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BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM The Dutch city of Breda, with its cobblestone streets and centuries-old canals, has just added another charming distinction to its name: it is now the first National Park City in the European Union. Designated in May by the National Park City Foundation, Breda joins London, Adelaide, and Chattanooga in a growing global movement that’s reimagining cities as places where people and nature can thrive together. What it means to be a National Park City Unlike traditional national parks, National Park Cities don’t need sweeping wilderness or remote landscapes. Instead, they must show a city-wide commitment to sustainability, biodiversity, and equitable access to green space. For Breda, this recognition is the result of more than a decade of intentional transformation. The city has restored rivers, replaced concrete with plants, and invited residents to become stewards of their own blocks, parks, rooftops, and schoolyards. “I absolutely loved exploring Breda and learning about all the things they are doing to make their city greener, healthier and wilder,” said Daniel Raven-Ellison, founder of the National Park City Foundation. From rivers reborn to tiny forests planted by schools, Breda’s landscape tells a story of quiet, continuous care. A city shaped by nature Today, about 60 percent of Breda is green space, an impressive achievement for a mid-sized urban area. Historic forests like Mastbos, one of the oldest in the Netherlands, sit alongside nature reserves, wetlands, urban gardens, and canal-side greenery. This lush footprint isn’t just beautiful; it’s practical too. Breda has leaned into nature-based solutions to manage climate risks like flooding and extreme heat. Through thoughtful design and planning, the city has prioritized tree cover, cool shade, and natural water flow as everyday infrastructure. And crucially, this wasn’t a top-down mandate. Residents helped lead the change. Powered by people The grassroots network Breda Stad in een Park (Breda City in a Park) played a central role in earning the city its new title. From rooftop gardens to green schoolyards, they’ve helped shape a culture where nature belongs in every neighborhood. “This title is a recognition for the many residents, entrepreneurs and organisations who are committed to greening Breda,” said Joost Barendrecht, chair of the group. “It’s an incentive to make more [people] enthusiastic about getting started with greenery. It doesn’t always have to be big. A garden is a nice contribution.” This gentle, neighborly approach is part of what makes Breda’s example so resonant. A model for European cities Across Europe, cities are waking up to the urgency of climate resilience and the well-being that green space can bring. From Paris’s car-free zones to Copenhagen’s flood-proofing projects, a shared vision is emerging: greener, fairer, cooler cities. Nature in cities isn’t just nice to have. It’s vital. Access to greenery can lower heat-related health risks, reduce air pollution, improve mental well-being, and help communities adapt to the impacts of climate change. “London and Breda are the first National Park Cities in Europe, but there’s no shortage of others that want and need to be greener, healthier, wilder, cooler and fairer,” says Raven-Ellison. “National Park Cities are helping to show the way, forming strong relationships and exchanging optimism, ideas, knowledge and energy.” With Breda’s leadership, the EU now has a powerful, grounded example of how a city can grow wild and kind, not by accident, but by design.The post Breda becomes EU’s first National Park City, setting a hopeful path for greener urban living first appeared on The Optimist Daily: Making Solutions the News.

