Thomas Paine's version of "you didn't build that":
"Separate an individual from society,and give him an island or a continent to possess,and he cannot acquire personal property. He cannot be rich. So inseparably are the means connected with the end,in all cases,that where the former do not exist the latter cannot be obtained. All accumulation, therefore,of personal property,beyond what a man's own hands produce, is derived to him by living in society; and he owes on every principle of justice,of gratitude,and of civilization,a part of that accumulation back again to society from whence the whole came"
Submitted by Leah
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Claibourn Hamilton and Adrian Coman. Romania is one of six EU member states to not recognise same-sex marriage. Photograph: Vadim Ghirda/AP
EU countries that have not legalised gay marriage must respect the residency rights of same-sex spouses who want to live together in their territory, the European court of justice has ruled, in a move hailed as a victory for human dignity.
The ECJ said member states must recognise the rights of all married couples to free movement, no matter their gender or sexual orientation.
The ruling came in response to a case in which Romanian authorities were accused of discriminating against Adrian Coman, who wanted to be able to live in his home country with his American husband, Claibourn Robert Hamilton, with whom he had been living for four years in the US before they married in Brussels in 2010.
Romanian authorities refused to grant Hamilton a right of residence on the grounds that he could not be classified in Romania as the spouse of an EU citizen. The men had appealed to Romania’s constitutional court, which referred the case to Luxembourg.
Romania is one of six EU member states – along with Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Latvia – that do not legally recognise same-sex relationships.
However, the ECJ ruled that while EU countries retain “the freedom whether or not to authorise marriage between persons of the same sex, they may not obstruct the freedom of residence of an EU citizen by refusing to grant his same-sex spouse, a national of a country that is not an EU member state, a derived right of residence in their territory”.
The term “spouse” was said to refer to a person joined to another person by marriage.
It was, the court said, a gender-neutral term and “may therefore cover the same-sex spouse of an EU citizen”.
Responding to the ruling, Coman said: “We can now look in the eyes of any public official in Romania and across the EU with certainty that our relationship is equally valuable and equally relevant, for the purpose of free movement within the EU.
“We are grateful to the EU court and to the many people and institutions who have supported us, and through us, other same-sex couples in a similar situation. It is human dignity that wins today.”
Hamilton, speaking via video link from New York, said: “We are one step closer to being recognised as a family and I am truly elated.”
The court said the ruling did not diminish the democratic choices of Romania, but merely observed that the sexual orientation of the married couple offered no justification for obstructing free movement.
Opposition to same-sex relationships can be strong in Romania, where homosexuality was decriminalised in 2002.
Coman’s father, Liviu, told the Associated Press he was pleased with the ruling, which would make some aspects of their lives easier. “They are happy together and get on well,” he said.
Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort leaves US district court in Washington in February. Investigators for Robert Mueller allege he has repeatedly tried to contact witnesses. Photograph: Yuri Gripas/Reuters
Federal investigators have accused Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, of tampering with potential witnesses while on bail ahead of his federal bank fraud and tax case.
Prosecutors asked that the judge overseeing his case “revoke or revise” the order releasing him ahead of trial.
In a court filing on Monday, prosecutors working for the special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, said Manafort and an associate “repeatedly” attempted to contact witnesses using his phone and an encrypted messaging application. They allege it happened shortly after a grand jury returned a new indictment against him, violating the terms of his house arrest.
Mueller has indicted Manafort in federal courts in Washington and Virginia. He was released to home confinement after his arraignment in October.
Manafort faces felony charges in the two cases over allegations he concealed tens of millions of dollars from the Internal Revenue Service that he had earned advising pro-Russia politicians in Ukraine. He is also accused of conspiring to launder money and failing to register as a foreign agent when he lobbied for the pro-Russia Ukrainian government. The events took place before Trump ran for president.
Manafort has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
FBI agent Brock Domin wrote in court documents that Manafort “contacted and attempted to contact” two unnamed witnesses, “in an effort to influence their testimony and to otherwise conceal evidence”. He added: “The investigation into this matter is ongoing.”
The witnesses, according to the court filings, worked with Manafort in organizing the Hapsburg Group, described by the counsel’s office as “a group of former senior European politicians to take positions favorable to Ukraine, including by lobbying in the United States”.
One of the potential witnesses told the government that he believed Manafort’s outreach was an effort to “suborn perjury”, a criminal offense to induce a witness to lie under oath. Manafort attempted to contact one of the witnesses in February after a federal grand jury in Washington returned a “superseding indictment”, which accused him of having “secretly retained” a group of European officials to lobby for positions favorable to Ukraine in the US.
According to the court filing, Manafort called and messaged one of the witnesses on 24 February, the day after his longtime associate and a former Trump campaign official entered guilty pleas to conspiracy and lying to the FBI.
During one call the witness told the government that Manafort identified himself and said he wanted to give “a heads-up about Hapsburg”. The witness said he hung up because he was “concerned” about the call, according to the affidavit.
Early this year, the South African government announced that Day Zero was looming – a moment, after three years of unprecedented drought, when dam levels would be so low that taps would be turned off and people would have to fetch water at communal collection points.
After taking remedial measures, Capetonians managed to push back the date of Day Zero until next year. We visited the city to find out how the threat of an apocalyptic disaster has changed lives
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