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Vatican steps closer to allowing transgender Catholics to be baptized

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:05:20 GMT

In the United States, the national conference of Catholic bishops rejects the concept of gender transition, leaving many transgender Catholics feeling excluded. On Wednesday, the Vatican made public a sharply contrasting statement, saying it’s permissible, under certain circumstances, for trans Catholics to be baptized and serve as godparents.“It is a major step for trans inclusion … it is big and good news,” said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of Maryland-based New Ways Ministry, which advocates for greater LGBTQ acceptance in the church.The document was signed Oct. 21 by Pope Francis and Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, who heads the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. It was posted Wednesday on that office’s website.If it did not cause scandal or “disorientation” among other Catholics, a transgender person “may receive baptism under the same conditions as other faithful,” the document said.Similarly, the document said trans adults — even if they had ...

French President Macron opens Gaza aid conference with appeal to Israel to protect civilians

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:05:20 GMT

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron opened a Gaza aid conference on Thursday with an appeal for Israel to protect civilians as it fights Hamas, saying “all lives have equal worth” and that fighting terrorism “can never be carried out without rules.” The gathering in Paris brought together officials from Western and Arab nations, the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations, with the aim of providing urgent aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip that is being pounded by Israel in its war against Hamas. Israeli authorities weren’t participating in the talks, Macron’s office said. Macron reiterated calls for a humanitarian pause in Israel’s operations. He said that by attacking Israel on Oct. 7, Hamas “shouldered the responsibility for exposing Palestinians to terrible consequences,” and he again defended Israel’s right to defend itself. But Macron also stressed that civilians must be protected. “It’s absolutely essential. It is non-negotiable,” he said....

Live updates | Turkey’s president accuses the West of weakness over Israeli actions in Gaza

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:05:20 GMT

Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan is urging Muslim nations to “raise our voices” over Israel’s actions in Gaza while accusing the West of “weakness” as it bears witness to these “massacres by Israel.” Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks Thursday at a meeting of the 10-member Economic Cooperation Organization in Tashkent, Uzbekistan come as negotiations were underway for a three-day humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza in exchange for the release of about a dozen hostages held by Hamas. That’s according to two officials from Egypt, one from the United Nations and a Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic efforts.The deal would enable more aid, including limited amounts of fuel, to enter the besieged territory to alleviate worsening conditions for the 2.3 million Palestinians trapped there. It is being brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, according to the officials and the diplomat.In Paris, officials from Western and Arab n...

Stock market today: World shares advance after China reports that prices fell in October

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:05:20 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares opened mostly higher Thursday in Europe after mixed closes in Asia and on Wall Street as markets recalibrated following recent big swings. Germany’s DAX edged 0.2% higher to 15,254.10 and the CAC 40 in Paris advanced 0.4% to 7,060.85. Britain’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.1% to 7,393.42. On Wall Street, the future for the S&P 500 was little changed and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1% higher. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 edged up 0.1%, barely managing to extend the index’s winning streak to eight days. That ties its longest such winning streak since a nine-day run 19 years ago. The Dow slipped 0.1% and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.1%.A dearth of fresh economic data has left the markets mostly quiet this week. China reported that its consumer prices fell 0.2% from a year earlier in October while factory-gate prices declined 2.6%, suggesting demand remains slack as the world’s second-largest economy struggles to recover from the e...

El Vaticano dice que, en algunos casos, los transexuales y los bebés de parejas del mismo sexo pueden ser bautizados

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:05:20 GMT

(CNN) — Una nueva decisión del departamento de Doctrina del Vaticano abrió la puerta al bautismo católico a las personas transexuales y a los bebés de parejas del mismo sexo —al tiempo que califica de pecado el estilo de vida de las personas homosexuales—. La resolución ha sido bien acogida por las personas LGBTQ, pero despreciada por los conservadores.Las nuevas normas, fechadas el 31 de octubre, proceden de una serie de preguntas o dubia presentadas al Dicasterio para la Doctrina de la Fe por el obispo brasileño Giuseppe Negri. Las respuestas a sus preguntas sobre determinados sacramentos se publicaron en la página web del Vaticano en italiano el miércoles por la noche.¿Cuándo podrían ser bautizadas las personas transexuales y los hijos de parejas homosexuales?En cuanto a los transexuales, el documento dice que una persona que se identifique como transexual puede ser bautizada como cualquier otro adulto, “siempre que no haya riesgo de causar escándalo o desorientación&...