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In a landmark move bringing Italy in step with many of its European peers, the Constitutional Court has ruled that both women in a same-sex couple who conceive a child abroad via medically assisted reproduction (MAR) must be legally recognized as parents. This decision marks a significant stride toward legal parity and stability for rainbow families across the country. The ruling came in response to a case involving a couple from Lucca, Tuscany who are identified only as GG and IP. The couple conceived their child through in vitro fertilization (IVF) in another country. Although the two women jointly planned and parented the child, only the birth mother was legally recognized in Italy. This legal gap left the non-biological mother without parental rights and the child without guaranteed protection of both parent relationships. The Court, led by President Giovanni Amoroso, found this legal approach to be unconstitutional. In its May 22 decision, the Court affirmed that excluding the non-biological mother violates key principles of equality, family life, and legal certainty. It emphasized that the child’s right to continuous and stable relationships with both parents outweighs bureaucratic hurdles. As a result, both mothers must now be listed on the birth certificate without requiring the non-biological mother to undergo stepchild adoption. Restoring dignity to rainbow families LGBTQ+ advocates have welcomed the ruling as a breakthrough. “This is a monumental decision,” said Marilena Grassadonia of Famiglie Arcobaleno, a leading LGBTQ+ rights group in Italy. “It restores dignity and protection to rainbow families who have long been marginalised and discriminated against in our legal system.” Legal groups echoed this sentiment. Vincenzo Miri, president of Rete Lenford and legal counsel to the couple, described it as a “historic decision, obtained after years of legal battles” aimed at reversing the precedent set by the Supreme Court. Progress, but persistent gaps remain While civil unions for same-sex couples have been legal since 2016, Italy has lagged behind much of Western Europe on broader LGBTQ+ rights. Same-sex couples still cannot marry or adopt jointly in most situations, and access to IVF and other reproductive technologies remains limited to heterosexual couples. In a separate but related ruling issued the same week, the Constitutional Court upheld these restrictions, noting that it is Parliament’s responsibility to make legislative changes. Critics argue that such laws reflect outdated notions of family and fail to reflect the diversity of today’s households. Conservative groups have been quick to denounce the May 22 decision. The anti-LGBTQ+ group Pro Vita e Famiglia labeled it an “existential lie,” insisting that “no one is the child of two mothers.” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government has yet to release an official statement, although some coalition members have criticized the decision as an overreach by the judiciary. Italy joins European peers—at last With this ruling, Italy joins countries such as the UK, France, Spain, and the Netherlands in recognizing both mothers in same-sex parenting arrangements. Even Germany, which has traditionally shared Italy’s cautious stance on social issues, passed reforms in 2021 to grant automatic recognition to non-biological mothers in marriages involving MAR. However, in Eastern Europe, many EU countries like Hungary, Poland, and Romania continue to deny any legal recognition of same-sex parental rights. These cross-border inconsistencies complicate travel and relocation for LGBTQ+ families, whose rights may evaporate when crossing into less progressive jurisdictions. The European Parliament called for greater harmonization of family laws across member states in a 2022 resolution. Legal clarity, but more reform needed Although this judgment is a step forward, legal gaps remain. The Court’s decision currently applies only to children conceived abroad via MAR. Within Italy, same-sex female couples remain barred from accessing IVF, meaning the issue of non-biological parental recognition for children born domestically is unresolved. Until Italian law is updated, many families will still face lengthy and uncertain adoption processes to secure legal ties between parents and children. “The Court has done what it can within the limits of the Constitution,” said Grassadonia. “Now it’s Parliament’s turn to act decisively.” As Italy reckons with the evolving definition of family, this ruling represents a powerful affirmation of equality and a challenge to lawmakers to ensure that all families, regardless of how they are formed, are given equal protection under the law.The post Italy extends legal recognition to same-sex mothers in major court ruling first appeared on The Optimist Daily: Making Solutions the News.

