Daily news sites

(Adds details on executive order, quotes from statement)
By Jeff Mason and Roberta Rampton
WASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama issued an executive order on Monday declaring Venezuela a national security threat, sanctioning seven individuals and expressing concern about the Venezuelan government's treatment of political opponents.
"Venezuelan officials past and present who violate the human rights of Venezuelan citizens and engage in acts of public corruption will not be welcome here, and we now have the tools to block their assets and their use of U.S. financial systems," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a statement.
"We are deeply concerned by the Venezuelan government's efforts to escalate intimidation of its political opponents. Venezuela's problems cannot be solved by criminalizing dissent," he added.
The White House said the executive order targeted people whose actions undermined democratic processes or institutions, had committed acts of violence or abuse of human rights, were involved in prohibiting or penalizing freedom of expression, or were government officials involved in public corruption.
The seven individuals named in the order would have their property and interests in the United States blocked or frozen and they would be denied entry into the United States. U.S. citizens would also be prohibited from doing business with them.
The White House called on Venezuela to release all political prisoners, including "dozens of students," and warned against blaming Washington for its problems.
"We've seen many times that the Venezuelan government tries to distract from its own actions by blaming the United States or other members of the international community for events inside Venezuela," Earnest said in the statement.
"These efforts reflect a lack of seriousness on the part of the Venezuelan government to deal with the grave situation it faces." (Reporting by Jeff Mason and Roberta Rampton; editing by Susan Heavey and G Crosse)

How often does this story happen today? Far too frequently. Forty countries still charge tuition for secondary school, which disproportionately harms girls. Forty-four countries allow girls to be married at fifteen if parents give consent, and since the vast majority of child marriages occur with parental involvement, this is a major loophole. And in sixty-one countries, the law explicitly allows girls to be married at younger ages than boys.

Inequality in the workplace is also still rampant. Over 150 countries treat men and women differently, legally supporting discrimination and bias by keeping women out of some occupations, allowing only men to make certain financial transactions freely and supporting only women as caregivers.

The consequences of this entrenched discrimination are great for men and boys as well as for women and girls. Economically, countries lose over ninety billion from inequalities in education. On the health care side, the costs are staggering. A girl who gives birth before she is fifteen is five times more likely to die during childbirth than a woman in her early twenties. And babies born to teen mothers are twice as likely to die in their first year of life.

So what is the antidote? Equal legal rights for women and men and policies that guarantee equal access to health and education. A child born to a mother who can read is fifty percent more likely to survive past the age of five. The International Monetary Fund, Goldman Sachs and others have estimated that major economies would see a 4 to 13 percent increase in their GDP by lowering barriers to women in the workforce.

Twenty years ago, the world came together to strengthen its commitment to gender equality to improve the lives of girls and women through the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. This week, representatives from around the world are gathering at the UN to examine gains and gaps and focus on next steps.

The looming question now: Is anything different from when 189 countries agreed to the Beijing Platform?

The answer has been a quiet but important Yes.

Success has come with change at every economic level.

Here are just a few examples: In 2005, Mauritius made all secondary education free and required boys and girls to stay in school until they reach sixteen. Since then, girls' enrollment has jumped. And while too few countries have followed Mauritius, 89 percent of low-income countries, 97 percent of middle-income countries, and 100 percent of high-income countries have made primary education tuition-free, leading to marked increases in girls' enrollment. In Ghana, the 1998 Children's Act established eighteen as the minimum age of marriage, with no exceptions. The impact has been profound. Between 1993 and 2008, early marriage rates for Ghanaian girls 15-19 fell by 58 percent. And Ghana's not alone: between 1995 and 2013, 24 percent of countries reformed their laws to prohibit marriage of girls under eighteen, even if the girls' parents supported it. In 2000, Iceland introduced 3 months of leave for fathers, 3 months for mothers, and 3 months of leave to be shared between parents. Men in Iceland now take the most parental leave of anywhere in the world, setting norms for more equal caregiving and more equal opportunities at work.

But there are still many challenges. Inequality is still deeply embedded in the law in the majority of countries, from allowing discrimination in hiring and pay to giving men and women different legal rights when it comes to their families.

We can change that. It's time we map and monitor change as closely as we map any road we want to travel. At worldpolicyforum.org you can monitor how your country is doing on access to education, preventing child marriage, providing time off for men and women to care for families, promoting equal rights in the workplace and in constitutions, and many other areas of opportunity. At a glance anyone can then see how one country stacks up against another and that information can be used to tell the story of inequality across the globe.

Once you have learned where your country stands, you can work to move it forward by sharing the information with others so we can together change the laws that make inequality the foundation of too many nations. Share your story of solutions you've found to close the equity gap by using the hashtag #CloseTheGap, or join the conversation on our Facebook page.

There is still much to do. Making equal rights a reality is essential to all our economies, to the health of our friends and families and our communities.

Together our stories and our voices are the surest route to moving policymakers and citizens alike in all our countries to ensure equity for all members of our global society.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The wife of a longtime Iowa City pastor facing deportation to Honduras said Friday she is "devastated with this situation" but encouraged by the outpouring of support, including that of more than 100 people who rallied for his release this week outside the jail where he's being held.

Max Villatoro, 41, was arrested by immigration officials when he left his house for work Tuesday after more than 16 years of legal complications and two denied appeals to stop his removal from the country, culminating in his now imminent deportation. But Villatoro's wife, Gloria Villatoro, 33, and others in the Iowa City community say the man has turned his life around since his initial charge in 1998, and they're fighting to keep him here.

Max Villatoro is a pastor at First Mennonite Church who has lived in Iowa since he left his northern Honduran town in 1995 and arrived in the U.S. without legal permission. Deportation would separate him from his wife, a native of Mexico who was brought here when she was 8, and his four children, ages 7 through 15 and all U.S. citizens.

In a statement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, spokeswoman Gail Montenegro classified Max Villatoro as "an ICE enforcement priority" because of his criminal history.

"ICE remains focused on smart, effective immigration enforcement that prioritizes the removal of convicted criminals and public safety threats," she said in the statement.

In 1998, Villatoro was convicted of drunken driving. And in 1999, he pleaded guilty to record tampering for purchasing a Social Security number that he used to obtain a driver's license. His plea resulted in an order of supervision for the duration of a 180-day suspended jail term, but the convictions stayed with him until his recent arrest.

In 2006, the Department of Homeland Security took action to deport Villatoro, and a judge has twice declined his appeals.

Gloria Villatoro said her husband's past doesn't reflect who he is. And Margaret Richer-Smith, a fellow pastor at the Iowa City church, described him as a "person of great integrity and wisdom."

Richer-Smith, Gloria Villatoro and others have scrambled to keep Villatoro in the country, making calls to a congressman and local immigration organizations, signing petitions and organizing the rally at the Linn County Jail. The case has drawn interest from national immigration interest groups, which question ICE's proceedings.

"There are clear factors in Max's case indicating that he is not a threat to national security, border security, or public safety, and should not therefore be an enforcement priority," Matt Hildreth, digital director for the immigration reform group America's Voice, said in a statement.

Gloria Villatoro on Friday traveled to an immigration court in Omaha, Nebraska, to seek a stay of removal. A judge at the court could approve his release, but lawyers said that's rare and they expect Villatoro will be returned to Honduras within the next couple weeks.

That's an option Gloria Villatoro can't imagine.

"In my mind, there is no answer for that," she said. "It would be the worst thing that can happen."