A viral image of a crying Honduran child at the U.S.-Mexico border has won the 2019 World Press Photo contest’s Photo of the Year prize.

The Amsterdam-based World Press Photo Foundation announced the winners of the annual awards on Thursday, honoring the best photojournalism of the prior year.

The winning photo, “Crying Girl on the Border,” was taken by Getty Images photojournalist John Moore. It shows the 2-year-old child crying while her mother, a Honduran asylum-seeker, is detained by U.S. border agents at the U.S.-Mexico border in McAllen, Texas.

Even though this image was widely shared amid outrage over the Trump administration’s policy of separating families at the border, it was later determined that the child and mother were held together at a processing center and released weeks later, pending a future asylum hearing. Still, the World Press Photo jury felt the image was powerful enough to merit the prestigious award.

The awards also highlighted the work of many other photographers in several categories, this year adding a new category for multi-image photo stories. Contest jurors ― a select group of photojournalism professionals from around the world ― reviewed 78,801 photographs from 4,738 photographers, with 43 nominees from 25 countries.

See highlights from winners and nominees below, and check out all the winners at the World Press Photo site.

Photo Of The Year Nominees

A man and a child receive treatment on Feb. 25, 2018, after a suspected gas attack on al-Shifunieh village in Eastern Ghouta, Syria.

An orphaned boy walks past a wall in Bol, Chad, with drawings depicting rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

Yorladis, a former guerrilla with the Colombian paramilitary organization FARC, is pregnant after she says the group had her terminate several other pregnancies during her FARC years.

An unidentified man tries to hold back the press as Saudi investigators arrive at the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, amid a growing international backlash to the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Petronella Chigumbura, 30, is a member of an all-female anti-poaching unit called Akashinga. She is seen participating in stealth and concealment training in the Phundundu Wildlife Park, Zimbabwe.

Contemporary Issues ― First Prize

Pura rides around her neighborhood in Havana, Cuba, in a pink 1950s convertible, as the community gathers to celebrate her 15th birthday. Pura’s quinceañera had a special poignancy, as some years earlier, having been diagnosed with a brain tumor, she was told she would not live beyond the age of 13.

Environment ― First Prize

A child who collects recyclable material lies on a mattress surrounded by garbage floating on the Pasig River, in Manila, Philippines.

General News ― Third Prize

U.S. President Donald Trump leads France’s President Emmanuel Macron by the hand while walking to the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington D.C.

Nature ― First Prize

Frogs with their legs severed and surrounded by frogspawn struggle to the surface after being thrown back into the water in Covasna, Eastern Carpathians, Romania, in April 2018.

Portraits ― First Prize

Diarra Ndiaye, Ndeye Fatou Mbaye and Mariza Sakho model outfits by designer Adama Paris in the Medina neighborhood of the Senegalese capital, Dakar, as curious residents look on.

Sports ― First Prize

Boxer Moreen Ajambo, 30, trains at the Rhino boxing club in Katanga, a large slum settlement in Kampala, Uganda, on March 24.

Spot News ― Third Prize

Central American migrants climb the border fence between Mexico and the United States near El Chaparral border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico, on Nov. 25, 2018.

NEW YORK ― Priyanka Chopra admits that when she first met Nick Jonas, she underestimated him. 

“I judged a book by its cover,” she told the audience at Tina Brown’s 10th Annual Women in the World Summit on Thursday in New York City. “He surprised me so much.”

The actress and philanthropist, who married Jonas in a magnificent three-day wedding on Dec. 1 of last year, spoke candidly about the way that Jonas had supported her ambition from the very beginning of their relationship. She shared an anecdote from one of their first dates. They were out with a bunch of their friends, and Chopra had a meeting. She began dropping hints to the group about needing an excuse to cancel her meeting, but Jonas wasn’t biting. 

“I said it twice. I said it thrice,” said Chopra. “And finally he pulled me aside and was like, ‘Look, I’m not stupid, I know what you’re trying to do. But I will never be the one that tells you to cancel work, because I know how hard you work to be where you are. If you could have canceled the meeting, you would have done it.’” Jonas then offered to take the group out to dinner and said they would wait for her to finish up her meeting.

This interaction marked an inflection point for Chopra.

“I was like, this is the first person anyone has ever done that for me,” she said, “who gave me credit for what I have done.”

The actress also spoke about what it’s been like to watch women in Hollywood (and Bollywood) speak up in such great numbers since the rise of the Me Too movement.

“Sexual harassment had become a norm with women,” she said. “Now because of the support we are giving each other, people don’t have the power to shut us down.”

The predator nun walked into Trish Cahill’s life straight out of the blue, on a busy summer day in the late 1960s.

Cahill was a teenager back then, wire thin with long, chestnut brown hair framing her face. She was babysitting her cousins in Glen Rock, New Jersey, and there were eight of them to look after ― a big Catholic family, much like her own.

One cousin was playing outside that day and Cahill had another little one in a high chair in the kitchen. It was quite a common child care tactic at the time, she said ― stick a kid in a playpen in the yard and watch through the window while doing chores and taking care of the others inside.

Cahill was washing dishes at the sink when she looked up and spotted a nun, in a full religious habit, hovering over the baby’s playpen.

At that point in her life, the teenager was still trying to make sense of a painful secret ― the sexual abuse she says she experienced just years earlier from her uncle, a Catholic priest. So when she saw the nun leaning over the baby, Cahill said, she sprinted outside to protect the child.

“It was like, ‘You’re not going to touch her, you’re not going to put your hands on her,’” Cahill remembers thinking.

But the nun she met took her by surprise.

The woman introduced herself as Sister Eileen Shaw, telling Cahill that she was out on a walk from her nearby convent.

“She’s nice to me, which was confusing,” Cahill recalled.

The two struck up a conversation, Cahill said, which led to an invitation for the teen to play guitar at an upcoming Mass. That invitation led to more special treatment, private phone calls and private trips.

In fact, this strange encounter on the lawn was just the beginning of a long period of grooming and emotional manipulation, Cahill said. She didn’t realize until much later that the 12 years of history she had with Shaw was not a relationship ― but sexual abuse.

“She stole from my body, my mind and my soul,” Cahill, now 66, told HuffPost. “The woman was a thief who did not keep her vows.”

For over a year, the Roman Catholic Church has faced a reckoning over the crime of clerical sexual abuse. Catholics are once again demanding answers about bishops’ mishandling of abuse allegations, after high-profile scandals in the U.S., Australia and Chile toppled prominent figures. In response to this renewed call for transparency, Pope Francis acknowledged for the first time ever this February that nuns have been victims of sexual abuse by priests and bishops. Nuns from across the world have come forward to share their stories and demand change.

But stories like Cahill’s, about nuns being the perpetrators of sexual violence, have largely been lost in this new wave of accountability. Although abuse allegations against “women religious,” meaning nuns and Catholic sisters, are rarer than allegations against priests or monks, Cahill and other survivors of nun abuse are convinced that there are more stories out there. But because of gender stereotypes about female perpetrators of abuse, it is much harder to see the broader picture.

As survivors push more states to extend their statutes of limitations for child sex abuse cases, experts believe more of these stories will start coming to light.

“Why are they not coming out?” Cahill mused about fellow survivors of abuse by nuns. “They don’t have any other survivors to see what’s happened. They’re the only one.”

“The boys thought they were the only ones for a hundred years,” Cahill added. But now, she said, “the girls think they’re the only ones.”

A Childhood Lost

Church was an integral part of Cahill’s life growing up. Her family made sure to respect holy days of obligation ― the days in the liturgical calendar that Catholics are expected to attend Mass. Her parents sent her and her siblings to Catholic schools. Cahill said she was taught from a very young age to believe that heaven and hell were real places where people would be sent based on their earthly deeds.

So when her uncle ― the priest ― allegedly threatened that she would “burn and blister in the fires of hell” if she told anyone about the sexual abuse he was inflicting on her, Cahill said she believed him.

Cahill said the alleged abuse from the Rev. Daniel F.M. Millard, who died in 1973, happened between the ages of 5 and 13. (The Diocese of Camden told HuffPost that Millard’s name was not on a recently released list of credibly accused priests because Cahill’s allegation against Millard ― “the only accusation ever received about him,” it said ― “was deemed not credible.” The diocese also pointed to a 2005 article in which a family member questioned Cahill’s reliability. The diocese said it has not been provided with additional information since 2002.)

Because of the abuse Cahill claims happened to her as a little girl, when she met Shaw, she was already feeling vulnerable and lost.

At the time, Shaw was a teacher at St. Catherine School in Glen Rock. Cahill was a student at Paramus Catholic Girls’ High School, which was staffed by Shaw’s religious order, the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth.

Back then, Cahill said, she was just flattered that an adult who seemed so kind and caring was paying attention to her.

“For her to be nice to me was just fantastic. She cared like she wanted to be with me. She was 36. I was 15. Who gets to hang out with a 36-year-old?” Cahill said. “Everything was in my favor.”

Looking back, the unusual nature of the pairing seems so obvious, Cahill said. She said she now wishes she had somebody “just watching out for me.”

Cahill remembers Shaw calling her at home for private, scheduled chats. The nun gave the teen gifts. Cahill said she soon felt safe enough to confide in Shaw about her uncle’s abuse.

About three months after they first met, Shaw allegedly invited Cahill to her bedroom at St. Catherine Convent ― which is where the abuse first turned physical.

