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DENVER — It's been four years in the making, but a judge has finally made a ruling in a class action lawsuit against the Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) and Governor Jared Polis, finding they violated the state's constitution by forcing prisoners to work.

The order came down Friday from Denver District Court Judge Sarah Wallace.

She agreed with the plaintiffs, ruling the state and CDOC are violating the Colorado Constitution.

It goes back to the 13th Amendment which has a clause that states, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States."

That clause has previously allowed forced labor in prisons, but in 2018, Colorado voters amended the state's constitution making slavery, or forced labor, illegal with no exceptions.

When Colorado passed Amendment A, it became the first state in modern history to end the 13th Amendment's exception clause. Rhode Island banned slavery without exception in 1842. At least five other states have made the same ban including Utah, Nebraska, Alabama, Oregon and Vermont.

LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — She says she was let down at every step. By a partner who abandoned her when she was pregnant. By a health service that denied her a legal abortion. And by a justice system that sent her to a maximum-security prison for illegally terminating her pregnancy on her own.

Violet Zulu, a house cleaner in Zambia earning $40 a month, was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2024 after representing herself in court with little understanding of the consequences of her actions. She didn’t see her two children or other family members for nearly two years.

After word of her case reached international rights groups that helped her file an appeal, Zulu was freed last month. Activists say she represents many women in Africa who take desperate decisions when facing barriers to legal abortion services.

Her story has drawn little sympathy in her southern African nation, where parts of society view abortion harshly. Her own mother said she agreed with her daughter’s prison sentence, but said it should have been shorter.

Zulu spoke with The Associated Press as she pieces her life together again at the age of 26.

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Abdul-Razzaq Ahmad Saryoul began publishing books in Syria in 2003 but he used to abstain from participating in the annual International Damascus Book Fair because of tight measures by the country’s security agencies and bans on many books under Bashar Assad’s rule.

In the first post-Assad book fair to be held in Damascus, which wrapped up Monday, Saryoul was surprised when he was issued a permit the day he applied to take part without being asked what his books are about. The wide range of titles available made this year’s fair “unprecedented,” he said.

Another publisher, Salah Sorakji, was proud to offer Kurdish books in the Syrian capital for the first time in decades. During the Assad era, ethnic Kurds suffered from discrimination, including bans on their language.

The first book fair since Assad was unseated in December 2024 witnessed high turnout, with state media reporting that 250,000 people attended on the first day, Feb. 6, trekking out to fairgrounds where it was held about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the city center. The fair’s director, Ahmad Naasan, said about 500 publishing companies from some 35 countries took part.

GENEVA (AP) — Iran’s top diplomat met with the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency on Monday, ahead of a second round of negotiations with the United States over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and said he would also meet with Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi of Oman, which is hosting the U.S.-Iran talks in Geneva on Tuesday.

“I am in Geneva with real ideas to achieve a fair and equitable deal,” Araghchi wrote on X. “What is not on the table: submission before threats.”

As U.S. President Donald Trump ordered an additional aircraft carrier to the region, Iran on Monday launched a second naval drill in weeks, state TV reported. It said the drill would test Iran’s intelligence and operational capabilities in the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Israeli prosecutors said Monday that they plan to charge a settler in the killing of a Palestinian activist during a confrontation that was caught on video, opening a rare prosecution of violence by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank.

Attacks from settlers and home demolitions by authorities have spiked dramatically over the past two years, but the death in July of Awdah Hathaleen has drawn particular attention due to his involvement in the 2025 Oscar-winning film “No Other Land,” which chronicled Palestinian villagers’ fight to stay on their land. The case also stands out because the confrontation between Palestinians and Yinon Levi, an internationally sanctioned settler, was captured on video from multiple vantage points.

In a video that family members say was taken by Hathaleen himself, Levi could be seen firing toward the person holding the camera. Another showed Levi firing two shots without showing where the bullets struck.

