Last night, President Barack Obama announced he will take executive action to shield five million undocumented immigrants from deportation. The prime-time speech was big news in the U.S., kicking up a political skirmish ahead of the 2016 elections. But it was far from the continent’s top story. Instead, that title goes to the disappearance and presumed assassination of 43 students in Mexico.
The American media has largely ignored the unrest down south. Bizarrely, the Book Fair has brought the news to Miami anyway. Earlier this week, prize-winning Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska compared the massacre to the horrors of the “concentration camps.” And in an interview to promote his own appearance this weekend, fellow writer Francisco Goldman tells New Times that this is a “terrifying and exhilarating” moment for Mexico.

Morocco is synonymous with hash. Not just any hash, either. Arguably the best hash in the world for centuries came from the mountain regions of the country, despite the plant’s illegal status. That might change soon, though. With the global mood on cannabis lightening, Moroccan officials are mulling legalizing the cultivation of the plant for medical and industrial purposes.
But not every grower is trusting that the proposal will do them good. According to the Globe and Mail, which ran a story this week on Moroccan hash production, growers in the Muslim country say the system would likely exclude them anyway.

A bill that would decriminalize the possession of two ounce of ganja or less in Jamaica has been drafted, and officials say it should become law by the end of the year. Mark Golding, Jamaican Justice Minister, said that cannabis use will also be decriminalized for religious purposes – meaning the island’s thousands of Rastafari can puff on Jah herb without fear of being arrested.
The move comes as Jamaica starts to embrace their longstanding cannabis culture due to the United States lightening their stance on the drug.