In the years afterward, Shaw used to pull the teenager out of high school in the middle of the day, Cahill said. They would go to a nearby motel, where the pair would stay for hours.

“Then she’d bring me back to school, so I was there for dismissal,” Cahill said. “Nobody questions a nun.”

They started taking trips together ― to Shaw’s parents’ house and vacation home, to religious retreat houses, to Atlantic City, to the Meadowlands Racetrack. They traveled all over the East Coast, Cahill said, from Florida to Quebec. They went on camping trips and slept in the same sleeping bag, she said. Shaw allegedly taught Cahill how to gamble on horse races and introduced her to alcohol and drugs. The nun told her how to dress and fashion her hair, and discouraged her from dating boys, Cahill said. They once went to a gay bar in New York City’s Village neighborhood, she said.

“She told me she loved me,” Cahill said. “I believed it.”

Shaw had a medal inscribed with the religious name she took when entering her religious order ― Sister Marian Anthony. That medal took on another meaning during their time together, Cahill said.

“She would take it off of herself at night and put it on me, and then we would have sex. Not a relationship, sex,” Cahill said. “And then, in the morning, it would go back on her. It was the seal of confessional.”

“It worked.”

Cahill told HuffPost that members of the Sisters of Charity knew or at least suspected that she was spending an inordinate amount of time alone with Shaw.

“At one point, I slept in the same bedroom with a nun in the next bed while we were in bed,” Cahill said.

But the Sisters of Charity maintains that its leadership was unaware of Shaw’s abusive behavior until 1994, when Cahill, then 41 years old, approached the religious order with an attorney.

“The Sisters of Charity have worked to act in a responsible, compassionate and just manner for all concerned,” the religious order told HuffPost in a statement.

Shaw, now 85 years old, is still a member of the Sisters of Charity. Her religious order has placed her in a “restricted, confined lifestyle.”

“She accepts responsibility for her actions and the harm that they have caused,” the Sisters of Charity told HuffPost. “She continues to pray daily about this.”

Seeking A Legal Remedy

When she was 27 years old, Cahill started attending a 12-step recovery group to confront her alcoholism and other drug addictions ― coping methods often sought out by childhood abuse victims. It was there that she started opening up to fellow group members about her experiences with the nun.

“They were the first ones that said this is not a relationship, and I thought they were crazy,” Cahill said.

She moved to Europe to try to get away from Shaw. Eventually, with her life spiraling out of control, Cahill decided to go back to Shaw’s religious order in 1994 to seek justice. But at the time, she was far outside the statute of limitations in New Jersey, so she had no basis to file a lawsuit.

In 1994, the Sisters of Charity agreed to an out-of-court settlement with Cahill, according to documents provided by Cahill’s current lawyer James Marsh. The settlement had a confidentiality clause that prevented Cahill from talking to the media about her claims. In the agreement, the Sisters of Charity denied that the order was negligent or otherwise legally responsible for Cahill’s abuse. (The order declined to tell HuffPost where it stands on that statement today).

Marsh told HuffPost that back in 1994, there were fewer options available to victims seeking justice ― so for the Sisters of Charity to offer any financial compensation may have seemed an act of charity at the time.

“Trish got caught in this trap where zero times zero is zero and some money is better than no money,” Marsh said. “That was a reasonable position to take in 1994.”

Cahill claimed a significant amount of the money from her settlement went toward lawyers’ fees and therapy. But more than the money, she said she wanted an apology from the sisters for failing to speak out and stop the abuse.

The Sisters of Charity told HuffPost that the order was “deeply saddened” that Cahill did not view the settlement as a “heartfelt response to her situation.”

The religious order claims that immediately after receiving Cahill’s allegation in 1994, it removed Shaw from ministry and had a “response team” composed of lay and religious professionals conduct an investigation, which substantiated Shaw’s “improper conduct.” Since the settlement, the Sisters of Charity said that Shaw has been ordered to undergo therapy and restricted from working with individuals under 21 years of age. She continues to live with fellow sisters and is currently engaged in “relapse prevention” with a licensed social worker.

In the years that followed, while abuse committed by priests began to capture more headlines, abuse committed by nuns largely remained under the radar.

Survivors Of Abusive Women Face Skepticism 

For decades, there have been more Catholic nuns and sisters in the U.S. than Catholic priests. Still, sex abuse allegations against these women appear to be far less common than allegations against priests or religious brothers.

Bishop Accountability is a website that collects data on the abuse crisis. Of the many U.S. settlements it has tracked online, only a handful involve abuse allegedly committed by religious women.

One of the best approximations of the occurrence of nun abuse in the Catholic Church comes from a nationwide study of child sexual abuse published by the Australian government in 2017. The Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse gathered data from Catholic Church authorities in the country regarding claims of child sexual abuse received between Jan. 1, 1980 and Dec. 31, 2015. The data showed that of all known alleged perpetrators, 5% were religious sisters.

This dovetails with statistics collected by U.S. police departments that suggest female sex offenders are relatively rare. According to data collected by the FBI between 2007 and 2017, women represent only about 2% of adult arrests for rape and about 8% of adult arrests for other sex offenses.

But since the majority of sexual assaults are not reported to police, these statistics don’t show the whole picture. Researchers have also found that survivors who experience childhood sexual abuse at the hands of both women and men are more reluctant to disclose the abuse they suffered from the female perpetrator.

Lara Stemple, director of the health and human rights law project at the UCLA School of Law, has studied female perpetrators of sexual violence. Stemple said it’s highly likely that sex crimes committed by female offenders are underreported.

Stemple said a better picture of the prevalence of female sex offenders comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, which is collected through phone interviews with victims across the country. Stemple and her colleagues analyzed the 2011 data and found that men and women were equally likely to report experiencing nonconsensual sex in the previous 12 months, and that most male victims reported female perpetrators.

The CDC data suggests to Stemple that female perpetrators of sex abuse are more prevalent than is often assumed.

However, Stemple said, because of gender stereotypes about women being passive and nurturing, people may find it hard to believe that women are capable of sexual violence. Mental health, social work, public health and criminal justice professionals also tend to think of female sex offenders as less serious offenders than males. They may try to explain away female-perpetrated sexual violence as a “misguided expression of love,” she said ― something she noted would rarely be said about the actions of male perpetrators.

Stemple said these stereotypes make it harder for survivors of this type of abuse to come forward.

“[Women are] not seen as the stereotypical abuser,” Stemple said. “So a lot of times, victims have trouble identifying what happened to them as being abuse.”

No matter the gender of the perpetrator, Stemple said, it’s important to remember that at its core, sexual abuse is about an imbalance of power. And nuns have considerable power in the eyes of a Catholic school student ― both as teachers in charge of the classroom and as people who are set apart and consecrated within the church.

As a feminist, Stemple said, she doesn’t think it does the feminist movement any good to assume that women are incapable of committing abuse.

“Women are complex, they’re multidimensional. They have good traits and bad traits,” Stemple said. “And sometimes, when they have power, that they abuse it is no surprise to me.”

Mary Dispenza, a Seattle activist with the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), is the advocacy group’s point person on nun abuse. A former nun herself, Dispenza said that religious women have largely been the “face of service, kindness and dedication” for the Catholic Church, often serving as teachers and social workers.

“When I think of them as perpetrators, even for me, it kind of gives me the shivers a bit. It’s so far from what you expect from them as women, as nurturers,” Dispenza said. “But the truth is men and women are both perpetrators, and to shy away from that is a sin.”

Marci Hamilton, CEO of the advocacy organization Child USA, told HuffPost there has been so much publicity about boys being sexually abused by priests that it detracts from the fact that there have also been a number of girls sexually abused by priests and girls sexually abused by nuns.

“Abuse by a female nun of a girl, it’s so far outside the expected parameters of what we read about,” Hamilton said. “It’s hard enough for victims to come to terms with what really happened to them, but to try to come to terms with something that doesn’t seem to be happening to anyone else is doubly hard.”

Dispenza said that several nun abuse survivors reached out to her after last year’s landmark Pennsylvania grand jury investigation into sex abuse in the Catholic Church. She said she now has a list of about 56 people who claim they were sexually abused by nuns or sisters.

Hearing from survivors prompted Dispenza to come to her own realization earlier this year. She said she remembered that while she was a postulant for her religious order in the late 1950s, one of her superiors called her into a private meeting and kissed her.

“I’ve held it as a story of confusion and just never named it for what it was,” Dispenza said. “It was just recently that I named it and realized that was a misuse of power and sexual abuse.”

Dispenza said she thinks more survivors of nun abuse will come forward once they realize they are not alone.

“These stories are very, very, very important,” she said. “I think with one story being told, it gives courage to another survivor. That’s going to make the difference, I believe.” 

Another Survivor Speaks Up

After spending years as an anonymous “Jane Doe,” Anne Gleeson has decided to open up about her story of nun abuse.

Gleeson, a 61-year-old from O’Fallon, Missouri, told HuffPost she was sexually abused by Sister Judith Fisher, a former member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. Although she revealed her identity in 2008, this is first time she has publicly described the abuse in detail.

Gleeson said it began in 1971, when she was 13 years old. At the time, the nun would have been around 37 years old ― about 24 years Gleeson’s senior.

Both the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and the Archdiocese of St. Louis, where the sisters are based, declined to comment on Fisher’s case out of “respect for the privacy of any person who reports abuse.” The religious order stood by this statement even after being informed that Gleeson was giving it her “full and complete permission” to answer questions about the case.

