EU Ramps Up Iran Sanctions, U.S. Cancels Venezuela Oil Deals, Pointe Record

💡 SPOTLIGHT

A psychiatric test to see if he's gay? It happened to an Italian policeman

After two inmates reported a policeman in an Italy prison accusing him of being gay, the Head of the prison made the officer take a test to verify his sexual orientation. And we call ourselves a civilized nation? asks Assia Neumann Dayan in Italian daily La Stampa.

I have no idea what kind of questions there are in a psychiatric test to determine whether a person is gay or not, maybe they ask if you love your mom, hate your dad, like flowers, and therefore if you want to be a florist. The news of the Italian policeman forced to take a psychiatric test to determine his sexual orientation lies at the intersection of tragedy and farce.

Here's the background: two inmates had reported that a certain prison police officer in a corrections facility in the northwestern Piedmont region was gay. Can we presume that the officer had allegedly done something illicit, because to my knowledge being gay is not a crime in this country, nor should it be "investigated." At that point, instead of investigating the facts of the alleged crime, the head of the prison decided to submit the policeman to a psychiatric test.

The story ends this way: the information given by the two inmates turned out to be false, the policeman then sued his workplace, and the regional administrative court ordered the Interior Ministry to compensate the officer with ten thousand euros for moral damages. The court wrote that questioning the officer's suitability for work would help convey "the idea that the homosexuality attributed to him could be a personality disorder."

The officer also spoke of repercussions at work, including bullying and mockery from colleagues.

Homosexuality is not a psychiatric disorder, it is not a mental illness, it is no longer in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders — I don't know if they have been updated in this prison yet. [...]

— Read the full article by Assia Neumann Dayan for Italian daily La Stampa, translated into English by Worldcrunch.

🗞️ FRONT PAGE​​

“The battle for Government begins,” says Zagreb-based daily Večernji list, as preliminary election results for Croatia’s parliamentary elections suggest that neither the prime minister’s governing Croatian Democratic Union nor the president’s Social Democratic Party have claimed enough seats to form a government. This means Croatia will now see weeks of political horse-trading to try and form a coalition or viable minority government.

🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• European Union leaders expanded sanctions against Iran following historic attack on Israel. The new EU sanctions, agreed upon during an emergency summit in Brussels late Wednesday, will target Iranian manufacturers of drones and missiles. The U.S. is expected to announce its own sanctions in the coming days. Western allies are also urging Israel not to trigger an escalation of the conflict in responding to Iran’s firing more than 300 missiles and drones this past weekend. Follow Worldcrunch’s coverage of the diplomatic push to de-escalate the conflict in the Middle East. 

• U.S. President Joe Biden urged Congress to pass aid legislation for Israel and Ukraine. In an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal, Biden called on House leaders to not “abandon our friends” and hold a vote on the $95 billion foreign aid package, which would fund the U.S. allies’ defense efforts. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who is facing a motion to vacate his position, responded that the vote will take place on April 20. “[If] Iran succeeds in significantly escalating its assault on Israel, the U.S. could be drawn in,” the president said. The Biden administration and Israeli officials are at odds about taking retaliatory action against Iran, as Israel considers a counter-strike. 

• The U.S. will reimpose sanctions on Venezuela in response to President Nicolás Maduro’s crackdown on opponents. The State Department announced that transactions between the U.S. and oil and gas companies in Venezuela would cease on April 18, citing the Maduro government’s breach of its agreement to hold free and fair elections. Washington will “continue to assess the sanctions” status leading up to the South American country’s election in July. Read more on U.S.-Venezuela relations on Worldcrunch.

• German police arrested two men suspected of spying for Russia. Police in the city of Bayreuth arrested two men accused of sabotage and preparing explosives, the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office announced Thursday. Federal and Bavarian police searched the suspects’ homes and workplaces, who allegedly scouted potential attack locations at German military bases. Read more about Russian espionage concerns in Europe on Worldcrunch.