An Israeli judge released Levi from custody six months ago, citing a lack of evidence that he fired the shots that killed Hathaleen.

Israel’s State Attorney General’s office confirmed in a statement Monday that it had initiated proceedings to indict Levi. It did not specify the charges.

SYDNEY (AP) — A man accused of killing 15 people in a mass shooting at a Jewish festival on Sydney’s Bondi Beach appeared in court Monday for the first time since his release from the hospital.

Naveed Akram appeared in Sydney’s Downing Center Local Court via a video link from the maximum security Goulburn Correctional Center 200 kilometers (120 miles) away.

He did not enter pleas to the charges against him, including murder and committing a terrorist act. The brief court appearance focused on extending a gag order that suppresses the identities of victims and survivors of the attack who have not chosen to identify themselves publicly.

CONCORDIA, Mexico (AP) — Deep in the coastal mountains above the sparkling Pacific resort of Mazatlan, towns spaced along a twisting road appear nearly deserted, the quiet broken only by the occasional passing truck.

It was near one of these towns, Panuco, that 10 employees of a Canadian-owned silver and gold mine were abducted in late January. The bodies of five were located nearby and five more await identification.

Most residents of these towns have fled out of fear as two factions of the Sinaloa Cartel have been locked in battle since September 2024, said Fermín Labrador, a 68-year-old from the nearby village of Chirimoyos. Others, he said, were “invited” to leave.

The abduction of the mine workers under still unclear circumstances has raised fears locally and more widely generated questions about the security improvements touted by President Claudia Sheinbaum. She signaled her more aggressive stance toward drug cartels in Sinaloa with captures and drug seizures after she took office in late 2024. It has been one year since she sent 10,000 National Guard troops to the northern border to try to head off U.S. tariffs over the cartels’ fentanyl trafficking, much of which comes from Sinaloa.

In January, Sheinbaum held up a sharp decline in homicide rates last year as evidence that her security strategy was working.

“What these kinds of episodes do is demolish the federal government’s narrative that insists that little by little they are getting control of the situation,” said security analyst David Saucedo. He said Sheinbaum had tried to “manage the conflict” while the Sinaloa Cartel’s internal war spread and split the state by obliging people “to take a side with one of the two groups.”

• Trump says it has been difficult to make a deal with Iran
• US fully expects Iran to retaliate, official says
• A sustained campaign carries more risk to US forces, broader Middle East

WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. military is preparing for the possibility of sustained, weeks-long operations against Iran if President Donald Trump orders an attack, two U.S. officials told Reuters, in what could become a far more serious conflict than previously seen between the countries.

The disclosure by the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the planning, raises the stakes for the diplomacy underway between the United States and Iran.

U.S. and Iranian diplomats held talks in Oman last week in an effort to revive diplomacy over Tehran's nuclear program, after Trump amassed military forces in the region, raising fears of new military action.

U.S. officials said on Friday the Pentagon was sending an additional aircraft carrier to the Middle East, adding thousands more troops along with fighter aircraft, guided-missile destroyers and other firepower capable of waging attacks and defending against them.

Trump, speaking to U.S. troops on Friday at a base in North Carolina, said it had "been difficult to make a deal" with Iran.

"Sometimes you have to have fear. That's the only thing that really will get the situation taken care of," Trump said.

Unlike other governors, Colorado’s leader is so far signaling he’s not on board with policies to further rein in ICE

Surrounded by advocates, clergy and lawmakers at the Massachusetts statehouse in Boston, Gov. Maura Healey last month unveiled her bill that would prohibit federal agents from making warrantless civil arrests in courthouses, churches or schools in the state.

The proposal would also keep U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement out of child care centers and hospitals and allow parents to make guardianship arrangements for their children should they be detained. Earlier this year, Healey, a Democrat, signed an executive order outlawing the use of state property for immigration enforcement.

