■UNITED STATES
NY grants gay rights
New York’s top court ruled on Thursday that gay couples legally married elsewhere are entitled to some government benefits, boosting stalled legislative efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in the state. The Court of Appeals rejected a Christian legal group’s argument that same-sex marriage was akin to incest and polygamy, although the court avoided declaring that gay couples are entitled to all the rights of other married couples. The 4-3 decision was on the narrow question of benefits; the court did not address whether the state must recognize same-sex marriage but encouraged the legislature to settle the issue.
■CANADA
Pteropods at risk: scientists
Melting of the Arctic sea ice because of global warming is diluting surface waters and this is endangering some species of shellfish that need minerals in the water to form their shells and skeletons, scientists have found. In a paper published in Science, they warned that this has serious implications for ecosystems in the Arctic. “Organisms that are likely to be affected are from the family of pteropods, also mussels and clams on the sea floor,” said Fiona McLaughlin, research scientist at the Institute of Ocean Sciences’s department of fisheries and oceans. Pteropods are minute swimming sea snails. “It puts the food chain at risk. These organisms are a food source for fish that are a food source for seals and bears. The food chain in the Arctic is quite a short one, so it’s quite vulnerable,” she said by telephone.
■UNITED STATES
Spray offers sex solution
A spray that numbs the penis can help prevent premature ejaculation, doctors reported on Thursday, and drug maker Sciele Pharma Inc, a division of Japan’s Shionogi, plans to file for US approval next year. Tests on more than 500 men suffering from premature ejaculation showed they were more satisfied and less distressed when they used the spray, the researchers told a meeting in San Diego of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America. The drug, called by the experimental name PSD502, is a combination of the numbing agents lidocaine and prilocaine.
■COLOMBIA
Caracas ‘blows up’ bridges
The Colombian government said on Thursday Venezuelan soldiers blew up two small pedestrian bridges that stretch across their border in the latest incident to test diplomatic ties between the Andean neighbors. Colombian Defense Minister Gabriel Silva told reporters that uniformed men apparently from the Venezuelan army blew up the bridges with explosives in what he described as a violation of international law. “Uniformed men, apparently from the Venezuelan army, arrived in trucks on the Venezuelan side at two pedestrian bridges that link communities on both sides ... and then proceeded to dynamite them,” Silva said.
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