President Trump’s moves against Harvard University for discrimination have spread horror among the liberal elite, including those on publicly funded television. Christiane Amanpour, host of Amanpour & Co., talked to Harvard professor Steven Levitsky, coauthor of How Democracies Die. (Hint: He means Trump.) A full 21 minutes of the Friday show was devoted to both host and left-wing guest defending Harvard by attacking Trump as a resurrected Joe McCarthy, rantings that Amanpour infused with self-congratulation, even airing a segment of her own recent self-righteous graduation speech in which she regaled a captive audience at Harvard with similar comparisons. As caught by NewsBusters’ commencement-speech connoisseur Alex Christy, on Wednesday Amanpour went on an anti-Trump rant under the guise of an address to graduates of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, even quoting Italian dictator Benito Mussolini as well as Mr. “Red Scare.” She noted Trump pulling federal grants and banning international students from Harvard. [Click "Expand.") AMANPOUR: I want to play something that Trump said yesterday. I mean, we know that the administration claims that all this is about antisemitism, combating antisemitism. We also know that Harvard, even, you know, last year and beyond, have taken measures against antisemitism and apparently DEI. Trump has also pulled, as we've talked about, billions in federal grants and the latest he's doing with international students. Do you believe that is what this is all about? And then I'm going to play a little soundbite of Trump. LEVITSKY: Absolutely I do not believe that. This is not about antisemitism. It's not about DEI. These are pretexts authoritarian governments. We need to be very clear. This is an authoritarian government that is using the machinery of government, the state as a weapon to punish, to bully, to silence business, media law firms, universities and other elements of civil society....there are more anti-Semites in the Trump administration than there are at Harvard. For the record, Harvard is apparently crawling with anti-Semites, as proven in a damning recent report issued by Harvard that does not get referenced. Amanpour also ignored the anti-Israel activists perversely honored at various Harvard graduation ceremonies, right under her nose. AMANPOUR: ….I just wonder what you make of the philosophy coming from President Trump or his administration. Do you think there's a concerted -- I mean, is it a plan that will work? How do you characterize what they're doing? LEVITSKY: I think it needs to be understood as a combination of authoritarianism and ineptitude. So, I don't know if you discerned a philosophy there in the vomiting that we just heard….What I see is an effort to attack, punish, and weaken institute -- civic institutions that the Trump administration views as opposition or as they view as enemies of the government. Again, that's what autocrats do. Amanpour then turned the spotlight on herself. AMANPOUR: Professor, I'm not an entirely disinterested party. I was a foreign student in the United States 45 years ago, and I actually gave the graduation speech just yesterday to the Harvard Kennedy School of Graduates [sic], more than half of whom are, as you say, internationals. But I spoke about something, which I know that you've spoken about and even a former Harvard president, Drew Gilpin Faust, has just written about, the apparent lack of resistance, not just -- not at Harvard but around the country to this assault that you've been discussing. I just want to play a little bit of what I said and get you to comment on how you feel about it. And I was quoting basically the patron saint of broadcast journalists, Edward R. Murrow, who after his distinguished World War II. Korea as a foreign correspondent took on McCarthyism and the Red Scare at home. This is what I said. Sure enough, up popped Amanpour speaking to Harvard Kennedy School grads, self-righteously spouting “always remember, as Edward R. Murrow said, that dissent is not disloyalty.” AMANPOUR: Professor Levitsky, I wonder what you think about that quote from Morrow, that, you know, it seems that everybody's terrorized in the United States, or am I wrong? LEVITSKY….it's a shame that Morrow's words are so relevant, so pertinent today, but I think you were right to raise them. My sense -- I share the view that Americans have been very slow to react to Trump's authoritarianism…. There was only a mild interjection near the end, so vaguely expressed it could have been misunderstood, that perhaps Harvard had become an echo chamber of leftism: AMANPOUR: And finally, do you think there is any room at a place like Harvard or elsewhere to diversify? I don't even know what real word to use, but that it's not just one echo chamber of one type of thought. I'm not talking about, you know, raising lies to the level of truths, but just diverse opinions and diverse ideological views. Predictably, Levitsky dismissed the criticism. LEVITSKY: You know, I think that these issues of ideological diversity have been somewhat overstated…. Amanpour then spoke with Harvard’s Dr. Kari Nadeau, who worried about canceled government contracts for health research. Nadeau whined, “When you degrade science, you also degrade the health of the American people in the globe.”

A Ukrainian drone attack has destroyed more than 40 Russian planes deep in Russia's territory, Ukraine's Security Service said on Sunday, while Moscow pounded Ukraine with missiles and drones just hours before a new round of direct peace talks in Istanbul.

Boca Raton, Fla.- Newsmax Inc. (NYSE: NMAX) ("Newsmax" or the "Company") announced that the Company expects to list on the U.S. small-cap Russell 2000Ò Index, effective after the U.S. market opens on June 30, 2025, as part of the 2025 Russell indexes...

As Kamala Harris weighs a return to California politics or a second presidential bid, Democrats on both coasts are growing impatient, questioning whether the former vice president's ambitions match the moment or the party's mood.

Lesley Pacey, an investigator with the Government Accountability Project, on Sunday said that while the people of East Palestine were dealing with the aftermath of the train derailment, which launched a cloud of toxic vinyl chloride...

China said Monday it "firmly rejects" U.S. claims that it had violated a sweeping tariffs deal, as tensions between the two economic superpowers showed signs of ratcheting back up. Beijing and Washington last month agreed...