Latin America in short: Argentina recognizes the non-binary population and Jeff Bezos goes to space

The week was busy in terms of Latin American and global politics, as well as the economy and the environment. In addition, the Olympic Games began and a Brazilian has already broken a record. Argentina is on the path of more inclusive policies for the non-binary population, Jeff Bezos took a walk through space, China flooded, the panda out of danger and more. Everything explained here.

Argentina: first country in Latin America to recognize non-binary people

From now on, in Argentina, citizens may be officially designated as M (for male), F (for female) or X (for non-binary). In this way, the southern country becomes the first nation in the region to recognize a gender other than male or female.

In this way, Argentina joins Australia, New Zealand and Canada as the countries that have this third option for their citizens. From today, any citizen who wants to change their gender in their identity document or passport, will have to approach a public office or Argentine embassy or consulate.

China starts counting flood victims in Zhengzhou city

The planet does not give up and just one week after Germany suffered one of the worst floods in its recent history, China mourns the death of at least 33 people due to the heavy rains that caused major disasters.

The rains in the past week reportedly surpassed records for all of last year. The water that fell in all of 2020 was less than the rain of the last 3 days. The city of 10 million inhabitants was left without electricity, affected public transport and considerable material damage.

Billionaires in space and pollution on Earth

The news of the week has been the trip to space of just 11 minutes that the billionaire and former CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos took. This is only the beginning of commercial projects that seek to do space tourism. Ricahrd Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, is the other billionaire to have competed against Bezos in this race. On July 11, Branson arrived in his space plane to the edge of space ascending 80 km, while on July 20 Bezos ascended 120 km.

While this marks a historic milestone for the tourism sector, it also involves a very large environmental cost. The takeoffs of these space vehicles that offer only minutes of fun for those who have the opportunity to access generate emissions of gases that are dangerous for the atmosphere. While Bezos says his rockets are greener than Branson's, the truth is that the amount of CO2 emissions is staggering and contributes just as much to climate change.

The scientific community and regulatory entities should begin to analyze this type of activity to reduce as much as possible the negative effects it may have on the environment.

The panda is no longer endangered in China

Recently, the Department of Ecological Protection of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China assured that the panda bear is no longer a species that is in danger of extinction. According to Cui Shuhong, director of the entity, in recent years he has worked to improve the living conditions of this species, and as a result, a number of 1,800 wild panda bears have been reached in China.

However, despite the fact that it no longer appears as an endangered species, it is declared as "vulnerable", which implies that it is necessary to maintain the good habits that have been created around its protection.

Brazilian soccer player breaks Olympic record

New Olympic records have already begun to be broken in this week's preliminary competitions. On this occasion, it was Brazilian Marta Vieira da Silva who achieved an achievement, scoring two goals in Brazil's soccer match against China that ended 5-0. Marta scored two of the five goals in this opening match, one in the 9th minute and the other in the 74th minute. Thus, she became the first woman to score a goal in five Olympic Games in a row. The footballer is considered the queen of Brazilian football and has participated in the Olympic Fair since 2004.

Also read: Tokyo 2020: Five Latino Athletes Seeking Olympic Gold