturn the entire Affordable Care Act. [NYT / Maggie Haberman and Robert Pear]
Verbatim
“The Supreme Court has clearly advised that a state legislature may never fix viability at a specific week but must instead leave this determination to doctors.” [Federal Judge William Osteen, on Monday, declaring that a North Carolina ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy is unconstitutional]
Watch this: China’s trillion dollar plan to dominate global trade
China’s Belt and Road Initiative is the most ambitious infrastructure project in modern history. It spans over 60 countries and will cost over a trillion dollars. The plan is to make it easier for the world to trade with China, by funding roads, railways, pipelines, and other infrastructure projects in Asia and Africa. [YouTube / Sam Ellis]
We want to bring you more videos and ambitious series with the hosts you love. Join the Vox Video Lab today to support our work on YouTube.
Read more
The Avengers: Endgame theory that Ant-Man kills Thanos by expanding inside his butt, explained
Why Russia just sent troops to Venezuela
Why you’re likely going to hear more about being “sober curious”
Author: Fareehan Elgakhlab
Read More