Fisher was Gleeson’s eighth grade homeroom teacher at the Immacolata School in Richmond Heights. The nun started grooming her for abuse not long after the school year started, Gleeson said, leaving presents on the teenager’s desk and adding special personal notes on graded papers. The nun asked her to stay after school frequently, played with the teenager’s hair and pressed up close while the class watched movies, Gleeson said.

“It would kind of send these waves through me, and I didn’t quite understand it,” Gleeson remembered.

By December of that year, Gleeson said, Fisher had invited the teen to a sleepover in the basement of her convent. The next time Gleeson spent the night, it was in the nun’s bedroom. That’s when she said the nun asked to touch her. 

“It just became sexual all the time after that,” Gleeson said.

Gleeson said the nun always described the abuse as “God’s love” and claimed it had to be kept a secret because, “Nobody else is gonna understand it. It’s too special for them to get.”

Fisher also became close to Gleeson’s mother, siblings and grandmother, Gleeson said, lulling family members into thinking it was safe for the teen to spend so much time alone with the nun.

Gleeson said she kept a record of everything that was happening between her and Fisher in a calendar that she used as a personal diary. Her parents discovered the diary under her mattress in 1974 ― and were devastated.

Like Cahill, Gleeson said she was raised in a staunchly Catholic family. Her father was an active and devout member of their local parish ― volunteering in the choir, as an usher, and as a lector. Her mother, through Fisher’s influence, had become very close to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet.

When her parents found out that Fisher was preying on their daughter, they did what many Catholics did at the time ― they went to the church for help.

Gleeson said that her parents confronted their local priest with proof of the abuse. She said the priest promised to take care of it, urged Gleeson’s father not to go to the police, and asked him “not to bring scandal to his parish.”

“So he kept quiet,” Gleeson said about her dad. “And he believed that they would fix it. And reprimand [the nun], and that there was no need to go to the police.” 

But Gleeson claims nothing came of the priest’s promises. In fact, the abuse became more of a secret, she said, and Fisher was able to prey on her for years afterward.

Her parents tried pushing her to stop meeting with Fisher. But as a teenager, Gleeson said her instinct was to fight against that. So she began lying to her parents about where she was, just so that she could go see the nun. As the nun drew her closer, she began to be increasingly isolated from friends in high school.

Gleeson said Fisher made it seem like the abusive relationship was like a “romantic novel or a Romeo-Juliet thing.” 

“An adult grooms you like that and preps you, it’s like the longest foreplay in the world,” Gleeson said. “And it’s got that forbidden aspect, and so it’s enticing, and it singles you out, and that person becomes everything to you.”

The sexual abuse allegedly continued until Gleeson was 19 years old, she said. 

“It was all done gently. It was all done in the name of love,” Gleeson said.

Fisher was eventually transferred to Colorado, where she became the principal of St. Francis de Sales School in Denver. Around 1977, Gleeson said Fisher told her she was going to be exclaustrated, meaning that she was getting permission to live outside her religious community while remaining bound by her vows. (Church officials declined to confirm Fisher’s exclaustration to HuffPost. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet told The Associated Press in 2008 that Fisher left the religious order in 1979.) The pair remained in touch for years, Gleeson said.

When she was about 40 years old, a therapist suggested to Gleeson that she had been sexually abused as a child. At first, Gleeson said, she defended Fisher and insisted that what she had with the nun was a love that no one else could understand. But eventually, she came to understand that Fisher had been a pedophile.

“It rocks your world,” Gleeson said of the realization. “And it takes you back to a new starting place, and it makes a fool out of what you thought was solid.”

In the late 1990s, Gleeson started attending SNAP meetings and hearing from fellow survivors of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. In 2003, Gleeson decided to file a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of St. Louis, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, and Judith Fisher.

She said the archdiocese immediately sought to distance itself from the abuse.

“Even though they employed her, even though that’s who my parents went to, even though they knew of it, they’re like, ‘You can’t get us,’” she said. 

Since so many years had passed, Gleeson said, she hoped that Fisher would want to confess and answer questions about the abuse. But Fisher died in 2004, before she could be deposed. The death left Gleeson feeling “robbed.”

“I thought maybe she was ready to answer some questions so that I could forgive, put things aside. And it never happened,” Gleeson said. “It wasn’t the money I was after, it was just some closure. And I couldn’t do that without explanations, and it’s left me with questions.”

Gleeson eventually decided to settle with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. (The archdiocese was not a party to the settlement, according to her former lawyer.) In 2005, the religious order’s leaders sent private letters to Gleeson apologizing for the harm caused by Fisher’s sexual abuse. Gleeson provided photos of these letters to HuffPost.

Looking back, Gleeson said she has regrets about remaining anonymous during the suit. She revealed her name to The Associated Press in 2008. Since then, she’s watched fellow survivors coming out of the woodwork thanks to the Me Too movement. The movement, Gleeson said, has given survivors hope that if they speak up, they might be believed.

Gleeson believes survivors of nun abuse are “everywhere,” but are afraid to come forward because of the bias against seeing nuns as sexual abusers.

“Nuns kind of get a free ride. It’s women. They’re sweet,” she said. “You think of women as being nurturing. And you trust them more. And when it’s done gently and sweetly and they paint it to be to your benefit, you believe it.”

“It’s a true form of brainwashing,” she said. “I have to believe that, because how else could I have been so blinded?”

A Scandal Uncovered

After The Boston Globe’s Spotlight team began reporting on the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse crisis in 2002, U.S. Catholic bishops came together to set up guidelines for how to prevent child abuse in the future. The document that came out of these discussions, the Dallas Charter, set up procedures for how the church should respond to sex abuse allegations, cooperate with civil authorities, discipline offenders, and be accountable to its lay members. The charter has been updated several times since it was first approved in June 2002.

While the charter was a step forward with respect to Catholic priests, it doesn’t apply to all Catholic officials. Only men can be ordained in the Catholic Church. While nuns and religious sisters are consecrated members of the church, they are technically part of the laity. The church generally has closer oversight of clergy than it does over its nuns and sisters.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which represents about 80% of Catholic sisters in the U.S., told HuffPost that it encourages members to adopt sexual abuse prevention policies and believes most of its affiliated religious orders already have these in place. However, the group is a volunteer organization that can’t mandate that its members take that step, a spokeswoman said.

Sharon Euart, a religious sister and canon lawyer with expertise in matters concerning religious orders, told HuffPost that as of now, there is nothing similar to the Dallas Charter that applies to all orders of religious women in the U.S. 

In response to the sex abuse crisis, Euart said that religious institutes ― another phrase Catholics use to describe religious orders ― have typically created their own standards and procedures for handling abuse allegations. These groups look to the Dallas Charter and to her group, the Resource Center for Religious Institutes, for guidance. However, the RCRI can only recommend that each order has an abuse policy in place, Euart said ― there’s no way to enforce that suggestion.

“What’s happening right now for most institutes is that it’s the first legal action they’ve ever had,” she said. “Hopefully they have a policy on what to do.”

Even if a religious order is of pontifical right, meaning it is under the authority of the pope, this technicality doesn’t mean the diocese is off the hook in a sexual abuse lawsuit. Religious orders need to have permission from local bishops to operate in a specific diocese.

Hamilton, from the advocacy group Child USA, said that both a religious order and its local diocese can be named as defendants in lawsuits.

“Archdioceses try to argue that they don’t have any obligation and try to move all responsibility to the order,” Hamilton said. “That’s not the way canon law operates.”

With a renewed push to change to laws around sexual abuse, there’s a chance that many survivors of nun abuse can finally get their day in court.

Changes Brewing

Most survivors take years to come to terms with childhood sexual abuse. Studies suggest that the average age that victims disclose their abuse is 52. This means that by the time survivors are ready to come forward, they’ve often missed the legal deadline ― or statute of limitations ― to pursue their claims in court.

Marsh, Cahill’s lawyer, said when his client got her life together in the 1990s and realized that what happened to her was abuse and exploitation, she was far outside New Jersey’s statute of limitations.

But changes are brewing.

Since 2002, survivors and advocates have been pushing for states to change their statute of limitations laws to accommodate child abuse survivors. For many, this means extending the amount of time victims have to file criminal or civil lawsuits. It also often means opening a temporary window for victims who previously missed the deadline to file lawsuits.

The Catholic Church has lobbied hard to prevent statute of limitations reform, arguing that doing so would expose the church to financially crippling lawsuits that would impact its ability to keep schools and social service programs open.

But for the first time in years, the scales seem to be tipped in favor of victims. This year, New York, which had some of the most restrictive statute of limitations laws, passed the Child Victims Act. The law gives victims until their 28th birthday to seek criminal felony charges and until their 55th birthday to bring civil lawsuits. The law also creates a one-year-long “look-back window,” starting this August, that will allow old claims to be revived.

Lawmakers in New Jersey, where the Sisters of Charity order is based, passed legislation in March that gives victims more time to file lawsuits. The bill, which is expected to be signed by the state’s governor, will establish a two-year look-back window for older cases, beginning on the date the law goes into effect. 

Marsh said he is now considering taking legal action against the Diocese of Camden and the Sisters of Charity based on his client’s claims. If that happens, it could be the first time Cahill’s claims are heard in court.

