Free Republic

<p>Mr Abbott - who led Australia from 2013 to 2015 - will on Friday speak at the Yushan forum, a conference organised by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation.</p><p>He will also have unofficial meetings with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu.</p>

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A woman who had a child with her lesbian partner after entering into a civil union in Vermont is now suing for custody in Virginia, where a new law recently went into effect banning civil unions and other same-sex partnership contracts. The state's leading gay rights organization, Equality Virginia, said the lawsuit could bring the first challenge to Virginia's anti-gay law, which many legal scholars call the most restrictive in the nation. A hearing is scheduled Friday in a Winchester court to determine whether Lisa Miller-Jenkins has sole parental rights over her biological daughter, 2-year-old Isabella....