NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
Same-sex marriage: Almost 40 years after their first kiss, Karl and Bodo are getting hitched. The two civil servants from Berlin are expected to become the first gay couple to tie the knot in Germany when a law allowing same-sex marriages takes effect Sunday. Until now, gay and lesbian couples in Germany were able only to enter into registered partnerships that gave them fewer legal rights than married heterosexual couples. Kriele, 59, and his partner, Bodo Mende, 60, have been at the forefront of campaigning for gay rights in Germany since meeting in 1979 in what was then West Berlin. Germany was one of the first countries worldwide to allow civil unions. But as other nations began legalizing same-sex marriages, Germany fell behind, in part because of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s opposition. Germany is the 23rd country worldwide to allow same-sex couples to marry.
Syria fighting: Air strikes on villages and towns held by the Islamic State group in eastern Syria have killed and wounded dozens a day after an attack by the extremists killed more than 120 pro-government fighters and briefly cut off the highway linking the capital Damascus with eastern Syria, opposition activists said Saturday. It was not immediately clear whether the air strikes on areas including Mayadeen, Boukamal, Bouleil, Bouomar and Mushassan were carried out by the Russians or the U.S.-led coalition. Syrian troops have been advancing in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour under the cover of Russian air strikes, while the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces are marching against the extremists under the cover of air strikes by the U.S.-led coalition.
Nuclear program:
Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu has been granted permission to immigrate to Norway so he can be united with his Norwegian wife. Vanunu’s wife, Kristin Joachimsen, said the couple requested family reunification after they wed in May 2015. It wasn’t clear when he would relocate. Vanunu served 18 years in prison for leaking details and pictures of an alleged Israeli nuclear weapons program to a British newspaper. He sought asylum in Norway after his 2004 release. Israel then banned him from speaking with foreigners and leaving the country, among other restrictions. Israel neither confirms nor denies its nuclear weapons capability.
Gay rights: Two international rights groups called on Egyptian authorities Saturday to halt their crackdown on people suspected of homosexuality after the waving of the LGBT rainbow flag at a recent concert in Cairo. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International also urged Egypt to call off the anal examination of people detained on suspicion of homosexuality to determine whether they were engaged in same-sex sexual relations. They said the practice amounted to torture, calling it “abhorrent” and scientifically unsound. Egypt arrested at least 11 people after footage of the flag incident surfaced on social media.
Troops attacked: A soldier who opened fire at other troops during drills in far eastern Russia was tracked down and killed Saturday, officials said. The military said the soldier, who killed three and wounded two others, resisted arrest and was shot dead after a major manhunt. During Friday’s incident, the soldier fired his Kalashnikov rifle at his comrades waiting for target practice at a base outside the town of Belogorsk near the border with China and then fled.