“Trish’s long struggle for accountability exemplifies the pain and despair that so many victims and survivors experience,” he said. “Now that the playing field has been leveled in New Jersey, Trish and others like her can hold accountable the institutions responsible for her abuse and begin the long, difficult, but hopeful, process of recovery.”

For her part, Cahill said she also wants justice and accountability. But years of grooming from Sister Eileen Shaw have left a deep wound. So sometimes, she wavers.

“I want her in jail. I’ve been in jail for my entire life,” Cahill told HuffPost.

A little later, she hedged that statement.

“I say that, and then I say to you, ‘I don’t want to hurt her,’ and I don’t,” Cahill said. “There’s a real conflict here.”

Decades after she first spotted the predator nun who would change her life, Cahill’s pain is still raw.

“I feel like I’m in a hole. I feel like that little girl that fell in the cave a hundred years ago, and they almost didn’t get her,” Cahill said. “And I can see the blue sky, but I can’t get up. I feel like I’m doing that right now with my life.”

“Why does she get to live on the blue sky, the pink cloud, and I’m in the dungeon? I never hurt anybody.”

Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.

It takes two people to open a new condom intended to promote sexual consent, but critics say the condom-makers behind the product missed the point entirely. 

In a new ad campaign by BBDO Argentina for Tulipán (Tulip) ―  a company that sells adult toys and condoms ― we’re introduced to the “Consent Pack,” which requires four hands to click on four buttons at the same time before it opens. 

“If it’s not a yes, it’s a no,” the tagline in a promo video says. The caption for one promotional tweet reads: “With sex, anything goes if a rule is respected: both people’s consent to do it.”

But while the product may be well-intended, critics, including sex therapists, say it promotes some misguided ideas about consensual sex: True consent is not a one-time transaction ― press the magic buttons or hear “yes” once and you’re in the clear. Consent is an ongoing conversation.

“This product seems to misunderstand that consent does not begin and end at the point when a condom enters the equation,” said Luke Knanishu, a therapist at The Gender & Sexuality Therapy Collective in New York City. 

“In every sexual encounter, either party can indicate at any time that they are no longer interested in engaging in sexual activity and with this indication, they withdraw their consent,” he told HuffPost.

Plus, as many noted on Twitter, a would-be sexual assaulter isn’t very likely to pause and think, “Oh, hey, let me grab my consent condom first.” 

“The biggest issue here is that it negates what we should be teaching [people] about rape, sexual assault and why ‘no’ means ‘no’,” said George M. Johnsson, a journalist and activist who tweeted about the condom.

The consent condom, even if it’s just a marketing ploy at this point, treats the symptom rather than the root cause of the problem, Johnson said.

“The root cause is that a lot of sexual ideology is built on dominance and patriarchal beliefs of body ownership,” he told HuffPost.

“Furthermore, rape and sexual assault can happen even after sex is initially agreed to,” he said. “A person saying ‘no’ during intercourse still means ‘no,’ so this condom does nothing to address the actual problem.” 

Some have also raised concerns that the product appears designed to protect men from rape accusations rather than protecting women from sexual violence.

It’s already difficult to prove sexual assault in court; with the consent condom, someone who took a sexual encounter too far could claim, “But I got her to open the condom with me, so technically it wasn’t rape.” (Plus, as Mashable mentioned, it may actually be possible for one person to open it.)

Others on Twitter remarked on the package’s design, calling it a bit abelist on top of all the other problems. 

In a statement to CNN, executive creative directors of BBDO Argentina, Joaquín Campins and Christian Rosli, said, “Tulipan has always spoken of safe pleasure, but for this campaign we understood that we had to talk about the most important thing in every sexual relationship: pleasure is possible only if you both give your consent first.”

BBDO did not respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.

Regardless, you’re not likely to see the condom in a bedroom near you anytime soon. Tulipán recently launched a limited-edition run in Buenos Aires, with samples available at bars and events. The company told CNN that it eventually plans to sell the condom online.

If nothing else, the ad campaign has started a decent conversation about consent, however clumsy its makers were in its execution.

“I suppose it’s been successful in getting people to talk, so there’s that,” said Kelly Shibari, an adult industry publicist and entertainer. “But the reality is, condoms need to be easy to open, comfortable to wear, easy to tell if it’s broken, and inexpensive.”

“We need to be making condoms, and information about condoms, easier to access, and definitely not locked in a box,” she said.  

The Supreme Court on Friday directed all political parties to furnish receipts of electoral bonds to the Election Commission with details of the amounts received through them and payment received on each bond by May 30.

The details of funding received through electoral bonds shall be kept in sealed cover by EC also till further orders, the court said. 

The court said it would examine in detail changes made in law and ensure balance does not tilt in favour of any party.

The top court had on Thursday reserved its verdict on the plea of an NGO which has challenged the validity of the scheme and sought that either the issuance of electoral bonds be stayed or the names of donors be made public to ensure transparency in the poll process.

If the identity of the purchasers of electoral bonds meant for transparent political funding is not known, then the efforts of the government to curtail black money in elections would be “futile”, the Supreme Court had said Thursday.

The Centre vehemently supported the scheme saying that the purpose behind it is to eliminate the use of black money in elections and asked the court not to interfere with it at this stage and examine the whether it has worked or not only after the elections. 

“So far as the electoral bond scheme is concerned, it is the matter of policy decision of the government and no government can be faulted for taking policy decision,” it told the bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna.

The bench asked Attorney General KK Venugopal, representing the government, as to whether bank knows the identity of purchasers at the time of issuing the electoral bonds.

Venugopal answered in affirmative and then said the banks issue bonds after ascertaining KYC which is applicable for opening the bank accounts. 

“When the bank issues the electoral bond, does the bank have details on which bond was issued to ‘X’ and which bond was issued to ‘Y’,” the bench asked. 

On getting the response in negative, the bench said, “If the identity of purchasers of bonds is not known then there will be greater ramification on the Income Tax law and all your (government’s) efforts to curtail black money will be futile”.

Venugopal said bonds are purchased through proper banking channels by using white money and through cheques, demand drafts and electronic means and no third party cheques are allowed to procure bonds.

The bench then asked about donations by shell companies and said that if the identity of donors are not known then such firms would “turn black to white” and moreover, the KYC is only the certification of the source of money. 

“Existence of shell companies and conversion of black to white will always exist. What more could we do. There is no alternative method. We are trying to do something which cannot be worse off because shell companies exist,” the top law officer said.

Venugopal said the bank knows the customer, but it does not know which bond was issued to which party.

He also said the anonymity of donors of electoral bonds is to be maintained for various reasons such as fear of repercussions on a firm or an individual if the other political party or group wins.

The voters have the right to know the persons who have funded their candidates.

“It is not voters’ concern to know where the money comes from. Transparency cannot be looked as a ‘mantra’. What is the realities of the country. This is a scheme that will eliminate black money from the elections,” he said. 

He also said that the donors also have the right to privacy and the apex court verdict recognises the right to have political affiliations and urged the court to uphold the scheme. 

Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR)’, said that the scheme has nothing to do with the effort to curb black money and it opens the banking means also to donate by remaining anonymous.

“Earlier, you could donate cash to the party, now you can donate through bank also,” he said.

At the outset, Venugopal said: “Historically, black money is used in elections. This is a reformatory steps. The scheme can be examined after the elections.

“Cash is seized on daily basis. Liquors and ‘biryani’ are distributed. This is the relaity and the question is should we make an effort to curb it or not.” 

The poll panel has fixed Rs 1 and Rs 2 crore expenditure ceiling for assembly and Lok Sabha polls but candidates spend Rs 20-30 crore, he said.

The Centre and the Election Commission had taken contrary stands in the Supreme Court on Wednesday over political funding with the government wanting to maintain anonymity of the donors of electoral bonds and the poll panel batting for revealing the names of donors for transparency.

“We have no policy of state funding of elections. Funds are received from supporters, affluent persons and companies. They all want their political party to win. If their party does not win then they apprehend some repercussions and hence secrecy or anonymity is required,” Venugopal had told the bench. 

The EC, represented by senior lawyer Rakesh Dwivedi, had opposed Centre’s submissions and said secrecy allowed in the electoral bonds scheme “legalises anonymity”.

ADR’s application has sought stay on the Electoral Bond Scheme, 2018, which was notified by the Centre in January last year.

In its affidavit, the Centre had said the electoral bonds “attempt at bringing greater transparency, ensuring KYC compliance and keeping an audit trail in comparison to the earlier opaque system of cash donations.

On February 2 last year, the apex court had sought the Centre’s response on a plea moved by the CPI(M), which had termed the issuance of electoral bonds by the government as “arbitrary” and “discriminatory”.

(With PTI inputs)

QUETTA — A powerful bomb went off at an open-air market in the southwestern city of Quetta on Friday, killing at least 16 people and wounding several others, police and hospital officials said.

The bombing took place near a residential area where minority Shiite Muslims live, according to senior police chief Abdur Razzaq Cheema.

He said authorities transported the dead and wounded to hospitals, where some of the victims were listed in critical condition.

“Emergency has been declared at hospitals and it seems people from the Hazara community were the target,” he said.

He said at least eight Shiites were among the dead. One paramilitary soldier and seven other people were also killed in the bombing, he said. TV footage showed several damaged shops and at least one vehicle of paramilitary security forces.

No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but outlawed Sunni extremist groups have claimed similar attacks in the past. Sunni extremists view Shiites as apostates deserving of death.

