Globe Trot: British Parliament votes to trigger Brexit

BRITAIN: Parliament took a historic step toward taking Britain out of the European Union, approving a bill by a 498-114 vote Wednesday that allows the prime minister to trigger Article 50, which notifies the EU of intent to withdraw. (I’d watch the House of Commons for the pomp of it if they were taking out trash bins.)

YEMEN: U.S. Central Command is looking into the extent of civilian casualties in a raid on an al-Qaeda compound, the first ordered by President Donald Trump. A Navy SEAL was killed in the operation, along with 30 civilians, including perhaps 10 women and children.

UKRAINE: Fighting is escalating again in Ukraine, just days after President Trump had his first White House phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Grad rockets have destroyed about 20 homes and left one area without electricity as temperatures plunge below zero.

UNITED STATES: The Senate voted Wednesday to confirm Rex Tillerson as the next secretary of state, 56-43, the most votes against an incoming secretary of state in history.

The Trump administration has extended to September the appointment of Knox Thames as State Department special adviser for religious minorities in the Near East and South and Central Asia. Thames served the Bush and Obama administrations and has been a tireless advocate for the persecuted (and a Globe Trot reader).

Despite President Trump’s pledge to prioritize persecuted Christians from the Middle East, his immigration order meant the Chaldean bishop of Erbil, Bashar Warda, was denied entry to the United States. Also denied this week was Yazidi lawmaker Vian Dakhil, whose 2014 speech before the Iraqi Parliament helped prompt the Obama administration to action against ISIS. Dakhil was slated to receive the Tom Lantos Human Rights Prize at the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 8.

Here’s an in-depth explainer on how the government already legally is compelled to prioritize religious minorities; it’s a way to clarify the current executive order using existing P2 categories based on “compelling humanitarian concerns.”

The majority of ISIS suspects in America are U.S. citizens.

ISRAEL: Free Wi-Fi is coming to the Old City of Jerusalem.

NOTE: No Globe Trot Friday as I travel overseas. I hope to keep the column on schedule next week, if possible.