(ISLAMABAD) — A Christian woman acquitted in Pakistan after eight years on death row for blasphemy plans to leave the country, her family said Thursday as radical Islamists mounted rallies for a second day against the verdict, blocking roads and burning tires in protest.

The developments followed a landmark move by Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday that overturned the 2010 conviction against Asia Bibi for insulting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. The charge of blasphemy carries the death penalty in this majority Muslim nation.

Bibi’s acquittal immediately raised fears of religious violence — and presented a challenge to the government of new Prime Minister Imran Khan who came to power this summer partly by pursuing the Islamist agenda. Khan warned Islamist protesters on Wednesday night not to “test the patience of the state.”

Bibi remained at an undisclosed location Thursday where the 54-year-old mother of five was being held for security reasons, awaiting her formal release, her brot..

A thousand miles south of the Rio Grande, Lesly Xiomara Chirinos plodded along a Mexican road comforting her year-old son Murphy, her partner holding up an umbrella to shield them from the punishing sun. On Oct. 13, they abandoned their home in the Honduran city of La Ceiba to join several thousand people on the so-called migrant caravan heading north. Since then, they have been marching for long hours, jumping on pickup trucks, sleeping in parks, living on handouts of food.

Chirinos, 31, says she fled because of death threats by gang members trying to shake down the family grocery store. In Honduras, extortion is often backed up by murder. “They wait in front of the shop with big guns, and we are scared to go out,” she says. “The military police are outside, and they don’t do anything.” Their hope now is to get asylum in the U.S., where they would be protected from the gangs and be able to work to support the rest of their family.

On the other side of the border, politics awaits. Th..

The countdown clock on the Merkel era has officially begun. Here’s how to sound smart about it:

What Happened This Week:
Germany held state elections in Hesse last weekend, resulting in the latest drubbing of German establishment parties. Both the center-right CDU and the center-left SPD saw their vote shares drop by double digits. On the back of the vote, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced she won’t run for the CDU’s party leadership in 2019 and that she intends to step down as Chancellor in 2021, after sixteen years in power.

Why It Matters:
Whatever you may think of her politics, there is no arguing that Merkel has been the single most critical (and powerful) European leader for the last decade, an unyielding force for pro-integration across the bloc that has kept European countries on the “periphery” lashed together with “core” Europe. With her departure, the two-track nature of the European Union becomes ever clearer.

The EU needs a strong leader in Berlin setting the a..