Jam Kamal Khan, the chief minister of Balochistan province, condemned the bombing, saying “the enemy of humanity is behind this act of terrorism.” He said he ordered authorities to provide best possible treatment to those wounded.

Quetta is the capital of Balochistan, which also is the scene of a low-level insurgency by separatists demanding more autonomy and a greater share in the region’s natural resources such as gas and oil.

In an unprecedented move, over 150 veterans of India’s armed forces wrote to the President on the eve of the first phase of the Lok Sabha election urging him to stop parties from politicising the military and its symbols.

The letter, which was almost marked to the Chief Election Commission, was signed by three former Army chiefs (General Sunith Francis Rodrigues, General Shankar Roychowdhury, General Deepak Kapoor), four former Navy chiefs (Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas, Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, Admiral Arun Prakash, Admiral Suresh Mehta) and former Air Force chief, Air Chief Marshal NC Suri.

In the letter, the veterans call out the “unusual and completely unacceptable practice of political leaders taking credit for military operations like cross-border strikes.”

They refer to UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s speech in which he called the armed forces “Modi ji ki Sena” and say that the Election Commission’s order “do not appear to have resulted in any substantive change of behaviour and practice on the ground.”

The letter reprimands party workers “seen wearing military uniforms” and the display of “posters and images with pictures of soldiers and especially of Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman”.

The veterans say political parties and candidates seem to be acting in total disregard of model code of conduct in place during elections. “We fear that such incidents may only increase as polling day draws near,” the letter says.

They urge President Ram Nath Kovind to take steps to “urgently direct all political parties” to stop using “the military, military uniforms or symbols, and any actions by military formations or personnel” for political purposes or agendas.

You can read their full letter below:

Dear Shri Ram Nath Kovind Ji,

We, the signatories, are Armed Forces Veterans who have served in the defence of our nation in various appointments, in peacetime and in operational and war zones over the past several decades.

The apolitical and secular nature of India’s Armed Forces has been an article of faith for every soldier, sailor and airman. India’s Armed Forces have loyally upheld the democratic principle of civil control over the military. Their military professionalism on and off the field, combined with the devotion to duty in protecting India’s territorial sovereignty and national integrity, remains widely appreciated.

The soldiers, sailors and airmen of the Armed Forces owe allegiance to the Constitution of India, of which you, as President of the Indian Union, are the legal custodian. It is for this reason that the President is also the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces and we serve and execute orders at the will of the President and as decided from time to time by the Executive – that is, the Government of the day.

You would be aware that those in active service (men and women of all ranks in the Army, Navy and Air Force) cannot speak out, even on matters which might affect their interests adversely, since they are subject to military law and are governed by the parliamentary Acts of their respective Service.

However, we Veterans being in continuous touch with our own military fraternity, as also with serving personnel at all levels, have a ‘finger on the pulse’, so to speak. And it is for this reason that we write to bring to your attention, as the Supreme Commander of India’s Armed Forces, some concerns which have caused considerable alarm and disquiet among both the serving and the retired personnel of our Forces.

We refer, Sir, to the unusual and completely unacceptable practice of political leaders taking credit for military operations like cross-border strikes, and even going so far as to claim the Armed Forces to be “Modi ji ki Sena”. This is in addition to media pictures of election platforms and campaigns in which party workers are seen wearing military uniforms; and posters and images with pictures of soldiers and especially of Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, displayed.

We do appreciate that complaints by some senior retired personnel, including a written submission from a former Chief of the Naval Staff to the Chief Election Commissioner, have elicited a prompt response. Indeed a notification has been issued asking for an explanation from those responsible for these statements, including from the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. However we regret to state that these do not appear to have resulted in any substantive change of behaviour and practice on the ground.

With the General Elections round the corner, and given the prevailing environment where political parties and candidates seem to be acting in total disregard of the declaration of the ‘model code of conduct’, we fear that such incidents may only increase as polling day draws near.

We believe that you will surely agree that any such misuse of the Armed Forces established under the Constitution of India and under the supreme command of the President of India, would impinge adversely on the morale and fighting efficiency of the serving man or woman in uniform. It could therefore directly affect national security and national integrity.

We therefore appeal to you to ensure that the secular and a-political character of our Armed Forces is preserved.

We hereby respectfully urge you to take all necessary steps to urgently direct all political parties that they must forthwith desist from using the military, military uniforms or symbols, and any actions by military formations or personnel, for political purposes or to further their political agendas.

This communication is copied to the Chief Election Commissioner of the Election Commission of India for information and action.

Congress on Friday mocked Union minister and BJP candidate from Amethi Smriti Irani over the changes in her affidavit filed during her nomination.

Irani had submitted to the Election Commission that she did not complete her graduation from Delhi University.

In her affidavit for 2014 polls, she had reportedly said she graduated from the university in 1994.

In a dig at the Union minister, Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi sang a parody of the title song Iran’s famous TV serial ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’.

In her affidavit filed during her nomination, Irani, who is contesting against Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, said she passed secondary school examination in 1991 and senior secondary school examination in 1993.

She has said she did not complete her Bachelor of Commerce (Part-I) a three-year degree course from Delhi University’s School of Open Learning in 1994.

In her affidavit for 2014 polls, she had reportedly said she graduated from the university in 1994, triggering a row over the veracity of her claim, with opposition parties alleging she was not a graduate.

This year, she has declared assets worth over Rs 4.71 crore.

According to the affidavit, Irani has declared movable property worth over Rs 1.75 crore.

Her immovable assets are worth Rs 2.96 crore, which include an agricultural land valued at over Rs 1.45 crore and a residential building of Rs 1.50 crore.

In the movable category, she had cash in hand till March 31 totalling about Rs 6.24 lakh besides over Rs 89 lakh in bank accounts.

She also has over Rs 18 lakh in NSS and postal savings insurance and another Rs 1.05 lakh in other investments.

Irani has vehicles valued at Rs 13.14 lakh and jewellery worth Rs 21 lakh.

There is no FIR pending against her and she has not taken any loan.

Her husband Zubin has movable property of more than Rs 1.69 crore and immovable property worth Rs 2.97 crore.

(With PTI inputs)

The Congress party manifesto for the 2019 general elections promises an overhaul of criminal laws that affect human rights. These promises echo long-standing demands by legal practitioners, activists, and civil society to ensure the criminal justice system is in resonance with our Constitutional values.

There are three major promises. The first category are the essential ones such as making bail the rule and jail the exception, mandatory release of undertrials on completion of minimum time and comprehensive prison reforms.

The second, are the long overdue ones such as discarding the laws on sedition and criminal defamation and amending certain others. While the third are ambitious promises such as restrictions on the powers of special investigation agencies to prevent abuse.

At face value, this is welcome prioritisation of the criminal justice system that is desperately and unquestionably in need of reform. However, it’s worth recalling the Congress’s own role in passing some of these laws, which have been misused by successive governments, and their staunch resistance to their repeal or reform over the years.

While the present NDA government has taken misuse of laws and agencies to unprecedented levels, past Congress governments bear responsibility for laying the groundwork. The manifesto does not show any self-reflection regarding its own role. We also do not know the nature of assessment that led the party to these promises, or whether there is unanimous opinion on them within the party. Thus, their critical examination is essential.

POTA Becomes UAPA

In 2004, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government (headed by the Congress party) expressed concern at the gross misuse of Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) and promised to repeal the draconian law. On coming to power, the UPA re-introduced and in fact worsened the repressive provisions that had existed in POTA by making amendments to the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Since then, the UAPA has been used by governments across the political spectrum, especially BJP governments, to file false cases against critics and ideological opponents. One recent example is the Bhima-Koregaon case, where UAPA charges were egregiously invoked against lawyers and activists by the Pune Police. So while the manifestos’ promises of reform should not be dismissed out rightly, they must be seen in the context of this deception.

Sedition

The Congress’s laudable promise to “omit” the colonial offence of sedition because of misuse and redundancy, glosses over hard truths. Its misuse began with Congress governments immediately after independence and has continued unabated. The recent most famous instance was of cartoonist Aseem Trivedi.

Misuse of laws by governments is neither limited to sedition nor a thing of the past, and the Congress is no exception to this. The recent invocation of National Security Act charges against three people for allegedly slaughtering cows by the newly elected Congress government in Madhya Pradesh is a case in point. Or as noted recently by the Delhi High Court, the arrest and terrorism charges under the dreaded Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act, against the widows who accused Sajjan Kumar of participating in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

In this light, are the Congress’s promises an attempt at redemption? And if voted to power, will the party be able to stem its own instinct to repress the people through misuse of laws? One hopes so.

The redundancy aspect of sedition is also of the Congress’s own making. In 2004, mere months after coming to power, the UPA government amended the UAPA. This amendment redefined the offence of “unlawful activity” and criminalised actions and words that cause disaffection against India, similar to the offence of sedition. So, this promise does little beyond dropping the use of the word ‘sedition’. The offence would still exist (under a different name), the punishment would still exist, but it would become impossibly hard for accused persons to get bail, because UAPA requires them to virtually prove their innocence in order to get bail.

NIA, ED, CBI

One of the boldest promises in the manifesto, is to check the powers of specialised investigating agencies, restricting them to Constitutional and legal limits, thus bringing them at par with the police. There is a crying need for accountability of these agencies, vested as they are with excessive powers, far beyond those provided to the police.

