Trump's rebuke to 'gender ideology' changes federal policy and sets up clash with blue states

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's executive order rejecting liberal "gender ideology" and restoring the "biological truth" of two sexes sets the stage for a legal battle in blue states over transgender students and adults.

Trump says his administration will only recognize "two sexes, male and female" in federal policy, and not "gender identity" that differs from "biological reality."

"These sexes are not changeable," he said in the executive order issued this week. "Sex is not a synonym for and does not include the concept of 'gender identity.'"

Trump's order fulfills a campaign promise and is likely to have a broad sweep in federal rules, from passports to prisons. "Agency forms that require an individual's sex shall list male or female," it said, and prison officials "shall ensure that males are not detained in women's prisons."

—Los Angeles Times

Dali ship back at sea months after colliding with Baltimore’s Key Bridge

BALTIMORE — About 10 months after colliding with Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, the Dali container ship is back in business.

The vessel underwent temporary repairs in Norfolk and then had extensive repairs, sea trials, validation and recertification in China. Now, the Dali has resumed service under the management of Synergy Marine Group, the Singapore-based company announced Tuesday.

The 984-foot Dali lost power before striking the Key Bridge and sending it plunging into the Patapsco River on March 26. Six highway construction workers were killed.

According to the latest report Jan. 16 on VesselFinder, the Dali was then traveling to the port of Ningbo, China, with an expected arrival of this past Wednesday. The ship was sailing under the flag of Singapore.

—The Baltimore Sun

76-million-year-old murder case launched after fossil found with tooth marks in Canada

Tens of millions of years after a young pterosaur took its last breath in present-day Canada, paleontologists are investigating its death.

Students from the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, led by ecology professor Brian Pickles, traveled to Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta for a field course in July 2023, according to a Jan. 23 news release from the university.

As they learned about prehistoric ecosystems and the animals that called them home, the researchers uncovered a small piece of fossilized vertebra, the university said.

Not only was the bone itself rare, but it had an extra feature that made it extraordinary. Their findings were published Jan. 23 in the peer-reviewed Journal of Paleontology. The vertebra belonged to a juvenile Azhdarchid pterosaur, a species of giant, prehistoric flying reptile with bones similar to birds, making them thin and typically poorly preserved, researchers said.

—The Charlotte Observer

Thailand ushers Southeast Asia’s first same-sex marriages

Hundreds of LGBTQ couples on Thursday became legally married in Thailand, which celebrates a historic day as the first nation in Southeast Asia to guarantee equal marital rights for same-sex couples.

Rainbow colors were everywhere in an exhibition hall atop a luxurious mall in the capital Bangkok, where the first couples inked their signatures on government documents officially proclaiming them spouses on Thursday. Pride flags and other items were handed out to couples and guests, while confetti littered the floor as people celebrated winning marriage equality.

“We were so excited that we couldn’t sleep last night,” said Phisit Sirihirunchai, a 36-year-old police officer who met his now-spouse Chanathip, 42, on TikTok six years ago when he advertised a puppy for sale. “The law used to see us as friends, but now it recognizes us. We don’t have to worry so much about the future.”

From Thursday, any couple aged 18 or above can register a marriage regardless of their gender, under a marriage equality law passed last year. That marks a hard-won victory for LGBTQ activists, who fought for over a decade for the same marriage recognition as heterosexual couples. They now have equal rights to inherit each other’s assets, sign medical consent forms, and jointly adopt children, among others.

—Bloomberg News