• Sydney’s Bondi Westfield mall reopened for tributes following the deadly stabbing attack. A 40-year-old man who suffered from mental health issues killed seven people and injured at least 12 others in the attack Saturday before being shot dead by police. The mall opened to allow Sydney residents to pay their respects to victims, and will resume normal operations Friday. 

• Volcano eruptions have forced more than 11,000 residents to evacuate in northern Indonesia. Mount Ruang, 725-meters tall (2,400-foot), in North Sulawesi has erupted at least five times since Tuesday night, according to the Indonesian volcanic agency. Authorities ordered residents on the volcanic island to evacuate Wednesday in response to dangerous ash plumes, lava spews and the risk of a possible tsunami.

• Hundreds of ballerina dancers in New York broke the world record for dancing on pointe in one place. The young dancers in white tutus — 353 of them — gathered at the famous Plaza Hotel as part of a Youth America Grand Prix ballet program event Wednesday. Ballerinas between 9 and 19 years-old and from states across the U.S. and countries around the world came together to make tippy-toe history.

📰 STORY OF THE DAY

Memories for food: Gaza mothers sell family heirlooms to feed their children

The Israeli blockade of food, water, fuel, and essential medicines and supplies is inflicting immense suffering on Palestinians. Women in the Gaza strip are forced to sell their jewelry to feed their children amid lack of humanitarian aid and soaring prices, reports independent Arab media Daraj.

💸 For Khadra Jomma, the necklace is priceless. She inherited it from her late mother, and she never imagined that someday she would sell it. But as Israel's war on Gaza entered its sixth month, the woman, who is in her 40s, has no other option after her family ran out of money. She sold the necklace to get food and shelter to feed her family among soaring prices in the war-wrecked strip. 

⚠️ The Israeli blockade of food, water, fuel, and essential medicines and supplies is inflicting immense suffering on Palestinians. The population also lacks access to electricity and 100% of Gaza people are facing crisis levels of food insecurity, according to the International Rescue Committee. The United Nations has already warned that more than half a million Palestinians in Gaza are facing famine-like conditions as a result of the war.

📉 At the jewelry store, Jomma found that prices have dropped compared to pre-war prices. A gram of gold is sold at 37 Jordanian dinars (the official currency in Gaza), compared to 40 dinars before the war, she said. “Exploitation,” she said of the traders. The absence of any control on the markets “left the field open for war merchants to exploit citizens,” she added.

➡️ Read more on Worldcrunch.com

📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO

➡️ Watch the video: THIS HAPPENED

#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS

6,600

Police arrest six in Canada, and three more are being sought, in what is being called the largest gold heist in Canadian history. The suspects, including two Air Canada employees, forged an airway bill to steal a cargo valued at more than $16 million. The cargo arrived from Switzerland and consisted of 6,600 gold bars weighing 400 kg, as well as about $1.8 million in foreign currency.

📣 VERBATIM

“We need this money yesterday, not tomorrow, not today.”

— Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal tells the BBC there will be a “Third World War” if Ukraine loses its conflict with Russia as he urges U.S. Congress to pass its long awaited and hotly contested foreign aid bill, which would send $61 billion to Kyiv. Shmyhal expressed “careful optimism” that the measure would pass. The House of Representatives will vote on the bill on Saturday.

📸 PHOTO DU JOUR

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi attends a military parade in northern Tehran. The situation is tense in the region, as sanctions are piling up on Iran (from European leaders, with more expected from the U.S.), in retaliation to Tehran’s historic attack on Israel late last week. — Photo: Iranian Presidency/ZUMA

👉  MORE FROM WORLDCRUNCH  

• The West's Defense Of Israel Reminds Ukraine Of A Bitter Truth — FRANCE INTER

• Women Of Disquiet: A Loud, Hard "No" To Portugal's Paid Housewife Scheme — MENSAGEM

• Queer Reception: Mexico's LGBTQ-Owned Hotel, Where Every Guest Feels At Home— GLOBAL PRESS JOURNAL

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