Brand Logo
Deportation threats, Thai marriage equality and green Europe

 
Today's NATIONAL story

DOJ threatens local officials on migrant crackdown

What happened
The Justice Department directed federal prosecutors yesterday to investigate and potentially file criminal charges against state and local officials deemed to be "resisting, obstructing and otherwise failing to comply" with the Trump administration's ramped-up migrant deportation efforts.

Who said what
The memo, signed by acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove (pictured above), was an "apparent warning to the dozens of so-called sanctuary jurisdictions across America," The Associated Press said. Those cities and states typically limit cooperation between police and federal immigration officials, except on serious or violent crimes.

Bove, one of President Donald Trump's former criminal defense lawyers, said federal laws "require state and local actors to comply with the executive branch's immigration enforcement initiatives." But courts have "repeatedly upheld most sanctuary laws," the AP said, and legal experts were skeptical charges of the kind Bove envisioned "would have any traction in court."

"Nothing obligates local law enforcement to cooperate with federal law enforcement on any issue," said constitutional scholar and immigration lawyer Robert J. McWhirter. "Not even bank robbery." California Attorney General Rob Bonta dismissed the memo as a Trump "scare tactic" to intimidate "state and local law enforcement into carrying out his mass deportation agenda for him," adding that his office was ready should the "vague threats turn to illegal action." 

What next?
Bove also redirected FBI counterterrorism task forces to shift focus from terrorism to assisting in the "execution of President Trump's immigration-related initiatives," and gave federal law enforcement agencies 60 days to scour their records for any information on immigrants living illegally in the U.S. The memo is "likely to face fierce blowback from legal advocacy groups" and sanctuary jurisdictions that "frustrated" Trump's "mass deportation plans during his first term," The Washington Post said. 

 
 
Today's INTERNATIONAL story

Same-sex marriage becomes legal in Thailand

What happened
Hundreds of same-sex couples are gathering at a luxury mall in Bangkok today to get married under Thailand's new marriage equality law. The legislation, which took effect this morning, grants same-sex spouses the same legal, financial and medical rights as married heterosexual couples.

Who said what
Thailand is the first country in Southeast Asia to legalize same-sex marriage and the third in Asia, after Nepal and Taiwan. The Marriage Equality Act changed "the words 'men and women' and 'husband and wife' to 'individuals' and 'marriage partners'" in the relevant civil code, The Associated Press said. Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said on social media that the "rainbow flag has been planted gracefully in Thailand."

The "easygoing" Southeast Asian country is "famously open to and accepting of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people," and the "Buddhist beliefs followed by more than 90% of Thais don't forbid LGBT lifestyles," the BBC said. But enshrining same-sex marriage took a long and "determined campaign to change attitudes in Thai officialdom and society," and few other Asian nations are "likely to follow suit."

What next?
Thailand plans to use the new law as a boost to its tourism-dependent economy, "promoting itself internationally as an LGBTQ tourist destination," The New York Times said.

 
 
Today's ENERGY Story

Europe records big leap in renewable energy

What happened
The European Union generated a record 47% of its energy from renewable sources last year and another 24% from nuclear power, energy think tank Ember said in a report released today. For the first time, solar (11%) provided more of the EU's energy than coal (10%), while wind power (17%) topped gas (16%) for the second year in a row.

Who said what
"Fossil fuels are losing their grip on EU energy," said Ember energy analyst Chris Rosslowe. The "EU's electricity transition has moved faster than anyone expected" since the bloc passed its European Green Deal in 2019, and that shift is "increasing European energy independence."

About "21% of the U.S.'s electricity comes from renewable sources," The Associated Press said. Last year, "solar panels and wind turbines produced more electricity than the nation's coal-fired power plants for the first time ever," The New York Times said. But President Donald Trump is "moving to restructure the nation's energy future to block any transition away from fossil fuels" — and "testing the boundaries of presidential power to do it."

What next?
The "ambitious" European Green Deal aims to cut EU emissions at least 55% by 2030 and to "practically zero" by 2050, the AP said. The U.S. is already "offtrack" from the Biden administration's "target of cutting emissions 50% to 52% by 2030," The Washington Post said, and it's "drifting further away from an all-renewable future" under Trump.

 
 

It's not all bad

Carrots contain two bioactive compounds that University of Southern Denmark researchers have found alter gut bacteria to "substantially aid in the regulation of blood sugar," the Good News Network said. In a study of mice with and without Type 2 diabetes, those that ate carrots benefited from a boost in good gut bacteria, suggesting the vegetables could one day be a "useful, low-cost non-pharmaceutical diabetes treatment." The team is now working toward holding human trials.

 
 
Under the radar

The lunar surface holds a significant number of artifacts that could be destroyed amid newer moon missions. As a result, the moon is now considered a threatened heritage site. The World Monuments Fund — an organization that draws attention to historic sites at risk from climate change, human conflict or insufficient resources — added the moon to their list for the first time this year, reflecting the "urgent need to recognize and preserve the artifacts that testify to humanity's first steps beyond Earth," the WMF's president and CEO, Bénédicte de Montlaur, said in a statement.

The moon is at risk due to its resource potential. The NASA Artemis mission wants to put humans back on the surface and establish a lunar base, and there has been an expanding interest in space tourism. This increase in human activity could destroy "items such as the camera that captured the televised moon landing" and "a memorial disk left by astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin," said de Montlaur.

Preserving the moon is no easy task. "Protections for cultural heritage are typically decided by individual countries," said The New York Times, and the moon does not belong to one country. Fifty-three countries signed the U.N. Artemis Accords in 2020 to "establish a common vision via a practical set of principles, guidelines and best practices to enhance the governance of the civil exploration and use of outer space." Despite those accords, the moon faces "mounting risks amidst accelerating lunar activities, undertaken without adequate preservation protocols," de Montlaur said.

 
 
On this day

January 23, 1978

Sweden became the world's first country to regulate certain aerosol sprays due to their harmful effects on the environment. The pioneering ban on the use of chlorofluorocarbons in aerosols was implemented to protect Earth's ozone layer. Other countries, including the U.S., eventually followed suit, leading to 1987's Montreal Protocol, aimed at saving the ozone.

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

As he starts his second term, President Donald Trump "embraces pomp of royalty" and "hurries to test limits of his powers," The New York Times says on Thursday's front page. "Trump halts asylum, will deploy more troops" to the U.S. border, The Washington Post says, while "police attacked on Jan. 6 feel weary, betrayed" by his Jan. 6 pardons. "Pardoned Arizonans thank God, buy guns," the Arizona Republic says. "President begins to dismantle and reshape federal workforce," The Wall Street Journal says. For Kristen Clarke, the outgoing head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, it's a "'bittersweet' farewell, but pride in the work," USA Today says. 

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Sweet, sweet silence

Noisy nightclubbers in Leeds, England, will soon be given lollipops to try to keep them quiet, following complaints from residents living in nearby apartments. The sweets will be handed out to revelers at Home and Carousel, a venue that was recently given permission to stay open later. It might sound like a silly idea, but "people tend to become quiet when they have something in their mouth," the nightclub's manager, David Nejrup, told the BBC.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Mark Peterson-Pool / Getty Images; Anusak Laowilas / NurPhoto via Getty Images; Romain Doucelin / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images