Italy’s rape law stalls as Matteo Salvini claims it could be used for ‘vendettas’

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Parliament delays debate over law defining sex without consent as rape, after comments by far-right deputy PM

Italy’s parliament has delayed a debate over a landmark law that would define sex without consent as rape amid a rift within the ruling coalition.

The measure, the result of a rare pact between the far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and her main political opponent, the centre-left leader, Elly Schlein, passed in the lower house last week and had been expected to get final approval in the senate this week.

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‘There should have been an alarm’: in air thick with acrid smoke, people in Hong Kong are reeling and angry

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As apartment complex still blazes more than 24 hours after fire began, police suspect cause is owing to ‘grossly negligent’ action

More than 24 hours after the first tower caught fire, the Hong Kong residential complex was still burning. Fire crews blasted water from cherrypickers at the mid-level floors, but above that, the fires were roaring out of reach.

Wang Fuk Court, in the northern Hong Kong district of Tai Po, was home to about 4,800 people. The eight-tower complex had been under renovation for years, clad in bamboo scaffolding and mesh.

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Trump says US should ‘re-examine’ all Afghan refugees after suspect named in national guard shooting | First Thing

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President called the shooting in Washington an ‘act of terror’. Plus, Hong Kong fire death toll rises to 65

Good morning.

Donald Trump has said the government should review every Afghan immigrant who entered the US during Joe Biden’s administration, after authorities identified the suspect in the shooting of two national guard members in Washington as an Afghan national.

What is the latest on the condition of the national guard members? They remained in critical condition overnight.

Have there been arrests? Yes – police have arrested two directors and an engineering consultant at a construction company.

Our live blog will update you on new developments.

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Pope Leo Visits Turkey on His First Trip as Pontiff – The New York Times

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  1. Pope Leo Visits Turkey on His First Trip as Pontiff  The New York Times
  2. In Turkey With a Message of Outreach, Pope Meets Erdogan  The New York Times
  3. Pope Leo is traveling to Turkey and Lebanon on the first foreign trip of his papacy  NPR
  4. Pope Leo warns that conflicts are endangering humanity on first overseas trip  CNN
  5. "How did you get this through security?" Pope Leo asks CBS News' Chris Livesay of White Sox baseball bat gift  CBS News
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Guardian Australia wins Walkley award for Indigenous affairs for The Descendants series

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Christopher Hopkins also named the Nikon-Walkley Press Photographer of the Year for work published in Al Jazeera, The Age, and the Guardian

Guardian Australia has won a Walkley award for excellence in journalism for a series on Australians facing the truth of their family’s involvement in frontier violence.

Guardian Australia won the Walkley Indigenous affairs at Thursday night’s ceremony for the The Descendants series, which built on Guardian Australia’s 2019 Walkley award-winning series The Killing Times. The series explored the deeply personal process of truth-telling about some of the most horrific incidents in Australia’s past, from both sides of the frontier.

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French president unveils new 10-month voluntary military service for volunteers aged 18 and 19 – ABC News

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  1. French president unveils new 10-month voluntary military service for volunteers aged 18 and 19  ABC News
  2. France brings back limited military service with 3,000 volunteers next year  BBC
  3. France Creates Voluntary Military Service as Europe Faces Russian Threat  The New York Times
  4. France to introduce voluntary military service amid threat from Russia  The Guardian
  5. Emmanuel Macron to relaunch French military service  Financial Times
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