Weekend moon to go blood red throughout the Americas
CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. >> A total lunar eclipse will grace the night skies this weekend, providing longer than usual thrills for stargazers across North and South America.
The celestial action unfolds Sunday night into early Monday morning, with the moon bathed in the reflected red and orange hues of Earth's sunsets and sunrises for about 1 1/2 hours, one of the longest totalities of the decade. It will be the first so-called blood moon in a year.
Observers in the eastern half of North America and all of Central and South America will have prime seats for the whole show, weather permitting. Partial stages of the eclipse will be visible across Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Left out: Alaska, Asia and Australia.
“This is really an eclipse for the Americas,” said NASA's Noah Petro, a planetary geologist who specializes in the moon. “It's going to be a treat.”
All you need, he noted, are “patience and eyeballs.”
Honoring the fallen: Attorney General Merrick Garland walks through The National Law Enforcement Memorial on Friday in Washington. Garland laid a wreath at the memorial to honor fallen officers as part of National Police Week.
Mixed court ruling allows trans youth parent investigations
AUSTIN, TEXAS >> The Texas Supreme Court on Friday allowed the state to investigate parents of transgender youth for child abuse while also ruling in favor of one family that was among the first contacted by child welfare officials following an order by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.
The court did not rule on the merits of the investigations — which were the first of its kind in the U.S. — only that lower courts in Texas overstepped by trying to block all cases from going forward.
The mixed ruling by Texas' highest civil court, which is made up of nine elected Republican justices, comes at a moment when GOP lawmakers across the U.S. are accelerating efforts to impose restrictions on transgender rights. Both parties in the lawsuit called the decision a victory.
Lambda Legal, which helped bring the lawsuit on behalf of the parents of the 16-year-old girl, called the decision a win because it put the state's investigation into their family on hold.
Biden reaffirms Jordan's role overseeing Temple Mount
WASHINGTON >> President Joe Biden on Friday reaffirmed his administration's support for Jordan's long-running role as the custodian of Muslim holy sites at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem following a meeting with King Abdullah II at the White House.
Biden met with Jordan's Abdullah after several rounds of clashes in recent weeks at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the third holiest site for Muslims. It is built on a hilltop that is also the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.
The White House said in a statement following the meeting that Biden reiterated “his strong support for a two-state solution to the IsraeliPalestinian conflict and cited the need to preserve the historic status quo at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount,” using the names for the holy site used by Muslims and Jews. “The President also recognized the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan's crucial role as the custodian of Muslim holy places in Jerusalem,” the White House added.
Qatar, key US ally, faces new accusations of terror funding
Qatar, a key U.S. ally in the Persian Gulf, is facing increased scrutiny over its alleged financial ties to terrorism in a lawsuit from relatives of a slain American journalist and a separate federal investigation into a member of the country's royal family.
The family of Steven Sotloff alleged in a federal lawsuit Friday that prominent Qatari institutions wired $800,000 to an Islamic State “judge” who ordered the murder of Sotloff and another American journalist, James Foley. The two were beheaded in Syria in 2014, their killings filmed and published in grisly propaganda videos.
“We want to do everything we can to make sure no other family has to suffer what we have suffered,” the Sotloff family said in a statement explaining their lawsuit.
Separately, federal prosecutors have been investigating potential ties between terror groups and Khalid bin Hamad Al-Thani, the half-brother of Qatar's ruling emir, according to documents and interviews.
Unionists block Northern Ireland legislature over Brexit rules
LONDON >> Northern Ireland's second-biggest political party on Friday blocked the formation of a working legislature in Belfast, and said it would keep up the boycott until the U.K. government tears up post-Brexit trade rules it accuses of destabilizing the region.
The Democratic Unionist Party's move deepens Northern Ireland's political deadlock, which is fueling a U.K.-EU feud that could balloon into a trade war between Britain and the 27-nation European Union. The DUP came second in a Northern Ireland Assembly election last week that saw Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein win the most seats — the first time a party that seeks union with the Republic of Ireland has won an election in the bastion of Protestant power.
Under Northern Ireland's mandatory power-sharing rules, that gives Sinn Fein the post of first minister, with the DUP taking the deputy first minister job. A government can't be formed unless both roles are filled.