“I’m going to take charge of what I can take charge of and what I have jurisdiction and authority over,” she told The Boston Globe.

In the wake of violence from federal immigration officers in Minnesota this year, Democratic governors are increasingly leading the pushback against ICE and what advocates describe as abuses by agents.

But not Gov. Jared Polis.

At a nearly identical news conference on the Colorado Capitol steps earlier this month, advocates and lawmakers rallied in support of similar policies. Polis was nowhere to be found.

As Polis takes a hands-off approach, state lawmakers are taking the lead on further regulating ICE in Colorado. And, unlike many of his counterparts across the country, Polis so far is signaling he may not be on board with their ideas.

In a statement, Polis said he is hoping to see “guardrails” put on the Department of Homeland Security at the federal level and praised the immigration-related laws Colorado already has.

“While I am always willing to work with legislators to find the best path forward for Colorado on any issue, including immigration and working with our federal law enforcement partners to apprehend criminals, I am mindful of what we already have on the books,” Polis said in a statement.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/42890299

Havana. — The energy crisis in Cuba has reached a critical level that is now directly affecting civil aviation. An official aeronautical notice (NOTAM) from José Martí International Airport in Havana confirms that the terminal is out of Jet A-1 fuel, which is standardly used by commercial aircraft.

The NOTAM, identified as A0356/26 and classified as international, explicitly states: “JET A-1 FUEL NOT AVBL” (no Jet A-1 fuel available). The notice has been active since February 10, 2026, at 05:00 UTC and will remain in effect at least until March 11, 2026, at 05:00 UTC, representing a full month without guaranteed supply at the country's main airport.

These types of official notices are issued to alert pilots, airlines, and air operators about critical operational conditions. In this case, the lack of fuel means that airplanes cannot refuel in Havana, an extremely serious situation for an international airport that handles the majority of Cuba's air traffic.

Havana. — The energy crisis in Cuba has reached a critical level that is now directly affecting civil aviation. An official aeronautical notice (NOTAM) from José Martí International Airport in Havana confirms that the terminal is out of Jet A-1 fuel, which is standardly used by commercial aircraft.

The NOTAM, identified as A0356/26 and classified as international, explicitly states: “JET A-1 FUEL NOT AVBL” (no Jet A-1 fuel available). The notice has been active since February 10, 2026, at 05:00 UTC and will remain in effect at least until March 11, 2026, at 05:00 UTC, representing a full month without guaranteed supply at the country's main airport.

These types of official notices are issued to alert pilots, airlines, and air operators about critical operational conditions. In this case, the lack of fuel means that airplanes cannot refuel in Havana, an extremely serious situation for an international airport that handles the majority of Cuba's air traffic.

Families of transgender kids are suing Children’s Hospital Colorado, saying that the hospital’s decision to suspend gender-affirming care for minors violates a state anti-discrimination law

Inside the stilled courtroom, an attorney asked a simple question and the mother on the witness stand began to cry.

Where is your daughter right now?

The question came during a hearing this week in Denver District Court in a lawsuit over Children’s Hospital Colorado’s suspension of gender-affirming care for transgender youth, a decision Children’s made in the face of escalating threats from the federal government.

The plaintiffs, including the mother who was testifying, argue that the suspension is a profound betrayal of vulnerable young patients that violates state antidiscrimination law.

“In this case,” attorney Paula Greisen, who represents the plaintiffs, said Thursday, “the victims are coming to the court saying, ‘Please enforce the rule of law and stop the attack on the transgender community.’”

They asked a judge to require Children’s to resume providing gender-affirming care. A decision is expected within the next week.

Children’s, however, argues that doing so could throw the hospital into a buzzsaw of federal punishment, including being kicked out of the Medicaid system, dropped by private insurers and stripped of its accreditation. In the most extreme scenario feared, the entire Children’s Hospital system — all four hospitals and numerous outpatient clinics that treat hundreds of thousands of kids a year — could have to close.