News in brief for January 31
US judge blocks transgender inmate’s prison transfer under Trump order
BOSTON (Reuters) — A U.S. judge has temporarily blocked federal prison officials from transferring a transgender woman to a men’s facility and denying her access to gender-affirming care in accordance with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump, her lawyers said on Thursday.
ADVERTISING
The temporary restraining order was issued by U.S. District Judge George O’Toole in Boston on Sunday while the inmate’s case was sealed in what appeared to be the first lawsuit challenging an order Trump signed on his first day back in office on Jan. 20 targeting what he called “gender ideology extremism.”
Trump interest in buying Greenland ‘not a joke’, Rubio says
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — President Donald Trump’s interest in buying Greenland is “not a joke,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview on Thursday, adding that acquiring Greenland was in U.S. national interest and needs to be solved.
Trump has expressed interest in making Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, a part of the U.S. since his reelection in November. He hasn’t ruled out using military or economic power to persuade Denmark to hand it over.
Rubio told Sirius XM’s The Megyn Kelly Show that Trump wants to buy Greenland and had not ruled out military coercion to acquire it so as not to take leverage off the table.
“This is not a joke,” Rubio said.
“This is not about acquiring land for the purpose of acquiring land. This is in our national interest and it needs to be solved.”
English singer Marianne Faithfull dies aged 78, media report
LONDON (Reuters) — English singer and actress Marianne Faithfull, best known for her 1960s hit “As Tears Go By,” has died aged 78, British media reported on Thursday.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of the singer, songwriter and actress Marianne Faithfull,” the BBC broadcaster cited a statement from her spokesperson as saying.
“Marianne passed away peacefully in London today, in the company of her loving family. She will be dearly missed.”
Appeals court strikes down federal ban on handgun sales to teenagers
PHILADELPHIA (NYT) — A conservative appeals court ruled Thursday that a long-standing federal ban on handgun sales to people between the ages of 18 and 20 violates the Second Amendment, pushing the question of age limits for handguns one step closer to the Supreme Court.
In a 29-page opinion written by Judge Edith H. Jones, who was nominated by President Ronald Reagan, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans concluded that the Constitution “includes 18- to 20-year-old individuals among ‘the people’ whose right to keep and bear arms is protected,” and that a federal law criminalizing the sale of handguns to 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds was therefore unconstitutional.
The ruling overturned gun control laws and regulations that date back to 1968.