Stop doomscrolling and read me.

Today, I want you to read about:

• People are rebuilding Iraq's ancient heritage
• Abortion (until 24 weeks) is now legal in Colombia
• 46 years of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
• Some good news: Women are going back to universities in Afghanistan and perhaps a bit of hope for a jailed Kurdish musician in Turkey; plus more

We are all talking about Ukraine anyway, so nothing about the war in this issue.

Now without further ado, here's what happened last week:

what happened last week

We are slowly rebuilding what ISIS destroyed in Iraq

• Refresher: Islamist militant jihadist group ISIS ruled over some parts of Iraq and Syria from (around) 2013 and 2019. Kurdish forces eventually drove most of them out.

Last week, Iraq celebrated the unveiling of three, fully restored monumental sculptures in Hatra (290km northwest of Baghdad).

Why this matters:
In 2015, ISIS destroyed so, so much in Iraq -- from Assyrian artifacts in Mosul to ruins at Nimrud and Hatra in Iraq. Last week's news is another step towards at least some kind of healing; I mean, look at how happy people are at the ceremony.

What's the meaning of Hatra?
The ancient city was the capital of the first Arab Kingdom and one of the leading trade and religious centres of the Parthian empire in the first and second centuries BCE. It is the best-preserved and most-informative example of a Parthian city. And in 1985, Hatra was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

How much did ISIS destroy in Hatra?
"IS destroyed everything that was important in this city," senior antiquities official Ali Obeid Sholgham told AFP. Provincial antiquities chief Khair al-Din Ahmed Nasser said works of art were "ripped out and shattered -- we found fragments all over the site". "We recovered some pieces. Others which were missing we replaced with the same type of stone."

Who's doing all this restoring?
Iraq and Italy are collaborating. Look up the International Association for Mediterranean and Oriental Studies and the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas.

Zoom out:
Don't forget the consequences of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The country's ancient heritage was looted and many of its sites destroyed.

We finally made abortion legal in Colombia
Colombia's constitutional court ruled that no one will be prosecuted for having an abortion within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Why this matters:
This is a maaassive step for Latin America, a Catholic region and one with deeply conservative values. Since 2006, abortions have been allowed in Colombia in cases of rape, when the woman's life is at risk, or if the pregnancy is not viable.

Wait. Before women were prosecuted for having had abortions?
Yes. Even now, there are people in prison serving long sentences, many of whom say that they suffered miscarriages. But with so few reproductive rights in some countries, people who need medical help are...