Restaurant review: Gazzetta

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:05:20 GMT

Rue de la Longue Haie 12What’s good? The menu is small, with some reliable staples and a few surprise dishes. There are three variations on pasta to choose from: a pasta of the day, a simple tomato-basil pasta, or the speciale — a more elaborate dish that typically includes meat or fish (recently: swordfish with pesto). You can also feast on any combination of appetizers — read: cheeses — or opt for a delicious carne alla griglia, served rare with a side of vegetables.What’s not? You can’t make a reservation, so it can be a bit of a gamble. Plan to come early or be ready to wait around a little. If you’re unlucky, or in a rush, the residential street doesn’t offer up any immediate consolation prizes.Vibe: The space is modern and welcoming, with dim lighting, high tables and a view into the open kitchen. Waiters are exceptionally friendly, and service is quick. There’s no music, just the hubbub of conversation and the clanking of pots and...

Spain’s Sánchez seals deal to stay in power

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:05:20 GMT

MADRID — Pedro Sánchez has secured the crucial support he needed to stay in power as Spain’s prime minister, vindicating his dramatic gamble on a snap election earlier this year. On Thursday the Catalan separatist Junts party gave its backing to Sánchez’ Socialists to form a government, four months after that election resulted in no single party winning an overall majority in Spain’s parliament.The deal puts Sánchez, the 51-year-old who’s been premier since 2018, on course to extend his career at the top. That seemed a far-fetched outcome when he called for a national vote last May, just hours after regional and local elections which saw his party suffer devastating losses across the country. But after 15 weeks of tortuous horse-trading with other leftist parties — and, critically, an offer of an amnesty to Catalan separatist plotters — Sánchez has sidestepped the threat of fresh elections and managed to ensure his continuity as prime minister. In exchange fo...

€13B tax fight against Apple gets boost from EU top court adviser

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:05:20 GMT

A European Union top court adviser gave some hope to regulators’ battles against Big Tech tax deals when he said that judges should reconsider scrapping Apple’s massive back-tax order.Advocate General Giovanni Giovanni Pitruzzella recommended the Court of Justice should tell a lower tribunal that it made errors when it struck down the European Commission’s landmark order for Ireland to reclaim €13 billion of unpaid taxes from the tech giant. If followed by the court, that would reverse the Commission’s 2020 court defeat. While the advocate general’s opinion isn’t binding on the court, judges frequently follow the advice.“The General Court committed a series of errors in law when it ruled that the Commission had not shown to the requisite legal standard that the intellectual property licenses” held by Apple units from sales made outside the United States “had to be attributed for tax purposes to the Irish branches,” sai...

Apple hits setback in dispute with European Union over tax case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:05:20 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Apple might end up on the hook after all for billions of euros in back taxes to Ireland in the latest twist in a longrunning European Union dispute, following a legal opinion Thursday from an adviser to the bloc’s top court.A decision by a lower court that the U.S. tech giant doesn’t have to repay the 13 billion euros ($13.9 billion) in taxes “should be set aside,” Advocate General Giovanni Pitruzzella said in his opinion to the European Court of Justice.The case drew outrage from Apple when it was opened in 2016, with CEO Tim Cook calling it “total political crap.” Then-U.S. President Donald Trump referred to European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who spearheaded the campaign to root out special tax deals and crack down on big U.S. tech companies, as the “tax lady” who “really hates the U.S.”In its 2020 ruling, the European Union’s General Court disagreed with the European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch, wh...

‘The Legend of Zelda’ will be made into a live-action film

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:05:20 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Nintendo is developing a live-action film based on its hit video game “The Legend of Zelda,” the Japanese company behind the Super Mario franchise said Wednesday.The film, with financing from Sony Pictures Entertainment as well as its own investment, will be directed by Wes Ball, the American director of the upcoming “Planet of the Apes” film. It’s being co-produced by Nintendo and Arad Productions Inc., which is behind the live-action Spider-Man films and headed by Avi Arad.The move highlights Kyoto-based Nintendo’s strategy to leverage various aspects of its business, including theme parks, merchandising and movies, to boost machine and software sales, and vice versa.That strategy has met success. Its animated film “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” released earlier this year, has raked in more than $1.3 billion and drew nearly 170 million people worldwide.President Shuntaro Furukawa, briefing reporters online, said the company was pleased with the success of the Super Ma...