Vue lecture

UK Spy Agency MI6 Appoints First Female Chief in 116-Year History

A former “Q,” she will be the first woman to lead Britain’s foreign intelligence service in the agency’s 116-year history.

© United Kingdom Foreign Office, via The Associated Press

Blaise Metreweli, named the next chief of MI6, in a photograph supplied by the British Foreign Office. She will lead the organization where she has worked for more than 25 years.

Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, 95, Dies; Led Nicaragua After Civil War

The first woman to lead a Central American country, she served in the 1990s after the nation had been shaken by political strife.

© John Hopper/Associated Press

Violeta Barrios de Chamorro received the presidential sash from Nicaragua’s outgoing leader, Daniel Ortega, in April 1990. Her election stunned many people in Nicaragua and around the world.

A DNA Technique Is Finding Women Who Left Their Babies for Dead

Genetic genealogy is identifying the mothers of deceased newborns found abandoned, shedding light on crimes that went unsolved for years. Women now may face lengthy prison sentences for decades-old chapters of their pasts.

© Jordan Vonderhaar for The New York Times

Wayne Springer, a former investigator for Medina County, at the site in Hondo, Texas, where a deceased newborn was found.

She Crowdfunded Surgery to Repair Damage From Genital Cutting

Shamsa Sharawe made her name campaigning against female genital cutting. Then she heard about surgery to rebuild what had been taken from her.

© Nariman El-Mofty for The New York Times

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