live from berlin taiwan becomes the 1st nations in asia to approve same sex marriage lawmakers passing the landmark legislation that despite a last minute attempt by conservatives to defeat the bill will tell you what rights the new law grants to same sex couples also on the show. was for 3 years if they cannot continue sexual assaults are stuck. with your baby calls for a legal challenge after the state of alabama passes america's most restrictive

abortion law our correspondent visits that state to talk with people on both sides of the divide plus. but just about a week now until european elections polls show climate change is a major issue for many voters also are mounting for more drastic action to protect the environment. i'm brian thomas thanks so much for joining us in a landmark 1st for asia taiwan's parliament has legalized same sex marriage lawmakers approving a government bill that allows same sex couples to form exclusive permanent unions and apply for marriage registration this bill overcame a number of hurdles including attempts by conservatives to remove any reference to marriage. now despite the outcome of today's vote the issue of same sex marriage

continues to divide the country and a referendum last year the majority of voters rejected defining marriage as anything other than a union between a man and a woman but this vote is being greeted by those who've had to put their futures on hold. shane lynn and mark you want have spent the last 2 years planning their wedding in fine detail. the cake shop owners from taipei have been dreaming of their special day since 2017 when taiwan's top court ruled same sex couples should be allowed to marry. have a sort of taiwan may often be overlooked internationally we kind of the things we have done are visionaries that create you know we can be proud of their heads the heart of hearts and that's all. but on top of the usual wedding stress is shane mark and other taiwanese same sex couples have a bigger problem support for the issue is divided. by

the 3 different bills were tabled for friday's vote but only one used the word marriage put forward by the government it allows same sex couples similar rights as married heterosexual couples a bill satisfactory for the l g b t rights campaigners the other versions backed by conservative lawmakers were void of the term marriage. not everyone on this relatively liberal island shares these people's desire for equality in a series of referendums last year more than 2 thirds of voters decided marriage should only be defined as being between a man and a woman numbers that opponents of same sex marriage say cannot be ignored. so. let's go straight out to the w.'s william yang standing by for us in type a with the latest good morning to you well this is

a 1st for what are some of the reactions to this law that you're getting where you are. so we're just now hearing all the supporters of same sex marriage chanting and cheering at the back row because the legislature just passed the 3rd reading of the government. legislative bill so this means time one becomes the 1st 100 days under the legal life and thinks marriage and also some man the title about 1250 the gay couple in asia. ok what about the referendum last november that rejected same sex marriage we heard about it in our report how did that play into the debate and the voting today. so as we know last year's referendum result show overwhelming need out because the for the fact that they want the marriage to be defined as a union between a man and one that however the ruling party step up their game and decide it

a fight by the constitution which rule which is it is unconstitutional to ban same sex marriage so this bill just proves that. the full of it politics here is. progressing in a way that human rights is being considered as a very important issue in taiwan ok for those who support the same sex marriage as saw it or are they happy with the. a the bill was passed with its wording and its provisions. passed today's voting the fortunate voting start there have been some concerns about the effectiveness of this bill wrenching conflicts couples the right to get married. organizers have repeatedly say that there's already a watered down version of the bill that they can accept so they likely won't continue to push for marriage by in the future and there is an election coming up

so the same sex marriage is likely to continue to remain a very important topic and discussion sharing time line. for us in taipei william thanks very much for bringing us up to date. thank you let's brief you now on other stories making the news venezuela's self declared president one bardot has confirmed he sent delegates to norway as that scandinavian country tries to mediate in the venezuelan crisis but quite a were denied any direct talks are underway with the president the duros government this is the 1st official confirmation of an attempt at dialogue and then a sway of those months long power struggle. a former american intelligence analyst chelsea manning has been jailed for contempt of court for the 2nd time this year after refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating the weeks of wiki leaks manning has already spent 2 months in jail and repeatedly rejected prosecutor requests to cooperate with

a court. the china born architect who shaped urban landscapes i am pay has died at the age of 102 his works have been held by many but also have met with controversy iran from hong kong's bank of china skyscraper to the class pyramid in the courtyard of the roof. and f. 16 fighter jet has crashed into a warehouse just outside march air force base in california the pilot ejected moments before the crash and was unhurt but 5 people on the ground were injured the cause of that crash is under investigation. well there is now less than a week to go until e.u. parliamentary elections and many voters say environmental concerns will decide how they vote and one recent study 77 percent of people listed global warming as a key factor is a policy makers are starting to pay heed but activists say there's still a long way to go if wanted to panic