For example, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, there is no burden on the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to prove the allegations against the accused beyond reasonable doubt, a basic and established principle in criminal law. Instead, the charged accused is presumed to be guilty, unless s/he can disprove it. A similar power has been given to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the UAPA. Some of these powers collide head on with the fundamental rights provided under the Constitution and limiting them, or at the very least, a check on the agencies that exercise them, is immediately required.

There are several recent instances of these agencies working to shield or target persons based on their political affiliations. For instance, consider the NIA’s strangely botched up investigation where in the judge’s own words, the “best evidence” in the case against former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh member  Swami Aseemanand, for the Samjhauta train bombings, was withheld for unknown reasons.

Similarly, the ED’s investigations against opposition politicians, as well of organisations critical of the government, such as Amnesty and Greenpeace, are aimed at silencing that criticism. So the Congress needs to be reminded of its own role in granting them excessive powers, which has enabled their systematic and routine misuse, especially by the present NDA government, ironically against the Congress as well.

The BJP Manifesto

In contrast, the BJP manifesto has nothing meaningful to offer, and does not even identify any specific pressing issues in our criminal justice system. Nor is there any emphasis on correcting the misuse of laws. None of this is surprising, given that the current government has relied heavily on abuse of laws and agencies to cement its own power.

The only issue that is given any recognition, is police reforms. There is a generally worded proposal for modernization of police forces to make them more adept at dealing with cyber-crimes and more sensitive to citizens. No doubt, these are valid goals, but political parties routinely put out such general promises, without providing any specific roadmap to achieving them, making it harder to hold them accountable to it when they fail to fulfil them. The current proposal is no exception, and is completely lacking in any details. Then there is the added question about what the party has done on this issue in its current term in office, given that cyber-crime and insensitivity of the police towards vulnerable sections of the society are not a new phenomenon.

There is also a proposal to formulate a ‘Model Police Act’. However, this is completely misleading, since a Model Police Act is already in existence, drafted in 2005 by a committee set up by the Ministry of Home Affairs, headed by eminent jurist and senior lawyer Soli Sorabjee. In fact, based on that draft, at least 17 states have either passed new laws, or amended their existing laws to bring them closer to this draft. Instead, the focus needs to be on ensuring a complete implementation of the existing Model Police Act across India.

Looking Ahead

In promising these urgently needed criminal law reforms, the Congress manifesto strikes the right note, but a fresh start has to be accompanied by an acknowledgment of past errors. Especially the setbacks to democratic functioning of the country that have ravaged the lives of innocent people through false or careless prosecutions. An acknowledgment of their own role in resisting reform and cementing impunity is necessary, before proposals of reform can be taken seriously in good faith. Yet, while the Congress manifesto does not lay down a definite path to achieving goals of criminal justice reform, it does offer a welcome beginning towards highlighting such issues that rarely get the attention they deserve.

NEW DELHI — The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on April 15 a plea challenging the Election Commission’s ban on the release of biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A bench headed by Chief Justice said it will hear the plea filed by producers of the biopic.

The poll panel had on Wednesday banned the screening of the biopic during poll period, saying any such film that subserves purpose of any political entity or individual should not be displayed in the electronic media. 

The apex court had on Tuesday disposed of the petition filed by a Congress activist seeking stay on the release of the biopic, saying the Election Commission was the right forum to decide the issue.

The top court had left it for the EC to take a call by saying that since the movie was not certified at that time by the Censor Board it could not entertain the petition seeking ban on the film.

Later on Tuesday evening the Censor Board had certified the biopic and the Congress activist on Wednesday succeeded in securing a ban on its release from the Election Commission.

It sounds unbelievable but doctors in Taiwan have removed four bees embedded in a woman’s left eye.

The 29-year-old patient went to Fooyin University Hospital last month because of severe pain in that eye. Doctors discovered the tiny bees feeding off the moisture in her tear ducts, according to Business Insider Singapore.

“Under the microscope, I slowly pulled them out, one after another,” ophthalmologist Dr. Hung Chi-ting said at a press conference last week.

The patient, who was only identified by her last name He, said the ordeal began when she was plucking weeds around a gravestone. She said she rinsed what she thought was sand from her eyes, but the left eye was heavily swollen by the time she got home a few hours later, according to The New York Times.

The bees that Hung removed were alive. They are colloquially known as sweat bees because feed on sweat and tears from humans and animals. However, they rarely sting.

Hung said the patient’s contact lenses may have saved her vision.

“She was wearing contact lenses so she didn’t dare to rub her eyes in case she broke the lens,” he told the BBC. “If she did, she could have induced the bees to produce venom. ... She could have gone blind.”

The woman was discharged and is expected to make a full recovery. The still-living bees were sent to a research facility where they will be studied, Hung said. 

“This is the first time in Taiwan we’ve seen something like this,” he told the BBC.

Matan Shelomi, an associate professor of entomology at National Taiwan University, told The Washington Postthat, luckily, stings by sweat bees aren’t that painful. He compared it to “a tiny spark [that] has singed a single hair on your arm.”

“She couldn’t have asked for a better bee to sting her in her eye,” Shelomi said.

You can see doctor and patient discuss the incident in the video below.

BARAMULLA, Jammu And Kashmir — “If our pir says vote for the RSS, we will vote for RSS. If he says vote for the Congress, we will vote for the Congress. If he says, boycott elections, we won’t even spit at elections,” a Shia man in Baramulla parliamentary constituency of Jammu and Kashmir said.

This is the clearest articulation of a community’s motive for voting in Kashmir, where separatists long ago made participation in elections a morally fraught choice by likening them to betrayal of the struggle for right to self-determination. Voters are, therefore, often seen struggling to explain why they participate in an exercise they are often at pains to dismiss as futile in the same breath.

“You know who our pir is,” the Shia man said, referring to Imran Raza Ansari, a prominent Shia religious leader who was a minister in the People’s Democratic Party-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition government. After the BJP pulled out of the government dramatically in 2017 and PDP faltered, Imran quit the party and joined People’s Conference led by Sajjad Lone, who was an ally of the BJP and minister in the coalition.  

Meanwhile in Handwara, Lone’s home town, many of his followers have switched sides this election and are voting for other parties because of his proximity to the BJP.

Many other Shia voters in Mirgund, where 95 percent of the population is Shia, explain why political alliances, developmental agendas or manifestoes make little difference to their choice of candidates even if, individually, they say that their leader has made a wrong choice. Kashmir, as a whole, is majority Sunni.

“I know BJP is anti-Muslim. It is a terrorist organisation. But we don’t vote for any party. We vote for our pir,” said a young man who works with Jammu and Kashmir Bank. To reinforce the young man’s point, an elderly man said, “If the family’s head says ‘ruin the family’, the family has no choice but to ruin itself.”

By 1.15 pm, out of the total 1,300 odd voters, 500 had cast their vote, a “dismal” turnout compared to the last Lok Sabha poll, they said, but decent when compared to polling elsewhere in the constituency. Some of the poor residents at work would miss the vote and a miniscule minority was boycotting because of separatist sentiment. Fewer guards could be seen in this polling station housed inside a school, compared to dozens of policemen and paramilitary soldiers guarding other booths in the constituency.  

Since 1990, when the anti-India insurgency erupted, Shias have by and large voted for their religious leaders who are also their default representatives in the local Assembly. These leaders have in the past aligned with National Conference, Congress and PDP, creating an erroneous perception that the community is pro India.

The BJP tried to tap into this perception by recently announcing job reservations for Shias, demarcating a constituency with majority Shia voters, lifting ban on Muharram processions, a separate Shia Waqf Board and exclusive Hajj quota for the community, which constitutes about 14 percent of the state’s population and is mainly concentrated in Budgam district, a few areas of Srinagar and Pattan in Baramulla district.

Had there been a sizable boycott of elections yesterday in Baramulla constituency (total number of voters: about 14 lakh), about a lakh Shia voters could prove decisive. That is probably why more than the sops, most political parties bank on the community’s propensity to follow their religious leaders in matters of local politics.

“This is clear that majority of the Shia community votes,” state BJP leader and in charge of its grievance cell Dr Rafi told Kashmir Press news portal recently.

“So there is no impact of the poll boycott or low voter turn on the Shia votes. Their voting share in Kashmir and Ladakh is competitive as well. And, we are working hard to garner those votes by roping in the leaders from the community,” he had said, counting Imran Ansari as an ally by association: Ansari is People’s Conference member and People’s Conference is BJP ally.

But this is not how Shia voters in Mirgund see their leader. They try to explain the contradictions inherent in his association with Sajad Lone. They said Imran has nothing to do with BJP because he is a member of the People’s Conference. Also, they said, Imran has told them that he would “bring his own family members out and participate in any struggle needed for preserving the unique constitutional status of Kashmir”.

Their defence of Ansari’s decision to align with Lone is despite the fact that BJP manifesto clearly stating that the legislations granting Jammu and Kashmir a special constitutional status in the Indian Constitution would be abrogated if the party retains power.

The Shia community’s electoral conundrum, a local Shia youth leader said, actually springs from the impossibility of having an independent political existence. None of the Assembly constituencies in Kashmir Valley has Shia majority. The Shia leaders win two to three Assembly seats that have 45-48 percent Shia population because the community votes en bloc.

“Our leader has to be part of the same muck the rest of Kashmir is mired in,” said the youth leader. He asks why should a minority be judged for its participation in elections when the majority Sunni population does the same.

