BERMUDA
Voters reject gay marriage
A strong majority of voters have opposed same-sex marriage in a non-binding referendum in the British island territory. Results showed large majorities voting against same-sex marriage and civil unions in separate questions, but the referendum was invalidated because turnout was below 50 percent, officials said on Friday. Prime Minister Michael Dunkley said his government was evaluating the results of Thursday’s vote, in which 69 percent opposed same-sex marriage and 63 percent rejected civil unions. He said the results mean those supporting same-sex marriage in Bermuda will likely go to court to challenge the ban on its recognition. “This has been and will continue to be a highly sensitive matter,” he said. “Despite our differences, we must progress forward. And my hope is that as we move forward as a country, we move ahead with greater tolerance, understanding and respect and appreciation for one another?” Dunkley’s government scheduled the non-binding referendum after it considered legalizing same-sex marriage in May last year, amid strong opposition in the Atlantic Ocean island territory.
MEXICO
Police agents gunned down
Three federal police agents were gunned down in the violence-torn southwestern state of Guerrero on Friday as they ate in a market, according to a security official. The three agents, dressed in civilian clothes, were surprised a group of armed men in the city of Chilapa, a federal police agent said. Federal police are one of the main security forces, next to the military, fighting drug gangs. Chilapa is close to Ayotzinapa college, the school of 43 Mexican students who were apparently massacred in 2014.
UNITED STATES
Transgender troop ban lifted
The Pentagon is set to lift its ban on transgender troops within the coming weeks, media reported on Friday. The move would be another major milestone for the country’s vast military, which up until five years ago still banned gay troops from openly discussing their sexuality under a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. USA Today said the transgender announcement is expected on Friday next week and the plan would require each branch of the military to phase in the new policy over a 12-month period. Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook declined to confirm reports, but said a decision was due “soon.” Currently, Pentagon rules allow transgender troops to be discharged from the military. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter last year ordered all military roles — including combat positions — to be opened to women. Representative Steny Hoyer welcomed the news. “The reversal of the ban is a major step forward in the effort to secure the full rights and equality of LGBT people in our country, and it will strengthen our military by ensuring that talented, dedicated candidates are not turned away or discouraged from serving because of their gender identity,” he said in a statement. The country’s military has about 1.3 million service members.
UNITED STATES
Tanker runs aground
A nearly 183m chemical tanker ran aground on an Alaska island in the Bering Sea. The coast guard said there were no signs of pollution or injury to the 24-member crew after it hit Nunivak Island on Friday morning. The ship is carrying 53.75 million liters of various fuel products. Coast guard Petty Officer Kelly Parker said they are investigating why the Champion Ebony, sailing under a Norwegian flag, ran aground.
‘CHILD PORNOGRAPHY’: The doll on Shein’s Web site measure about 80cm in height, and it was holding a teddy bear in a photo published by a daily newspaper France’s anti-fraud unit on Saturday said it had reported Asian e-commerce giant Shein (希音) for selling what it described as “sex dolls with a childlike appearance.” The French Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) said in a statement that the “description and categorization” of the items on Shein’s Web site “make it difficult to doubt the child pornography nature of the content.” Shortly after the statement, Shein announced that the dolls in question had been withdrawn from its platform and that it had launched an internal inquiry. On its Web site, Le Parisien daily published a
China’s Shenzhou-20 crewed spacecraft has delayed its return mission to Earth after the vessel was possibly hit by tiny bits of space debris, the country’s human spaceflight agency said yesterday, an unusual situation that could disrupt the operation of the country’s space station Tiangong. An impact analysis and risk assessment are underway, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said in a statement, without providing a new schedule for the return mission, which was originally set to land in northern China yesterday. The delay highlights the danger to space travel posed by increasing amounts of debris, such as discarded launch vehicles or vessel
RUBBER STAMP? The latest legislative session was the most productive in the number of bills passed, but critics attributed it to a lack of dissenting voices On their last day at work, Hong Kong’s lawmakers — the first batch chosen under Beijing’s mantra of “patriots administering Hong Kong” — posed for group pictures, celebrating a job well done after four years of opposition-free politics. However, despite their smiles, about one-third of the Legislative Council will not seek another term in next month’s election, with the self-described non-establishment figure Tik Chi-yuen (狄志遠) being among those bowing out. “It used to be that [the legislature] had the benefit of free expression... Now it is more uniform. There are multiple voices, but they are not diverse enough,” Tik said, comparing it
Prime ministers, presidents and royalty on Saturday descended on Cairo to attend the spectacle-laden inauguration of a sprawling new museum built near the pyramids to house one of the world’s richest collections of antiquities. The inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum, or GEM, marks the end of a two-decade construction effort hampered by the Arab Spring uprisings, the COVID-19 pandemic and wars in neighboring countries. “We’ve all dreamed of this project and whether it would really come true,” Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly told a news conference, calling the museum a “gift from Egypt to the whole world from a
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