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Estonia legalizes same-sex marriage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:44:26 GMT

Estonia legalized same-sex marriage on Tuesday, becoming the first Baltic country to give same-sex couples the legal right to wed.With 55 votes in favor of the measure and 34 votes against, Estonia’s parliament overcame objections from the right wing, which attacked the legislation as they say it threatens the traditional family model.“I’m proud of my country. We’re building a society where everyone’s rights are respected and people can love freely,” Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said, adding that the act will enter into force in 2024.The move comes only two months after the liberal coalition government took office. In March, Kallas started talks with coalition parties pushing for same-sex marriage to become law.Estonia’s acceptance of marriage equality, and LGBTQ+ people, has grown in recent years. According to a survey conducted by the Estonian Human Rights Center, 53 percent of the population supports marriage equality, compared with 34 percent in 2012.In ...

SNP MP cleared of bullying Nadine Dorries

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:44:26 GMT

LONDON — Scottish National Party MP John Nicolson has been cleared of bullying Britain’s ex-culture secretary Nadine Dorries.Nicolson successfully appealed a judgment by parliament’s standards watchdog, which initially upheld a complaint under parliament’s bullying and harassment policy.The two lawmakers clashed over the culture portfolio, which Dorries held during Boris Johnson’s premiership. In his role as SNP culture spokesperson, Nicolson was responsible for scrutinizing Dorries — who pushed for reforms the SNP opposed, including the mooted privatization of broadcaster Channel 4.The complaint was revealed by POLITICO in March and concerned Nicolson’s use of social media. According to correspondence seen by POLITICO at the time, Nicolson was investigated over his Twitter activity in November 2021 following a fiery hearing of the House of Commons culture committee at which Dorries — then still a Cabinet minister — gave evidence.According to ...

Why don’t the Bulls have any draft picks? Will Zach LaVine remain in Chicago? Seven big questions ahead of the NBA draft.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:44:26 GMT

The blockbuster 2023 NBA Draft will kick off in New York City on Thursday night — and as of today, the Chicago Bulls will not have a single pick.The Bulls traded away the bulk of their draft stock in recent years, which could lead to an anticlimactic draft night. If the team doesn’t make a move to secure a draft pick, this will be the first time the franchise hasn’t participated in the NBA draft since 2005.Here’s how the Bulls got to this point.Where did the picks go this year?The Bulls could have had three picks in the 2023 draft — one first-rounder and two second-rounders. But all three picks have been ceded — either in trades or as a penalty — leaving the Bulls without a stake in the current action.When the Bulls traded with the Orlando Magic for center Nikola Vučević in 2021, they included a protected first-round draft pick in the package that ultimately fell to this year. The Vučević trade already cost the Bulls a fi...

Convalescing Pope Francis holds talks with Cuba’s president at Vatican

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:44:26 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis, in his first full week back at the Vatican following abdominal surgery, met on Tuesday with Cuba’s president, part of the Holy See’s attention to the communist-led Caribbean island nation. The Holy See’s brief statement of the private meeting with President Miguel Diaz-Canel gave no details of what the pontiff and the Cuban leader discussed. But it mentioned “the importance of the diplomatic relations between the Holy See, evoking among other things the historic visit of St. John Paul II in 1998,” during a subsequent meeting with the Vatican’s secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.The prelate and the Cuban leader also discussed Cuba’s “situation and the contribution that the Church offers, especially in the sphere of charity,” the statement said. Cuba has been struggling through an economic crisis. Francis visited Cuba in 2015, as part of the Vatican’s drive to encourage better international relations. That quest ...

4 dead after fire in e-bike shop spreads to apartments in New York City

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:44:26 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A fire that started in a New York City e-bike shop early Tuesday spread to upper-floor apartments, killing four people and injuring several others, authorities said.City fire officials said the blaze was reported shortly after midnight on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in a six-story building that houses HQ E-Bike Repair. A pile of burned bikes and other debris was seen on the sidewalk outside the building.Two men and two women died and two other women were hospitalized in critical condition, officials said. A firefighter suffered minor injuries, authorities said.The cause of the fire was under investigation.Electric bikes have become popular, non-gasoline-burning ways to make deliveries, commute and zip around a city that has promoted cycling in recent decades. Many run on lithium ion batteries, which have been blamed for numerous fires.In April in the Queens section of New York City, two children were killed in a fire blamed on an electric bicycle.The Associated ...

Romanian prosecutors file rape, trafficking charges against Andrew Tate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:44:26 GMT

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Divisive social media personality Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan, have been charged with rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to exploit women, prosecutors in Romania said Tuesday.Romania’s anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT, said prosecutors filed the charges against the brothers, who are both British-U.S. dual citizens, along with two Romanian women.In a statement, the agency said that the four defendants formed a criminal group in 2021 “in order to commit the crime of human trafficking” in Romania as well as the United States and Britain. It alleged that seven female victims were misled and transported to Romania, where they were sexually exploited and subjected to physical violence by the gang.The Tate brothers and the two Romanian suspects were detained in late December in Romania’s capital Bucharest. The brothers won an appeal on March 31 to be moved from police custody to house arrest.Tate, 36, is a professional kickboxer ...

9 Egyptians appearing in Greek court over deadly migrant shipwreck

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:44:26 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Nine Egyptian men accused of being members of a human smuggling ring involved in one of the worst migrant shipwrecks in the Mediterranean are appearing in court in southern Greece on Tuesday for questioning over their alleged role in the disaster.The nine, appearing in court in the southern city of Kalamata, face a string of charges including participation in a criminal organization, manslaughter and causing a shipwreck. More than 500 people are believed to be missing from last week’s sinking off the western coast of Greece of the dilapidated fishing trawler, which some estimates say had been carrying up to 750 people, as it traveled from Libya to Italy. So far 81 bodies have been recovered, and 104 people, all men, have been rescued. A search and rescue operation continues in the area, but chances of locating any further survivors are exceedingly slim.The suspects were reportedly identified as having been involved in sailing the ship by testimonies provided by...

CP NewsAlert: RCAF helicopter involved in incident near Ottawa River

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:44:26 GMT

The Royal Canadian Air Force say one of its military helicopters was involved in an incident when operating near the Ottawa River in the vicinity of Garrison Petawawa at 12:10 a.m. local time today.More coming.The Canadian Press

Tropical Storm Bret spins toward eastern Caribbean as islands brace for heavy winds, flooding

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:44:26 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Tropical Storm Bret chugged toward the eastern Caribbean on Tuesday as forecasters warned it could strengthen into a hurricane before approaching a region rushing to prepare itself for an unusually early storm.Bret had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph) and was moving across the Atlantic Ocean at 17 mph (28 kph). It is expected to strengthen into a hurricane in coming days but then weaken ahead of its approach to the Lesser Antilles, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.The storm is expected to pummel some eastern Caribbean islands on Thursday and Friday at near hurricane strength.“Both the atmospheric and oceanic environment look conducive for strengthening during the next couple of days with low shear and abnormally warm ocean waters,” the center said.Forecasters warned of strong winds, dangerous storm surge and waves, and flooding from heavy rainfall. They urged people in the Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands t...

Estonia to allow same-sex marriage starting in 2024

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:44:26 GMT

HELSINKI (AP) — Estonia’s lawmakers approved legislation Tuesday allowing same-sex marriage as of next year, making Estonia the first of the three Baltic countries to do so.The 101-seat Riigikogu legislature passed in a 55-34 vote amendments to Estonia’s Family Law Act and related legislation that will enable the introduction of marriage equality in the small country of 1.3 million as of Jan. 1, 2024.Like former Eastern bloc countries, the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been slower to embrace LGBTQ+ rights than most countries in Western Europe. The Baltic countries regained independence from the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War.Parliament’s measure was tied to a confidence vote on Prime Minister Kaja Kallas’ center-right government, which has been under pressure from conservative opposition parties and civil society groups to maintain what they say are traditional family values by rejecting same-sex marriage.“Everyone should have the right ...