National Conference and PDP leaders have in their election speeches called BJP feting the Shia and other communities as an attempt to fragment the Kashmiri society on the basis of sects and ethnicities. But many in Mirgund pointed to the fact how PDP, which has lost much of the political ground due to the catastrophic alliance with BJP, has fielded Aga Mohsin, a Shia leader, for the Srinagar constituency. Mohsin had contested 2014 Lok Sabha elections as an independent candidate, securing 16,000 out of the 3.12 lakh votes polled.

Many Shias are, however, not comfortable with reducing the community to a vote bank, given how such reductive politics could deepen sectarian tensions. Iran-based Kashmiri journalist Zafar Mehdi, hailing from a prominent Shia family, reacting to BJP’s poll promises for Shias, wrote on his Facebook wall:

“Ram Madhav is smart but the people he is trying to hoodwink are smarter. Appeasement politics and ill-conceived election gimmicks, especially of this kind, never really worked on us. Such moves have been attempted in the past too. We refuse to fall into this vicious trap. We refuse to accept India’s colonization and the insipid charade of democracy. We refuse to participate in a sham exercise meant to strangulate our legitimate political aspirations. We refuse to swear allegiance to tyrants and oppressors… We are not a minority and we should not be treated as one. We are all Kashmiris and Muslims and any attempt to divide us, polarize our society or weaken our movement will be resisted and thwarted.”

Kangana Ranaut, who has been consistently attacking an array of Bollywood A-listers, from Aamir Khan to Ranbir Kapoor, has unleashed fresh vitriol on Alia Bhatt.

The actress may’ve been praised unanimously for her role as Safeena in Zoya Akhtar’s critically-acclaimed Gully Boy, but she hasn’t found a fan in Ranaut, who thought it was a ‘mediocre’ performance. 

“I am embarrassed...What is there to beat in Gully Boy performance ....same snappy muh phat girl...” Ranaut told the entertainment website Bollywood Life. The portal had conducted a poll on 2019′s best performances which Ranaut won.

“Bollywood’s idea of a fiery girl, woman empowerment and good acting, spare me this embarrassment, please. Media has taken filmy kids love too far...stop pampering mediocre work or else bar will never be raised,” the Manikarnika actress further said.

In the past, Ranaut had called Bhatt Karan Johar’s ‘puppet,’ saying that none of the industry stalwarts supported her during Manikarnika.

Back then, she had said, “I suggested that she (Alia) grows some spine and supports an important film about woman empowerment and nationalism...if she doesn’t have a voice of her own and her existence is all about being KJo’s puppet then I don’t consider her successful.” 

It appears that Sophie Turner had a pretty bah-ass time doing goat yoga.

The “Game of Thrones” star recently tried out the quirky exercise trend in a British Vogue video published Thursday and loved it so much, that she jokingly said the experience was more thrilling than when her fiancé, Joe Jonas, proposed to her.

“I’ve never felt that excited about anything in my life, ever,” the 23-year-old actress said with a totally sincere face. “And I’ve been proposed to and that wasn’t even the best day of my life, this was.”

Turner, who was way more interested in interacting with goats than doing any actual yoga, delivered another stellar quote when she bottle-fed two of her barnyard friends at the same time.

“Damn, it’s like me at a bar,” she joked.

Oh, Sophie, don’t we know.

Sai Pallavi’s Malayali fans are rejoicing after Athiran, a thriller starring her and Fahadh Faasil, hit screens on Friday. This is just the third Malayalam film by the actress, who became a sensation in Kerala after her 2015 debut Premam. She now has thousands of fans across South India for her spirited, natural acting and incredible dancing skills. Here, we round up all the times she won our hearts:

1. Malareeeee

Sai Pallavi shot to fame overnight after her appearance in the superhit Malayalam film Premam, opposite Nivin Pauly. To a lot of fans, she is still Malar, the fresh-faced college teacher they fell in love with in the film. The actress won a lot of praise for wearing no make-up in the movie. Here’s the song that comes to mind when Malayalis hear her name.

2. ‘Vachinde’ from Fidaa

Sai Pallavi made her Telugu film debut with Fidaa, opposite Varun Tej. The song Vachinde from the film broke Kolaveri’s record to become the most viewed South Indian song on YouTube. That is, until it was beaten by....

3. ‘Rowdy Baby’

Yep. Sai Pallavi beat her own record with her excellent dance moves in Rowdy Baby, her latest viral hit with Dhanush.

Choreographed by Prabhu Deva, the song from the Tamil film Maari 2 was an instant hit online and set another YouTube record — a 100 million views in 16 days! 

Watch it below. You won’t be able to take your eyes off her.

4. Deja vu

At the beginning of the year, the actress posted a photo with Prabhu Deva, taken during the shoot of ‘Rowdy Baby’. She was a contestant on the dance reality show Ungalil Yaar Adhutha Prabhu Deva on the very same sets 10 years ago!

5. Insta hit

The actress’s latest posts on Instagram were a hit as she wore the traditional Kerala set sari for what looked like a Vishu photo shoot.

BONUS

We circle back to Sai Pallavi as Malar in Premam, showing her students a thing or two about how to dance.

It has just been a day since the Lok Sabha elections kicked off, and our timelines have already been blessed with plenty of WTF moments—there was the Andhra Pradesh candidate who smashed an EVM and got himself arrested, and the mystery of the disappearing indelible ink, to name a couple. And then is the much more serious issue of violations of the model code of conduct (MCC), like the magical NaMo TV that likes to call itself both an entertainment and news channel.

The Election Commission of India website has details of all MCC violations so far, with Jammu and Kashmir topping the list with around 65 incidents being investigated so far, followed by Kerala (32). But the surprise entrant is third on the list— Lakshadweep, India’s smallest constituency with 54,266 voters and one Lok Sabha seat, has already managed to get 26 cases for itself.

A beautiful island isn’t exactly what comes to mind when you think of vicious political scrummaging, so it is perhaps fitting that at least one of the reports is for putting up posters on a government tree. Meanwhile, the NCP president in Kavaratti, the capital of Lakshadweep, has so little to worry about that he filed a written complaint against a couple of labourers in the local development corporation for taking part in political activities.

What about the poster on the tree, you ask?

A complaint by the cVIGIL enforcement team notes that there were Congress posters on a government coconut tree on Kadmat Island, also known as Cardamom Island. The 9.3km-long coral island is a marine protected area, about 67km from Kavaratti.

After the complaint about the INC posters on a government coconut tree, the nodal officer of the MCC, with help from team members, removed the posters, the report notes.

The enforcement team also had a complaint about Congress posters on government properties, and the Election Commission expressed its displeasure.

Not to be one-upped, the NCP also plastered the islands with posters, including in a government well on Kadmat Island, which drew the ire of the cVIGIL team. Then Congress workers meanwhile put up posters near the jetty on the island. These were also found to be in violation of the MCC, and the two parties were cautioned about where they put up posters.

Things quickly escalated though. The cVIGIL team also filed a complaint about Congress and NCP party workers fighting in front of the Congress office on Kavaratti island. The MCC team found posters and NCP symbols on nearby buildings and—what else?—coconut trees, and a number of people involved in a scuffle. Things got so out of hand that two people had to be treated for their injuries. No coconut trees were reported to be harmed in the proceedings.

The NCP has been particularly active in the tiny archipelago, and its candidates have raised complaints about government officials being involved in political canvassing. P. Muhsin, the Secretary General of the party, also raised a complaint that some government employees visited the jail to… take political advantage. Muhsin also wanted a Congress functionary who is not a voter in Lakshadweep deported because he submitted the expenditure statement for the Congress candidate. This particular case was decided and disposed off by the nodal officer.

There have also been complaints about government officials being active in political discussions on social media, and complaints about Congress workers holding roadshows past 7pm. Unfortunately for people who value quiet time on tropical islands, the recommendation here was to drop the complaint. Meanwhile, there was a complaint against the NCP for displaying flags bigger than the maximum size permitted.

In an election season where campaign points come down to communal polarization, the question of who is Indian enough, and a maddening blitz of fake news and manipulation, it would actually be nice if all the rest of the country was worried about was which coconut trees to put up posters on.

NEW DELHI — Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Thursday named for the ‘Order of St Andrew the Apostle’ award by Russia for exceptional services in promoting bilateral ties between the two countries, a Russian embassy official said.

The Order of St Andrew the Apostle is the highest state decoration of Russia, the official said.

Modi has been conferred with the award for exceptional services in promoting special and privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India, the official said.

Union minister and BJP’s candidate for Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur Maneka Gandhi was heard making a convoluted appeal for votes in a video which surfaced on social media on Thursday. 

Gandhi, according to The Times of India, said that she would have second thoughts about helping Muslims if she wins from the Sultanpur seat without the community’s help. 

“This is important. I am winning. I am winning because of the love and support of people. But if my victory is without Muslims, I won’t feel that good. Then when a Muslim comes to me for work, I think let it be, how does it matter. It’s all give and take, isn’t it? We aren’t all sons of Mahatma Gandhi, are we? (laughter). It’s not that we keep on giving and then losing in the election. This victory will happen with or without you,” she told a gathering of Muslims in Sultanpur, according to NDTV. 

The report further quoted her as saying, “I have already won the elections, but you will need me. This is your chance to lay the foundation. When the election comes and this booth throws up 100 votes or 50 votes, and then you come to me for work we will see...I don’t see any divides, I see only pain, sadness and love. So it is up to you...”

