little_cow

PARIS (AP) — France’s new government is set to take a hardline approach to migration issues as key officials have pledged to significantly reduce the number of people entering and staying illegally in the country.

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis wrapped up a troubled visit to Belgium on Sunday by doubling down on his traditional views on women and abortion and demanding that Catholic bishops stop covering up for predator priests — a scandal that has devastated the church’s credibility around the globe.

Francis revisited the key thorny topics of his trip to Belgium during his in-flight press conference coming home, praising Belgium’s late King Baudouin as a “saint” for having abdicated for a day in 1990 rather than sign legislation legalizing abortion.

BRUSSELS (AP) — As the war in Ukraine enters a critical period, the European Union has decided it must take responsibility for what it sees as a security threat in its own neighborhood, and it’s preparing to tackle some of the financial burden, perhaps even without the United States.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) criticized U.S.-led strikes on Yemen, saying they were “an unacceptable violation of the Constitution.”

“Article 1 requires that military action be authorized by Congress,” Jayapal added in her post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, late Thursday.

Other Democrats, including Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), also criticized the strikes.

If I could have one wish for the new year, it would be for Britain’s criminal justice system to be reformed in a way that would ensure the arrest, prosecution and conviction of every single rapist in the country. I do not mean, of course, any man accused of rape, but every man who has actually committed rape.

One of the most prevalent and persuasive myths about rape and sexual assault is that a large number of allegations are false and men who have been publicly accused of rape but could not be convicted in a court of law are the victims of grave miscarriages of justice.

The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is visiting Ukraine on Friday to meet his counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, as the UK announced it would provide further military aid to the country over the coming year.

The UK has been one of Kyiv’s staunchest supporters since Russia’s invasion and Sunak said Britain would boost its support in the next financial year to £2.5bn, an increase of £200m on the previous two years.

HSINCHU, Taiwan (AP) — With Taiwan’s presidential and parliamentary elections less than two weeks away, the island’s alternative party candidate Ko Wen-je is promoting a policy of patience toward China, which has been upping its threat to annex the island by force.

In the middle of a day of campaigning in the city of Hsinchu, home to many of Taiwan’s most prosperous technology firms, Ko took a half-hour lunch break to speak with The Associated Press in Mandarin Chinese and English, often expanding on his answers in his well-known erudite manner.

HONG KONG (AP) — Prosecutors on Wednesday alleged that Hong Kong activist and publisher Jimmy Lai had encouraged the city’s residents to protest and urged the U.S. to take action against the Chinese authorities in Beijing.

The 76-year-old media tycoon, who founded the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, was arrested in 2020 during a crackdown on massive pro-democracy protests that rocked Hong Kong in 2019. The central government in Beijing responded by imposing a sweeping national security law aimed at stamping down opposition. Lai has been in jail for over three years.

New York (AP) — The brother of a powerful leftist senator in Colombia pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal narcotics charges as part of a sting in which he offered to introduce U.S. drug informants to dissident guerrillas who could help smuggle huge quantities of cocaine to New York.

Álvaro Córdoba, dressed in prison garb, entered a plea in Manhattan federal court to a single count of conspiring to send 500 grams (17 ounces) or more of cocaine into the U.S. He will be sentenced to a mandatory five years in prison but could also face more than two decades behind bars under sentencing laws. His plea does not contain any promise to cooperate with law enforcement.

As of today (January 1, 2024), same-sex marriage is legal under Estonian law.

The new law means two consenting adults may enter into a marriage regardless of their gender.

Minister of Social Protection Signe Riisalo (Reform) said this move ends years of legal confusion and ensures a sense of security and equal rights for all residents of Estonia.

edited

~~Estonia became the first former Soviet republic to legalize gay marriage on Monday, opening marriage applications to same-sex couples with the new year. Applications are expected to take one to six months to process, with the first approvals expected by February 2. Estonia’s parliament voted to legalize gay marriage in June as an amendment to the country’s Family Law.~~

Alternate sources: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/01/same-sex-couples-able-to-marry-in-estonia-from-new-years-day

https://www.rt.com/russia/590017-estonia-legalizes-gay-marriage/?

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva likes to boast he had a good first year after returning to the job. The economy is improving, Congress passed a long-overdue tax reform bill, rioters who wanted to oust him are now in jail, and his predecessor and foe Jair Bolsonaro is barred from running for office until 2030.

Still, the 78-year-old leader has struggled to boost his support among citizens and lawmakers. Some major setbacks, including a series of votes by Congress to override his vetoes, signaled that Lula’s future could be less productive in a Brazil almost evenly split between his supporters and Bolsonaro’s.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Landlocked Ethiopia took the first steps toward gaining access to the sea on Monday, signing an agreement in the capital of Addis Ababa with the breakaway Somali region of Somaliland to access the Somaliland coastline.

The memorandum of understanding was signed by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali and Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi.