May must get parliamentary approval to initiate Brexit

The British Supreme Court has ruled the government must seek parliamentary approval before formally initiating the process to leave the European Union.

Tuesday's decision, which affirms an earlier High Court ruling, is a setback for Prime Minister Theresa May, who intends to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to leave the bloc by the end of March this year.

Merkel Calls For A More Open World: ‘We Won’t Get Anywhere’ With Populism

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday said the populist hope to “return to a small world” would not benefit society, instead calling for openness and acceptance during a speech to church leaders in Würzburg, Germany.

The address was one of the first Merkel gave this year. While it didn’t specifically address the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, it was a pointed remark about the spread of nationalism in America, Britain and across Europe that’s already begun to undermine international accords and threaten efforts to deal with the ongoing migrant crisis.

Australia and New Zealand to pursue 'TPP 12 minus one'

The US-led 12-nation agreement was set to cover 40% of the world's economic output.

Pulling out of the TPP was one of Mr Trump's first executive orders and fulfils a long-held campaign promise.

Australia has already devised a name for a possible new agreement: TPP 12 Minus One.

Texas Supreme Court considers same-sex spousal benefits an open question

In a rather unprecedented event, the Texas Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear a case about whether married same-sex couples deserve equal spousal benefits — suggesting it’s still an open question. It’s not.

The case in question relates to benefits the city of Houston offered to the same-sex spouses of city employees back in 2015. Texas still banned same-sex marriage at the time, but these were employees who had been legally married in other states. The conservatives still fighting this case (including the anti-LGBT group Texas Values) argue that the expenditures Houston made before the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell should be undone and that the Obergefell ruling should be read narrowly to allow the benefits to continue to be denied.

Not renewable: Bill would ban utilities from using renewable energy

On the first day of the state’s legislative session, nine Republican lawmakers filed legislation that would bar utilities from using electricity produced by large-scale renewable energy projects.

The bill, whose sponsors are primarily from the state’s top coal-producing counties, would require utilities to use only approved energy sources like coal, natural gas, nuclear power, hydroelectric, and oil. While individual homeowners and small businesses could still use rooftop solar or backyard wind, utilities would face steep fines if they served up clean energy.

Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich

Steve Huffman, the thirty-three-year-old co-founder and C.E.O. of Reddit, which is valued at six hundred million dollars, was nearsighted until November, 2015, when he arranged to have laser eye surgery. He underwent the procedure not for the sake of convenience or appearance but, rather, for a reason he doesn’t usually talk much about: he hopes that it will improve his odds of surviving a disaster, whether natural or man-made. “If the world ends—and not even if the world ends, but if we have trouble—getting contacts or glasses is going to be a huge pain in the ass,” he told me recently. “Without them, I’m fucked.”

'Your only right is to obey': lawyer describes torture in China's secret jails

On day one of his detention Xie Yang claims he was shackled to a metal chair and ordered to explain why he had joined an illegal anti-Communist party network.

On day two he was moved to a secret prison and informed: “Your only right is to obey.”

Finally, on day three, the violence began.

The War on Women Is Over—and Women Lost

When she was 20 years old, Renee Chelian began every Friday with a predawn drive to an airplane hangar outside Detroit. There she met an abortion doctor, and a pilot who flew them to Buffalo, New York.

This was 1971. Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that established a woman's right to an abortion, was still a year and a half away, and New York was one of the few places in the country where abortion was legal. Chelian was the doctor's assistant. She cleaned instruments and made appointments for women who hitchhiked or drove from all over the Midwest and New England to reach the clinic.

Finland May Have Found The Answer To Increasing Global Unemployment

HELSINKI ― As the planet prepares for a potentially isolationist Trump world order and leaders gathered in Davos to debate the impacts of globalization, it is difficult to imagine what to make of the future of international integration. But a new basic income program in Finland aimed at curbing the negative side effects of globalization head on, may just be what the the global community needs to ease fears of widespread unemployment.

This proposed system, now in its early stages in the Nordic nation, allows citizens to receive a fixed sum of money from the government, which could be the trick to at least starting to lift bottom incomes and serve as a solution for the economic ills of globalization. In a world where the day worker and short-term employee feel more and more disconnected from who they perceive as the overpaid elites, this effort is more important than ever.

Israel approves permits for 566 settler homes

Israeli authorities have approved building permits for 566 settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem, according to local officials, a move that has drawn condemnation from Palestinian leaders.

The approval of  the building plan on Sunday came two days after the inauguration of Donald Trump in the United States, with Israeli official saying the  permits had been held up until the end of Barack Obama's administration, which had been critical of Israeli settlement activity.