“I am extending a hand of friendship. You can ask anyone in my former constituency of Pilibhit about my work. I have already won this election, the rest is up to you,” she was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

In its list of candidates for the 2019 polls, BJP had announced that Maneka Gandhi will contest from Sultanpur and Varun Gandhi from Pilibhit.

HBO bosses go to great lengths to prevent Game Of Thrones spoilers from leaking, so we’re not too sure how they’ll feel about Kit Harington’s latest admission.

Filming for the hotly-anticipated eighth and final series wrapped last year, and with the first episode about to air, the cast are busy promoting the show – while doing their best not to reveal any plot details.

However, Kit has revealed that he’s already blabbed about what’s to come to one friend, telling them exactly how the series will end.

Appearing on tonight’s Graham Norton Show, he explained: “The intensity of finishing something like this and not being able to tell anybody is so hard.

“It got too much, so I’ve told one person – my friend James, who doesn’t watch the show and fell asleep in the first episode of the very first season.

“I knew then that he was zero interested in what I do. We were having a drink the other night and I told him everything about how the series ends, and he couldn’t have looked less interested if he tried!”

Given that Sophie Turner’s fiancé Joe Jonas had to sign a non-disclosure agreement after spending so much time on set, we wouldn’t be surprised if bosses are cornering this friend as we speak.

Kit also told Graham what life after GOT has been like, revealing that he’s found it all pretty emotional.

He said: “I was determined to be cool about the end and decided that when people came up to me and said, ‘Are you Jon Snow?’ that I would say very calmly, ‘I used to be’.

“When I left the set for the final time I was very emotional, and when a girl came up to me and asked the inevitable question, I broke down and cried, ‘I used to be!’ She backed off pretty quickly.”

The first episode of Game Of Thrones will be simulcast in the US and the UK, getting its debut on Sky Atlantic at 2am on Monday 15 April. It will then be replayed on the channel at the more convenient time of 9pm.

The Graham Norton Show airs tonight on BBC One, at 10.35pm.

Headaches are a pain that many of us have to deal with on a daily basis. While some pass by quickly, others can linger, causing people to miss out on social engagements, lag behind at work or just feel downright awful.

A headache is one of the most common complaints that a patient brings into a doctor’s office, according to William Chow, a neurologist based in Los Angeles. We know the obvious remedies ― such as popping an Advil or extra-strength Tylenol ― but what if you don’t want to rely on your medicine cabinet all the time?

HuffPost chatted with experts on some surprising causes of headaches as well as some lesser-known ways to relieve them. Take a look below:

1. Address your nightly teeth grinding

One of the most under-discussed causes of headaches is jaw tension and tooth grinding, said Boryana Nikolova, a dentist based in London. According to Nikolova, “70% of adults grind their teeth,” which usually occurs at night when people don’t realize they’re doing it.

“Tooth grinding places tension on the tiny muscles that control your jaw and these muscles are around the side of your head and around your temples,” Nikolova said, adding that this could lead to headaches, especially in the first few hours after you wake up.

This condition, known in the medial world as bruxism, can be helped by practicing relaxation techniques before bed, as stress may lead to nighttime grinding. If the condition is severe, Nikolova suggested making an appointment with your dentist who can provide you with a specially made mouthguard.

“The appliance acts as a shock absorber for any residual grinding so it does not damage your teeth or wear out the muscles around your head. It is this wear that contributes to morning headaches,” she said.

2. Chug some H2O

Not staying hydrated? A telltale sign may be some pounding in your head. Studies show that drinking more water can help with headaches and migraines.

If you’re feeling head tension coming on and you haven’t refilled your glass in a while, you might want to make that a priority. Experts recommend adult women consume 91 ounces of water from beverages and food, and men should aim for 125 ounces. If you find yourself working out and sweating, you might want to toss in an extra glass or two.

And watch the caffeine, as it’s a diuretic. “For every cup of coffee you drink, you need to drink a few cups of water or you’re dehydrating your body, which causes more headaches in America than people can imagine,” said Sharmila Michael, a pharmacist in Mobile, Alabama.

3. Try a massage

Feeling a little tense these days? That might be contributing to your aching head. “There are limited clinical trials that have shown convincing evidence that massages treat headaches,” said Ayo Moses, a family medicine provider with CareMount Medical in New York.

He noted that in the event a headache is caused by muscle tension, “massage seems to help.”

“The mechanism behind the use of massages in tension headaches is that it increases blood flow to the affected areas, mostly to the neck, back of the head, and shoulders,” Moses said.

4. Take a stretch break

The same logic for massages also applies to activities like yoga, physical therapy and Pilates, which Chow said can “reduce the muscle tension component of headaches.” Taking an afternoon stretch break could go a long way in relieving a headache as well, said Julia Jones, a neurologist at Houston Methodist hospital.

“If you sit at a desk for work, make sure to sit with good neck and back posture, and take frequent breaks to move around and stretch,” she said, adding that a proper ergonomic setup at your workstation is a good idea as far as helping with neck pain. And significant neck pain with muscle spasms may definitely trigger headaches.

“Some of my patients like to use a standing desk as it does help with your posture. Headsets [for phones] also can be very beneficial in decreasing significant neck spasm,” she said.

5. Engage in a stress-reducing activity

“Stress management techniques are an excellent way to help prevent and relieve headaches,” Jones said. Try journaling, watching a funny movie on Netflix or engaging in some deep breathing exercises.

Stephen Silberstein, the director of the Headache Center at Jefferson University Hospital, is personally a fan of yoga for this technique. Silberstein said the practice can reduce the intensity and frequency of headaches and migraines as it “combines physical poses that strengthen and stretch muscles with deep breathing, meditation and relaxation.”

6. Consider a shot of Botox

Suffer severe migraine attacks? This specific relief method is currently only approved for chronic migraines, “meaning headaches at least half the days of the month, at least half of which are clearly migraine,” said Christopher H. Gottschalk, the chief of general neurology at Yale Medicine and an assistant professor of neurology at the Yale School of Medicine.

Gottschalk added that having Botox injected “all around the head and upper shoulders every three months has helped thousands of patients to an extraordinary degree.”

7. Get active

When your head hurts, it may be tempting to curl up ― but experts note that getting active can pay off. Regular exercise ― i.e., 20 to 30 minutes of low-impact cardio three to four times a week ― can help to reduce headaches, according to Chow. This, he explained is because staying fit gets the blood flowing and “improves your overall cardiovascular function and cognitive function.” His headache-combating suggestions include jogging, biking or swimming.

8. Log a good night’s sleep

Chow said sleep deprivation is a known trigger for headaches. But don’t overdo it: He warned that logging too many z’s ― i.e., oversleeping, especially while trying to catch up on sleep during the weekends ― can have the opposite effect and actually cause headaches. Seven to eight hours of sleep every night could reduce headache frequencies, Chow added.  

9. Give your eyes a break

Ming Wang, an ophthalmologist in Nashville, Tennessee, said many headaches can often be vision related. According to Wang, it’s common to feel headaches after overdoing it with reading, watching television or even focusing while driving long distances.

“These headaches will be more likely to occur at the end of the day and during the work or school week and less likely in the morning or on weekends,” Wang said.

To ease a headache likely caused by eye strain, try taking frequent computer breaks. If you are reading, stop every so often and focus on something in the room to give your eyes a reprieve. If that doesn’t work, you may need your eyes checked.

“An eye doctor should be a first step for anyone with headaches that seem related to their visual system,” Wang said. “A correct prescription is often able to alleviate the headaches, whether this is an update to a current prescription or a first-time prescription.”

10. Consider trying acupuncture

One study found that acupuncture might help people with frequent tension headaches to alleviate their pain. In a session, an acupuncturist will insert needles into specific pressure points along the body, such as along a person’sneck or back. The American Migraine Foundation said that “there is evidence that acupuncture reduces the frequency of headache in individuals with migraine, and that the effect may be similar to that observed with preventative medications.”

According to Diana Lane, an acupuncturist based in Austin, Texas, “acupuncture provides the ability to soften and alleviate various types of headaches by strategically redirecting blood flow in the body, thus releasing various biochemical signals that teach the body to reduce pain through the stimulation of the peripheral nervous system.”

11. Get more targeted treatment through technology

DIY method not working? Ask your doctor about the latest technology designed to help reduce or relieve headaches. There are products ― like electrical nerve simulators ― that may provide some help, according to Charlie Chen, a San Diego-based plastic surgeon who also treats migraine patients through noninvasive and surgical means.

“It’s an electrode that sends signals to the deeper nerves, which may be causing the headaches, to provide relief,” Chen said. He noted that a prescription is likely needed, “but it can be both preventative and stop ongoing migraines and general tension headaches.”

Another option for headache relief is biofeedback, a technique that helps people to control certain functions of their autonomic nervous system. According to the National Headache Foundation, with biofeedback, “individuals learn to control these functions by observing monitoring devices and reproducing desired behavior.” This has been touted as giving some patients a means of managing symptoms like headaches.

And finally, a nerve-blocking procedure can be helpful for combating severe headaches like acute migraines. According to Jones, a physician will use a combination of a steroid and lidocaine to help block the pain.

“The occipital nerve is the most common nerve blocked for headache relief,” she said, noting that the treatment may have to be repeated every three to six months. This method is widely accepted as a standard of care by headache experts, Jones said, but some insurance companies consider this experimental and will not pay for it.