Gay-marriage ban rejected
Committees of California state lawmakers rejected a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriages and strip away a long list of rights granted domestic partners in recent years. The Assembly Judiciary Committee rejected an amendment offered by Republican Assemblyman Ray Haynes, who claimed the proposal would strengthen the intent of voters who approved a ballot measure five years ago that prevents the state from recognizing gay marriages performed elsewhere. Hours later, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted against an identical measure. Conservative groups immediately said they would try to gather enough signatures to put an initiative banning gay marriage on the ballot next year.
■ United Nations
UN to fight sex abuse
A UN committee recommended setting up "personnel conduct units" that would deploy to peacekeeping missions and at headquarters to combat sex abuse and other misconduct, according to a report released on Tuesday. The move, which would create 63 new UN posts, is meant to address widespread allegations of sexual misconduct by UN peacekeepers abroad. A UN review found that 105 allegations of sex abuse were leveled at peacekeepers last year. Allegations of sexual abuse and other crimes have dogged UN peacekeeping missions almost since their inception in 1948. But the issue gained new focus when the UN announced last year it was investigating dozens of allegations of sexual abuse by peacekeepers in Congo.
■ Yemen
WHO confirms 40 polio cases
More than 40 new cases of polio have been confirmed in Yemen, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, more new cases than in any other nation. "It's a much bigger outbreak than we originally thought, and it's spread throughout the country," said Dr David Heymann, who is in charge of the WHO polio-eradic-ation campaign. Epidemio-logists expect the 63 cases confirmed thus far in Yemen, a poor country on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula, to grow to more than 100 soon. It takes about six weeks to test stool samples from each paralyzed child to confirm infection. Nigeria, previously the worst hit country, has confirmed only 54 cases this year. Yemen was already planning to vaccinate its 5 million children under the age of five, Heymann said.
■ Georgia
Grenade near Bush site
Georgia's security chief said yesterday that an inactive grenade had been found near the site where US President George W. Bush made a speech in Tbilisi. Gela Bezhuashvili, secretary of the National Security Council, said the Soviet-made, RGD-5 grenade was found 30m from the tribune where Bush spoke on Tuesday. US Secret Service spokesman Jonathan Cherry had said on Tuesday that his agency had been informed that a device, possibly a hand grenade, had been thrown near the stage during Bush's speech, hit someone in the crowd and fallen to the ground. Bezhuashvili said, however, that it was not thrown, it was "found." Security was very tight at Bush's speech in Freedom Square: Georgian police were deployed, and US snipers were visible on the rooftops, scanning the crowd with binoculars. US agents manned the security gates, making even Georgian performers -- who in some cases were decked out with fake ammunition as part of their costumes -- remove every piece of metal before passing through the detectors.
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