Journalist Andrzej Poczobut stands in a defendants' cage during a court session in Grodno, Belarus, Monday, January 16, 2023
NETHERLANDS: The Senate approved an amendment to the country’s constitution today, expanding its first article to specifically ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or disability.
The constitution’s updated Article 1 mandates that all people in the country must be treated equally and that “discrimination on the basis of religion, belief, political opinion, race, gender, disability, sexual orientation or on any other basis is not allowed.”
Astrid Oosenbrug, chair of the COC gay rights organisation, called the vote “a historic victory for the rainbow community.”
MARK HAZELDEN criticises the Western narrative that the incident was an escalation of Russia’s confrontation with the West, given that Belarus, a Russian ally, warned Poland of off-course drones, and the drones were unarmed, cheap wooden decoys
