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El Salvador has become the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender. Lawmakers in the Central American country’s Congress voted by a “supermajority” in favor of the Bitcoin Law, receiving 62 out of 84 of the legislature’s vote. Prices can now be shown in bitcoin, tax contributions can be paid with the digital currency, and exchanges in bitcoin will not be subject to capital gains tax.
A former mayor of El Salvador’s capital romped to victory in Sunday’s presidential election, winning more votes than his two closest rivals combined to end a quarter century of two-party dominance in the crime-plagued Central America nation. The Supreme Electoral Court declared Nayib Bukele the winner, saying he had nearly 54 percent of the votes, with nearly 90 percent of ballots counted. All four candidates promised to end corruption, stamp out gang violence and create more jobs, with crushing crime at the top of the agenda.
A Salvadoran court on Monday acquitted a woman accused of homicide after giving birth to a stillborn baby in a case that drew international attention to the socially conservative nation’s strict abortion ban. Evelyn Hernandez, 21, was previously convicted of intentionally inducing an abortion. Hernandez was raped by a gang member and said she was unaware of her pregnancy until just shortly before she gave birth to a stillborn son in April 2016.