Chile, Iran, Cameroon.

Today's three stories you should know.

May 08, 2023

Chile

Chile’s far-right Republican party has scooped the most seats in an election to a panel that will draw up a new constitution for the country. The Republicans won 22 out of 51 seats with more moderate right-wing parties winning 11 seats. The leftist Unidad para Chile (Unity for Chile) won 17, leaving it just short of the 21 it would have needed to give it veto power. A previous attempt at drawing up a constitution to replace the one brought in during the military rule of Gen Augusto Pinochet was rejected in a referendum. That panel had been dominated by progressives, and analysts say the electorate found its proposals, which included recognising the rights of indigenous groups to their lands and resources, too radical. The push for a new constitution came out of mass protests that threw the country into chaos in 2019.

Iran

Two well-known Iranian actresses have had cases lodged against them by the country’s judiciary for taking off their headscarves in public. Baran Kosari, 37, is accused of attending a funeral without a hijab and Shaghayegh Dehghan, 44, was photographed with her hair visible at a book launch. Protests over hijab laws shook Iran last year after a young woman, Mahsa Amini, died in the custody of the so-called morality police. Though the protests died down after a sustained crackdown, a growing number of women are defying the laws and showing their hair in public.

Cameroon

Journalist Anye Nde Nsoh has been shot dead in Cameroon’s unstable northwest, making him the third journalist to be killed in the country this year. Nsoh, who worked for The Advocate newspaper, was shot in a bar in Bamenda. The area has been at the center of a conflict between the government and separatists in English-speaking regions that erupted in 2017. Thousands have been killed in the fighting.