Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Thursday unveiled proposals to boost reporting and prosecution of sexual abuse after she herself was groped in the street in an attack that caused outrage.

Mexico’s first woman president, 63, was assaulted on Tuesday by a drunken man while walking through the streets of the capital.

The assault made global headlines and focused attention on the dangers and harassment suffered by many women in the Latin American country.

Sheinbaum has pressed charges against her attacker for sexual harassment, a charge that in Mexico City covers lewd behaviour and groping.

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She has also ordered a review of the widely diverging laws on sexual harassment and abuse across Mexico’s 32 states.

Sexual harassment in public spaces is so prevalent in Mexico that in the last decade, the authorities have created women-only spaces on the metro.

Other cities with similar arrangements include Mumbai and Rio.

“May what happened serve so that women do not feel alone in situations of harassment or abuse… and for this to happen, there must be institutions and a government that supports them,” Sheinbaum told her regular morning press conference.

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The UN says around 70 per cent of Mexican girls and women aged 15 and over will experience at least one incident of sexual harassment in their lives.

Sheinbaum said that 45 per cent had experienced sexual “abuse.”

The man who assaulted her put one arm around her shoulder while she was greeting supporters, and with his other hand touched her hip and chest while attempting to kiss her neck.

A member of Sheinbaum’s security detail pulled him away.

Citlalli Hernandez, Secretary for Women, said more than 25,000 complaints of sexual harassment have been filed so far this year.

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The scale of the problem is believed to be far greater, however, with many women in Mexico, as elsewhere, hesitant to press charges for fear of being victim-shamed or not taken seriously.

Sheinbaum called for an “efficient and quick” reporting system that truly allows justice to be served,” but gave no details of what that might look like.

The attack raised eyebrows over the left-wing president’s insistence on mixing with the public despite Mexican politicians regularly being a target for cartel violence.

The former Mexico City mayor has ruled out increasing her security.

“We need to be close to the people,” she said.

AFP

Nancy Pelosi, a towering figure in US politics and the first woman to serve as speaker of the House of Representatives, announced on Thursday that she will step down at the next election.

“I will not be seeking reelection to Congress,” said the 85-year-old Democrat who has been one of President Donald Trump’s fiercest opponents.

In a video targeted at her hometown constituents in San Francisco, Pelosi said that she would serve her final year “with a grateful heart.”

Pelosi — whose term ends in January 2027 — was the first woman to lead a major political party in the US Congress.

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Despite entering political office later in life, she quickly rose through the ranks to become a darling of liberal West Coast politics and, eventually, one of the most powerful women in US history.

She is in her 19th term and has represented her San Francisco-area district for 38 years. But her fame centers especially on her renowned skills at the national level, leading her party for two decades.

As House speaker for eight years, she was second in line to the presidency, after the vice president, including during Trump’s chaotic first term.

She was revered for her ability to corral her often fractious caucus through difficult votes, including Barack Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act and Joe Biden’s infrastructure programs.

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Republicans painted her as the driving force behind a liberal elite that had turned its back on American values and was undermining the social fabric.

Trump especially made her a target, repeatedly insulting her as “crazy Nancy.” Pelosi never shrank from direct confrontations with the Republican leader, including demonstratively ripping up a copy of his State of the Union speech on live television.

Rumors of her departure had been swirling for weeks on Capitol Hill, but she deflected questions over her political future, insisting that she was focused on a redistricting reform initiative in California that passed on Tuesday.

“I say to my colleagues in the House all the time, no matter what title they have bestowed upon me — speaker, leader, whip — there has been no greater honor for me than to stand on the House floor and say, I speak for the people of San Francisco,” Pelosi said.

“I have truly loved serving as your voice,” she said. “As we go forward, my message to the city I love is this: San Francisco, know your power.”

The return of three Chinese astronauts to Earth has been postponed indefinitely after their spacecraft was reportedly hit by a small piece of debris, according to Chinese state media.

The astronauts, who are part of the Shenzhou-20 mission, travelled to the Tiangong space station in April and were scheduled to return on Wednesday following a six-month stay. Their replacements, the Shenzhou-21 crew, had already arrived over the weekend.

“The Shenzhou-20 crewed spacecraft is suspected to have been struck by a small piece of orbital debris, and assessment of the impact and associated risks is currently under way,” the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said in a statement.

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“To ensure the health and safety of the astronauts and the successful completion of the mission, it has been decided that the originally planned return of Shenzhou-20 on November 5 will be postponed.”

Officials did not specify when the debris incident occurred. Earlier in the week, state media reported that both crews had shared a meal of baked chicken prepared using the station’s first oven, delivered by the Shenzhou-21 team. On Tuesday, videos showed the two teams holding a handover ceremony.

Yu Jun, a science communicator known online as Steed’s Scarf, said that if the spacecraft is deemed unsafe to return, authorities could activate a backup plan.

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“Shenzhou-22 and the Long March 2F (launcher) were already on standby. This is our rolling backup mechanism. They are in ‘emergency duty’ mode and ready to bring our astronauts home safely if needed,” Yu told his more than five million followers on Weibo.

China has continued to expand its human spaceflight program, completing 37 flights and six crewed missions so far, with plans to land astronauts on the moon by 2030.

The Shenzhou-20 commander, Chen Dong, holds China’s record for the longest cumulative space time more than 380 days and the highest number of spacewalks, with six.

Chinese astronauts have not joined the International Space Station, a partnership between the US, Russia, Europe, Canada, and Japan, due to a US law preventing NASA from cooperating with China’s space program. Instead, China has said it welcomes international cooperation on its Tiangong space station.

(The Guardian Uk)