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Cuba approves same-sex marriage in unusual referendum

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Cuba approves same-sex marriage in unusual referendum

HAVANA (AP) — Cubans have permitted a sweeping “household regulation” code that may permit same-sex {couples} to marry and undertake in addition to redefining rights for youngsters and grandparents, officers stated Monday, although opposition within the nationwide referendum was unusually sturdy on the Communist Occasion-governed island.

The measure — which accommodates greater than 400 articles — was permitted by 66.9% to 33.1%, the president of the Nationwide Electoral Council, Alina Balseiro Gutiérrez, advised official information media, although returns from a couple of locations remained to be counted.

The reforms had met unusually sturdy open resistance from the rising evangelical motion in Cuba — and lots of different Cubans — regardless of an in depth authorities marketing campaign in favor of the measure, together with 1000’s of informative conferences throughout the nation and intensive media protection backing it.

Cuban elections — during which no social gathering apart from the Communist is allowed — routinely produce victory margins of greater than 90% — as did a referendum on a significant constitutional reform in 2019.

The code permits surrogate pregnancies, broader rights for grandparents in regard to grandchildren, safety of the aged and measures in opposition to gender violence.

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President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who has promoted the regulation acknowledged questions concerning the measure as he voted on Sunday.

“Most of our individuals will vote in favor of the code, however it nonetheless has points that our society as a complete doesn’t perceive,” he stated.

On Monday, he celebrated approval of the measure, tweeting “Love is now the regulation.”

Passage “is to pay a debt to numerous era of Cubans whose home plans had been ready years for this regulation,” he added. “As of immediately, we shall be a greater nation.”

The measure had been permitted by Cuba’s Parliament, the Nationwide Meeting, after years of debate about such reforms.

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A significant supporter of the measure was Mariela Castro, director of the Nationwide Middle for Intercourse Schooling, a promoter of rights for same-sex {couples}, daughter of former President Raul Castro and niece of his brother Fidel.

However there’s a sturdy pressure of social conservatism in Cuba and a number of other non secular leaders have expressed concern or opposition to the regulation., worrying it might weaken nuclear households.

Whereas Cuba was formally — and sometimes militantly — atheist for many years after the 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro — Raul’s brother — it has turn into extra tolerant of religions over the previous quarter century. That has meant a higher opening not solely the once-dominant Roman Catholic Church, but in addition to Afro-Cuban religions, protestants and Muslims.

A few of these church buildings took benefit of the opening in 2018 and 2019 to marketing campaign in opposition to one other plebiscite which might have rewritten the structure in a solution to permit homosexual marriage.

Opposition was sturdy sufficient that the federal government at the moment backed away.

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Blake Lively accuses 'It Ends With Us' studio of harassment and smear campaign

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Blake Lively accuses 'It Ends With Us' studio of harassment and smear campaign

Blake Lively is seen at an Aug. 8 screening in London for the movie This Is Us. In a legal complaint, the actor accuses co-star and director Justin Baldoni and his team of attacking her reputation after she spoke up about his and a producer’s alleged “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior” on set.

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This past summer, the press tour for the release of It Ends With Us, a movie that deals with domestic violence, saw public opinion turn against one of its stars, Blake Lively.

But behind the scenes, Lively alleges in a legal complaint published by The New York Times, she faced sexual harassment, repeated violations of her physical boundaries, and a “multi-tiered plan” designed to “destroy” her reputation.

In the undated legal filing, which the Times said was filed Friday to the California Civil Rights Department, she accuses co-star and director Justin Baldoni and his team of attacking her public image after a meeting was held to address “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior” by Baldoni and a lead producer on the movie.

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If the California Civil Rights Department accepts the case, it could investigate, potentially resulting in legal action.

An attorney for the studio, Bryan Freedman, said in a statement emailed to NPR that Lively’s allegations are “categorically false” and “another desperate attempt to ‘fix’ her negative reputation.”

At the Jan. 4 meeting, attended by Lively, Baldoni, studio CEO and producer Jamey Heath and others, the complaint alleged they discussed “inappropriate conduct” experienced by Lively and other cast and crew. All parties agreed to a list of conduct that would cease which allowed for the movie’s production to resume, lawyers for Lively said in the filing.

The list of agreed-upon demands included, the complaint says: No more showing nude videos of women, including the producer’s wife, to Lively and/or her employees; no more mention of Baldoni’s or Heath’s previous “pornography addiction” to Lively or to other crew members; no more descriptions of their own genitalia to Lively; and “no more adding of sex scenes, oral sex, or on camera climaxing by [Lively] outside the scope of the script BL approved when signing onto the project.”

