WORLD IN BRIEF
U.S. Senate OKs new NAFTA
WASHINGTON — The Republican-led U.S. Senate finally passed North America’s long-delayed new free trade pact Thursday, its final piece of legislative business before it transforms into a high political court of sorts for the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
After passing the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives last month, the so-called implementation bill — the nuts and bolts of precisely how the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement will be executed, followed and enforced — cruised through the Senate by a margin of 89-10.
Short of the president’s signature, which is expected as early as next week, the focus now shifts back to Canada.
The federal Liberal government has been waiting for legislative progress on the American front before introducing its own implementation bill. Mexico ratified the deal back in June.
Officials in the Prime Minister’s Office say they expect the agreement to be high on the government’s agenda when Parliament resumes Jan. 27, and that the Canadian legislation is ready to be introduced in the House of Commons.
Woman stuck in SUV for 6 days
BUTTE MEADOWS, Calif. — The family of a woman with dementia who survived for six days in her snowbound SUV in Northern California said they feared the worst.
“We thought she was probably dead,” Laura Powell, stepdaughter of 68-year-old Paula Beth James, told Sacramento TV station KTXL.
A search helicopter flying over the remote, mountainous community of Butte Meadows, about 320 kilometres northeast of San Francisco, spotted James’ SUV on Wednesday. She disappeared Jan. 9.
The helicopter landed, and two searchers hiked in and found James inside the SUV buried in snow.
A vehicle designed for travelling on snow rescued James, who was awake and conscious when deputies found her, Powell and authorities said.
James was hospitalized in stable condition, authorities said.
Trump’s trial begins in U.S. Senate
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate opened the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump with quiet ceremony Thursday — senators standing at their desks to swear an oath of “impartial justice” as jurors, House prosecutors formally reciting the charges and Chief Justice John Roberts presiding.
The trial, only the third such undertaking in American history, is unfolding at the start of the election year, a time of deep political division in the nation.
“Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye!” intoned the Senate’s sergeant at arms, calling the proceedings to order at noon.
Senators filled the chamber, an unusual sight in itself, for a trial that will test not only Trump’s presidency but also the nation’s three branches of power and its system of checks and balances.
The Constitution mandates the chief justice serve as the presiding officer, and Roberts made the short trip across the street from the Supreme Court to the Capitol. He is expected to serve as a referee for the proceedings.
Imam marries man by mistake
KAMPALA, Uganda — The mocking of a Ugandan imam who unknowingly married a man in a Muslim ceremony highlights intolerance in the East African country, a gay rights activist said Thursday.
The imam, who says he did not know his partner was male, has been suspended from clerical duty and his partner charged with committing an “unnatural” offence.
On social media, many Ugandans have mocked the imam as a suspected homosexual who is not being truthful.
Frank Mugisha, who runs the group Sexual Minorities Uganda, told The Associated Press the case proved “how homophobic the country is.”
“The imam could be right when he says he didn’t know,” he said. “Ugandans should respect people’s privacy. They are not necessarily homosexuals.”
Mugisha said it was not clear whether the imam’s partner is transgender, one reason his group had decided not to release a statement regarding the case.