- A USA Today investigation finds two dozen massage schools are connected to prostitution or fraud. The report alleges some massage schools play a role in funneling licensed workers into illicit sex spas. Ahmos Netanel, the CEO of the California Massage Therapy Council, says:
“We have seen substantial evidence that indicates that human traffickers try to use fraudulent schools to support their operations. Specifically in the form of either purchasing diplomas or enrolling their victims in schools that do not provide the education they claim they actually provide.”
- Egypt approves harsher penalties for sexual harassment and related crimes, upgrading them to felony offences in order to reduce sex crimes in the country.
- The Financial Times reports over 1,600 pregnant or postpartum women in Brazil have died of COVID-19 due to lack of healthcare access and strained clinical services.
- The Information Commissioner’s Office fines transgender charity Mermaids for a data protection breach that revealed personal user information.