a blunt message to the european parliament from swedish activist gratitude barack the teenager has given the world a wake up call with her urgent appeal for climate action. the global youth movement she inspired has shifted the climate change debate forcing it both to the top of the use agenda and party campaigning ahead of the blocks parliamentary elections next week so what is the e.u. done so far to tackle the climate crisis. in march the european parliament voted to ban single use plastics starting in 2021 as part of sweeping legislation against plastic waste that pollutes beaches and oceans. it's agreed a near total ban on insecticides that have been linked to a dramatic drop in the numbers of wild bees honeybees and other culling leaders. the e.u. parliament is pushing to put cleaner cars on europe's roads by 2030. and it wants

to slash its greenhouse gases by 40 percent in the next 11 years some experts say that's not enough but right now it doesn't look like any single member state will be able to meet that target. reason enough for protesters across europe to keep pushing for a faster climate action in brussels. it's to the us now where 2 days after the state of alabama passed the country's most restrictive and here borson law the opposition to it is organizing pro-choice supporters say the law violates roe v wade the 1973 landmark supreme court case that legalized abortion our u.s. correspondent helen humphrey traveled to alabama to talk with people on both sides of the divide the out of our mistake capital has become the latest front line in a fight for reproductive rights that most pro-choice activists thought that one in the 1970 s. inside this building republican governor k. i.v.

signed the bill into law and now she has a battle on her hands she has the support of proponents like lori mullins who runs the cope pregnancy center in montgomery alabama offering baby items and parenting classes in an effort to dissuade women from seeking abortions like the bill itself she sees no exceptions even in the case of rape or incest if you believe that at conception it is a person then you have to believe that all life is sacred how i was conceived has you know should have no impact on the value of my life why would you protect lives . and say except yours yours is not the case of incest that is a really really difficult discussion to have it's never right there is no good answer but at the same time the way the law is now we see it all the time if a child is being molested and she becomes pregnant at 13 or 14 or 15

the family takes her to have an abortion the only person who wins in that scenario is the person who was abusing her while proponents of the text want it to include few exceptions to see it potentially go all the way up to the supreme court and maybe even overturn roe v wade itself opponents of the bill accuse state lawmaker has of playing politics with women's bodies one of them is margo hotline dressed as a handmade the pro-choice activists protested on the steps of the state government as the bill was passed my. personal. stake in this is that i was for 3 years a victim of continuous sexual assaults and i did think that i was pregnant when i think about someone who might be in the situation that i was in isn't able to. escape from that you're stuck you're stuck with your rapist's baby and currently with her new 3 abortion clinics in the entire state choices already seem limited

alongside her work as an activist mia raven also works in an abortion clinic patients often find themselves in dangerous circumstances as an already difficult time tell me about harassment paint a picture for me about what a woman might face coming into the clinic where you work the minute she pulls in said driveway she's going to be greeted by some protesters the minute she walks out of a corridor in a store screaming at her telling her that she doesn't need to be here and that she's still going to be a mother but she's going to be the mother of a dead murdered baby the doctor are used to southern states trying to vilify what they do. this is not an uncommon tactic they go after the providers especially the doctors is another way to cut down access because abortion can be legal all day long but if you can't access or. you might as well not have that right.

those rights are being challenged not just in alabama but across republican held states in the south the midwest which i'm looking at a muni conservative supremum course and hoping that now might be the time to roll back reproductive rights the good. let's get you a minor of our top stories at this hour taiwan's parliament has legalized same sex marriage a 1st nations law grants same sex couples the right to officially register their marriages conservative opponents had tried to defeat the bill was a more limited version of same sex unions. and a movement to boycott products made in the u.s. state of alabama is growing after that state passed the country's most restrictive abortion law the new law bans nearly all abortions and makes performing an abortion a felony in nearly all cases it's.

coming up next a young woman fighting to end child slavery in the paul that's the subject of our doc film my memory is my power i'm brian thomas from the entire team thanks so much for joining us we're going to leave you now with pictures of a school of sting rays cruising through the crystal waters off of australia joy.

for. shifting powers the old order is history the world is reorganizing itself and the media's role is to keep the topic in focus at the global media forum 29 teams today one out of 2 people is online who are we following whom do we trust debate and shape the future at the touch of a live global media for 2019.