Baldoni’s and Heath’s studio, Wayfarer, also agreed to provide an intimacy coordinator on set at all times, and other safeguards on set, according to the filing. The studio also agreed not to retaliate against Lively, it said.

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It Ends with Us director and star Justin Baldoni attends the movie's world premiere on Aug. 6 in New York.

It Ends with Us director and star Justin Baldoni attends the movie’s world premiere on Aug. 6 in New York.

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The complaint includes excerpts from text messages and emails between Baldoni and his representatives that Lively’s lawyers said they obtained through a subpoena.

The movie, adapted from Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel, is based on the relationship of the author’s parents. In it, Lively plays Lily Bloom, a florist who falls in love with neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni). During their relationship Kincaid turns physically and emotionally abusive.

The complaint says Lively, a producer on the film, was under contract to follow a marketing plan that directed the cast to focus “more on Lily’s strength and resilience as opposed to describing the film as a story about domestic violence,” and to avoid depictions of the film as “sad or heavy … it’s a story of hope,” the complaint says.

During the film’s promotion, Lively drew backlash from fans for her attempts to speak about a story of domestic abuse with a lighthearted tone. Many social media comments, meanwhile, commended Baldoni’s promotional message for viewers to always have hope.

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Around that time, the complaint alleges, Baldoni and his team were staging a well-financed plan “in retaliation for Ms. Lively exercising her legally-protected right to speak up about their misconduct on the set, with the additional objective of intimidating her and anyone else from revealing in public what actually occurred.”

The filing says Baldoni hired a crisis communications specialist who allegedly developed a plan to change the narrative on social media in the director’s favor in a way that could not be traced back to the studio’s team. Text exchanges between Baldoni and the Wayfarer PR team allegedly discuss the creation and amplification of misleading stories designed to discredit Lively, according to the actress’ legal team.

“He wants to feel like she can be buried,” wrote Baldoni’s publicist Jennifer Abel in an Aug. 2 message to the crisis management specialist, Melissa Nathan, excerpted in the complaint.

Freedman, the studio’s lawyer, said in the statement to NPR that Wayfarer Studios made the decision to proactively hire a crisis manager prior to the movie’s marketing campaign, “due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production which included her threatening to not showing up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met.

“What is pointedly missing from the cherry-picked correspondence is the evidence that there were no proactive measures taken with media or otherwise; just internal scenario planning and private correspondence to strategize which is standard operating procedure with public relations professionals,” Freedman added.

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Chloe Veltman contributed reporting.

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Blake Lively's 'Sisterhood Of the Traveling Pants' Costars Blast Alleged Smear Campaign

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Blake Lively's 'Sisterhood Of the Traveling Pants' Costars Blast Alleged Smear Campaign

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Sunday Puzzle: Can you conquer this Christmas carol puzzle?

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Sunday Puzzle: Can you conquer this Christmas carol puzzle?

Sunday Puzzle

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On-air challenge: Every answer today involves a Christmas carol or a popular Christmas song.

  1. Rearrange the letters of TINSEL to spell a word. Then rearrange the letters of THING to spell a word. The two words together are the title of a Christmas carol. What is it?
  2. Take the phrase “He Threw Rings.” Change one letter in each word to get the first three words of a popular Christmas carol.
  3. The leading newspaper in Nebraska is the Omaha World-Herald. What Christmas carol has “World” in its title? What Christmas carol has “Herald” in its title?
  4. The refrain of what popular Christmas song consists of only two-letter words?
  5. Name two colors that come before “Christmas” in Billboard top 40 song titles.

Last week’s challenge: Last week’s challenge came from listener Joseph Young. Change one letter of a place on earth to get a familiar phrase much heard around this time of year. What is it? The answer consists of three words (5,2,5).

Challenge answer: Change one letter of “place on earth” to get “peace on earth!”

Winner: Heather Reed of Eureka Springs, Ark.

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This week’s challenge: This week’s challenge comes from Dan Ezekiel, of Ann Arbor, Mich. Think of a two-word brand name for a food item that is marketed as upscale. Remove the last two letters of the first word and the first letter of the second word. Read the result from left to right and you’ll get a one-word brand name associated with the budget-conscious. What is it?
 

Submit Your Answer

If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it here by Thursday, December 26th, 2024 at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners whose answers are selected win a chance to play the on-air puzzle. Important: include a phone number where we can reach you.

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