■ United States
Funeral law ruled too broad
Kentucky's state law forbidding protests within 90m of military funerals and memorial services was suspended temporarily after a federal judge ruled it was too broad. The law passed earlier this year was aimed at members of a Topeka, Kansas, church who have toured the US protesting at military funerals. The Westboro Baptist Church claims the soldiers' deaths are a sign of God punishing the US for tolerating homosexuality. US District Judge Karen Caldwell wrote on Tuesday that the law could restrict the free speech rights of people in nearby homes, sidewalks and streets.
■ Chile
Morning-after pill hits stores
The nation began supplying morning-after pills to girls as young as 14 this week under a program that has created an uproar in the politically leftist but socially conservative country, which still outlaws all abortions and only legalized divorce two years ago. The liberalized contraceptive policy is close to the heart of President Michelle Bachelet, a socialist physician who took office as Chile's first female president in March vowing to promote equality between men and women. "Equality means that for a person who does not have choices, who does not have options, we have to give them these options," Bachelet told reporters last week.
■ Mexico
Electoral institute fights back
The Federal Electoral Institute on Tuesday posted 300 tally sheets from July's disputed presidential election on the Internet in an effort to win back public confidence. The publication of the sheets from each of the country's 300 districts, "strengthens the transparency of the electoral process," the institute said in a news release. Ruling party candidate Felipe Calderon defeated leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador by less than 0.6 percent in the election -- the closest in history. Lopez Obrador has claimed election officials conspired with President Vicente Fox to rig the election, calling them "criminals." He has promised to form a parallel government funded by donations.
■ Argentina
New history book announced
A new history book describing how Britain illegally "colonized" the Falkland Islands is to be distributed to every secondary school pupil in the nation, the education ministry announced on Tuesday. The book accuses British forces of arriving secretly on the islands in the 18th century and taking it by force from the Spanish. Since then the British have refused offers to discuss the islands' sovereignty with Argentina, the book claims. "After the expulsion of Argentinean officials and those living on the islands, the English government, in 1834, assigned a navy official to remain on the islands and in 1841 it took the decision to colonize them," pupils will learn.
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